During its opening year of 1959, Elk featured a small base lodge (now the picnic lodge), a 2,200 foot T-bar and several slopes, as well as some rope tows and a small warming hut built a few years earlier by the Scranton Ski Club. The mountain's first Hall Double chairlift was installed in 1961, heralding the development of five expert trails and various intermediate trails from the top. Elk's first expert trail, completed before the chairlift itself, was host to the 1960 Pennsylvania State Championships. Enthusiastic competitors and gatekeepers actually walked to the summit from the top of the T-bar to run the race.