Searching for Vermont’s Lost Ski Areas

Do you have information, stories, or memories from a “lost” ski area? Please share with us using the form at the bottom of this page.

Searching for Vermont’s Lost Ski Areas, Part I

December 1, 2023 - October 14, 2024

Have you ever heard of Hedgehog Hovel, Buckturd Basin, or Freak Peak? All are part of Searching for Vermont’s Lost Ski Areas.

This is a schuss down memory lane for those who learned to ski or ride at any one of Vermont’s 175 “lost” areas.

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 20-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 and NELSAP, 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 detail 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. Part II of the exhibit will push further north and will open next season.

Searching for Vermont’s Lost Ski Areas, Part II

December 6, 2024 - October 12, 2025

Vermont’s lift-service skiing history began in 1934 with the installation of the first ski lift in the country: a rope tow powered by a Ford Model T engine on Gilbert’s Hill in Woodstock. A year later, the second rope tow in Vermont was built by Wesley Pope on Glenn Skiff’s farm in Jeffersonville. After that, small ski areas began popping up all around the state.

We've been documenting Vermont’s “lost” and “lost and found” ski areas for twenty-five years. To date, 184 have been identified, including four that were in the planning stages but never opened. This expanded exhibit focuses on areas from Route 4 north to the Canadian border and includes an additional 113 documented areas not included in Part 1. For those who missed last season’s popular Part 1, it is incorporated within the new exhibit. All areas are identified on an eight-foot-tall map, including twenty ski areas that are currently operating.

A few of the lost areas highlighted in the exhibit include four in Waterbury, five in Stowe, and one right off Interstate 89’s eastbound Route 2 exit in South Burlington. Towns like Newport, Middlebury, and Lyndonville had a strong ski-jumping tradition, which evolved into adding lifts for alpine skiing. Lifts and ski programs appeared at Norwich University, Johnson State College, Vermont Junior College in Montpelier, Sterling School, and at Goddard College. Farmers in central Vermont and the Champlain Valley, seeking extra income during the winter, installed rope tows and strung lights for night skiing. Town recreation programs added lifts and offered lessons right in the middle of towns and villages. Inns and hotels rigged up lifts for their guests to enjoy. Many were community-based and locally run, while others were built with a vision similar to what ski areas look like today. Some areas lasted a season or two, while others lasted decades. Many closed due to rising insurance costs and stringent state lift safety protocols.

Take a schuss down memory lane and explore these areas through photographs, interviews, newspaper clippings, and memorabilia from the Museum’s collection.

Searching for Vermont’s Lost Ski Areas

Information Form

Thank you for contributing to Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum’s ongoing research about Vermont’s lost ski areas – those areas that once had a mechanized ski lift but are now defunct.

Your memories and stories about epic ski days, exciting lift rides, favorite trails, memorable days on the job, and people and characters affiliated with the area are important pieces of Vermont’s skiing history. Items such as old posters, photographs, clothing and accessories, trail signs, pins and patches, brochures and lift tickets, and other memorabilia related to lost ski areas are also important artifacts.

Please use this online form to share your memories or mail them to us at:
Curator: Lost Ski Areas
c/o Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum
PO Box 1511
Stowe, VT 05672

You may also leave the form at our front desk.