Vermont Ski + Ride 2023 - 1 Winter/Spring

VT SKI RIDE +

THE BACKYARD ROPE TOW REVIVAL THE UPHILL SKIING REVOLUTION CULTURE SHIFTING

A SO. VT. DREAM HOME RENAMING THE MOUNTAINS CARNIVAL TIME

Vermont’s Mountain Sports and Life

CONTENTS

SPRING 2023

FEATURES

24 | A Ski Family’s Homestead

One family dreamed of having a ski home in Vermont. That dream came true in a big way.

30 | Backyard Rope Tow Revival

Backyard rope tows are popping up all over the state. The writer went on a mission to ski them all.

36

|

Culture Shifting

Fifty years after The National Brotherhood of Skiers held its first Summit in Aspen what has changed for Black skiers and riders?

42 | The Rise and Rise of Uphill Skiing

More and more skiers are getting up before dawn to skin up the Green Mountains. And Vermont athletes are playing major roles in ski mountaineering (a.k.a. skimo), now a new Olympic sport.

COLUMNS & DEPARTMENTS

7 | FIRST TRACKS | Green Mountain News

World Cup news, fondue is back and new huts and glades.

12 | SKI TOWNS | This Job Comes with Housing

Employee housing has become a top priority in ski towns.

14 | ADVENTURES | Racing Around the Mountain

How one skier built not just a trail, but a tradition.

17 | APRES | A Time for Sugar and Snow

Times are changing but spring sugaring is strong as ever.

21 | ARTS | Signmakers of the Times

Meet the couple behind ski area signs all over the country.

53 | INNOVATIONS | Can This Ski Area Go All-Green?

One ski area owner is working on the first all-electric snow groomer.

55 | RETROSPECTIVE | Giving Meaning to Mountains

How the Abenaki named many of the mountains we ski today.

61 | GREEN MOUNTAIN CALENDAR

64 | FLASHBACK | 100 Years of Carnivals

This year marks the 100th year of Middlebury College’s Winter Carnival.

THIS PAGE:

COVER: José Darias, head coach of the Mad River Glen freeski team, kicks into spring at Sugarbush Resort. Photo by Jeb Wallace-Brodeur

Snowboard star Zeb Powell gets a selfie with Miles Fallon during the Red Bull Slide-In Tour at Stratton.

Photo by Brian Nevins/Red Bull Content

Time for Change

Vermont is 94 % white and nation-wide, the demographics for skiing and riding remain 88.7 % white. Why is it taking so long to change?

There was a time when skiing wasn’t necessarily expensive or exclusive, it was just what kids in Vermont did after school.

Many of Vermont’s 251 towns had rope-tows or community hills where the rides up were cheap, if not free, and school programs helped ensure that every kid who wanted to had access to gear.

That’s how Bobby Roberts learned to ski in Stowe, as he explains in “Culture Shifters,” on p. 36, and how that led him into the ski industry and becoming a leader in the community.

Some of those school programs are still around and while only a few of the community ski hills remain (as we’ve written about in past issues), more and more backyard rope tows are popping up.

But for those who didn’t (and don’t) live in Vermont and don’t have access to gear or car rides, skiing and riding have remained sports largely for rich, white folks—the demographics don’t lie. And that is a shame, in the most literal sense of the word.

This winter marks 50 years since The National Brotherhood of Skiers gathered its clubs together in Aspen to address issues that were (and are) unique to the Black skiing population. It also marks the third year that Burton has held its Culture Shifters event.

While more and more organizations are working to change the dynamic, it’s up to each of us to make our sports more accessible and more welcoming to all. —Lisa

Lynn, Editor

CONTRIBUTORS

p. 30

Kim Brown has skied all Vermont ski areas as well as many private rope tows, something he writes about in this issue. Brown has penned The Ski Bum Corner for The Stowe Reporter since 1985. He also provides architectural services from his Waterbury Center home.

p. 14

Elsie Lynn Parini

is a writer, designer and all-around Swiss Army Knife for her family’s business, The Addison Independent.

Winter play includes finding sweet pow with her husband Oliver and young kids at the Middlebury Snow Bowl or at Cochran’s.

p. 57

Rich Holschuh chairs the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs and is a Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Elnu Abenaki. Holschuh is founder and co-director of the Atowi Project and resides in Wantastegok (Brattleboro).

VT SKI RIDE +

EDITORIAL

Publisher Angelo Lynn angelo@vtskiandride.com

Editor/Co-Publisher Lisa Lynn editor@vtskiandride.com

Creative Director David Pollard

Contributing

Editors: Dan Egan, David Goodman, Ali Kaukas, Brian Mohr, Lindsay Selin, Doug Stewart, Jeb Wallace-Brodeur

ADVERTISING SALES & DISTRIBUTION

For general advertising and media kits: lisa.lynn@vtsports.com | 802-388-4944

Greg Meulemans greg@vtskiandride.com

Dave Honeywell dave_golfhouse@madriver.com

Wilkie Bushby wilkie@vtskiandride.com

Circulation & Distribution Manager: Sadie Messenger subscribe@vtskiandride.com

HEADQUARTERS

VT SKI+RIDE is published four times a year by Addison Press Inc., 58 Maple Street, Middlebury, VT 05753 VT SKI+RIDE print subscriptions are available for $60 (U.S.) per year. Digital subcriptions are free. Subscribe at vtskiandride.com. What’s New at VTSKIANDRIDE.COM?

. GET THE NEWS FIRST Sign up for our e-newsletter for breaking news and deals, contests and more.

LOG ON to see videos and stories that you won’t find in print.

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE Don’t miss an issue—read our free digital edition and find back issues at vtskiandride.com

JOIN US Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

THE BIGGEST CHAMPIONS BEGAN AT THE BEAST

TAKE YOUR SKILLS TO THE TOP AND SKI WITH KILLINGTON’S FIRST OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST, DONNA WEINBRECHT

Mogul Camp with Donna Weinbrecht, February 4-5, 2023 and March 4-5, 2023

Women’s Camp with Donna Weinbrecht, February 11-12, 2023 March 11-12, 202

Register at killington.com/lessons

FIRST TRACKS

WHAT’S NEW AT SKI AREAS AROUND VERMONT, AND BEYOND.

Fondue is Back

ANOTHER CHANCE TO SEE THE

By the time you read this, Mikaela Shiffrin is likely to have entered the history books as not only the greatest ski racer of all time (GOAT), but one of the winningest athletes in history. On January 10th, the Burke Mountain Academy grad matched Lindsay Vonn’s record of 82 World Cup wins. She also earned enough points to win the slalom World Cup for the season. Even before she broke Ingemar Stenmark’s record of 86 World Cup wins, Shiffrin’s win rate (82 wins out of 233 events), puts her ahead of sports greats Novak Djokovic, Ingemar Stenmark, Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federe, Tiger Woods, Lindsey Voon and Jack Nicklaus, as calculated by NBC Sports. There may be another chance to see Shiffrin in Vermont. Ski racing’s governing body, the FIS has announced the Stifel HERoic World Cup will return to Killington next November 25-26, 2023 for slalom and GS races. The following weekend (Dec. 2-3), the women’s alpine tech team (slalom and GS) will travel to a new venue at Mont Tremblant, Quebec.

GRAPHIC ARTS

Stop by the Vermont Ski & Snowboard Museum in Stowe to catch the new exhibit of work by West Rupert native Scott Lenhardt. He’s best known for doing over 55 graphics for Burton Snowboards. Lenhardt did his first Burton graphic in 1995 while in college and over 25 years later he’s still at it. He has also designed for Phish, Nike, Adidas and others.

One of the classic Alpine dishes imported to ski towns, fondue has weathered Covid social distancing, the gluten-free movement and concerned cardiologists. Now, warm pots of gooey melted cheese are popping back up in ski town restaurants around the Green Mountains. One of the most innovative locales? The newly renovated Hermitage Inn near Mount Snow is offering fondue in heated gondola cars. The gondolas have been refurbished with wood floors, leather banquettes and chandeliers and the fondue is served with house-made venison meatballs, smoked sausage and the classic cornichons. Other places to find authentic fondues? Stowe has an entire restaurant, Fondue by Heinz, devoted to the dish (with meat, seafood and chocolate fondue options). At Chez Henri, the classic bistro just off the slopes at Sugarbush, Frenchman Henri Borel (now 96 and still presiding over meals) serves what he calls “A Vermont fondue;” mixing Vermont cheddar with the classic Swiss cheese, with a pinch of garlic. All served with chunks of crusty French bread, of course.

G.O.A.T.

Southern Vermont’s New Hut

There’s a new remote backcountry hut in Southern Vermont that you can pretty much only get to by skis or snowshoes in the winter. The Vermont Huts Association opened the Grout Pond Hut for reservations in early January. The site is just off the Catamount Trail in an area of the Green Mountain National Forest about 10 miles east of Arlington that’s closed to motorized traffic. The hut is set up for year-round use with a propane stove for heat and a propane-fueled stovetop for cooking. It comes complete with pots, pans and utensils (but no running water) and has bunks and mattress pads for up to 10 guests and a small solar system (which may not power much in the winter). There’s an outhouse that’s shared with other campers. Rates start at $75 per night (regardless of group size) for summer weeknights and go up to $155 for weekend nights in the winter. It’s about a mile ski or snowshoe in from the parking area, but there’s little elevation gain. More at vermonthuts.org.

NEW GLADES IN BRANDON

Brandon Gap, the site of the first sanctioned ski glades on National Forest Service land, has a new gladed zone. Located just above the Chittenden Brook hut (part of the Vermont Huts system), the northeast-facing zone starts off a yet-unnamed peak at 2,900 feet and descends 900 feet of vertical. One line has been cut with a skin track, thanks to a group of dedicated volunteers with the Ridgeline Outdoor Collective, the organization that worked with officials of the Green Mountain National Forest to cut Brandon’s first glades. The new zone is more remote than others in the area and located at the end of a two-mile tour up the plowed National Forest Road 45, which parallels Chittenden Brook.

A BLUEPRINT FOR BACKCOUNTRY SKI ZONES

Vermont was the first state in the nation to develop sanctioned glades (at Brandon Gap) on National Forest land. Now, skiers, recreation organizations like the Catamount Trail Association and state land managers are putting the finishing touches on the Vermont Backcountry Ski Handbook The project, which has been underway for a number of years, is designed to help skiers understand the concerns of public and private land managers, while at the same time communicating to land managers how to manage land for backcountry skiing in a way that complements forest management and protects the forest ecology. The handbook covers natural resource and social considerations and shows how to build partnerships with public and private land managers. It also examines how to delineate backcountry zones, and outlines the process for implementation and construction. It’s a complete how-to guide for creating high quality, sustainable backcountry ski terrain. The guide was developed with input from the Vermont’s Dept. of Forest, Parks, & Recreation; Vermont’s Dept.of Fish & Wildlife, and the U.S. Forest Service.

The new backcountry hut at Grout Pond is accessible only by skis or snowshoes in winter.

Photo Credit: Lindsay Selin

This Job Comes With A Season Pass and Lodging.

By

Say you are managing a ski area and you have to find housing for 250 seasonal employees, or more, each winter. Where do you put them?

That’s the question ski areas in mountain towns everywhere are facing. In Vermont, where the unemployment rate often dips below 2.5% and the number of short-term rental units has nearly doubled in three years, the challenge is particularly acute. In 2015, just over 1,000 homes statewide were listed as short-term rentals, according to AirDNA. At the end of 2022, there were more than 11,000.

According to Foothold Technology, Vermont is now the fourth least-affordable state for renters and, its study shows, the average renter here earns $16 an hour. That means they need to work 1.4 jobs — more than just full time — to keep their housing costs at or below 30% of their income.

On top of that, in 2019, Vermont’s rental vacancy rate dropped to an all-time low of

3.4%, roughly half of what it had been in 2010. At the same time, the median rental rate crept up to $985.

“Housing has been an issue that we have been working through for years, but this year with our increase in pay we are reaching 100% staffing levels in most positions,” says Sugarbush Resort general manager John Hammond.” Minimum wage at Sugarbush is now $15 an hour. “With these high staffing levels and the reduction in the number of seasonal rentals available we are reaching a tipping point in being able to staff the resort,” Hammond said.

Currently Sugarbush Resort hires approximately 160 international seasonal employees, many whom come on the limitedtime J1 visa program, as well 50 domestic employees. Nearly all require housing during winter months. During the 2022/23 season, the resort housed 212 employees in various inns and lodges. In coming years, the resort

In an effort to attract and keep seasonal workers, ski areas are

investing in new properties and getting

creative with older ones.

Lisa Lynn

Ski areas have gotten creative about recruiting workers. Sugarbush (top) rewards locals who rent to resort employees in its Tenants for Turns program. Killington, (below) provides internships for Castleton College students. Still, more employee housing is needed.

COURTESY SUGARBUSH

SKI TOWN LIFE

estimates it will need to house up to 250.

In 2017, Sugarbush launched its Tenants for Turns program, rewarding local homeowners who apply to rent to Sugarbush employees with lift ticket vouchers or a $100 season pass. But even with those incentives, Mad River Valley rents are often higher than many resort workers are able to pay.

“I looked into Tenants for Turns,” says Michael Kozinski, a lift operator at the resort. “In the end, the best I could do with Tenants for Turns was $300 a month more than employee housing. Now, I share the Christmas Tree Inn with 29 other workers, many from South America. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had and my Spanish is improving,” he says.

Now, the Alterra-owned resort is embarking on one of the most ambitious workforce housing projects the state has seen. On January 3, Sugarbush submitted two sets of applications to the Town of Warren Development Review Board seeking approval to redevelop the former Rosita’s Restaurant and three of the four so called “Sugar Cube” parcels to house Sugarbush Resort employees.

The Rosita’s project hopes to include a four-story apartment building with 16 studio apartments along with four floors of congregate living. The congregate living units include a total of 176 single occupancy bedrooms with shared living, dining, kitchen, bathroom, and laundry

facilities.

The Sugar Cube project is looking at rebuilding three existing single-family dwellings. The redevelopment plan includes one 2-bedroom, one 4-bedroom and one 6-bedroom single family dwelling.  “Workforce housing has been in short supply in the Mad River Valley for a long time. We believe these projects will support the resort’s

Sugarbush has applied to put in a four-story building with 16 studio apartments and 176 single-occupancy bedrooms with shared living space.

employee housing needs for many years to come,” Hammond said in a statement.

Sugarbush is not alone. Killington fills approximately 1,800 jobs each winter and has been working with Castleton College, which has a campus at the mountain, to provide internships. In 2018, the resort bought the 39-room Mendon Mountainview Lodge and in the spring of 2022, Killington also purchased the 90-room Hillside Inn. Combined, both locations can house about 300 resort employees.

Around Vermont, resorts are looking for creative ways to find beds for their employees.

Vail Resorts recently announced it hoped to close on property in Ludlow where it plans to make a $1 million investment in long-term sustainable housing for its Okemo Mountain Resort employees. The new site, just a mile from the resort, would be developed to house 30 resort workers.

In Manchester, Stratton Mountain Resort has contracted with two more motels—the Depot Street Econolodge and Chalet Travelodge— to provide a total of 53 beds. Those properties would then open back up for public bookings in the off-season.

Smuggler’s Notch Resort hired 75 international student workers this season, many from South America. But when it came time to book the condos that have been used in the past, the resort realized many of these had become short term rentals. Instead, the ski resort turned to Johnson State College, where the nearby campus had empty dorm rooms.

“We’ve seen a decline in college-age student enrollment that’s been happening for well over 10, 15 years,” Michele Whitmore, dean of students at NVU-Johnson told VTDigger. “And certainly, Covid did not help with that.” The resort now pays the college $3,000 per employee per season and charges the workers $125 a week to cover their room, board and transportation. Like many resorts, Smuggler’s Notch also offers their seasonal workers season passes, free equipment rentals, and access to all the resort amenities.

As ski areas have raised their wages (minimum wage at Vail Resortsowned Stowe, Okemo and Mount Snow is now $20 an hour) and begun offering housing, it’s put pressure on other ski town businesses as well.

Chris Karr, who owns six restaurants in Killington and employs 150 people during the peak ski season, has started offering employees housing in nearby Rutland at a rate of $100 a week. “We can put an ad out that says we’re looking for staff and we’re fortunate if we get an application,” Karr told The Mountain Times “As soon as we put in that we have lodging options for people, the emails blow up.” Nearby, the Woodstock Inn houses 85 employees and is looking to add more.

Around Vermont, towns are also looking at solutions to the housing shortage, including raising taxes on or limiting short-term rentals. Burlington has limited short-term rentals to owner-occupied properties. In Woodstock, landlords can host no more than 6 short-term rentals a year, outside of foliage season. Killington, which has more than 600 short-term rentals, has required landlords to register their rental properties. Statewide, a short-term rental bill has yet to pass the legislature. But 2023 may bring new efforts to do so.

