Going to get Above Ground Pool - Have Sloping Yard

[hannainnc]

Hi everyone,
We are new to the pool scene and are looking at getting an above ground pool which we want to have installed on what we fondly refer to as our "hill". We have about 3/4 acre and the back portion of the yard slopes up. I was thinking instead of using the space in our sodded area of our yard, we could put the pool on our hill which is really unused space and build a deck around it. I don't have the exact measurements of how much it slopes, but I would think we would need to dig in about 2-3 feet. We are in NC with lovely clay type soil. I'm thinking it is best to build a retaining wall so the earth would not be directly against the pool wall.

Does anyone have experience doing anything like this? Thanks in advance for help and advice.

link to picture of my sloping yard (ignore the kids - pic is from easter)
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/593/photowz.png/