Industry News
Have you ever heard of Hedgehog Hovel, Buckturd Basin, or Freak Peak? All are part of “Searching for Vermont’s Lost Ski Areas” exhibit at the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum, opening December 1, 2023.
Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum’s newest exhibit “Searching for Vermont’s Lost Ski Areas” is a schuss down memory lane for those who learned to ski or ride at one of Vermont’s one-hundred-seventy-five “lost” areas. The exhibit kicks off at the Museum in Stowe with an opening party December 1, 2023, between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. All are welcome.
The Museum’s search for information about Vermont’s “lost” ski areas, those that at one time operated a mechanical tow, has been a more than twenty-year endeavor. 175 “lost” areas from Vernon to Newport have been identified and located on a large format map created for the exhibit. “Lost and found” ski areas, and twenty areas still in operation today, are also identified.
Drawing from information, photographs and memorabilia in the museum’s collection, and with help from local historical societies, Part I of “Searching for Vermont’s Lost Ski Areas” features the unique character of 70 “lost” areas between the Massachusetts border and Rte. 4, from small community tows to bigger areas with multiple lifts.
Of those 70, Woodstock, Snow Valley, Dutch Hill, Hogback, and Mt. Ascutney are highlighted with even more detailed and colorful information. Visitors will learn about the installation of the first rope tow in the United States, snow trains and the beginnings of ski tourism, the first snowmaking system in the state, and Vermont’s first Sno-Cat skiing operation.
The search for more information about Vermont’s lost ski areas is ongoing and the Museum welcomes input from those who have memories and photos to share. More information may be found at www.vtssm.org. Part I of this exhibit runs through mid-October 2024. Part II of the exhibit will push further north and will open next season.