Until then, ski areas will keep looking for workers—and places for them to stay. u

Skiing Around The Mountain

By Elsie Lynn Parini

side and worked its way around the mountain. It was trial by error, but eventually he finished — with the help of townspeople, willing students and family members. I’m one of three sons, and we were all pressed into service at various times. He did this out of the absolute pure love of relating to the land,” Beeken says. “He sniffed out routes with a special feeling.”

Dr. Beeken was a medical doctor who taught at the University of Vermont. He wanted the trail to be more than just recreation, so he founded the Camel’s Hump Challenge as a benefit event. Early on in the event’s history, Dr. Beeken’s wife, Ruth, developed Alzheimer’s Disease so the Camel’s Hump Challenge focused its efforts on raising funds and awareness for Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementia.

“The fundraising efforts were mighty modest at the beginning,” Bruce recalls. “It was sort of an old-school, rag-tag kind of event. It was very joyful.”

It started with wool sweaters, knickers, wooden skis and a spirit of adventure.

According to Bruce Beeken, that’s how his late father, Dr. Warren Beeken, established a trail circumnavigating Camel’s Hump.

“That’s the gear we had, so that’s what we used,” Bruce Beeken recalls. Sure, fiberglass skis and Gore-Tex were around, but Dr. Beeken (who was in his 60s by the time he was cutting the trail) didn’t see a need to upgrade from his original gear.

The first weekend in February, backcountry skiers and splitboarders set out to ski that trail for the 36th running of the Camel’s Hump Challenge — a rigorous wilderness ski touring experience where backcountry skiers traverse the perimeter of Camel’s Hump, a rigorous 13- to 15-mile loop.

“Back in the 1980s my father moved to Richmond and cast his eyes on Camel’s Hump,” says Bruce, who now lives in Bristol and makes custom craft furniture with his business partner, Jeff Parsons, as part of Beeken Parsons. “My dad developed a trail that started on the Huntington

The event stays small for several reasons including the small, private parking lot used at the start of the trail in Huntington, risk management and the variability of the snowpack.

This year, registration for the Camel’s Hump Challenge was expanded to 90 participants and has more than 50 people on the waitlist.

“We filled up in just a handful of days,” said Rob Backlund of Lincoln, who’s been an organizer of the event for seven years. “It’s a really good problem to have.” The event has personal meaning for Backlund: his mother, who taught him to ski, developed early onset Alzheimer’s and died a few years ago.

“This event is skiing for something more than skiing,” he continued. “It’s not a race; it’s not timed. It’s just a chance to go out and be challenged, to be social and to have fun.”

To be clear, this is a challenge. It’s somewhere between 13 to 15 miles and takes 6-8 hours, typically. Participants need to be “comfortable and competent on skis,” says Backlund. “There are some descents where

One of

the

most

challenging

backcountry

events

of the season doesn’t go up or down a mountain, it goes

around Camel’s Hump on a route a local doctor created—

and for a good cause.

The Camel’s Hunp Challenge starts and finishes at a private barn where warm soup and cold beer await the finishers of the 13-mile loop..

PHOTO TOP BY COURTESY CAMEL’S HUMP CHALLENGE; BOTTOM BY OLIVER PARINI

you have to go a certain way… and the trail is tight through the forest.”

But the rewards are grand: “The trail is really a series of moments and they change,” muses Beeken, who’s done the challenge 25 times. “There’s a dramatic change of forest type and land history as you go clockwise from the west side to the north side… There’s a very intimate, fairly old, stand of yellow and white birch… A walk along a boney spine… tunnels of evergreens… cabin-sized chunks of stone… An extraordinary series of connected beaver flows… And a pure birch stand — the regeneration from a fire — where if there’s any sun to be had it’s just magic; absolutely fantastic.”

The event ends where it starts — at a barn on a classic Vermont field. A fire, soup, sandwiches and refreshments are waiting for all participants who come together and celebrate. A group of volunteer ski patrollers from Mad River Glen sweeps the trail.

Backlund is part of a “new guard” of organizers who have helped take the event online and boost participation and fundraising goals. And it’s working.

“We were struggling to raise $30,000 seven years ago,” Backlund said. “This year our goal is $81,000.”

“This event has the highest per capita fundraising of any event we host here in Vermont,” Jenna Johnson of the Vermont chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association said. “With

THE CAMEL’S HUMP CHALLENGE: SKIING FOR ALZHEIMERS

Consider training and signing up for next year’s Camel’s Hump Challenge or supporting one of the skiers or teams doing it. “There are over 13,000 Vermonters age 65 and older living with Alzheimer’s and over 26,000 caregivers who provide a total of 37 million hours of unpaid care,” says Jenna Johnson, development manager of the Vermont Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. The funds raised through the Camel’s Hump Challenge support the education programs and support groups that are offered free of charge here in the state. “Events like this challenge not only bring our community together through an activity that is woven into the fabric of our culture, but also provide a space for those who are impacted by Alzheimer’s and other dementia to do what they love in support of a cause,” she says. For more information and to donate: tinyurl.com/AlzheimerSk i, or contact Jenna Johnson jmjohnson@alz. org, 802-316-3839, ext. 8015.

around 90 skiers, the Challenge collectively raised over $94,000 in 2022. This is an incredible number and 100% of donations stay in the state of Vermont.”

“Through this growth period, it’s still all about maintaining a genuine experience rooted in tradition, the camaraderie that comes from doing something difficult for whatever reason you believe in, and maintaining this valuable trail,” Bruce Beeken says. “The Camel’s Hump Challenge is just one of those authentic and good things.” u

FAMILY FUN STARTS HERE.

www. middleburysnowbowl.com

From the bunny slope to black diamond trails, the Snowbowl promises downhill fun for all ages and all levels—at affordable prices.

There’s never been a better time to deep dive into the possibilities. To think outside the box. To get back to your dreams...

This eleven bedroom historic inn is ready for your imagination. Continue operations. Make it a family retreat. In the heart of Ripton Village, only a few minutes from nordic and alpine skiing, and with Middlebury just a short drive away... dream big.

A Time for Sugar and Snow

As the spring snow turns to corn, Vermont’s sweetest season gets underway. The time-honored process of making syrup is evolving but you can still visit sugarhouses and get a taste.

By Lisa Lynn

In the long days of spring, when the snow freezes and then softens to corn by day and and the bite of winter seems to have lost its grip, something magical happens in Vermont. Tucked away in the hills and hollows, you’ll see small wooden shacks where streams of smoke rise and hover in the treetops. A sweet smell takes over the valleys.

Sugaring season came early this year with some sugar houses seeing the sap flow during the wild weather fluctuations in January. Vermonters take advantage of every opportunity there is to produce the liquid gold. The Green Mountain State produces nearly 50 percent of all the maple syrup made in the U.S. – a record 2.2 million gallons in 2020. Much of that is done by smaller mom -and-pop operations.

Around the Green Mountains, sugarers (as they are called) will be watching for the days to

warm to the 40s or higher and the nights to drop below freezing. The same weather that makes snow crystallize into the corn snow that’s a skier’s favorite spring harvest, helps the sap run in the maples. The freeze/thaw cycle builds up pressure that forces the sap out of the trees via the tap holes, without harming the trees.

At Cochran’s Ski Area in Richmond, the whole Cochran clan often shows up at the sugarhouse next door to the alpine ski area to make their Slopeside Syrup. At the Trapp Family Lodge, the cross-country trails are riddled with tubing which pours to a sugar shack you can ski to. At the annual Sugar Slalom, the timehonored ritual that has sent ski racers young and old, Olympians and wannabes down the slopes at Stowe since 1939, buckets of warm sap are poured onto cold snow where they crystallize into a tasty taffy treat.

Evaporators boil the sap down until it turns into thick sweep syrup (top). Members of the Cochran ski racing clan founded UnTapped and pour “sugar on snow” for racers at Stowe’s annual Sugar Slalom.

PHOTO BY ANGELO LYNN

Sugaring is a time-honored tradition. Each spring many sugarhouses open their doors to visitors during Maple Open House Weekends (March 25-26 and April 1-2 in 2023) so you can watch the process. Check the website, vermontmaple. org, to find out which sugarhouses are participating.

Some host sugar on snow parties where hot syrup is poured over clean cold snow. It hardens into a taffy-like substance that people scoop up with popsicle sticks or spoons. Pickles and doughnuts are customary side dishes.

At the Robb Family Farm, a mile down a dirt road near Brattleboro, the Robbs have been sugaring for more than five generations. “My husbands’ family moved here from Guilford, Vermont in 1907,” says Helen Robb, 78. She and her husband Charlie, age 86, spend the summers and falls cutting and hauling the wood they will need to fuel the sugarhouse’s firebox, They tend to the sap lines on their 360 acres and come spring, with the help of their son and a neighbor, produce around 1,400 gallons. They sell the syrup, as well as maple candies, creams and other products at their farm store, as well as online, and give tours of the operation whenever the sugaring is in process.

“We feel it’s important to show people how Vermont maple syrup is actually made,” says Helen Robb. “A lot of people think the syrup comes right out the trees.”

“In the old days, we’d have to trudge out into the snow to collect the sap in the buckets,” she recalls. Snowshoes, skis and even jack jumpers (a single ski with a seat mounted to it) helped sugarers get through the deep snow in the woods.

Today, like most sugarers, the Robbs have mazes of plastic tubes in the woods and the excess sap flows from the trees down to gathering tanks. “With the old buckets, wind and snow would dry out the tap holes so in addition to it being easier, we have a longer season when the sap flows now, too,” she notes. “It used to be that sugaring didn’t really get underway until Town Meeting Day,”

At this stage, the sap still looks clear – much like water – and has only 2% sugar. Many operations now use reverse osmosis machines to draw down the water content. To make a gallon of syrup takes 40 gallons of sap.

The sap then goes into an evaporator — stainless steel pans set over an ‘arch’ or firebox. It’s loaded with fire wood and cranked to a high heat. There, the sap is boiled until the

VERMONT MAPLE PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

These cookies use no processed sugar, just pure Vermont maple syrup as the sweetener. They are also loaded with protein thanks to the chunky peanut butter.

1/2 cup of butter softened (1 stick)

3/4 cup pure Vermont maple syrup (dark or very dark to add flavor)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 cup peanut butter, preferably natural chunky peanut butter

1-3/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 375°F.  Using mixer, combine butter and syrup until and creamy.  Add vanilla extract, egg, and peanut butter and beat well.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda.  Gradually add the dry ingredients in batches, mixing before adding more.

Roll the dough into a ball the size of a ping pong ball and place on an ungreased baking sheet.  Press cookies with a fork each way to create crosshatch pattern. Bake for 15 minutes and let cool on the sheet before transferring to a rack to completely cool. Serve and enjoy! Recipe courtesy Vermont Maple Sugarers Association.

water begins to evaporate off. Sugarers skim the froth from the surface and wait until the sap begins to turn a warm golden color and thicken. At 219 degrees, the syrup is ready.

Like a fine wine, the quality, color and even the consistency of the syrup is dependent on its “terroir” to an extent and each batch gets taste-tested. It takes 40 years for a maple to produce sap for sugaring and some that have been around for 200 years. The soils, the weather, the freeze-thaw cycles all impact the syrup, as well as whether it is made at the start or toward the end of the spring flow. Earlier in the season, syrup tends to have a lighter color and taste. As the weather warms, it becomes darker and more robust.

It’s that coloration that you’ll see defined on the labels that say “Grade A: Golden, Amber, Dark, and Very Dark.”

In order to be sold at retail, the syrup has to be clear and not hazy. The darker syrup adds flavor in recipes for cookies or dressing. It is delicious drizzled over vegetables or sweet

potatoes. The lighter, more delicate ones work nicely as sauces on ice cream or yogurts or mixed into drinks in place of sugar. “We always give samples when people visit and it’s fun to watch the expressions on their faces when they see how different the flavors can be,” says Robb.

Lake Morey Resort HP 10-2022 VTskiRIDE_HZ.psd

“I tend to like the Grade A Amber on my pancakes and I’ll use the darker stuff for cookies,” says Helen Robb. “But my husband likes the robust so we are a split household. But if that’s our only split between us, I guess that’s a good thing,” she says with a laugh. u

At the Trapp Family Lodge Outdoor Center, you can ski or snowshoe to the sugarhouse, left, where maple syrup is made from the thousands of maples that line the ski area trails. At Maple Open House Weekends (March 25-26 and April 1-2) you can visit sugarhouses across the state and decide which type of syrup (Golden to Very Dark) you prefer.

COURTESY PHOTOS

Signmakers of the Times

to the Mad River Valley. He settled in Vermont “dirt poor,” he recalled, and landed a gig as a ski patroller at Sugarbush in 1971. In his spare time, he started “messing around with woodworking” and making signs for the ski area.

By 1973, Peggy graduated and moved to Waitsfield to be with Sparky. They had spent the previous couple of summers living in the Mad River Valley working in restaurants and painting houses. They had also started what would become Wood & Wood Sign Systems. Sparky’s interest in woodworking came naturally. In college, he would grab piles of scrap wood and start carving, sometimes imitating album covers and at other times “just inventing things.”

“Architectural elements just wow me,” Sparky said of his early inspiration, adding that he and Peggy became “addicted to doing things in public spaces.”

When Killington rebuilt its K1 lodge, they called them. When Saskadena 6 changed its name last year and rebranded, they called them. In fact, go to almost any ski resort in Vermont, and in many parts of the nation, and you’ll see unique, creative signs designed by Wood & Wood Sign Systems of Waitsfield.

The company that was founded by Sparky and Peggy Potter has been creating the signs you will see at the entrances to ski areas for 50 years. In Vermont, you’ll see their signs at Sugarbush, Stowe, Stratton, Killington, Okemo, Jay Peak, Burke, Magic, Bolton Valley, Trapp Family Lodge,  and Mad River Glen, of course.

Wood & Wood also counts clients from Vail, Colo. to Jackson Hole, Wyo.; Heavenly Valley in California to The Canyons in Park City, Utah. Their signs are at The Breakers Resort in Florida, the Olympic complex in Lake Placid, as well as at colleges, restaurants, inns and hotels, retail shops and major outlets like the South Street Seaport in New York City.

And it all started with skiing. Peggy and Sparky Potter met at St. Lawrence University in upstate New York when he was a senior and she a freshman in 1969. Both enjoyed skiing, and after a sojourn in Aspen, Sparky came back

“The art work involved in making signs is the main motivation,” Sparky told Vermont Business Magazine “I realized then that art can be anything in three dimensions. Art is the balance, the scale of things…. But art is also the impulse…. There has to be some degree of personality that goes beyond bland; you’ve got to make it memorable.”

That desire to make things memorable came in part from their own sense of adventure. Sparky and Peggy, along with local residents Charlie Brown and Irwing ‘Rush’ Rushworth, formed a company in the early 1970s called Dream On Productions, a multimedia venture that married ski photos with music and images in a slideshow that served as entertainment at après-ski hot spots throughout Vermont and then across the country.

During those 10 years, Peggy was the goto coordinator in charge of staging and music. “I was the music editor and coordinated the scripts and did some of the photography. But mostly I did logistics. I organized models and coordinated with ad agencies and figured out locations for shoots... Dream On took us all over the world. We didn’t have children then, so it was like being paid to do something that was more fun than you could ever imagine.”

Dream On Productions became a hot commodity featuring hour and a half to two-

From their home in the Mad River Valley, Sparky and Peggy Potter’s Wood & Wood Sign Systems has been making signs for ski resorts around the country for 50 years. By Angelo Lynn

They first came to the Mad River Valley to ski, and then built a business here. Sparky and Peggy Potter helped change signs from twodimensional objects into 3D works of art. Today, most of the ski area signs you see around Vermont (and many around the country), such as the new ones at Saskadena Six, are made by their Waitsfield company, Wood & Wood Sign Systems.

COURTESY PHOTOS

hour entertainment acts, showing not only skiing at resorts, but extreme skiing at places like Silverton, Colorado, as well as shots from Mt. Everest to the jungles of Borneo. It became an act, the Potters recalled, that took them to major ski resorts throughout the nation and around the world. The work was not only fun, but got them pretigious gigs with Princess Hotels and Norwegian Cruise Lines.

It also paved their way to the 1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid where Wood & Wood Sign Designs was hired by CocaCola to do numerous signs to promote their sponsorship, while the Dream On Productions team was contracted to shoot the games for various clients. That gig included covering the U.S. vs. Soviet hockey game in which the American “dream team” claimed the gold medal in an unforgettable match. After the Olympics, they toured with the U.S. hockey team showing their production to high acclaim wherever they went. “It was so much fun,” Sparky recalled, “so much fun.”

During these years, Peggy and Sparky built, on their own, their “Pottersville” compound — a hodgepodge of buildings that are intricately built, carved and painted in a style that J.R.R. Tolkein would love, complete with thatchedlike roofs in Tudor style.

There, they raised their three children: Charlotte, Grace and Lee, each artists in their own right. Charlotte became an artist, working in glass blowing; Grace made

When ski areas build or rebrand, Wood & Wood gets a call. Their Waitsfield operation has created signs for Vail Resorts, Spruce Peak at Stowe, The Canyons in Utah, and Maine’s rebranded Pleasant Mountain (formerly Shawnee Peak), as well as dozens of others. Most recently, they created the distinctive sign for Killington’s new K1 Lodge.

