Patricia Haslam in her just-released book Ski Pioneers of Stowe, Vermont includes a historical timeline of skiing on Mount Mansfield put together by Charlie Lord in 1971. He indicates that the first down mountain ski race on Mount Mansfield was held on February 25, 1934. So this week’s trivia question is:
Who won that first down mountain race on Mount Mansfield?
December 27, 2013 at 9:44 pm
Dick Durrance won the first official race on the Bruce on 2/25/34. BUT, there was an unofficial first race on the Bruce on 2/11/34 (which started on the upper Toll Road and continud down the Bruce). The winner of that race was Jack Allen of Burlington; Charlie Lord was 2nd, Craig Burt, Jr. was 3rd. (I think I found that in one of Charlie Lord’s diaries, which were in the Mountain Company’s files when I was helping Peter Oliver research his book on Stowe.)
January 3, 2014 at 10:28 pm
Tom is correct. The February 25 race was the first “sanctioned” race. The February 11 race was an informal one, with 13 competitors (some of the Amateur Ski Club of NY) with a winning time of 10 min 48 seconds for the 3.5 mile course. I think Charlie Lord served as start timer and competitor.