I’ll start off by saying that I no longer put any faith in articles that claim Top 10 anything! They are usually click-bait plus I usually totally disagree with their results. This is particularly true for skiing-related topics.
But I did bite for the SKI Magazine “Top 20 Resorts in the East.” SKI Magazine is a magazine in name only and is pretty much a web-based social media entity. You may remember when it was a real magazine one of the early issues each season was a ranking of the top resorts based on reader surveys. And usually Smugglers Notch resort was rated best in the east. Hmmm?
Well this year Smuggs got knocked from the #1 spot by … drum roll, please! Mad River Glen!
Yeah, I was surprised too! And if I were a snowboarder I would be incensed! By the way, one of the statistics they share on each resort is a category “Likelihood to Return out of 20.” Mad River only scored a 2 out of 20! Only 10% of the people who visited the top rated resort are likely to return? Only Cannon scored lower in that category. Stowe which ranked 13th in SKI’s list registered an 18 out of 20 return rate.
However maybe SKI was influenced by the same reason I’m writing about Mad River this week. Mad River Glen is celebrating the 75th anniversary of their opening on December 11, 1948! That was when they dedicated the original single chair; but due to lack of snow, skiing wouldn’t start until January 1949.
Mad River Glen still stands today as a tribute to its founder Roland Palmedo. Of course Palmedo was also a driving force behind the development of Stowe as a ski resort. His leadership brought the Amateur Ski Club of New York and Sepp Ruschp to Stowe even before there were lifts. He would also head up the installation of the original single chair on Mt. Mansfield. However he wasn’t happy with the direction Stowe was heading, attracting less serious skiers who wanted more lifts, easier trails, and more nightlife.
Palmedo served as a pilot in World War II, but once the war was over, his priority was finding a location for a new ski area. With the help of some of his Stowe crew including Charlie Lord, they decided on General Stark Mountain in Fayston. While it was a relatively small mountain, it had a northern exposure, good terrain, the CCC had built a road that would allow access, and most importantly: it was all on private land!
Palmedo formed the Mad River Corporation and acquired all the land for the ski area as well as adjacent to the area. That way Palmedo could totally control the development. The adjacent house lots were only sold to people who shared Palmedo’s vision of a skiing community. That vision statement is still used by Mad River Glen today:
“…a ski area is not just a place of business, a mountain amusement park, as it were. Instead it is a winter community whose members, both skiers and area personnel, are dedicated to the enjoyment of the sport.”
Charlie Lord helped design the first trails and would become the first area manager. A state-of-the-art single chair was installed which was the fastest in the world at that time.
The area became a success and through the 1950s and 60s, Palmedo oversaw growth in terms of the number of lifts and trails. The Sunnyside Double Chair was added in 1961 along with its gentle terrain, followed by the Birdland novice area in 1967, and the Practice Slope Chair in 1971. But the area maintained its personality as a skiers’ mountain with challenging trails and even more challenging tree-skiing not reflected on any trail map.
In 1972 Palmedo sold Mad River to an investment group headed by one of his protégés, Truxton Pratt, a longtime Mad River skier. Truxton would die from cancer in 1975 and control of Mad River would pass to his widow, Betsy. Betsy Pratt would become the sole owner in 1983 and passionately adhere to Palmedo’s vision. In 1995 she would oversee the transfer of ownership to the Mad River Glen Cooperative making it the first cooperatively owned ski area in the United States. Part of the Cooperative’s mission is to “maintain the unique character of the area for present and future generations.”
Mad River Glen is the only ski area in the nation on the National Register of Historic Places.
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