COURTESY PHOTOS

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME.

Featuring: Marvin Signature Modern Multi-Slide Doors

her career as a singer-songwriter and major recording artist; and Lee is a poet and graphic artist. After Charlotte and Grace were born, the travel involved in Dream On Productions was too much. Peggy set it aside and began teaching piano at their Potterville home campus and also painting beautiful wooden bowls which, after starting her own firm, sold at venues across the country as well as in Switzerland, Italy and Japan.

Sparky, meanwhile, was expanding his craft. He had always had an affinity for wood and became particularly interested in painting and woodburning designs into wood

dimensional and unimaginative. But the 1970s changed that. New sign makers, like Sparky and his team, began to create a new niche: signs as public art.

“I didn’t set out to do that, but when I did something pretty cool, and it got out to the public, I started getting comments. The response attracted me,” Sparky told Vermont Business Magazine. “I was among the first group of people who attempted to take the sign industry in a different direction.”

But it didn’t come easy.

On his journey from “hippie to creative businessman,” Sparky said he had to learn how to estimate jobs, how to do the books, learn about contracts and how to make things safe. The first five years, he said, were pretty much “nonprofit years,” but Peg‘s waitress job in those early years could pay the bills. In the meantime, he said, “I kept making mistake after mistake. It was all just part of my learning curve.”“

Throughout it all, he’s kept his imaginative spark at the center of his business. A prominent sign inside his 10-person headquarters off Route 100 in Waitsfield proclaims the firm’s mission: “Designing is like dreaming when you are awake. Designing is the most delightful thing that human minds can do together. From the first spark of a concept to the evolution of something unique, the process is the reward. Enjoy.”

A Ski Family Homestead

By Lisa Lynn

Long before they were “skiers” they dreamed of being a ski family with a home in Southern Vermont. Here’s how that dream came true.

This rustic ranch home was built using both antique timbers and new ones, treated to look weathered. PHOTO BY SUZANNE BAUER

W“When I first met my husband, Stuart said to me, ‘You know, we’re going to be a ski family and one day we’re going to own a home in Vermont,” Nicole Kovensky recalls. “It was like a mission of his—which was sort of funny because he didn’t grew up skiing. But he went on ski trips in high schools and he’d see these dads with kids skiing between their legs and and he would think ‘I want to be that dad.’”

Flash forward a few decades and the Kovenskys are that quintessential ski family. Their three boys, now ages 19, 22 and 24, all ski and two of them actually helped to build their dream ski home in Vermont.

“When the kids were little, we made it clear: on winter weekends we go to Vermont. If you have parties at home or games to go to on winter weekends, we decline. If we have parties on weekends, we decline,” says Nicole. “Skiing is just what we do every winter weekend.”

At first “going to Vermont” meant driving three hours from the New York suburbs and packing into a condo at Mount Snow. But as the children grew and the condo often overflowed with friends and relatives, the Kovenskys began looking for someplace to build. “We heard about this property that was coming up for sale,” recalls Nicole, who had been working in interior design. “It was wooded but I could see the potential.” They bought the 60-acre lot and set out to find a builder.

“We loved The Last Chair restaurant in West Dover and how homey it felt with all the barnboard” she recalls. The couple found out that the restaurant had been done by Wadsworth Design Build, out of Jamaica. The firm also operates Vermont Barns and specializes in finding and reusing antique barn boards, old posts and beams.

“We sat down with Rob (Wadsworth) and told him what we needed,” Nicole says. The firm then took care of everything from preparing the site to the architectural design to the building and finish work.

“We needed fill for an area and Rob told us that we could either buy fill or, for about the same cost, we could dig it from the property and we’d have a pond,” says Nicole. Hunter Excavating of Londonderry then dug them a pond. Nearly all the stonework in the home –which includes three massive fireplaces—was done using stones found on the property. Most of the craftsmen who worked with Wadsworth were local artisans. “The masonry was doneby

The family loved the feel of old barns but wanted an open space, uninterrupted by posts, where everyone could be a part of the conversation. The basement pool room, top, uses an antique sleigh mounted with bulbs as a light fixture. The open main floor features weather beams. The Kovenskys wanted a huge mud room with ample lockers and space for ski gear and boots, right.

PHOTOS BY PETER SMITH

A professional interior designer with NK Designs, home owner Nicole Kovensky found many of the items in the house at salvage yards and flea markets but fell in love with these Restoration Hardware “springy” stools for the kitchen. Stone from the property was used in the kitchen and chimneys. Nicole designed the long table from locally sourced wood and had it custom built by a local furniture maker, Chris Ericson. The del (bottom right) features plush couches where the next generation can hang out, play games and read.

PHOTOS BY PETER SMITH

Wayne Adams of Londonderry, and Dante Garganese, of Iron it Out in Springfield, made the metal stairs and outdoor railings while Wilmington’s John Gerding created the fireplace surround and outdoor railings,” Nicole says. “The fun thing is that all three of my boys got to work with the tradesmen on the house during the summers: Ryan worked with Vermont Barns for two seasons and helped install the siding on the garage, Jack was an assistant to the guys on everything from building stair treads to installing beams and Luke, who was just 13 at the time, got to shadow the team and help out with some sanding and manual labor. ”

The couple wanted an open feel to the home so decided against the traditional post-and-beam structure of a barn. Yet Wadsworth was able to achieve the feel of an old barn by using old beams and cladding the ceilings in antique timbers. Sliding doors were made with barnboard. “They were also wizards at taking new wood and making it look and feel old,” Nicole says. “The builders gave me this amazing list of where all the wood came from and all the different barns and where they had stood,” Nicole says. The walls, literally tell their stories.

The Kovenskys knew exactly how they would use the house. “Our goal was to have this be a family compound – someplace our kids and relatives would always come back to,” says Nicole. Because of that, they wanted big open spaces where large groups could congregate and plenty of places where friends and relatives could bunk down.

“We purposely designed it where the kitchen is open to the dining area that’s open to a little area that has four chairs and a sort of round Ottoman table because that’s where everyone is always playing Monopoly or backgammon. That’s also open to the living room with the fireplace and the bar. So if you’re cooking, or sitting by a fire, or at the bar, or playing games, everyone can still be part of the conversation. That was important to us,” she says.

The house is roughly 7,000 square feet and has a total of six bedrooms but can sleep up to 20. “In the basement, we created a girl’s section and a boy’s section so my cutie niece wouldn’t have to share a room with my boys,” says Nicole. The boys have a bunk room that has seven beds; five doubles and two singles. The “girls wing” has a queen and bunk beds. In

The Kovenskys (shown here on a way to Nicole’s brother’s wedding in West Dover) envisioned a family home where their three boys could bring friends, relatives could stay for the holidays and parties might last late into the night in the main section of the house. On the lowest level, a “boy’s wing” and a “girls wing” each feature bunk rooms (top left). With six total bedrooms, the house can sleep more than 20. In the master suite over the garage (right), the bed (below, left) faces a double-sided fireplace that hides a bathing area behind it. PHOTO THIS PAGE BY SUZANNE BAUER; BELOW AND LEFT BY PETER SMITH

between the two is a big open area with a pool table. Since the house is built into the hill, the basement has plenty of light and doors that open out to a patio with a firepit and hot tub.

Upstairs are three bedrooms with king beds and ensuite baths. While some families like to put their children over the garage, the Kovenskys decided they would take that space for themselves. “We knew as the kids got older that there might be parties that would go late in the main house so we wanted someplace apart for ourselves,” Nicole says.

In the space over the garage, they put a master bedroom. A two-sided gas-fired fireplace has a chimney that rises up to the cathedral ceiling in the middle of the room, hiding an open bathroom with a sitting area and tub on the far side. “We had stayed in a hotel somewhere that had an open bath and I really liked it,” Nicole remembers.

As a designer, perhaps the most fun part of completing the project for Nicole was finding the many antiques she integrated into the home. An antique rescue sled serves as a light fixture over the pool table. Old wooden signs decorate the walls in many rooms and in the pantry. “I scoured antique shops and salvage places and flea markets for everything from furniture to door fixtures,” she says.

She found a big old sink and old doors from Vermont Salvage at White River Junction. An old painted window that she found at a flea market was mounted on a wall with a mirror behind it. The art throughout the house is done by local Vermont artists.

While the house started out as a ski house, it’s become a year-round home for the Kovenskys. The builder—Rob Wadsworth, his wife Betsy, —have become their good friends. “We had a party here for them and all who worked on the house when it was done,” Nicole says. “This is a house that deserves to be shared.”

Nicole now bases her design work out of Vermont and the family spends nearly as much time there in the summer, hiking, biking and boating on nearby lakes and reservoirs.

“After, we gather on the screened in porch and make pizzas in the wood-fired pizza oven that’s out there,” says Nicole. “My sons all wanted to go to college at places where they would be close enough so they could drive here, too,” she says.

If bringing family together was a goal in designing and building this family ski home in Vermont, the Kovensky’s mission – one that Stuart dreamed of as a high schooler – was accomplished. u

“If you are cooking or playing games or hanging out by the fire, you can all be part of the conversation. That was important.”

The Backyard

Rope tows, once the life-blood of small ski areas, are popping up in backyards and private ski areas around Vermont. This writer went on a quest to find and ski them all.

By Kim Brown

Revival

Night laps at the Barnebakken, the DIY rope tow that photographers Brian Morh and Emily Johnson put up at their home in Moretown. PHOTO BY BRIAN MORH/EMBERPHOTO

Ask any old Vermonter about their early days as skiers and they will almost always tell you that learning to ride a rope tow was an integral part of growing up. You will also hear: “When I was a young kid, every town had a tow.” Those days are long gone, or maybe not so much. Ascutney, St. Albans, Randolph Center, Bellows Falls, and Brattleboro – okay the latter has a T-bar — and Ascutney have thriving little community-run ski areas where rope tows play a starring role.

Let’s not forget South Stratford, in service since the 1960s. During a visit on a Sunday afternoon, I got to talking with the volunteer liftie who allowed that the previous summer they had to replace the tow rope. Seems that cows graze on Harrington Hill in the summer and they love scratching against the rope. “Wears it out, don’t you know,” he said.

I’m not sure Epic Pass resorts have that issue.

Tyler Wilkinson-Ray’s 2013 film United We Ski paid homage to many of the classic small ski areas in Vermont like Hard’ack Hill up in Saint Albans, The Lyndonville Outing Club, Cochran’s Ski Area in Richmond and maybe the most classic of all – Northeast Slopes in East Corinth. But also starring in the film were some private little backyard tows hidden away in Vermont’s hills.

During the pandemic winter of 2021, inspired in no small part by that film, I set off on a quixotic quest to visit as many of these backyard Vermont ski areas as I could.

As this journey began, I was warned by my friend Lisa Gosselin Lynn (editor of this magazine) that it could be an endless task. “You won’t find them all,” she predicted. She was so right.

Every inquiry made of long-time ski friends seemed to deliver yet another rumor of a hidden tow: The Masters racer from Mount Snow with the rope tow in his yard; the two other people from Norwich with rope tows built for their kids. Tucked up at the top of a long dirt road in Duxbury yet another hidden spot. In Stowe, a newly installed tow. Near

Burke Mountain yet another rope tow squirreled away behind a ski house usually occupied by patrollers. Huntington and Warren have families that love to ski in their backyards. If you can find just the correct side road in Roxbury Gap, you might notice a rope tow servicing a modest 100 feet of vertical; yet for those willing to skin up from there, your reward will be 500 more vertical feet of open glades.

Within a few weeks of undertaking this quest, I had already located and identified more than 25 private ski spots. Now, I have not been able to ski all of them (yet)—an early March melt cut the journey short. But between visiting all 22 public ski areas associated with the Vermont Ski Areas Association and successfully ferreting out of a whole bevy of backyard spots, I was pulled up 37 different lift-served hills in Vermont in the winter of 2021/22 —which just might be some kind of record.

Accessing the backyard tows was the real challenge. Folks with these tows tend to be pretty private (we’ll use first names only in this story). They don’t like to attract attention from entities like the Vermont Tram Board, so the lifts need to be free (otherwise subject to all sorts of laws and insurance regulations) and off the radar. But it didn’t take long to learn that folks with rope tows know one another. Get talking to one person with a tow and you will learn about others. It turns out that every county in Vermont other than Grand Isle has at least one private tow.

Private Idahos

One of the first backyard tows I was privileged to ski was the Tar Bowl in Jericho. The face of the Tar Bowl is steep and protected by the dense cover of mature coniferous trees. Paul built the tow back in 2020 for himself and the kids. Just a very simple drive powered by an electric motor. But he also peppered the forest with low energy LED lights and at night it is a spectacular place to hang out. As Paul said, “We just did a Wednesday night ski. The neighbors show up with their kids each week and do loop after loop down a couple of gladed runs.”

If you ski Tar Bowl, you will visit the Whiskey Box for some trail magic. Affixed to a tree trunk alongside one run is a beautifully crafted small cabinet with its door secured by the rear cluster from a bike. Inside are treats for all – Dr. McGillicuddy’s and whiskey for those of age, an over-sized jar of M & M’s for the younger set.

The next visit was to Herbert Hill in Huntington. In the open meadow near the rope tow is a beautiful 16-foot x 16-foot cabin. In the gabled end, a diamond shaped window peeks at the Summit Ridge of Mount Mansfield. While the author was skiing laps, the owner, Michael, was sledding, and his son was riding his snowboard. On Sunday afternoons, as many as 30 neighbors arrive for a session of lift-served sliding on skis, boards and sleds.

As the owner, a retired Burlington police officer, said: “My wife and I talked it over a few years ago when the kids were still young. We figured we could spend a bunch of money on a family trip to Disneyworld or maybe we could do something that would be fun year after year

Northeast Slopes claims the oldest and fastest rope town in the country. It’s been serving local skiers since the tiny ski area opened on what was a hill farm in East Corinth in 1936. Lift tickets are $15.

right at home.” They built the tow.

For the most part, rope tows are pretty affordable. A ski trip with two kids for a week to Utah can easily cost at least $6,000 to $7,000. You can install your own tow for about that same number. If you are a good tinkerer, you can also build one for even less.

There are a couple of outliers in the world of backyard skiing. A couple of ski racing enthusiasts built an amazing private ski area at their remote estate near Woodstock, complete with a Poma lift, a high end grooming machine and an elegant summit cabin that sleeps dozens.

Generational Playgrounds

A benefit to visiting these backyard ski areas was discovering hidden places along the backroads of Vermont. In Moretown, up a long dirt road photographers Brian Mohr and Emily Johnson (who wrote about their tow for this magazine in 2018 ), welcome friends and family to the Barnebakken where their two daughters learned to ski.

One of the more memorable journeys was to the McKusker homestead perched at the top of Rochester Gap at 2,000 feet above sea level. Angus McCusker is very well-known in the ski world as one of the founders of the Ridgeline Outdoor Collective – an organization behind some pioneering backcountry recreation initiatives, including the glades at Brandon Gap and the proposed state-long Velomont mountain bike trail.

But Angus is also passionate about backyard rope tows. He has three in his family forest. From the “baby tow” in the front yard you can see the trails of Killington and even Ascutney and New Hampshire’s White Mountains. The baby tow, which by the way is a misnomer, is powered by a garden tractor which does double duty in the summer mowing the highland meadows.

Off to the side is the kid’s tow – so-called because it can only transport those weighing less than 80 pounds. There is a third very long, very steep tow that services black diamond terrain. The day before I arrived, Zeb Powell, Maggie Leon and a few other pro riders on the famed Red Bull Tour paid a visit, fresh from their huge event at Stratton. When promoters told the riders they were headed for a backyard rope tow in the Vermont woods, the pros grumbled. Until the vans arrived and the

The Tow Pros

WANT TO PUT UP A TOW IN YOUR BACKYARD? HERE’S WHO TO CALL. BY KATY SAVAGE

When Mike Orlando bought property in Danby with a large hill and 30 acres three years ago, he had a plan. “I knew right away it would be great to snowboard,” he said. Orlando, who rides at Killington Resort, spent three years cutting trees and building about 25 hiking and snowboarding trails as well as a zipline on his property. He uses it as a place to camp with his son and 6-year-old daughter. “I pretty much have a mini resort at my house,” he said.

Orlando lives full time in Toms River, New Jersey where he owns a cell phone company. He comes to Vermont about twice a month and snowboards every chance he gets. “I would live in the woods if I could, so for me, it’s fun,” he notes. After hiking the trails in the winter, two years ago, he had a better idea — he installed a 600-foot rope tow with lights for night riding. “We ride with headlamps,” he said. “It’s sick.”

Orlando’s rope tow was installed by Towpro Lifts LLC, owned by Will Mayo and Kyle Roy of New Hampshire and Maine. The cost of a 300-foot rope tow starts at about $7,000. Towpro has a variety of rope tows, starting with the Backyard 2.0, a small portable one that runs on 240V single phase power or a 5kw generator. It can carry three to five people uphill at once.

