CELEBRATING OUR 60TH SEASON!
The History of Skiing on Mt. Ascutney
Written by Jonathan Robinson
"Vermont is a state I love. I could not look upon the peak(s) of Ascutney....without being moved in a way no other scene could move me." -Calvin Coolidge
It was many moons before our 30th president spoke those words in September 1928, that Native Americans first looked upon this mountain. There are three theories of the origin of the mountain's name. On ancient maps, there is a mountain in the same location named "Ascutegnick", an Algonquin word for "meeting of the waters". Other historians say it's from "Cas-cad-nak", or "mountain of the rocky summit", and others who claim that the word "Ascutney" is a translation of "the mountain of the three brothers", referring to the three nearly identical valleys running down it's western face.
Regardless of which may be right, there is no argument to the title bestowed by area resident artist and sculpter Augustus St. Gaudens and other contemporaries in the Cornish Colony: They referred to it as "The Sacred Mountain".
It was on that western face, in 1938, that a 13-member group called the Mt. Ascutney Ski Club, headed by 23 year-old president Robert Ely, cut out a ski trail at roughly the same location of what was soon to become the Cushman Slope, later Main Slope, and now Screaming Eagle. The group would hike up and ski down, as was the practice before the advent of mechanized lifts. Although there were a few tows in use around New England since the debut of the first (U.S.) rope tow in Woodstock, VT, on January 23, 1934, the use of lifts at Mt. Ascutney would not arrive until the year after World War II concluded.
Catharine Cushman had moved from New York City in 1944 to allow her three children, daughter Carolyn, 12, and sons Charles, 10 and Robert, 9, to grow up, as she put it, "in a rose-covered
cottage in the country". She purchased the Juniper Hill estate in Windsor, once owned by industrialist Maxwell Evarts, and turned it into an inn. Looking for attractions that might interest her guests and the local community in general, in the summer of 1946 she came upon the idea of initiating the first real estate development of the mountain, and a small ski area on the western slopes of Mt. Ascutney was born.
"Kip", as Mrs. Cushman was known, was ably helped in her new endeavor by Richard "Dick" Springer, who ran a local inn, the Windsor House, Bob Bishop, of Kennedy's, a department store in Boston, Bob and Margaret Hammond, of the Hammond Map Co. in New York City, Karl Stevens of Weathersfield and of course, Bob Ely of Windsor. This group was, in fact, the first Board of Directors at the new area, and was incorporated as Ascutney Slopes, Inc.
Although the ski area didn't actually get started in it's current location until the 1947-48 season, in a 1966 interview for The Ascutney Voice, Bob Ely said: "To put the record straight, these same people a year earlier installed a rope tow on the mountain -- though on the Rte. 44 side. That tow stretched about 1,000 feet up the side of Ascutney and began near the road. The property was owned by Merriman Hull. This development contrasted with the 1947 venture which started where Main Slope is today." This account was verified by Dick Springer, who, in an interview for this article, said that it wasn't until the second year that the project really took off.
And with the help that Kip had, it indeed "took off". Besides the board of directors, there were many others willing to do their part. Elizabeth "Bets" Rudolph was the area superintendant, Windsor High School ski coach Dave Patch served as both the Director of Ski School and Ski Patrol, Ann Woods held the post of Treasurer, and Lena Niboli was Kip's secretary and assistant.
Other volunteers included: Davis and Dwight Hammond, Harold Marsh, Larry Bushor and Cynthia Lathrop, wife of Fran Lathrop, who succeeded fellow 10th Mt. Division member Bob Ely as head of the Mt. Ascutney Ski Club. Benny Smith also lent a hand, and in 1950 he married Lena Niboli. Rounding out the crew was George Dunning, the staff ski pro.
That summer of 1947, Kip began selling stock in the new area, at fifty dollars a share, to raise revenue for the area's upkeep and operation.
The first rope tows were on the first open slope, named the Cushman Slope. The lifts came from Bunny Bertram's ski area in Woodstock, Suicide Six, and were installed by Alfred Patch and Frank Gibson, one above the other on the right side of the slope. The first one was 1,000 feet long, which took the skier up to the top of the Cushman Slope, while the quicker 800 foot tow above took the experts up to the top of the Ely Schuss, the Springer Slalom and the Jenny Trail.
Despite objections from her Board, Kip purchased a Tucker Sno-Cat for mountain maintenance and snow grooming. Many on the board saw it as an expensive extravagance, and not something the area should have been investing in at such an early time in it's development. It was a "shocking pink" and according to Kip, "it photgraphed well in color". It was also used to take skiers up the toll road (at a dollar a run) for a 3-1/2 mile run from the top of the mountain. It was nicknamed "MASA", which was just an abbreviation for Mt.Ascutney Ski Area. Two years later it was traded in for another model, yellow this time, and also used for hayrides and private parties apart from it's ski duties.
