When you go up to Elk Mountain ski resort in Union Dale, PA chances are you’ll enjoy a great day of Pennsylvania skiing. What you won’t find at Elk Mountain is much of anything else. There is a ski shop, a bar and restaurant and a rental shop up at Elk Mountain but not much else. No condos, no hotels and no nightlife on the resort property.
When you are done skiing for the day, the best place to go is Chet’s Place. It is a friendly little bar with a good menu and nice selection of drinks. You can get dinner and a couple draft beers for about $10.00 any time you go up there. On the weekends, Chet’s Place usually has a band that starts around 9pm and the band is usually very good. A local cover group called “Out Cold” plays up there from time to time and there are a number of other bands that play Chet’s Place as well. If you get there early for dinner, there is no cover. If you go after 9pm for just a night cap, the cover is usually around $3.00. It is well work it.
When you go into Chet’s Place you’ll find 15-20 beat up bar stools at the bar, a number of tables made from old bowling alley lanes that were salvaged from a bowling alley that closed down, a pool and foosball table as well as a juke box with most modern music you would have any interest listening to.
The atmosphere in Chet’s Place is friendly, sometimes festive and always relaxed. People are mellow, sometimes toward the end of the night after the effects of a few drinks or pitchers of beer begin to kick in, the dance floor starts to attract a crowd.
The bar closes at 2 and the kitcken closes earlier than that, probably somewhere around 10pm or 11pm. If you want to stay up at Elk Mountain, Chet’s offers a number of rooms for rent but word is they sell out pretty fast since Chet’s is within about 1 mile of Elk Mountain and the rooms are priced like the food and drinks - very reasonable.
When planning your trip to Elk Mountain, plan to stop by Chet’s Place after you are done on the slopes and do yourself a favor and get a room somewhere up there so you don’t have to drive all the way back to Philly or NY or wherever you are driving in from.