Vermont has more Towpro systems than any other state. “We have about 20 rope tows in the Greens now, and more being installed this year,” Mayo said. All are privately owned.

“The people of Vermont are awesome and they recognize the need to be outside and in nature,” Mayo said. “They appreciate being able to use their own land and Vermont is full of hills.” Vermont’s landowner liability laws also protect landowners who open their land for public access, as long as they don’t charge a fee.

Darkside Snowboards in Killington just got a Towpro for free after winning a giveaway through Bomb Hole Podcast. Mayo installed the 150-foot rope tow at Darkside’s Darkpark in October. “We picked the winner out of a hat,” Mayo said. “We couldn’t have picked a better group.”

Mayo customized Darkside’s tow to be able to carry three people at once. Darkside will turn it on for events throughout the winter.

“We’ll be able to host bigger events and hopefully we’ll get more people to come out because there really isn’t anywhere to ride at night,” said Tucker Zink, the general manager at Darkside. Darkpark is open for free 4-10 p.m. every night as long as there’s natural snow.

“There’s not much to do at night if you’re a kid in Killington,” Zink said. “It gives them something to do.”

Mayo’s company started as a way for him to get up a hill faster without having to use snowmobiles. It gained popularity through the pandemic-fueled desire to be outside and stay at home. He said Vermont is the ideal place for his systems. “It gets snow, it’s got hills and there are people who have wonderful, beautiful properties with lots of land and some disposable income to spend on this kind of thing,” Mayo said.

At Huntington’s Herbert Hill, a summit cabin complete with a sleeping loft stands at the top of the private tow built by a retired Burlington police officer. PHOTO BY KIM BROWN

VERMONT’S ROPE TOW HALL OF FAME

The oldest lift, the fastest lift, the lift that’s served the most Olympians — Vermont’s small ski areas can lay claim to all these firsts.

FIRST SKI LIFT IN THE U.S.

The first uphill ski lift in the U.S. was put up in 1934 on Gilbert’s Hill in Woodstock. The story goes that three New Yorkers who were staying at The White Cupboard Inn in Woodstock were complaining about having to walk uphill to ski down. According to The New England Historical Society, “Wallace “Bunny” Bertram, the Dartmouth ski team’s first coach, had been telling the New Yorkers about a tow rope he’d seen in Canada. He was in the room when they complained. Bertram asked the inn’s owners, the Royces, if they had a Montgomery Ward or Sears catalog, explaining he wanted to figure out how much it would cost to build a rope tow. In the meantime, Inn owners Elizabeth and Robert Royce got the New Yorkers to put down some seed money, bought some pulleys, an 1,800-foot rope, and Model T Ford engine to power it on Gilbert’s Hill. They charged $1 a day, or 50 cents for night skiing. But the tow broke down frequently.”

A year later, Bunny Bertram leased Gilbert’s Hill before Royce could renew his lease. Bertram figured out the mechanical problems and launched Suicide 6, the first ski area in the U.S. That old rope tow no longer exists, but Saskadena 6 (as the ski area has been renamed) is going strong.

OLDEST (AND FASTEST) ROPE TOW

In 1936, a skier named George Eaton spied a snowy field along Route 25 in East Corinth and based on a handshake agreement with the farmer who owned it, secured the land, put up a rope tow and opened Northeast Slopes. That tow is now housed in a red barn that was salvaged from the set of the 1980s cult film Beetlejuice and powered by a 1973 Dodge Dart. “Yankee ingenuity, that’s how we keep it going,” says Wade Pierson, who is following in his father’s footsteps in managing the ski hill. At the top, the summit shack has seen summer duty as the outhouse at the local ballfield. The ski area, now 35 acres, has made upgrades and added a second rope tow, a T-bar and night skiing. Lift tickets are $15 and leather work gloves (essential for grasping the rope as it whizzes by at speeds up to 27 mph) are sold at the base for $8.

THE TOW THAT TRAINS OLYMPIANS

When Ginny and Mickey Cochran put up a rope tow behind their farmhouse in Richmond in 1961 so their kids could learn to ski, they could not have foretold what would happen. Since then, generations of Cochrans – children, grandchildren, cousins and more – have learned to ski there with more than a dozen going on to compete at the World Cup or Olympic level, including Ryan Cochran Siegle, who won silver in Beijing, 50 years after his mother, Barbara Ann, won an Olympic gold. “Riding surface lifts lets skiers spend more time with their skis on the snow and helps you get a feel for it,” says Jesse Hunt, the Vermonter who served as head coach for the U.S. Alpine Team for many years. Today, Cochran’s is a non-profit and their annual Rope-A-Thon helps generate funds so the ski area can offer lessons and access to children, regardless of their ability to pay. The 2022 Rope-A-Thon goal was 4 million vertical feet and 8,000 runs. They fell a little short but with 5,000 runs, 80 participants and 2,000 donors the tiny ski area still raised $147,212.

boards came out. As Angus McCusker put it, “We finally had to boot them out of the woods when it got too dark to see – or shoot video.”

I arrived at the McCuskers with a couple of friends who happen to own a modest Poma lift in Norwich, Vermont located at Grill Hill. We lapped the trail alongside the lower tow as the late afternoon sun faded into rosy twilight. The conditions were great, in no small part due to McCusker having bartered with the Trapp Family Lodge’s Outdoor Center for a used trail groomer.

Once built, rope tows seem to get passed on to new generations. Up north of Greensboro, one family-owned ski area has been pulling local skiers uphill since 1961. One of their three tows (powered the oldfashioned way by a diesel tractor drive), delivers you 1,200 feet up the hill in 40 seconds- about 20 mph. A dozen routes down beckon, some gentle, some black-diamond steep. On a Sunday, there were easily 25 or 30 people doing laps.

Pete is the guy that keeps the lifts running and the trails trimmed. Noting that everyone was on the fast tow, I asked Pete when and if the other tows run. Pete smiled and pointed across the meadow to a tow off

in the distance. “See that one?” he asked. “It’s kind of steep and not for everyone, but we fire it up for the big powder days.”

Best of the best might just have been a spot that can be seen by the eagle-eyed as you head south along I-89. This one is located on a farm and it was started by Ross’ grandfather. A horse farmer and one of many generations of blacksmiths, the grandfather once hosted summer riding camps. Since winters are quiet times, he thought it would be fun to start a ski camp, so he installed a rope tow and bunked the kids from down south in the barn. Four generations of the family have learned to ski or ride on this set of slopes.

The 1,500-foot-long tow rope can deliver you to the top as fast as you dare. In the old days, a power takeoff on a tractor spun the rope but as, my host Ross put it, “Used to slip all the time and the more folks on the rope the more it bogged down.” (This is a common ailment with backyard tows.) “So, we came up with the idea of using a come-along to hook the front wheel of a car to the bull wheel. Worked good until the car died. So, then we got this Econoline Van. This was a big upgrade because it had cruise control! The more people on the tow line the more gas runs to the engine. Works great!”

Ross grinned and said, “We can run the line at 60 m.p.h.” No one has gone up the hill at that speed, but you can bet that farmers being farmers (and perhaps occasional car racers), someone has gone up that hill at better than 30 m.p.h.

Towing to Win

Reports of the demise of the rope tow are premature as it appears that Vermont is still home to at least 50, and by all reports that number is growing. Backyard rope tows are all about kids. Little kids love to ski and ride – the faster you get up the hill the quicker you get down.

Growing up in Burlington, Billy Kidd and I shared shared the joy of skiing off the steep face of the 9th tee at the Burlington Country Club and climbing up over and over to do it again. Kidd won his first race at one of those long-gone rope tows at the Underhill Snow Bowl. He went on to claim an Olympic silver medal in 1964 as America’s first male alpine medal-winner. Diane Roffe, Director of Junior Racing at Burke Mountain Academy, went from lapping a tow at tiny Brantling Ski Center near Rochester, N.Y. to capturing multiple Olympic medals. Today, she still talks about going lap after lap on the tow as a little kid.

At Cochran’s Ski Area, rope tows have built up the leg strength of dozens of World Cup racers and Olympians over the years. The Cochran’s tow is still going strong. And, like Northeast Slopes and the other ski areas mentioned at the beginning of this article, it’s open to the public. u

At the McCusker homestead in Rochester, there are not only three rope tows, there’s also a DIY ski jump which Red Bull athlete Miles Fallon made good use of.

PHOTO BY BRIAN NEVINS/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

Culture

Fifty years ago, the National Brotherhood of Skiers event. What’s changing for Black skiers and riders?

Shifting

gathered in Aspen for their first Summit. Recently, Burton organized its own ‘Culture Shifters’

These Vermont skiers and riders share their perspective. By Lisa Lynn

X Games medalist Zeb Powell (right) and music producer Tweek Tunes at Stratton during the Red Bull Slide In Tour. PHOTO BY BRIAN NEVINS/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

On a warm day last spring, Zeb Powell – Stratton Mountain School alumn, X Games medalist, sponsored rider for Burton and Red Bull, and part-time Burlington, Vt., resident — got to co-host a party in Aspen, Colorado.

The guest list was a who’s-who of snowboarders, artists, and musicians: Rapper A$AP Ferg and DJ T.J. Mizell were there, along with hip hop artist Miranda Writes. Freestyle rider Rob Roethler and aspiring Olympic snowboarder Brolin Mawejje — a former refugee who hopes to represent Uganda at the next Olympics — attended, too.

Co-hosting the event dedicated to diversity were long-time sports commentator and TV host Selema Masekala and George Burton Carpenter, son of Burton Snowboard founders Jake and Donna Carpenter and a special projects manager at the company.

“I never get sappy but this is necessary,” T.J. Mizell said of the event. “My brother Jesse and I spent our whole lives feeling different on the mountain. Feeling like we always had something to prove being Black kids on snowboards. I always made it a point to pull down my mask in the lift line so that people knew there was someone there representing for our people. I didn’t have to do that this week. At 50-plus deep, the presence was so strong. My face still hurts from smiling so much! This is really the beginning of something so beautiful and so important. We’re doing our part to make sure the generations to come won’t ever feel not at home on these mountains.”

All told, the event, Burton’s second “Culture Shifters” event brought together nearly four dozen to celebrate diversity on snow. The third annual event is scheduled again for this April. “Where you come from and who you are is how you ride,” Masekala told Snowboard Magazine. “It’s how you dress. It’s how you express yourself on the mountain. The idea with Culture Shifters is to expand the landscape of what that looks like.”

“It all started because T.J. Mizell is big into snowboarding. A few years earlier we did this collab with him and A$AP Ferg,” said Zeb Powell. “We were so touched by them and the energy they brought, plus them being out there, and realizing there’s not much of us around. It was like the stars aligning with this new culture and this new era. I was so inspired by the way they rode.”

For Powell, who has redefined snowboarding with fluid, gymnastic moves like his now-famous coffin slide that won him gold in the 2020 X Games Knuckle Huck, that says a lot. That run launched Powell, who was 20 at the time, into stardom. Now, as a recognizable face of snowboarding, he’s inspiring a new generation.

“I think the stereotype is ‘we don’t snowboard,” he said as he was waiting to board a plane to Aspen for this year’s X Games. “I’ve heard that before a lot. Now, I’m hearing ‘Hey I saw you in the X Games, I saw you do cool shit. I’m here because of you now.’ “

Burton’s George Burton Carpenter echoed that: “It would be misguided to think that the reason our slopes are homogenous is just an

Ijoined my National Brotherhood of Skiers club, the Thrill Seekers, in 1995 or 1996 after a ski trip to Smuggler’s Notch,” Sean Cottman says. “My cousin knew I skied so he put me in the car and said ‘You’re going to meet my ski club.’ We got to Smuggs and there were three other people I knew who had been trying to get me to go skiing and then I met 40 others, of which I maybe knew half. That’s how I joined the Thrill Seekers Ski Club.

I liked skiing but it was isolating unless I was going up with a known group. Often, it would be just me. You just wouldn’t see other people of color. People weren’t bad to me. No one was like ‘you shouldn’t be here.’ But when you’re 20-something, being the only Black guy in the lodge just didn’t feel good.

Fast forward now, 30 years later, and that’s not the case. I ski all the time by myself. I look around the mountains and I see a lot of diversity here.

Back in 2000, 14 of us rented a house in Rutland. Three of those people ended up buying their own houses there so when I go up, I always run into people I’ve skied with before, Black people who are not in NBS ski clubs but who are just out skiing. That level of change is extraordinarily meaningful. But one of the problems I’m seeing from the NBS and a club-building standpoint is that the kids and the grandkids of NBS founders don’t think they need the clubs to go skiing anymore. They’re like ‘I can go to VRBO and rent a condo.’

If anyone under 30 doesn’t see a need for the Black ski clubs, that means that we’ve been somewhat successful in integrating the sport such that Black and brown people don’t feel that you have to come together to feel welcome.

Part of our existential problem is how do we show value to a younger generation? Especially when they think ‘I don’t have to hang out with all the Black skiers because I’m a skier and I’ve been accepted.’

Why is that important? Well, the Brotherhood is an organization of clubs and we’re all volunteers but the money we raise goes to helping more people get into the sport. We have our Olympic Scholarship

Fund, and that’s gone to help athletes like Andre Horton and his sister Suki make the U.S. Team.

One of the reasons they retired at 24 or 25 was the cost. I remember Andre writing a letter saying ‘I’m 25 years old. I live with my mother and I can’t afford a car. I graduated from college and I just can’t afford to keep doing this.’ Back then, there really was not much in outside sponsorship dollars.

My club, Thrill Seekers, has been around for 32 years and we’ve been helping kids get into the sport. We partnered with Vail Resorts and have a five-week program at Hunter that’s 95 percent paid for. The cost starts at just $75 per kid (depending on what parents can afford) and includes the bus ride, skiing, instruction and rentals. Another NBS club, the Nubian Empire out of Albany, is doing a similar program bringing 52 kids to Mount Snow this season.

With help from the Warm Jackets Fund, we’ve also been operating a program taking kids from the city to Hidden Valley, in New Jersey, a youth-only ski and winter sports area started by Schone Malliet, that’s the home of the National Winter Activity Center. Their goal is to introduce 10,000 kids to snowsports annually, thanks to an endowment fund.

Part of getting more Black folks into skiing is just this: make it accessible and extend an invitation. Right now, our Thrill Seeker club is hoping to plan a Winterfest gathering for 2023/24 in either Vermont or Maine. We’d love to come to Vermont.

[First Person] Sean Cottman New York, NY

Sean Cottman is the Eastern Region VP of the National Brotherhood of Skiers (NBS) and a member of the Thrill Seekers ski club of New York.

GAINING ACCESS

More and more organizations are working to make skiing accessible to populations that have been under-represented and to help competitors reach the highest echelons. While there are many organizations that focus on providing access to outdoor activities of all types, the following three have a focus on snowsports and on Vermont.

freestyle rider LJ Henriquez, 14, and Stratton Mountain School alpine ski racer Michael Bronson Culver, 16, who placed first at a Junior National Slalom at Sunday River in December 2022. To find out more about the National Brotherhood of Skiers and its clubs. Nbs.org

Chill Foundation

Unlikely Riders

The National Brotherhood of Skiers

More than just an organization that brings together its Black ski clubs, the National Brotherhood of Skiers has been leading the conversation on Black ski culture for nearly five decades. Ten NBS-affiliated clubs operate out of major cities throughout the Northeast. Their

events, such as the Thrill Seeker’s Winterfest, bring together Black skiers and riders for a weekend of celebrating on snow. The NBS and its affiliated clubs have also helped support 45 aspiring young athletes. Team NBS’s current athletes include several at Vermont academies, including Okemo Mountain School’s

Burton founder Jake Burton Carpenter and his wife Donna helped launch the Chill Foundation in 1995 at Bolton Valley Resort. The Burlington-based organization started with a focus on getting inner-city youth access to snowboarding. It has since expanded to include other board sports and now has programs around the U.S. and in 7 other countries. In 2021, it served 369 youth, of which 39% were white or non-Hispanic, 22% Hispanic and 20% Black. Chill.com

A recent addition to the snowsports landscape in the Green Mountains, Unlikely Riders works “to encourage all Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to engage in fun, radical joy and offers support to find healing through the mountains.” The group has held weekly gatherings for BIPOC skiers at riders at Cochran’s Ski Area in Richmond as well as events at other ski areas around the state. In 2021, the organization worked with Burlington retailer Outdoor Gear Exchange and other Vermont-based companies to send out 90 “Welcome to Winter” care packages (which include things like Darn Tough socks, Gordini Gloves and UnTapped Maple products) to community members. Unlikely Riders also helped provide 360 days on snow at 19 ski area at no cost, as well as gear and clothing. Unlikelyriders.com

accessibility problem. There is also a cultural belief that snowboarding is for white people. As a leader in the industry, we can help change that. By inviting people who influence global culture into our world, we can shift this perception – hence the name ‘Culture Shifters’.”