The third year saw the debut of a third rope tow above the first two, accompanied by another four trails. Later in the year, another tow was installed in the "Snow Bowl", a new beginner's area, to the left of the Cushman Slope. The new ski school director was Lucien Gould, while Dick McCarthy took over as new director of the ski patrol. Ralph Plumb became new area manager while Mrs. Plumb sold tickets.
By the '49-'50 season a new board took over, following a winter of poor snowfall the previous year. The graduated season pass pricing was inaugurated that year with prices starting at $15 per pass in October ending at $20 in December, with a family season pass at $45!
After another winter of little snow, and subsequent low skier turnout, the area fell behind in it's payments and was subject to a sheriff's foreclosure. Kip's brother, Percival Ranney, who was also the holder of the area's mortgage, bought it all back for $5,000 and gave it back to Kip for a second chance. That year she married Warren Perry
In 1951, the current access road from Rte. 44 to the parking lot was created, and although it wouldn't be realized for another 12 years, plans were already afoot for a chairlift to the top of North Peak Unfortunately, a year later Kip's new husband died of leukemia and she leased out the area for the next few years, while the area continued to suffer through low snowfall and a lack of off-season trail maintenance. Finally, in the winter of 1955-56, George and Shirley Dunning took over the management of the mountain, and although they did manage to establish a very successful kid's program, the area still only grossed $1,348.47, with a net profit of $590.63, to be shared with Kip and two other families. With greener pastures beckoning over at the not-yet-opened Ragged Mountain, NH, the Dunnings opted out of renewing their lease with Kip.
Instead, a local business man named John Howland allowed himself to be talked into buying a ski area by Shirley Dunning's father, Board member Dwight Cooke, after Cooke suggested the purchase would be "like buying a good horse for your kids". Howland paid Kip $2,000, half cash and half in a short-term note from his company, Windsor Machine Products, which he ran with Bob Ely, and took ownership of the area for the 1956-57 season, as a subsidiary of Windsor Machine. The areas assets consisted of four rope tows, a warming hut for a base lodge, and assorted equipment, but no land. The land on which the ski area was situated was still being leased from Alice Brown and Ray Blanchard.
It was on election night, November 6, 1956, while Ike was getting re-elected, that Howland looked out his window toward the area two miles away, only to see it going up in flames. The warming hut was fully engulfed by the time anyone got there, and but for the extra insulation in the restroom walls, the trees behind would have caught and then who knows how much of the mountain after that. With the help of builder Red Eastman, the new warming hut was up before New Year's.
The next winter, with the help of their machining experience, Howland and Ely were the first to bring snow-making to the state of Vermont, which they (and every owner that was to follow them) knew would be one of the biggest factors in a successful winter. Howland also decided to let the business of the ski area stand on it's own, and spun it off from the machine shop. It was at that time that his mother, Flora Howland, Ely and he each ponied up $4,000 as incorporators, in creating the Mt. Ascutney Ski Area, Inc., with the rest being secured with $100,000 in assets and a mortgage on Howland's house. He then began to sell stock in the new company, and the first customer was Valley News owner and publisher Walter Paine.
By September 1957, enough cash had been raised to buy and install a new T-Bar lift on the left side of the renamed Main Slope, from Hall Engineering Co. of Syracuse for $32,000, which after installation, had blossomed into a $45,000 investment. More snow-making equipment was put inand the warming hut was doubled in size. Although it wasn't a great season, there already was talk of putting in another T-Bar. It was about this time that Windsor High ski coach Mickey (Gordon) Cochran started the weekly Lollipop Races each Sunday for the kids, which continued for many years, and was a big boost for the locals, who by that time numbered around 1,000 as season pass holders.
The next year was a busy one, and ended with a maple sugar on snow party, which was a big hit. This was followed at the close of the year with the Fifth Ave, trail getting widened in places and a new gravel base to the muddy parking lot.
By this time, it was becoming very obvious that the success of the area was undeniably tied to the continued support of skiing families. Everything about the area seemed to cater to them, and they responded in greater numbers every year.
In 1959, the installation of a new lift proved to be quite unsuccessful. It's unclear who came up with the idea, but Windsor Machine built and installed what was called "The Iron Monster", a chair lift that moved up the hill on tracks on the ground. It ran from below the parking lot up 1,200 feet to just above the beginner's hill. It's Achilles Heel was the bunching up of the chairs at the bottom of the lift, and it needed constant supervision and maintenance. It was scrapped after only one year.
