Mad River Glen

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Mad River Glen is a ski area in Fayston, Vermont, United States. Its terrain has been ranked by Ski Magazine as the most challenging on the east coast of the United States.[1] Located within the Green Mountain range, it sits in the Mad River Valley close to the larger Sugarbush Resort. Though not considered a large ski area, it has a vertical drop of 2,037 feet.

It averages over 250 inches of snow a year and maintains a traditional form of New England skiing that emphasizes snow preservation on narrow trails instead of man-made snow on wide boulevards. Mad River Glen also does very little grooming and prefers to leave its trails with whatever naturally forms. It has one of only two single chairlifts left in the country and does not allow snowboarders. It is one of a very limited number of ski cooperatives, drawing a uniquely devout following.[citation needed] Individuals purchase publicly available shares and attend regular "Town Hall" meetings, voting on issues regarding the area, management, etc.

Red and white "Mad River Glen: Ski it if you can" bumper stickers are routinely seen throughout the United States, especially at other ski areas.[citation needed] Additionally, they can be found on ski lifts in Europe and one was even taken into space on a Space Shuttle flight.[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] History

Mad River Glen was founded in 1947 by Roland Palmedo, one of the businessmen involved in Stowe Mountain Resort. Feeling disenfranchised by what he felt was excessive commercial development, Palmedo wanted to create a ski area for truly dedicated skiers, with a minimum of commercial interests and amenities. The Single Chair, a marvel of engineering at the time, was completed and first run in 1948. Additionally, five trails and a small base lodge (still referred to as the "basebox") were also completed at that time. Over the next few decades, 3 double chairlifts, in addition to the basebox and many new trails were added. However, the general character of the area changed very little.

In 1972, the ski area was bought by Truxton Pratt, then passed on to his wife, Betsy, after his death in 1975. It remained unchanged until she sold it in 1995 to a group of skiers who formed a cooperative to own and manage the ski area. Betsy now owns a small inn a few miles from the mountain called the "Mad River Barn," as well as all the land between there and the mountain.

[edit] The Cooperative

The cooperative holds annual elections for a board of trustees, who oversee the management and business of the ski area. They also hire a general manager to handle day-to-day operations of the ski area.

Despite several challenges, the coop has been very successful.[citation needed] The mortgage on the ski area was paid off within a few years. Additionally, the ski area has remained profitable through several poor ski seasons, including the 1998 Ice Storm,[citation needed] and has managed to fund the replacement of the double chairlift and the upcoming restoration of the single chair.

[edit] The Single Chair

Mad River Glen is one of two ski areas in the country to utilize a single chairlift, which was originally manufactured by American Wire and Steel.

The other single chairlift is operated at Mt. Eyak which is located in (and owned by) the City of Cordova, Alaska. Mt. Eyak is operated by the Sheridan Ski Club.

Recently, the cooperative of Mad River Glen decided to restore the chairlift while maintaining its classic New England feel. This project, however, is more costly than installing a new chairlift and the cooperative is trying to reach its goal of $1.54 million.

[edit] Meteorology

Mad River Glen is situated favourably on the backbone of the Green Mountains. The elevation allows for cooler air and more precipitation than surrounding terrain. The highest ridge of the Green Mountains not only gets the same snow that blankets the rest of New England but they also pick up significant "backlash" snow after the storms have passed. Strong northwest winds behind the storms pick up moisture off of Lake Champlain and are forced rapidly upward on their perpendicular ride over the Greens. This "orographic enhancement" of snowfall is the primary reason that Mad River Glen and similar locations often average triple the snowfall of the rest of northern New England. The north and northeast facing slopes of the ski area then allow for maximum retention of the snow that does fall. By late winter or early spring, it is not uncommon for 40 inches of snow to lie on the mountains with no snow at all in nearby towns and villages.

[edit] Trails

Mad River Glen's trails have a wide variety of difficulty. They range from the flat, open greens of birdland to the large number of steep, and/or moguled trails that dominate much of the mountain.

[edit] Snowboard Ban

Mad River Glen is one of the few ski areas in the United States to completely ban snowboarding. This has been very controversial and has caused significant ire in Vermont, especially among the snowboarding community itself.[2] While the Mad River Glen cooperative seeks to preserve the area as "skier's mountain", the foremost reason for the ban remains the single chair. Snowboarders were allowed on the hill initially, but with serious problems loading and unloading on the narrow-seated single chair; the half-century old lift was designed specifically to accommodate skiers alone. The single chair serves most of MRG's fabled terrain. This created some friction between the former owner and the local snowboarders. Some of these snowboarders swore at the former owner and thus she banned all snowboarders.[citation needed] The co-op does not intend to upgrade to a more modern lift. Thus, the snowboarder ban will remain in effect indefinitely. In addition the ban is still enforced due to the tendency of new snowboarders to sweep more fresh snow off of the trails. With no snowmaking this is a larger problem for Mad River Glen than for other areas which offer snowmaking.

[edit] Woods Skiing

Mad River Glen is also famous for its woods skiing. It is one of the few mountains that allows and even promotes skiing off of the trails. Mad River's most notorious marked trail is a steep, rocky, thin, and usually icy trail down from the very top of the mountain called Paradise. Just to get to this trail a skier has to hike over and out of the view of the chair lift. The entrance to the trail isn't marked, although in 2004 it was added to the official trail map. The first pitch features mandatory air over a 4' high frozen waterfall that spans the full width of the trail.

[edit] Telemarking

While Mad River Glen does not allow snowboarders, it does have a larger than normal proportion of telemark skiiers and regularly hosts the North American Telemark Organization's yearly festival over a weekend in March.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Reade, Nathaniel. Mad River Glen, Rank 8 East. Retrieved on August 31, 2006.
  2. ^ Burton, Jake. Burton Snowboards ad disses Mad River Glen. Retrieved on September 26, 2001.

[edit] References

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[edit] External links

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