Fifty years ago this spring, an even bigger party came to Aspen. In 1972 , the leaders of two ski clubs, Ben Finley of the Four Seasons West Ski Club of Los Angeles and Art Clay, Trip Director of the SnoGophers Ski Club of Chicago got together and started to plan what is now known as “The Summit.” They would invite 13 ski clubs from around the country “to identify and discuss problems and subjects which were unique to the Black skiing population, ski and socialize,” said Finley. More than 350 skiers showed up from clubs ranging from New York to Seattle.

“It was the time of the Black Power movement, and we were very uncomfortable telling Aspen that we were bringing a large Black contingent to town,” Finley said in an interview with Outside “In the months before we gathered, each individual club made their own reservations, thereby staying invisible to the Aspen Chamber of Commerce.” Two days before the event, though, the Brotherhood sent out a press release. The governor of Colorado put the National Guard on standby in case of violence.

The Summit became a giant party, with dancing in the streets, ski races and liquor sponsorships. Early on, one club showed up in

At Burton’s Culture Shifters event in Aspen, Zeb Powell (in orange, below) welcomed more than 40 new friends. Unlikely Riders (above) sets up BIPOC outings in Vermont.

First Person Mirna Valerio Williston, Vt.

An ultra-distance runner, blogger and sought-after public speaker, Mirna Valerio is the author of the memoir, A Beautiful Work in Progress and the blog, Fat Girls Running.  In 2020, she moved to Vermont. She learned to ski in 2021 and is an ambassador for brands such as Lululemon,  LL Bean, Leki, Coalition Skis and Vail Resorts.

As a kid in New York City, I knew about gymnastics because that is what I saw when I watched the Olympics. I knew about Nadia Comaneci and I wanted to be a gymnast. I wasn’t really aware of skiing until I went to middle school and my school offered ski trips, but we couldn’t afford them. That’s when I sort of became aware of the sport and I knew that it was just not affordable.

Later, when I began working as a Spanish teacher at these very wealthy schools, I’d hear kids say that’s what they did on the weekends or that’s how they “wintered;” ‘We went to Park City” or “We went to Vail.” Those places and skiing were all

just kind of vague, nebulous ideas in my head.

I became curious as an adult and got to try skiing a few times in 2010 or 2011 in New Jersey. And then I got to try cross-country skiing in Aspen – I think that’s the whitest thing I’ve ever done.  It was uphill and at altitude and exhausting.

It wasn’t until I moved to Vermont 10 years later and took a lesson at Sugarbush in January 2021 that I began really pursuing it. Jen Gurecki from Coalition Snow, a brand of women’s skis,  reached out and got me skis.  The next year,  I was offered a season pass and a series of lessons at Bolton Valley Resort with a great instructor there, Guy Williamson and he gave me a whole plan for progression.

I got so strong and confident that by the end of the season, I could say: “I’m a skier!” I love trail running and mountains and this gave me another way of moving my body.

Vail Resorts contracted with me to be an ambassador so now I’m skiing at Okemo and Stowe and taking lessons there too. I’m addicted and I’m skiing every time I can. I keep my ski gear in the car and every time I go someplace for a speaking engagement, I look to see where I can ski.

Because of the work I do, I have the fortune of usually not having to pay for anything. Skiing to me now means that all you need is representation and

pajamas and the Pajama Party was born. The event grew and moved to different mountains. In 1993, nearly 6,000 came to The Summit in Vail. On February 4-11, the National Brotherhood of Skiers held the 50th anniversary in Vail. The theme: Soul on Snow.

More than just a party to unite Black ski clubs, the National Brotherhood of Skiers took on the mission of helping Black skiers and riders reach the top of their sport. It established an Olympic scholarship fund and began to send promising skiers and riders to ski academies. One of the NBS’s most successful recruits, Andre Horton, a downhiller from Anchorage, Alaska, was on the U.S. Team from 2001 to 2004 and was the first Black person to stand at the top of the podium at an FIS race in Europe. In 2004, he was fourth in the National Championships in Super G. Bode Miller was 12th. This year, another NBS athlete, Bronson Culver, a Stratton Mountain School student, won his first FIS race.

What has changed in the roughly 50 years between the National Brotherhood of Skiers’ first Summit and the Burton-sponsored Culture Shifters?

Ask some and they will say “A lot.” Ask others and they will say “Not much.” Nearly every Black skier or rider will say, “Not enough.”

some kind of access. But if you don’t have $800 at the beginning of the season to get a pass are you really going to go?

I know there were probably programs when I was growing up but I didn’t know about them and it always felt inaccessible. The more I learn about programs like SOS Outreach, which is based in Colorado and operates in the West and Midwest, the more I realize the sport is becoming more accessible.

I think the more people see people like me and – I hate to use the word ‘influencer’— and other ‘possibility models’ showing that ‘this is for you too’ the more people will become curious and want to try it. Now you can go to places like Big Snow in New Jersey where you can take a bus there from the city and get a 2-hour ticket, complimentary lesson, and rentals for under $90.

For the most part, people in Vermont have been really welcoming and supportive. I was at one mountain with a lot of ‘ski bros’ – guys who have their own culture and think everyone’s a “Jerry” but I tried to ignore them. That’s a dying culture. You can’t be exclusive and not want anyone else in the sport because that’s not going to allow ski mountains to be what they are and grow.

Just seeing other Black and brown people on snow is making a difference. My mom, who is 65 has never, ever, been interested in skiing. But now she has repeatedly said to me in the past few months that she wants to try skiing. She’s the most city, urban, Brooklyn person ever. She said: “I want to know what it feels like to sliiiiide down the mountain.” I think we’re going to have to make that happen this year.

The numbers speak for themselves: 88.7% of snowsports participants at ski areas are white, according to the 2021/22 survey by the National Ski Areas Association: “Only 1.5 % identify as Black or African American. Asian or Pacific Islanders account for 5.7%, Latino and those of Hispanic origin make up 5.5%. Native, indigenous and “other” make up the remaining 2.2%.”

Nationally, roughly 14% of the population identifies as Black, 18.9% as Hispanic and 6.1% as Asian. Indigenous or ative (Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Alaskan, American) account for less than 2%. In Vermont, a state which is 94% white and where fewer than 8,000 residents (1.5%) identified as Black on the 2020 census, those skier numbers are likely even smaller.

In 2019, the trade organization Ski Vermont sat down with members of regional NBS-affiliated clubs to see what Vermont’s ski areas could do better. Among the recommendations: hire more people of color in prominent positions, show more people of color in marketing communications, and invite groups to the mountains. Following that meeting, Magic Mountain became the first ski area to appoint a Black ski school director, Bobby Johnson — though Johnson no longer works there.

Perhaps the best-known Black voice in Vermont’s ski industry is that of Brian Hughes, the charismatic groomer formerly of Killington,

now of Middlebury Snow Bowl, who is known for his video snow reports, which often end with “Don’t litter. Don’t ever let anybody harsh your stoke. Come on out, have a great day so that others may ski. Peace.”

But as Hughes and others have noted, overt and inherent racism are still present, if not rampant: a word etched in the iced windows of a gondola car at Killington; a filmmaker and snowboarder who is refused service at a bar in the Northeast Kingdom. These are just two recent examples. Ask any Black skier or rider and there will be other examples of systemic racism in

[First Person] Bobby Roberts Stowe, Vt.

Ellerson ”Bobby” Roberts grew up in Stowe and worked in the ski industry before launching one of Stowe’s longestrunning and most popular night clubs, The Rusty Nail. He also helped relaunch the Stowe Winter Carnival in the 1970s. He is now a realtor with Mountain Associates and is at work on a memoir, The Black Snowflake.

Growing up in Stowe some 50 years ago I was the only Black kid in school. In fact, I think I might have been the first Black kid ever at the Stowe school. We’d been living in New York, and then Boston , where my mom started dating a man who was a chef and wanted to open a restaurant in Stowe. She decided it was better for me to go to school in Stowe than back in the ghetto in Boston so we moved.

I started to ski in seventh grade with Stowe Friday school program. Of course, being a little Black kid from the city, I didn’t have skis but people donated stuff and everybody was so kind to me. I was sort of like a novelty, because back then you have to understand that we didn’t have cable so we didn’t see Black people robbing stores or with guns. It was harder for my mom. She was a very pretty, Black single woman and I think a lot of women in town felt threatened by her. She was unhappy and left Stowe when she finally couldn’t take it anymore. I stayed and lived with friends while I finished school.

It was easier for me. It’s funny; I think the racism thing in towns like Stowe sometimes goes the opposite way. People try so hard for inclusion. I remember my first year in high school, I was voted class president. No one even knew me.

Being a good athlete helped. I was the goalie on the soccer team and one of the best players on the

Vermont’s ski towns, and both conscious and unconscious bias.

As Miguel Reda, the manager for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Burlington’s Outdoor Gear Exchange and a board member who leads an ongoing DEI workgroup with the Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance noted, “I went to the mountains over Martin Luther King weekend and the sad thing is people just think of this as a ski weekend, not as a weekend to honor a man who died combatting racism.”

If the culture is shifting, it’s a slow shift. u

basketball team. But I didn’t get to be a great skier because I was working on those two other sports and hoping for a college scholarship.

We were a Catholic family and I’d walk to church on Sundays and one day when it was like 20 below The Stowe Reporter ran a picture of me walking there. Maria Von Trapp saw it and thought ‘Here’s this poor Black kid having to walk to church every day and nobody ever picks them up.’ She was very Catholic and reached out and that’s how I got to know her. She gave me a summer job working at Trapp Family Lodge gift shop during high school.

It was only once I started showing interest in girls that stuff would start to come out. Really interesting people whom I thought were the nicest people ever would come out with excuses why I shouldn’t date their pretty blonde daughter, like “We want her to date a lot of people.” If you wanted to get close to someone, that just wasn’t allowed.

I saw what my mom had gone through and early on, decided that I was going to be an ambassador and the best kid I could be. I went to college at St. Michael’s and then came back to Stowe and got into the bar business, first running the door, then as a manager and part owner of The Baggy Knees night club.

That’s also when I really got into skiing. I hooked up with some crazy good skiers like Tom Silva and Alec Sparks. I was more into freestyle stuff and we’d see who could jump further and flip harder. The three of us ran the NASTAR program one year and after the races we’d do these Chinese downhills from the top of Spruce Peak.

One year, a local shop asked us to sell their demo skis. This was before demo days were really big. We got a big ugly Dodge Power Ranger van and filled it with skis and defective sweaters and hats that Donna Moriarty gave us and we’d drive around to all the colleges and say “Hey, here’s a pair of skis you can have for $75.” We did really well.

Then USA Century Skis out of Colorado hired me to sell their new Kevlar skis. I got the baddest van ever with the best sound system I could find. It was a really fun time but my goal then was to save some money for grad school at St. Michael’s College.

When I came back to Stowe at the end of the season, I’d planned to go back to my old role at The Baggy Knees. But when I got back, the job and the money they had promised me wasn’t there. I was pretty down when I ran into Marvin Gamerhoff at breakfast at McCarthy’s one day. He became my mentor and helped me start The Rusty Nail.

There were a lot of really good people in the ski business back then but there were also a lot who were from Austria and Germany and who, let’s say, may not have signed up for what was going on after World War II. Many white people from Europe were very cautious about letting others into their sphere. I definitely had some run-ins.

I could have been mad about everything and a protester but I wanted to be the best person I could be. From early on, I made a conscious choice that I wanted to be an ambassador.

I don’t know if it was the right thing. In retrospect, maybe because of my popularity and notoriety with The Rusty Nail I could have been a bigger voice for people of color. Now, I see things happening in Stowe and wonder if I should have done more.

A friend of mine here in Stowe who adopted a little Black girl reached out a few years ago because his daughter was facing bullying and racism. This was in 2021. Stowe had to start a racial advocacy group to deal with that and other incidents. I was like ‘Seriously? In this day and age?’ Racism is out there and with the polarization of politics, you see it a little bit more. I see myself as a pretty outgoing guy but there are definitely some places I don’t think I would go on vacation.

Now I’m seeing so many of the workers here from Jamaica and Ecuador and other places. I talk to them and many feel like they are ‘just help’ — here just because other people don’t want to do their jobs. I’d like to think that’s not Stowe – that a lot of that comes from people who come here from outside of town. You can have money but still have ignorance.

With

TheRiseand

ski mountaineering now an Olympic sport and uphill

The traffic up Mount Mansfield often starts well before dawn as locals get some social laps in before work.

PHOTO BY RYAN DARLOW

RiseofUphillSkiing

skiing taking off at resorts around the state, Vermont is riding a skimo wave.

By Abagael Giles

Additional reporting by Lisa Lynn

The Catamount Trail Association’s Green Mountain Skimo weekly series sends dozens of skiers uphill at Bolton Valley Resort.

PHOTO BY GREG MAINO/CTA

THE ORIGINAL SKI MOUNTAINEER: Hubert Schriebl

Decades before bands of skiers could be seen skinning up Stratton Mountain there were just one or two avid Austrians who would often wake before dawn, strap skins to their skis and head for the summit. Hubert Schriebl was one of them. “The equipment wasn’t so good back then,” he says with a laugh. “You’d get snow wedging up under your skins. The skis were heavy and it was work to go up.”

Schriebl grew up skiing and climbing Austria’s high Alpine peaks. He became a certified Austrian Ski and Mountain Guide and a member of the Austrian Alpine Club. While still in his 20s he joined five expeditions that helped to survey and map the Everest region in the Himalaya. He still holds the highaltitude surveying record, registered at 6,710 meters (22,015 feet).

“In true mountaineering you don’t race up the mountain because you don’t want to get to the top before everyone and have to wait for them while all sweaty and get cold,” he says.

At home in the Austrian Alps, Schriebl guided and he taught skiing in Lech in between his expeditions. In 1964, Schriebl was the lead guide for the Dutch Himalayan expedition that made the first ascent on Nepal’s Manaslu II, ascending to the summit at 24,000 ft.

In 1964, he came to Vermont’s Stratton Mountain Resort at the invitation of a fellow Austrian mountaineer, Emo Heinrich, who was Stratton’s first ski school director. “Emo and I would go for a tour or skin up the mountain and often we were the only ones out there – we were the crazy Austrians. Nobody else was doing this back then,” he says with a chuckle.

Gradually, Schriebl began to be joined by others and became an icon at the resort. “When I turned 70, I began to count my climbs to the top, cutting a notch in the railing at Hubert Haus after each one,” Schriebl says, referring to the lodge that was named for him on his 65th birthday.

The year he turned 70, Schriebl notched 100 climbs. A group of friends he would often skin with pitched in and bought him a pair of lightweight Black Diamond touring skis, the same ones he uses now, with Fritschi bindings. He is 87 now.

In the 17 years since, he’s made nearly 700 notches.  “Almost as many as Hank Aaron’s home runs,” he says with a chuckle.

“I see a lot of Olympic sports where I just shake my head—they seem sort of silly,” he says. “But skimo as an Olympic sport? That sounds like a good idea.”

Shortly after sunset, skiers gather in the growing dark in a parking lot at Bolton Valley Resort. Pulling packs and skis from their cars, they make small talk as they strap skins to their skis, shaking their hands and feet to ward off the cold. Somewhere, someone is playing the Grateful Dead from a small portable speaker. Headlamps bob.

Some folks are clad head-to-toe in tight, bright Lycra racing suits, their alpine touring boots clicking into skinny, feather-light skis. A few women are wearing purple and pink tutus. One guy is wearing a pair of beat-up jeans and leather boots. His skis have three-pin telemark bindings.

For those just getting into the sport, Bolton Valley’s rental center offers complete set-ups of touring ski gear by Dynafit or Burton splitboards as well as lessons and backcountry tours.

Eventually, the crew of about 50 skiers and splitboarders, lines up. A race organizer calls out the start and the ragtag crew moves as one up the gentle slope under the Wilderness lift. A few tutu-sporting folks on fat DPS touring skis straggle behind the rest.

The goal? To reach the summit as quickly as possible, remove your skins, tighten your boots, adjust your bindings, and ski down to the bottom. And then do it again. While it’s a race, it’s also about endurance; you can do anywhere from one to four laps or more.

This is the scene on any given Tuesday evening at the Green Mountain Skimo Citizen Race Series at Bolton Valley Resort, put on by the Catamount Trail Association.

AN UPHILL CULTURE

At ski areas around New England, uphill events like these – be they true ‘skimo’ races or just social uphill skins, are growing.

“Ski mountaineering is as old as skiing and it’s always been big in Europe,” says Hubert Schriebl, age 87. A certified Austrian mountain guide and renowned photographer, Schriebl came to Stratton in 1964 and soon he and then ski school director Emo Heinrich would “ski tour.” “Back then, we were the only ones really doing it,” says Schriebl. “We’d often head out after dark. On one full-moon night, we skinned and skied three mountains – Stratton, Magic, and Bromley – in one night. I hear more and more people are doing that and adding Okemo too,” he notes.