The next year, 1960-61, started off with a new board, increasing in size from five to seven members, including new arrivals O.W. (Chick) Miller of Miller Construction and Leslie Lyman of Hartland. Howland was very astute to assemble a diverse board, carefully selected so that there would be representatives from a range of backgrounds, each able to be of use to a burgeoning ski area. There was a lawyer, businessman, a general contractor, a bulldozing contractor, a newspaper publisher, a machine tool executive and a "skier's skier".
It was in January of 1961 that board member Dr. Wendell Triller, a Hanover optometrist and major Ascutney stockholder, arranged refinancing with the Dartmouth Savings Bank so that the area could exercise it's land lease options and buy the land on which the area operated from Brown, Blanchard and Stewart Barrows, who owned 200 acres west of the Main Slope. In the next 14 months, they spent almost $70,000 acquiring nearly 900 acres that completely encompassed the ski area.
It wasn't long, however, before the service on that amount of debt became difficult to maintain, and Howland began to fall behind in the payments. This forced their carrier, the National Life Insurance Corp. to call in the note and begin foreclosure proceedings. Fortunately, board member A. Luke Crispe, the lawyer from Woodstock, bought up the note at the board's annual meeting, and they were back in business.
Later that year, they installed a second T-Bar on the newly opened West Slope, with new trails 9 Lives and 10 Lives, along with another increase in snow-making capabilities. The momentum was starting to build, and the board began to plan for a three-year expansion program which would entail a new, much larger base lodge, and a new chairlift to the top of North Peak. It was about that same time that Walter Paine asked Howland to buy up all the outstanding stock for him, but to do it quietly. Before long, Paine became majority stockholder, and de facto owner, succeeding Howland with the promise that Howland would be allowed to stay on as general manager as long as he liked.
Finally, in the summer of 1962, the plans for the new base lodge were being finalized and the liftline was getting cut for the new summit chair. This was followed by the design and cutting of 19 new trails by Bob Ely, and everything was finished in time for opening day, the following year, on December 15, 1963. All in all, around one million dollars were spent on the new changes, and it all coincided with the extension of Interstate 91, only six miles away to the new Exit 8. What a shame that with such an effort, that because of an incredibly warm winter, the area was open only 19 days the entire season! More than likely, the most money made by the area that year was in the new third-floor watering hole called the Polar B'ar Lounge, complete with purple polar bear peering down from the balcony.
Following a bit of wheeling and dealing, Paine fired Howland on August 25, 1965, and was succeeded in the area manager's position by Fred Bocks. This upset Bob Ely so much that he said that he would also quit in protest, but Howland was able to convince him that he would only hurt the
area and the community. He stayed for another three years.
Also changing on a continual basis was the ski school director in those early '60's: Joe Harty, Jerry Hickson and Jon Putnam. Putnam's tenure saw the debut of another Vermont (and New England) first: videotaped ski lessons, to help each student with a visual record of how they could improve. This was a big hit, especially with the kids.
Finally, in the late '60's, it was realized that growth takes imagination, muscle and the efforts of many dedicated people, and so they began project "Sky Hawk", a collaboration with the Hawk Mountain Corp. of Pittsfield, to build 200 year-round homes, each with privacy and designed in harmony with its surroundings. The old warming hut, after extensive redecorating done by instructor Dody Belski, was renamed Ye Olde Lodge and reopened for the first time in years, and was a big hit with the night skiing crowd, serving sandwiches, draft beer and snacks, to be enjoyed in front of the roaring fireplace.
At the end of the '69-'70 season, the new East Chair was installed, east of the summit lift, as the name would imply. This offered the beginners and intermediates a whole new playground apart from the experts who called the summit lift their own.
The next year saw another innovative first: raising the height of the snow guns to 15 feet off the ground, resulting in a 250% increase in their coverage.
By the end of the next ski season, in the spring of 1972, Paine was ready to get out of the ski business. He was tired of this expensive hobby and decided that he'd had enough, finally selling the area to John and Sarah Giles on October 3, 1972. Bob Paron, who had worked for Paine as general manager for several years, stayed on the first year with the new owners, as did ski school directors Marshall and Maggie Doughty. Lifties Ray Stillson and the legendary Hazen Clay did as well. Who can forget Hazen, with his crazy costumes and wigs! He was definitely one of the most memorable characters in Ascutney history.
Over the 12 years that John Giles ran the area, they were plagued by poor winters in the early '70's, and they tried to keep things going by offering fall foliage chair rides, tennis club memberships for the two courts built next to the base lodge and booking the locally popular Davis Brothers Garage Band, to keep the cash flowing in the off-seasons. In the late '70's real estate boom, they built the 15 condos just east of the East Chair. Collins and Helena Parker replaced the Doughty's during that time, and in what was considered at the time to be a gesture of magnanimous proportions, they offered the use of their base lodge to the town of West Windsor for use as a school while renovations were getting finished up at the Albert Bridge School at the beginning of the '80-'81 school year.
