Industry News
Brattleboro Ski Hill, Vermont, has offered a welcoming and accessible place to learn how to ski since 1938. Famous for its $5 lift tickets, the local ski hill has fought valiantly to try and keep skiing accessible for its community. Brattleboro runs mostly on volunteers, who can earn a free day ticket for every two hours of service, and their lift ticket revenue only covers about 30% of their expenses each year.
Last season, those expenses exploded, along with the upper terminal of their T-bar lift and their only snowcat. For perspective, the latter two did not quite literally explode, but the lift terminal was visibly smoking in mid-February, and the end of the season brought “catastrophic failure” to their groomer.
Earlier this month, Brattleboro launched a GoFundMe page to try and fund the acquisition of a snowcat, without which the ski hill likely would not be able to open this upcoming season.
On Thursday, September 25, Todd Fahey, Vice President of the Brattleboro Ski Hill Board of Directors, announced on the GoFundMe page that the ski hill had acquired a second-hand groomer. “Thanks to some amazing local connections—and your generous donations—we’ve recently acquired a 2011 Prinoth BR350 groomer! This machine has been meticulously maintained during its service at a nearby resort and comes with very low operating hours,” Fahey shared. The purchase of the Pinroth snow groomer will ensure the slopes will be safe to open for the 2025-26 season.
While the acquisition of the groomer is a huge milestone, the community ski hill still needs more help to finance the acquisition of a new ski lift. At the time of publication, the GoFundMe has raised $12,500, up from $9,500 when SnowBrains first reported on the fundraiser a few weeks ago.