“Now, going up the mountain, it’s part of the culture here at Stratton. I see so many people skinning up with suuuper light boots and suuuper light skis,” Schriebl says, drawing out his Austrian accent. “Me? I still have my 12-year-old Black Diamonds and a very old pair of boots I bought in Innsbuck, years ago.“

This season, Stratton Mountain Resort started its own ski mountaineering series and its rental shops now include alpine touring gear and skis such as Rossignol’s Escaper 80 touring skis. “There’s a real culture of going uphill here,” says Robb Greer, the Director of Retail, Rental, and Guest Experience at Stratton Mountain Resort. “There are some days I’ll see more people skinning up than in the lift line.”

The ski resort is also known for several off-season uphill endurance events, including “29029 Everesting,” which challenges hikers to do 17 laps up the mountain (taking the gondola down), achieving the vertical gain in feet of Mt. Everest. Olympic medalist and World Cup cross-country ski racer Jessie Diggins makes it a practice of running up Stratton Mountain in the summer for training. .

“However, our new skimo race series isn’t about winning: we wanted this race to be fun,” says Brittni Coe Petry, who oversees events at Stratton. “We have prizes for ‘middle of the pack’ and it really doesn’t matter if you wear Lycra and are first or make it a social lap with friends.”

Greer, who lived in Montana and other western states before coming to Stratton, helped institute the weekday races after seeing similar events take off at other ski resorts. “We used to have beer-racing alpine race leagues at Bridger Bowl, Montana, then they started skimo races. Now, the skimo events draw even more people than the alpine races,” he says. “I love to skin; it’s healthy, it gets me outside and you can do it even when the snow conditions are not optimal,” he says.

Stratton, like many mountains, doesn’t charge for uphill access but does designate uphill routes and requires an uphill pass.

THE NEWEST OLYMPIC SPORT

Modern skimo racing with its Lycra suits, low-tech bindings and ultralight skis, has its origins in Europe. In the Alps, racers compete in multi-day epic tests of mountaineering skill, ascending and traversing massive mountains in avalanche terrain and foul weather.

Perhaps because of the influence of certain historic races, like the Patrouille des Glaciers, a ski mountaineering race organized by the Swiss Armed Forces, true skimo races are designed to be a test of skill and physical ability in the mountains. Skimo—or ski mountaineering— racing involves moving as fast as possible uphill and across varied terrain on randonnee skis using climbing skins.

Technically, a skimo race has to follow rules set forth by the International Ski Mountaineering Federation. The Bolton and Stratton series, like many races in New England, are best categorized as “uphill travel” races, rather than sanctioned skimo competitions. They are open to anyone who wants to participate and on any type of equipment.

THE DENIM GHOST: Milan Kubala

Seven years ago, Milan Kubala was about as far from donning a Spandex suit to run up a mountain on his skis as a person could be: he skied in his jeans and was proud of it.

A former professional tennis player and member of the Czech Republic national team, he moved to Vermont in 2004. Once here, he started a habit of skinning up Mount Mansfield before work on a pair of narrow fish-scale skis with metal edges, three-pin bindings and leather boots. “I’d go up and ski with my dog in my jeans,” he said. He’s been doing it for more than 15 years now.

Today, he’s a major advocate for the skimo community. He is the manager of the USA Skimo National Team and serves on the board and as the Athlete Advisory Committee chair.

A life-long athlete, Kubala became fascinated by the possibility of covering long distances by ski. He has skied the roughly 20 miles from Bolton Valley to Smugglers’ Notch in a day and completed other long tours in the state. “For me, skimo is about connecting to what skiing used to be in the old days—a really physically demanding sport,” he says. “We have some amazing possibilities here with the Catamount Trail.”

When he first started showing up to the Green Mountain Skimo Race Series in 2016, Kubala earned the nickname “The Denim Ghost” because he’d show up in jeans and then disappear so far off the front the other racers could barely see him. He also competed in the NE Rando series, which he won in three of the four years he competed.

At that Green Mountain Skimo series, Kubala met Waterbury-based triathlete and trainer John Spinney. The two started training together—and racing in their jeans. “We decided to show up in jeans to race at SkimoEast’s annual race at Mont Tremblant in 2017,” said Kubala. “We sewed some Dynafit patches to the back pockets. The sport is much more established in Canada and we really stuck out amid all of the speedsuits. We still didn’t really have skimo gear,” said Kubala. Kubala took second and the team ended up in the top 10, earning the attention of the regional Dynafit rep, a relationship that paved the way for sponsorship.

Kubala, 49, has been dedicated to promoting the sport and excited to see it in the Olympics. In 2020, he competed in the World Winter Games in Innsbruck for Team USA where he was ninth in the Master’s vertical race and 17th in the individual event. This spring he’s headed to the Worlds in Slovakia. Building an athlete base in the U.S. has been one of his goals. He now teaches “Uphill 1.0 to 3.0” at Bolton Valley Resort and also with Sunrise Mountain Guides. However, Kubala says, “I’d like to show people that you don’t have to have the lightest gear and be dressed in Lycra from head to toe to get out and do this,” he says. “Plus, there are real applications for backcountry touring and it’s a crazy workout.” —A.G

“There’s a real culture of uphill skiing here,” says Stratton local and photographer Hubert Schriebl.

Skimo racing in its purest form involves challenging racers to navigate mountainous terrain as fast as they can using skis and crampons.

A relatively small number of serious competitors (likely fewer than a thousand people across the United States) participate in sanctioned skimo races to earn points on the national and world circuits. In Vermont, most sanctioned races draw 30 to 40 competitors and have for the last ten years.

A former NCAA alpine racing coach, Jonathan Sheffetz has been racing skimo in Vermont since 2005 when he first entered Jay Peak’s Skimo Challenge. Once one of the state’s longest-running events, it was a grueling nine-mile race with 5,250 feet of climbing through moguls and off-piste terrain around the ski area.

By day, Sheffetz is an economic consultant who holds a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School and lives in Amherst, Mass. About ten years ago, he founded NE Rando Series, an annual five-race series across three New England States. He has also served as treasurer of the U.S. Ski Mountaineering Association and is passionate about the burgeoning Olympic sport. In 2017, the United States Ski

THE RECORD SETTER:

“Aaron Rice” is a name that’s often at the top of the results lists of the Green Mountain Skimo Citizen Race Series at Bolton Valley Resort. If that name is familiar, it might be because of Tyler Wilkinson-Ray’s film “2.5 Million,” which chronicled how in 2016 Rice broke Greg Hill’s record for the most uphill vertical skied in a year.

To put that in perspective, the vertical rise of Superstar, the trail at Killington where the women’s World Cup slalom races have been held is 1,171 feet. To reach two million vert, you’d have to skin up that trail more than four times a day, every day, for 365 days

At the time, Rice, then 28, was living in Utah, working in Little Cottonwood Canyon and traveling to remote parts the world such as the peaks of Patagonia in southern Argentina and Chile to log his vertical, often 5,000 to 12,000 feet a day.

Rice grew up in Massachusetts and it wasn’t until he came to University of Vermont as a freshman that he became interested in mountaineering. “I’d get up at dawn and go skin up, do some laps and be back for class by 9:30 a.m.,” he remembers. He also took courses in avalanche safety and joined the UVM Outing Club.

After breaking the record, Rice came back to Vermont for a job, a steady income and a home of his own, in Waterbury Center, near Stowe and Bolton Valley Resort.

He’s often up before dawn, skinning up one of the mountains nearby and joining in the skimo fun at the Green Mountain series. —L.L.

Mountaineering Association was formed. In July 2021, the International Olympic Committee approved adding ski mountaineering to the 2026 Olympics in Cortina, Italy.

Sanctioned skimo races involve bootpacking and skinning up a mountain course across varied terrain and then skiing down. Sprint races have an ascent/descent of roughly 100 meters. An individual race typically has a minimum of three ascents and descents for men and women, and two for juniors. The longest ascent accounts for less than 50% of the total elevation gain with a minimum elevation gain of 1,300 meters (4,500 feet). Race times vary depending on the event, but top racers usually finish in 1.5 to 2 hours. The individual race also includes

Aaron Rice

The morning workout at Stratton means getting up to the summit for sunrise.

PHOTO BY HUBERT SCHRIEBL

at least one section on foot (skis on pack).

“Our races are the equivalent in the skimo world of what the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association is for alpine skiers,” says Sheffetz. Skiers register and win points to compete on the national circuit. Winning races helps you qualify for the National Championships, typically held out west, where skiers can qualify to compete in the World Championships.

Sheffetz has not only hosted the NE Rando series, he’s actively recruited, participants. When he heard that a young University of Vermont endurance athlete was looking to buy used gear and get into the sport, he contacted her, helped her find used equipment and even found her a bus ride to an upcoming race. That student, Wren Pyle has since earned herself a spot on the National Junior Team, and is hoping to make the U.S. Olympic Team.

Killington resident Ian Clarke went to the Youth World Championships in 2017. Clarke, who was also a sponsored Cannondale cyclist, started showing up at NE Rando Race Series events in alpine touring gear when he was in high school. Scheffetz noticed that the former alpine racer was beating people with much lighter ski setups than his own and helped him get a sponsorship to access race gear. Clarke loves the outdoor community he’s found in skimo racing. “Over in Europe, skimo is like what basketball is for us. Racing there, you get to the top and there are fans and spectators watching, cheering.”

So far, only one American has ever podiumed in the Ski Mountaineering World Championships. Nina Silitch of New Canaan, N.H. took silver in the sprint at the World Championships in Pelvoux, France in 2013 and gold in 2014. “It was a perfect way to combine my passion for mountaineering and alpine skiing with my background as an endurance athlete,” she says. Silitch became immersed in the sport after moving to Chamonix, France in 2001. Now 50, she is back in New Hampshire and has created a skimo series at the Dartmouth Skiway, near her home. An ultrarunner, Silitch still participates and has frequently podiumed or won the NE Rando Race series in the women’s division.

A FULL-BODY WORKOUT

Many endurance athletes like Clarke or Pyle, started skiing uphill as way to train for other sports in the winter. The Catamount Trail Association’s Greg Maino, an ultrarunner, even prefers skiing uphill to skiing downhill. “I think a lot of people from the trail running

THE OLYMPIC HOPEFUL Wren Pyle

Wren Pyle was a competitive swimmer and an ultradistance runner when she enrolled at the University of Vermont four years ago. “I’d only skied about ten times between ages 2 and 18,” she says. Four years later, she’s not only taught herself ski mountaineering, she made the 2021/22 U.S. National Junior Team.

Before arriving at UVM, Pyle had started doing ultra-distance running and cycling races. “I did a 40-mile race in Colorado’s San Juan mountains. I did okay but the European woman who won just dominated—she actually won the race by hours.

I looked her up and learned that she did skimo. Then I started looking up some of the other European ultrarunners and discovered that they also did skimo either for training,” she says.

When Pyle got to UVM, she looked for ways to train over the winter and began searching online for used skimo equipment. She watched YouTube videos and World Cup races to teach herself to ski. “Jonathan Shefftz who is the director of the NE Rando Race Series invited me to his race at Bromley, gave me a student discount, and even got a ride for me because I didn’t have a car,” she says.

She began doing as many of the NE Rando series as she could and in February of 2022, went to compete in the National Championships in Vail. There, she took home the U23 Women’s Sprint Title.

“What I like about skimo in general is that it’s a bit like a triathlon. You have three different disciplines: skinning, bootpacking, and skiing. That’s fun and challenging. You can’t rely on any one to be successful. You need to be proficient at all three,” she says.

She often trains at Jay Peak and also continues to coach swimming at UVM. “As much as I enjoy racing at a high level and competing for prize money and titles, the most important thing for me is showing kids that no matter what situation you’re in and no matter how you are marginalized, there is a place for you outdoors. You don’t need to be a rich skier from France to do a sport like skimo. A trans girl from Vermont can compete in a national event You can compete at the highest level or just go out and have fun with your family. I hope folks who see people like me competing see there is space for everyone in skimo.”—Phyl

Newbeck

Physical therapist Kevin Duniho, a.k.a. Dr. Skimo, believe skimo is one of the best forms of excercise.

PHOTO COURTESY KEVIN DUNIHO

community are looking at it as a way to stay in shape and be outside in the winter. It’s a great alternative to running on the road.”

Dr. Kevin Duniho, a.k.a., Dr. Skimo, is a former collegiate Nordic racer, lifelong alpine skier and passionate skimo racer. He and teammate Milan Kubala (see “The Denim Ghost,” on previous page) skied Colorado’s Grand Traverse, a 40-mile race in the Rockies between Crested Butte and Aspen at elevations of up to 13,000 feet. He’s also a physical therapist who specializes in treating skiers.

Duniho logs more than 100 days per year on skis. He’s also completed a 26-mile ski from Timberline at Bolton Valley, up and over to Trapp Family Lodge, up Mt. Mansfield and down through Smugglers’ Notch. “At 9,000 feet of vertical, it’s actually more climbing than the Grand Traverse,” says Duniho. “That’s the great thing about Vermont. You can go for miles on challenging terrain with lightweight skis without ever encountering avalanche terrain.”

According to Duniho, who has treated Vermont athletes such as Skimo World Championship competitor Ian Clarke and Aaron Rice (who logged a record 2.5 million vertical feet in one year), uphill skiing is just about the best workout an outdoor athlete could ever get. “It works a

couple of muscles that a lot of other sports don’t hit as intensively,” says Duniho.

“Almost all of us athletes have constantly atrophying gluteous maximuses and abdominal muscles. This sport is by far the best thing I’ve ever done that targets those two muscles specifically,” says Duniho. Like running and cycling, uphill skiing works your hamstrings and quadriceps. On the way up, skiers tend to engage slow-twitch muscles and get an aerobic workout. Then, when they descend, they get an anaerobic workout and work fast twitch muscles. “Everybody I’ve talked to in the fitness world has so much stoke about how good of a workout uphill skiing is. It works everything and it’s complete, from head to toe.”

Duniho contrasts it with Nordic skiing. “Elite Nordic skiers have been found to have some of the highest VO2 maxes in the sports world,” says Duniho, referring to an athlete’s ability to retain oxygen. “I’d argue that skimo racers possibly have even higher VO2 maxes. Our races are more intense and longer and we go up steeper hills.”

Duniho sees a lot of endurance runners entering skimo races. “It’s a great workout for runners who put in a majority of their miles on the flats. Runners classically have underdeveloped gluteus maximuses,” he said. They also tend to have overdeveloped hip flexors. The tension between the two can cause injury and pain. “Uphill skiing is great at correcting that.”

IT’S ALL IN THE TRANSITION

In Vermont, bootpacks are rare and most transitions involve removing the sticky mohair or synthetic skins skiers use to ascend. Proper technique involves first dropping your poles on the ground, then bending down to tighten your boots and put them in ski mode, switching your bindings to ski mode, then ripping your skins off of the bottoms of your skis and stuffing them in your Lycra onesie for the descent. The best racers do all this in about 20 seconds, an impressive feat to anyone who’s ever waited around at the top of a run for a friend to remove their skins and get into ski mode on a backcountry ski tour.

The most competitive skimo races are won and lost in the minutiae of transitions. These are the periods between sections of a race where a skier has to switch their gear from uphill touring mode and ski downhill or get ready to hike or navigate a snowfield with crampons and an ice axe.

This is much easier said than done, as was evidenced at a clinic at Bolton Valley. At first, skiers were falling over sideways trying to rip their skins off, while the instructors did so in one clean motion, a combined hop and rip. However, by the end of the day, most participants were removing their skins from their skis without taking their skis off their feet. This was a victory.

“Imagine you’re on a 20-mile tour,” clinic leader John Spinney told participants. “My partners and I will sometimes have a 10-point rule we use. We each get ten times to stop and fiddle with something, whether your pack, your skis, your bindings. When you can transition without stopping, you save energy, you get time back to take a photo, you get to eat, you get to stay warm and more than that, you get laps in.”

Vermont’s skimo community is an interesting crowd. The sport draws competitive endurance athletes, backcountry powder junkies and everyone in between. As Spinney says, “Uphill skiing is not easy. And when you’re really pushing yourself, it can hurt. But you’re also getting out there in the mountains in the middle of winter. It takes a certain type of person to like that.” u

Caitrin Maloney, a former member of the Mountain Ops team, racing at Bolton Valley Resort.

CROSS COUNTRY centers of vermont

The Nordic Center is the gateway to Bolton Valley’s legendary backcountry terrain. It offers guided tours, lessons and rental equipment to get you out to enjoy some of the best Nordic skiing and snowshoeing in New England. Bolton has a 100 km Nordic trail system with 15 kilometers of groomed trails.

Trapp’s XC Center is celebrating 51 years!

Come experience one of the premier Nordic centers in the East, featuring 160 km, with 55 km of tracked and skating terrain. Plus a full retail shop and rentals, and professional instruction. Don't miss Slayton Pasture Cabin for a warm lunch and a roaring fire in the hearth.

Rikert's 55 km of trails wind through old forests, farm fields and past Robert Frost's summer cabin. The Outdoor Center offers a full service rental shop and ski school, plus fat biking! Jump on early season skiing with 5 km of snowmaking. Open 7 days a week and home to the Middlebury College Panthers.