Successes aside, they put ads up in the trades for interested buyers at the beginning of the '80-'81 season, and sold the area to Dr. Ronald Massa on July 27, 1981.
Massa, 45-year old electrical engineer with an engineering and consulting firm in Woburn, Mass. called Dynatrend, took over with his daughter Diane, with a five-year plan to expand while still preserving the mountain's character. About the concern of overdevelopment at the mountain, Massa said that the mountain is: "an irreplaceable treasure that belongs to the people of the area". That fall, the top floor of the lodge was reopened as "The Side Step", and soon opened year-round. There were tennis tournaments, fun runs, marathons and fall foliage rides to keep the interest up, and even plans for an outdoor music theater. Three old trails were recut, the Fifth Ave. Glades, West Glades and 10 Lives, which had been overgrown and unskiable in years. The old Lollipop Races were revived under the title of "Races for Ribbons", and there were Intercollegiate Races, Freestyle Competitions and even an annual Gelandesprung Contest, but alas, after two consecutively worse ski seasons and mounting debt, Massa closed the area for the year on March 5, 1983, and filed for bankruptcy five days later, however with hopes that another partner with new resources could right the listing ship. It was not to be, since four months later, in July '83, a company called Uptick Resources, Inc. came calling.
Uptick was a company owned by Joseph Grano, formerly with Merrill Lynch Securities in New York City, and was involved in developing the Quechee Lakes area, with an eye toward ski area ownership. When they came onboard with Ascutney, they began to operate under the name Summit Ventures, Inc. Their motto was obviously "Go big or go home", and with that in mind, began to outline a massive 10-year master plan that included a 100-unit hotel at the mountain base, with restaurants, retail stores, golf course, health club and single family homes to create a year-round ski area village. Even with such grandiose plans, Grano wanted to capture the flavor of a quaint Vermont town, saying: "We'll be the only resort in Vermont that looks like Vermont".
As the point man for the "Guido Group", which included fellow Merrill Lyncher, Lou Guido and Philly businessman Ira Lampert, it was Grano who wowed the locals with the lavish presentations of what lay ahead for the area. With the help of new development manager Gerald Lepisko and a string of general managers: Joseph Gregorzek, John Crofut and Brian King, they proceeded to build nearly everything they had talked about, save the golf course, culminating with the addition of two new triple chairlifts, the Village Chair and the Novice Triple, and the supporting trails in 1984. They followed that by converting the summit double chair into a triple chair as well in the summer of 1986.
Things began to unravel, however, at the end of the '89-'90 ski season. An enormously mounting debt was crushing the area under it's own weight. Toward the end, Brian King was brought in to help reorganize, but a week later it was all over. On April 27, 1990, Summit Ventures filed for bankruptcy, with $25 million in assets and $50 million in debts.
For the next three winters, Ascutney lay dormant, until June 25, 1993, when Steven and Susan Plausteiner, securities and banking professionals from New York City, bought it all at auction. Steve's parents, John and Lucille Plausteiner came from skiing backgrounds at Lake Placid, NY and Mt. Snow, VT. Lucille was the first woman to run a major area's ski patrol back at Mt. Snow in the mid-'60's.
Steve and Susan had made an initial offer that was rejected in the fall of '92, but didn't really think about it again, until the auction was scheduled. They went on a lark, not really thinking that they'd really have a chance at getting it, what with the other heavy hitters with deep pockets that would no doubt be there. They registered as the owners of Snowdance Ski Co., and found themselves bidding against two other serious bidders, one, a group of ski area liquidators, eager to buy everything and sell it off separately, and the other, the owners of Smuggler's Notch.
What a surprise when the auctioneer's gavel came down, "Sold!". They could scarcely believe it.
Besides considerable expansion of the mountain's snow-making capabilities, they installed the new North Peak Express high-speed detachable quad chair in 2000, and have expanded it's off-season activities, like the annual visit of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, and have created a world-class restaurant at Brown's Tavern in the hotel complex.
Over the past 12 years, the Plausteiners have become the longest running owners of the mountain since its inception back in 1946. They have succeeded in maintaining the area as one for families, first and foremost, and have contributed immeasurably to the local community.
During the area's second season, Boston Herald Ski Chatter writer Henry Moore had this high praise to say about the first owners:
" The whole atmosphere is one of community and family fun, possibly stemming from the fact that the creators of the area are people of taste, discrimination and enthusiasm for the sport of skiing".