Our Nordic Center has been enriched with professional grooming equipment, great additions to our rental fleet, private instruction and a retail offering with some essential gear and Edson Hill logo-wear available. After a day on the hill skiing, snowshoeing or fatbiking, enjoy elegant dining or a cozy meal in the Tavern.

edsonhill.com

With an extensive network of winter trails throughout Mt. Peg and Mt. Tom, the Nordic Center offers more than 45 km of groomed trails for skate and classic crosscountry skiing. Snowshoers & fat bike riders may utilize the groomed ski trail areas in addition to a series of ungroomed trails for a more invigorating hike. 1500 Edson Hill Rd • Stowe, VT

• 802-253-7371

woodstockinn.com • 802-457-6674

14 The Green • Woodstock, VT

The BHOC trail system offers over 45km of well-marked and maintained ungroomed trails within the Moosalamoo Recreation Area for year-round outdoor adventures. No trail fees, BHOC operates on a donation basis and is a non-profit 501(c)3 company dedicated

access.

• 802-247-6735

Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe

Edson Hill, Stowe

Blueberry Hill, Goshen Bolton Valley, Bolton

Can This Ski Area Go All-Green?

The owners of this cross-country ski area are finding new ways to reduce its carbon footprin; From a solar-powered inn to DIY snowmaking systems and now, to inventing an electric groomer. By

bittersweet truth than Eli Enman. In the two decades since his parents, Dave and Sandy, purchased an 880-acre plot in Huntington and gave the job of general manager to the newly graduated Middlebury College student, Eli has helped his father turn the rundown building on the property into a picturesque inn and cleared and excavated 32 kilometers’ worth of ski trails and singletrack. In the process, Eli has earned a reputation for being the salt of the earth: an honest, authentic, kind guy who fields challenges without fuss. And Sleepy Hollow under Enman’s leadership has become an outdoor recreation industry leader in clean energy.

Eighty percent of the power that runs the business comes from solar panels, and the expected addition of 30 kilowatts of solar power next summer will make Sleepy Hollow 100 percent solar net metered. In the parking lot are two electric vehicle charging stations; each season passholder gets 20 free hours of charging a year. Most of the company’s fleet is electric, as are the cars owned by Enman, his parents, and his sister, Molly, also an innovator as the founder of the Equal Distance cross country running movement.

The parking lot at Sleepy Hollow Inn, Ski and Bike Center is dark and empty, the Nordic skiers whose SUVs filled the lot all day are home eating dinner. The only movement is at the back of the lot, where for most of the day four men have been working through one setback after another to coax a new 16,000-pound Pisten Bully into operation. Loose wires. Malfunctions. Missing parts. Dead batteries. A close call with an icy ditch.

The trail groomer is much like the one that ran over actor Jeremy Renner in a highly publicized accident, with one big, badass difference: The diesel engine in this one just underwent a $50,000 backyard conversion, quite possibly turning the vehicle into the first full-sized battery-powered snow groomer in America.

But that’s only if it works. Which, as every innovator knows, is never a given.

No one is better acquainted with that

Enman is working to mobilize the snowmaking mini-guns set into the ground every 200 to 300 feet along three kilometers of wooded trails by mounting them on wheels or skis. (The mini guns themselves are groundbreaking, enabling a more even distribution of snow with far less effort.) Also brewing is a plan to trade the inn’s backup oil furnace for geothermal heat, to complement  the inn’s air-source heat pumps and further slash carbon emissions.

The business is more profitable than ever, and keeping it running takes all Enman’s energy and ingenuity. So what inspires him to keep upping the ante? Former SpaceX aeronautical engineer John McNeil, whose daughter learned to ski at Sleepy Hollow and who lends a hand whenever he can just because he enjoys it, thinks the answer lies in Enman’s risk tolerance. “When you’re an engineer, everything has to be perfect at the first test,” McNeil says. “The last vehicle conversion I did took six years.” He laughs. “But Eli…he just tries to get something right on the first try. That’s the secret to his

Carol Greenhouse

Eli Enman has been experimenting with adapting a diesel groomer to be all-electric. His Sleepy Hollow ski area (below) has found plenty of other ways to cut down on carbon emissions, too.

PHOTO TOP BY CAROL GREENHOUSE, BOTTOM BY SIMEON POL/SKIRACK

The Enmans have solar power, EV chargers and even a DIY snowmaking system at Sleepy Hollow. The next step? Turn this bad boy Pisten Bully into an electric vehicle.

innovation. That’s how he does all the stuff he does. His desire to do things outweighs his fear of failure.”

Eli has been making bold moves since childhood: Building an outdoor shower at 12, using a kitchen spatula instead of a trowel to lay the cement. Making his own snowshoes in high school. Rebuilding and repairing his first car at 17 out of the front end of one convertible MG and the rear end of another. Studying the ocean bottom on a research ship in Antarctica. Biking solo to Detroit, Michigan, after his freshman year of college.

“It’s just kind of the way Eli lives his life,” says his mother. In truth, all the Enmans live that way. Case in point: No one in the family had experience running an inn or a ski area before Dave and Sandy Enman sank their life savings into purchasing and renovating Sleepy Hollow in 1999.

Days after the initial push to make it operational, the battery-powered groomer remains parked. While Enman was turning it, the $120,000 machine blew a fuse. The new fuse won’t arrive for another five days. He is philosophical about the latest delay. But more snow is coming so hours of grooming are ahead, winter weddings are scheduled, and his role as both father of two and assistant Nordic coach for the local high school takes up hours a day. Will Enman prove right to try to build his own clean energy groomer faster and at lower cost than waiting until the $300,000 models being prototyped in Europe are available? Or will the setbacks trump his improvisational skill, leaving him with a costly monument to the risks of innovation?

The answer will come in the next few months. But Enman’s track record shows that the real risk lies in betting against him. u

INNOVATIONS

THE NEW GREENER SNOW MACHINES

Snowmachines are going electric. In March 2022, Governor Phil Scott held a press conference on the VAST snowmobile trails near the Waterbury Reservoir to promote electric snowmobiles from the Canadian company Taiga, which is entirely devoted to making fully electric snowmobiles and personal watercraft. The 180-hp Taiga Ekko Mountain, for instance, can reach speeds of 60 mph in 3 seconds, and has a range of about 60 to 80 miles (depending on use and temperatures) before it needs to be recharged. Cost starts at close to $18,000.

Moon Bikes, a tiny company born in the French Alps, introduced the “first electric snowbike” — an electric-powered version of a dirt bike, but for snow, to the U.S in 2021. The company is now offering demos at Sugarbush Resort over Presidents’ Day weekend. Moon Bikes (below) recently announced the 2023-24 launch of the Connected MoonBike app that will enable users to track numerous aspects of their rides, showing trail maps, altitude, distance, speed, duration, battery level, and more. The bikes have a top speed of 26 mph and a threehour range. Cost starts at close to $9,000. —L.L.

PHOTO BY CAROL GREENHOUSE

Classics

One is Glen Plake, the legendary Freeskiing icon, and the other is the Patrol 3D glove from the LEKI Classics collection.

PATROL 3D

Photo: Grant Gundeson

Winter months in Vermont brings out the best in all of us with abundant outdoor activities. While you enjoy the Green Mountains, the team at Mansfield Orthopaedics is here for you offering expert care and a great patient experience.

In addition to renowned surgeons, our team of expert providers include podiatrists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners as well as a caring team of nurses, and medical assistants.

Don’t let injuries or chronic pain keep you from hitting the slopes or trails. We are here for you!

Superb orthopedic care close to home.

802.888.8405

Our team of specialists include: Nicholas Antell, MD; Brian Aros, MD; Ciara Hollister, DPM; John Macy, MD; Joseph McLaughlin, MD; Kevin McNamara, DPM and Bryan Monier, MD.

Giving Meaning to Mountain Names

Just a few hundred years ago, many of the Green Mountains had very different names, names imbued with meaning for the native Abenaki.

By Richard Holschuh

future. This is more than renaming this place, this is recognizing the original stewardship of this land and providing cultural education to those who visit this standing mountain.”

The times since the settling of Vermont, and the birth of the first ski area, are short compared with the tenure of the native Algonquian-speaking people and their intimate acquaintances with the lands and waters here.

These people – primarily the Abenaki — were forced aside when European settlers, (the majority of whom were British), flooded in after the last empire-building French and Indian War, so called. The newcomers colonized the landscape in a startlingly rapid wave during the 17th century and first half of the 18th. During the preceding wars. the Abenaki had aligned with New France to the north. So when the British won, they fancied the territory that eventually became Vermont a clean slate, ready for new Anglican names of their choosing and according to their practices.

As Europeans settled on the continent and early pioneers explores, they often gave places new names commemorating the Founding Fathers and other important Americans… [Indigenous people] have viewed such commemorative names as inappropriate: humans are too small, too fleeting and insignificant to have places named for them. The land is eternal; it owns us, we do not own it.”—Doug Herman, Denali and America’s Long History of Using (or Not Using) Indian Names

Ayear ago, the oldest ski area in America – opened in 1934 in Woodstock, and once known as Suicide Six – was renamed Saskadena Six Ski Resort, to honor the native Western Abenaki, borrowing their word saskadena for “standing mountain.”

As the resort’s leaders researched a new name, they sought the counsel of Chief Don Stevens of the Nulhegan Band of the CoosukAbenaki Nation. Stevens said in a statement: “This ‘standing mountain’ has been used by thousands of Abenaki ancestors for over 11,000 years and hopefully many more in the

The settlers applied their values with a broad, deliberate brush in a sociopolitical process known as displacement and assertion. These new Vermonters, as they came to call themselves, followed the geographic naming conventions of their forebears. They chose Old or New English localities, notable individuals, and wealthy patrons to supply labels for landmarks in this unfamiliar territory. The new names were abstractions that had little or nothing to do with the features themselves but became referents simply by association.

While exploring the Green Mountains, on ski or by foot, few of us ponder the ideological motives for these relatively recent monikers, but the ancient skyline of the land we now call Vermont (from the French for vert monts, ‘green mountains’) has been known intimately for millennia.

We native people still recall some original names, but we have forgotten many others. A guiding principle among Abanenaki is that the stories themselves, being alive, remember. While we may not recall the original names, we can reconnect to the knowledge of our mountain relatives when we nurture the proper relationships. The original names

To the Abenaki, this is Mozdebiwajo, or Moosehead Mountain. To skiers, it’s the west flank of Mount Mansfield (top). Okemo (below) borrowed its name from what was allegedly Chippewa for “all come home.”

PHOTO BY KEITH EDMUNDS

derive from those relationships and from the features themselves, a direct connection between the People and the Land—for they are the same.

In that light, let’s take a look at some of these mountain names and their layered stories, walking  sowanaki li pebonki—from south to north.

Just south of the border looms the tallest peak in Massachusetts, once referred to as Grand Hoosuc or Saddleback, and since the early 1800s as Greylock. Although the origin of the current name is debated, majority opinion asserts that it is in remembrance of Wawanolewat, an honored war captain of the Abenaki who was also known as Gray Lock. He oversaw a running war with the colonists in western New England for decades, never surrendering, and living to a great age.

Gray Lock operated from his base at the village of Mazipskoik at Missisquoi Bay, at the northern end of what we now call Lake Champlain, although he originally hailed from Woronoco (near Westfield, Mass.). Wawanolewat (which means “he habitually fools the others”) was born with a shock of grey hair, and this trait also suggests the clouds that often wreath the top of the mountain. Naming a mountain after an individual is a Western convention, but in a surprising cultural twist of memorializing a foe, Greylock has persisted.

At Vermont’s southernmost alpine ski area, Mount Snow, we can note the surprising nuances that even EuroAmerican renaming practices can assume. The ancient elevation there, also lacking a recalled original referent, was first garnished by new arrivals with the Biblically-inspired name Mount Pisgah (a not uncommon choice in those days, from a Hebrew word for “summit). It was renamed by ski area founder Walter Schoenknecht, not for its intended winter pursuits, but to honor the Reuben Snow family of West Dover, from whom he purchased the property in 1953.

Moving on to better-documented territory, the highest peak in southern Vermont is Stratton Mountain, whose inaccessibility inspired James P. Taylor to conceive of the Long Trail in 1910. It is unknown from where Gov. Wentworth borrowed the name when he chartered the town of Stratton. But the mountain was known early on as Manicknung, said to translate from the Mahican language as the “place where the mountain heaps up” and, alternatively, “home of the bear.”

The latter (“home of the bear”) is pure marketing spin, part of the not uncommon practice of romanticizing (and inventing) native heritage. It is not difficult to consult a dictionary or a native speaker to avoid such absurdities. It is also worth noting the strong homophony of Manicknung with New Hampshire’s Monadnock to the east—which means ”the mountain that stands alone” or “the separate mountain,” in Abenaki. It could easily be another way of saying “where the mountain heaps up.”

Not far away rises Ludlow Mountain, better known to

BOLTON

A GUIDING PRINCIPLE AMONG THE ABANEKI IS THAT THE STORIES THEMSELVES, BEING ALIVE, REMEMBER. WHILE WE MAY NOT RECALL THE ORIGINAL NAMES, WE CAN RECONNECT TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR MOUNTAIN RELATIVES WHEN WE NURTURE THE PROPER RELATIONSHIPS.

many as the site of Okemo Ski Resort. The name “Okemo” a name attributed to native sources, was used by the Okemo Outing Club and the Okemo State Forest (founded in 1935) even before the ski area was first established in 1937. “Okemo” is said to be Chippewa (Ojibwe) for “all come home.”

However, the accuracy of that claim, translation, and even the source, is not established. The nearest Abenaki cognate “akemô”, in fact, means “louse.” This points to problems inherent in freely transposing language out of context—a sociohistorical trope freely practiced in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This romanticizing movement, recognized as misplaced in the face of historic experiences of Native cultural suppression, persists to some degree today.

While some of the Abenaki names for ski mountains remain, for many more, the only recorded names are those given by early settlers or new ones given by the ski resorts.

KILLINGTON

PICO LUDLOW

MT. ELLLEN & LINCOLN PEAK (SUGARBUSH)

GENERAL STARK (MAD RIVER GLEN)

MOZDEBIWAJO (STOWE)

MADONNA (SMUGGLER’S NOTCH) BURKE

WORTH MTN. (MIDDLEBURY SNOW BOWL)

BROMLEY

MANICKNUNG (STRATTON)

MT. PISGAH (MT. SNOW)

SASKADENA 6

GWENADEN (JAY PEAK)

The next height with claims to an indigenous name is Pico, next to Killington. Conventional wisdom states that it may be derived from the Abenaki word for pass or opening, since it faces Sherburne Pass just to the north. While there is some similarity to the Abenaki roots for “open” and “cross,” this seems like a stretch. However, there is a specific Abenaki term for a mountain pass and it is pasadena, which shows up in California, freely appropriated for its euphonious sound. Go figure. In a bizarre twist of geo-linguistic justice, it is more likely the name Pico is a direct application of the Spanish term for “peak.”

Skipping Mounts Abraham and Ellen (with their original toponyms unrecorded), we ascend Camel’s Hump, whose striking profile has made a strong impression on observers for millennia. Samuel de Champlain’s “Le Lion Couchant” (the resting lion) became Ira Allen’s “Camel’s Rump,” which evolved into the more mellifluous Camel’s Hump, still a rather exotic appellation.

The Abenaki knew this place as Tawapodiiwajo, meaning “place-tosit-in mountain,” or “saddle mountain,” or “mountain seat.” This makes perfect sense on a titanic scale when it is understood that Gluskabe, the heroic giant of Abenaki lore, used the mountain as his personal seat in some traditional stories. Another Abenaki cognate for the peak, akin to the later Camel’s Hump moniker, is “Moziozagan” for “moose’s shoulder,” or “moose’s hump.”

Continuing north, the Green Mountain’s loftiest peak, Mount Mansfield, rises to 4,393 feet. Though some claim it memorializes a previous home in Connecticut, the now-dissolved namesake town

appears simply to have been another tribute by an early New Hampshire Gov. Wentworth (who served from 1741 to 1776) to a buddy back home in England, Lord Mansfield.

The Abenaki referred to Mount Mansfield as Mozdebiwajo, or Moosehead Mountain, the result of the mighty Gluskabe’s mythic pursuit of an equally great beast, now turned to stone.

Finally, at the border with Quebec rises Jay Peak, granted to and named for John Jay, the first Chief Justice of the United States for his help making Vermont the 14th state. Jay Peak is in the Missisquoi River watershed, which flows west to Lake Champlain and embraces that same village—Mazipskoik—where Wawanolewat, Chief Gray Lock, sheltered during his long and storied career. On a clear day one can see the lake from the mountaintop. One old Québecois source has stated that they knew it as Gwenaden—Long Mountain, a fitting and unending epilogue for an ancient mountain range and the deeply storied indigenous traditions that accompany it. u

Rich Holschuh is a resident of Wantastegok (Brattleboro). He serves as Chair for the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs and is a public liaison and Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Elnu Abenaki, members of the contemporary northeastern Native community. Holschuh is founder and co-director of the Atowi Project. His work draws upon history, linguistics, geography, and culture to share beneficial ways of seeing and being in relationship with place. Original research for this article also appeared in the Green Mountain Club’s Long Trail News.

SCOTT LENHARDT

THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CALENDAR

FEBRUARY

4 | Road To Ruin Race, Magic Mountain

A throwback to the classic 80’s ski movie Hot Dog with a flat-out mass-start freeski/ ride race top-to-bottom on Black Line. Nothing fancy, just first across the finish line wins. There are no style points. $1500 in prize money. magicmtn.com

9-10 | 86th Fisk Trophy Race, Saskadena 6

Grab a cowbell and cheer skiers at the longest-running ski race in North America. Notable past winners at this Saskadena 6 event include Chip Knight, Jimmy Cochran and many other Olympians, US Ski Team members and NCAA champs. saskadenasix.com

11 | The Hard Mile Uphill Race, Saskadena 6

Is it competitive? Yes. Do you need to compete? No. Skin up the Easy Mile with a free ski down the empty hill before the resort opens. Awards for Men’s and Women’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd as well as best dressed male and female. saskadenasix.com

11 | ND Rando Race, Bromley

Two course options, a shorter recreational “fun” climb for weekend uphillers, and the longer U.S. Ski Mountaineering Association sanctioned race for more competitive skiers going for a personal best. Prizes and free “swag for all participants. bromley.com

12 | Frozen Onion, Montpelier

A fun race with free fat bike demos for newcomers. Race starts/ends at North Branch Nature Center and uses the groomed trails of North Branch River Park. Multiple distance options available, and a kids’ race, too! onionriver.com

14 | Cloud Nine Nuptials, Mount Snow

Celebrate Valentine’s Day in the most romantic way possible: renew your vows or get married on the mountain at the top of Cloud Nine mountsnow.com

25 | WinterBike Festival, East Burke

A fatbike festival with demos, vendors, bonfires and guided rides of the 23 miles of groomed trails at Kingdom Trails. mbtvt.com

26 | 78th Stowe Derby, Stowe

Ski from near the top of Mt. Mansfield’s Toll Road trail all the way to town or wherever the 20 km course runs. Also a 6K short course and 16K fat bike division. mmsc.org

17-19| 101st Anniversary Harris Hilll Ski Jump, Brattleboro

The world’s top male and female ski jumpers compete on a 90-meter jump, and soar more than 300 feet at speeds of nearly 60 mph. The event has a festive atmosphere for the whole family with food, music, and a beer tent. harrishillskijump.com

24 | Pico Hiko Splitfest - 6th Annual Splitboard Demo & Festival, Pico

Interested in splitboarding? We'll help find the ideal ride, from the right gear for mellow on-resort morning laps to big-mountain freeride shred tools, avy safety equipment, layering and backcountry mapping! Tickets are limited. pico.co

SPECIALTY FOOD DAYS

Taste the best of Vermont food and beverages from Cabot, Caledonia Spirits, Mad River Distillers, Woodchuck Cider and more. 2/11 Quechee Club; 2/14 Mad River Glen; 2/ 17 Trapp Family Lodge; 2/21 & 23 Smuggler’s Notch; 3/12 Killington; 3/17 Stratton; 3/25-26 Sugarbush. skivermont.com

25 | Mini Shred Madness, Pico

Grom skiers and riders, 13 years and under get a feel for park riding and experience the rules and navigation. Mini Shred Madness is all about having fun in a competition setting. Plus, free giveaways being handed out at the event to competitors. Killington.com

25 | Wildlife Encounters, Burke Mountain Resort

Wildlife Encounters Ecology Center leadis a “safari around the world.” Meet seven globally and biologically diverse animals (in-person!), while discovering their amazing adaptations, learning their eco-contributions and learning their stories. Skiburke.com

25-26 | 37th Kare Anderson Telemark Festival, Bromley

Enjoy clinics all weekend for all skill levels whether you’re a beginner or advanced. Cap off the weekend with a race to test your skills! bromley.com

MARCH

3-5 | Slash & Berm, Killington

A three-day banked slalom event at The Stash park with a Shop Team Invite-Only banked slalom event on Friday. New this year will be the Just for Fun Run. This will be geared for participants who’d like to run the course in a non-competitive manner and can enter to win prizes. The event benefits The Chill Foundation. killington.com

3-4 | Vermont Splitboard Festival, Middlebury Snow Bowl

ASplitboardVT & Catamount Trail Association bring a day of skinning, riding, demos and nothing less than a darn good time! The event is free to attend, the only requirement is a $10 uphill pass. There will be plenty of demo boards to go around. If you have your own split and just want to hang out, join us! middleburysnowbowl.com

3-5 | Slash & Berm, Killington

A three-day banked slalom event at The Stash park with a Shop Team Invite-Only banked slalom event on Friday. New this year will be the Just for Fun Run. This will be geared for participants who’d like to run the course in a non-competitive manner and can enter to win prizes. The event benefits The Chill Foundation. killington.com killington.com

3-12 | Vertical Challenge, Vermont (various ski areas)

A series of free casual ski and snowboard races held at ski resorts throughout the Northeast. Skiers and snowboarders are divided by gender and age to compete for gold, silver, and bronze medals in each category. In addition to the races, attendees enjoy a festival element, activities for all ages, plus prizes given away throughout. Mar. 3- Burke Mountain Resort; Mar. 4- Smuggler’s Notch; Mar. 5, Saskadena 6; Mar. 6Bolton Valley ‘ Mar. 11 - Pico; Mar. 12 - Bromley. Finals at Jay Peak on April 1 ski-vc.com

4 | Vertical Challenge, Smuggler’s Notch

Skiers and snowboarders are divided by gender and age to compete for gold, silver, and bronze medals in each category. There’s a festival element, featuring snowy activities for all ages, plus prizes given away throughout a fun day at the mountain. smuggs.com

5 | Jack Jump World Championships, Mount Snow

A combination of homemade Jack Jump design, ingenuity and skills factor into who can make it down a dual slalom course with the best combined time on a jack jump, a seat mounted to a single ski. mountsnow.com

11-12 | Castlerock Extreme, Sugarbush

The legendary unconventional terrain comp in the East. Talented skiers and riders tame fabled terrain and compete in a challenging and technical run down Castleerock’s infamous Lift Line. Under 15 on Saturday, ages 15+ on Sunday. sugarbush.com

5 | Hope on the Slopes, Jay Peak

Hope on the Slopes pays homage to all those who have lost the fight and who are still fighting their battle with cancer. jaypeak.com

THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CALENDAR

5 | High Fives Fat Skiathon, Sugarbush

Ski laps and raise money for the High Fives Foundation. sugarbush.com

5 | Shred4Nate Memorial Alpine Race, Stratton

The Stratton Foundation hosts the annual #Shred4Nate memorial alpine race, dedicated to mental health programs for children, schools, families and communities across southern Vermont stratton.com

11 | Carinthia Classic, Mount Snow

Carinthia Classic is back! The acclaimed park builders at Carinthia Parks will construct a one-of-a-kind, plaza-style setup loaded with rails, boxes, and an arsenal of unique features found nowhere but here. Athletes will need to choose their line carefully so they can go big, get technical, and flex their style to walk away with a piece of the $20,000 purse in this jam-style competition, powered by Rockstar. mountsnow.com

11 | Vermont Open Banked Slalom, Stratton

Riders give it their all in a downhill slalom course featuring berms, bumps, jumps and rollers twisting down East Byrnes Side. Riders will be individually timed, and the fastest times at the end of the weekend will go home with trophy prizes. stratton.com

11-12 | Blauvelt Banks, Bolton Valley

Pro riding legend Jake Blauvelt creates a banked slalom course for this wild snowboard event, which makes for great spectating. boltonvalley.com

11 | Master of the Mountain, Magic Mountain

The final extreme comp to crown the East’s best overall skier/rider! A one-run race, a top-to-bottom of Black Line timed event with up to 9 seconds reduced on your overall time by how well you do in the freeride comp before swinging right into the Giant Slalom gates. $1500 purse on the line for the top 3 finishers. magicmtn.com

11 | NE Rando Skimo Uphill Series, Bromley

Bromley is a favorite stop on this tour. This event has two course options, a shorter recreational “fun” climb for weekend uphillers, and the longer U.S. Ski Mountaineering Association sanctioned race for more competitive skiers going for a personal best. Prizes and free “Skimo” swag for all participants! nerandorace.blogspot.com/

18 | George Tormey Challenge Race, Smuggler’s Notch

Named for George Tormey, beloved skier and coach, the George Tormey Challenge is the last competition of the year for 11- to 14-year-olds and an opportunity to bring home a medal in this fun team event. smuggs.com

18-19 | 24 Hours of Stratton , Stratton

This is your only chance to ski Stratton at night under lighted trails and starry skies into sunrise. Wear your 24H bib to participate in on and off the slope activities to earn points for your ‘team’ or just for fun. There’s also an Uphill Challenge, on-hill team scavenger hunt, snowman-building contest, night tubing and more. Your bib provides two-day access to all open trails on Saturday through Sunday. Fundraising is for The Stratton Foundation’s efforts to help children in need stratton.com

24-26 | HOMESICK, Stratton

Stratton and East Street Archives join to celebrate the history, tradition and progression of snowboarding, which got its start right here at Stratton, with a debut event that brings the community together through snowboarding for three days of competition for all ages and abilities, art, photography, speaker series, and more. A homecoming for the who’s who of snowboarding, led by Olympic Gold Medalist Ross Powers, who still calls Stratton home, athletes like Zeb Powell and amateurs. stratton.com

25 | Spring Brew & Ski Weekend,

Smuggler’s Notch

Try some of Vermont’s excellent brews plus regional favorites and craft ciders. Enjoy samples from 14th Star, Citizen Cider, Fiddlehead, Long Trail, Halyard, Otter Creek, Shacksbury, Shed, Switchback, UFO Beer Co., and Zero Gravity. smuggs.com

25 | Side Surfers Banked Slalom, Sugarbush

A timed snowboard race through a handcrafted course in Sugarbush Parks consisting of berms, turns, and technical aspects that will challenge riders. Two runs each-best time counts! Open to all ages; spectators are encouraged. sugarbush.com

25-26 | Reggae Fest, Pond Skim & Duct Tape Derby, Mount Snow

Reggae music in the Main Base Area throughout the weekend, plus Sink or Skim pond skim and Mount Snow’s infamous Duct Tape Derby mountsnow.com

APRIL

March 31-April 2 | Red Bull Slide-In Tour, Killington

Keep an eye out for Red Bull athletes and 2020 X Games Knuckle Huck Gold Medalist, Zeb Powell. Join the pros as they rip laps in the park. Killington.com

1 | Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge, Killington

Amateur bumpers take to the slopes of Outer Limits to battle for a place in the finals. The top 32 men and 16 women compete in a head-to-head competition for the Mogul Challenge Cup. Open to skiers only and limited to the first 150. killington.com

1 | Annual Pond Skim and Sprin Fling, Stratton

Participants try to skim across the water’s surface and make it out the other side just as dry as the entered. Registration will be held the day of and is limited to the first 150 participants. An event that is just as fun to watch as it is to enter. stratton.com

1 | Winter Brewers’ Festival, Mount Snow

Enjoy beers and ciders from a variety of breweries and live music, all in the Main Base Area. mountsnow.com

1 | Annual Pond Skim, Smuggler’s Notch

Elvis, a gorilla, guys in bikinis - you’ll see it all in the Zone Terrain Park during Pond Skimming! Registration for this free event starts at 10:00 am in Parking Lot 1 for the first 100 people only. Prizes awarded for best costume. smuggs.com

2-3 | Sugar Slalom, Stowe

Originating in 1939, this is one of the oldest and most recognized alpine races in America and draws over 1,000 racers and spectators. A celebration of spring and the tapping of maple trees, it’s a festival atmosphere with music, barbecue on the hill, fantastic ski racing and festive costumes. The race also features maple syrup on snow, plus Cold Hollow cider donuts, and fresh pickles at the finish. mmsca.org

8 | Pond Skimming, Sugarbush

Take the plunge across a 120 foot pond at tLincoln Peak. Whether you get wet or spectate from the crowd, be sure to participate in this annual rite of spring. sugarbush.com

15 | Killington Pond Skim, Killington

The triumphant return of this spring spectacle. Try not to get wet!. killington.com

22 | Dazed & Defrosted , Killington

Celebrate spring with soft bumps, cold brews, on-snow demos, and of course, great live music. Your finest spring attire is greatly encouraged. Killington.com

MAY

1 | May Day Slalom , Killington

Compete with your friends for bragging rights on Superstar, where the Women’s World Cup was held last November, or simply find your own limits. Don’t miss your last chance of the season to race down Superstar. This competition is FREE to enter with a valid Killington season pass or lift ticket.. Killington.com

The Vacation Rental Directory

Have a property you want to share? Contact ads@vtsports to be included in future listings.

Want a great place to take a vacation?

Here are 3 great homes we know you will love.

Place Your Ad Here

CLASSIC STOWE CABIN WITH HOT TUB

This picture-perfect classic Vermont 2-bedroom, 1-bath cabin sits in a quiet valley not far from the slopes and backs up to miles of trails that are great for hiking or backcountry skiing. Just 15 minutes to the Trapp Family Lodge, town and Stowe Mountain Resort. airbnb.com/h/ stowe-vt-cabin-with-hot-tub

LAKEFRONT

COTTAGE PICO &

MIDDLEBURY

On gorgeous Lake Dunmore, this freshly-renovated 2-bedroom, 2-bath cottage sleeps 6, is central to great skiing at Brandon Gap, Killington, Pico, Middlebury Snow Bowl and Rikert Nordic Center. Yearround, skate, XC ski or swim right out your front door. airbnb.com/h/ lake-dunmore-cottage

KILLINGTON CHALET ON MOUNTAIN ROAD

This cozy retreat is just one mile from main base areas and within walking distance to over a dozen restaurants and bars. It has a wood-burning fireplace, washer/dryer, porch, t.v., and wifi. This 2-bedroom, 1-bath, sleeps 4 people and will take dogs. vrbo.com/650909 or email rent. killington@gmail.com

SHARE YOUR VACATION RENTAL PROPERTY

Here’s your chance to get your vacation rental property in front of the millions of affluent skiers and riders who visit Vermont each winter. Rates start at just $100 a month. Contact; ads@vtsports.com

FOR SALE

A Farmhouse with 4 Acres Near Killington

See listing for price.

5-bedroom, 3.5 bath classic farmhouse in Brandon, Vt. is ideally 20 miles from Pico, Killington Middlebury College Snowbowl, and about 45 miles to Sugarbush. Includes a separate rental apartment two slate-roof barns. Newly renovated with 24-inch-wide plank floors, large dining and living rooms with working fireplace, newly-tiled bathrooms, two separate work spaces; good cable service and Wi-Fi. A huge main barn with loft, a large workshop and two-car garage; plus a separate 20x15 barn. Sits on 4-plus acres.

This 3.5 bath farmhouse in Brandon, Vt. is located 20 miles from Pico, and the Snowbowl, and about 45 miles to Includes a separate rental apartment and two slate-roof barns. renovated with 24-inch-wide floors, and rooms with bathrooms, two separate work spaces; cable service and Wi-Fi. A main barn with loft, a and two-car garage; a separate 20x15 barn. Sits on acres.

VTSKIANDRIDE.COM/BRANDONSKIHOUSE

By Marin Howell

100 Years of Winter Carnival

“Carnival Weekend was the biggest social weekend of the year, bar none,” Patricia Palmer remembers of her times at Middlebury College’s Winter Carnival in the 1950s. In 1923 Middlebury put on its first Winter Carnival. Dartmouth and Williams had recently started ones as well. The event would grow to have just about every winter sport or activity imaginable—with even a downhill ski race—as well as a formal ball, and a crowned king and queen. While events have changed, the tradition lives on. This year the college celebrates 100 years of carnival on Feb. 17-19.

1. Snowshoe races in 1923. 2. Students canoe racing on campus in 1988. 3. Crowds line up to watch the ski jump at the Middlebury Snow Bowl in 1968. 4. Ski jumping in 1971. 5. A slalom on downtown Chipman Hill in 1931. 6. The Carnival King and Queen of 1949 share a toboggan. 7. Piling on a sled in 1974. u

MOUNTAINS havewithinthemmillionsofstories. Ofthosewhoclimbed up. Ofthosewhohavesliddown. Ofthosewhohavesimplystood andstared,breathingin anair thatelectrifies.

SHAREWITHUSYOURSTORY. Checkoutsugarbush.com tobe apartofthe

#MySugarbushMOSAIC andtoWINlifttickets,GoPros, hotelstaysand more.

To-DOs: Buynextyear’s SeasonPass GETBESTRATES SKIFREETHISSPRING! ONSALEMARCH2023