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Mad River Glen Ski Area |
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Mad River Glen is an anomaly: a ski area frozen in time. Big-time development has changed most other ski resorts, but Mad River Glen has been preserved as a place for skiers who want to experience the sport the way it was before the developers moved in. |
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Where else can you find a single-chair ski lift? Mad River Glen had one of the first ski lifts in the USA (1947), and it's still in operation, driven by a diesel engine. This will change in summer 2007, as the single-chair lift undergoes extensive restoration and renovation. An environmentally-friendly electric motor will replace the smelly diesel, the towers will be re-footed, and new chairs will replace the old ones—but it will remain a single chair lift, which is the way Mad River skiers like it. They like the contemplative 12-minute ride to the top of the mountain, and the fact that a single chair lift keeps the volume of skiers lower—more like the old days. There are several other lifts (including two double chairs), and minimal snowmaking capability (15%), but the point is this: General Stark Mountain (3662 feet/1116 meters) is a challenging mountain (good mostly for experienced intermediate and expert skiers, but with some slopes for the less experienced), and it's kept that way for the joy of those who love the challenge. In fact, it's actually owned by a skiers' cooperative of nearly 2000 members dedicated to preserving the ski area's uniqueness, and the natural beauty of the mountain. Services such as trail grooming and patrols are minimal, the base lodge facilities are "primitive" by the current standards of the more highly-developed Vermont ski resorts, but all this only adds to the old-time atmosphere. The facilities are not well adapted to snowboarding, and to keep the ski spirit intact, snowboarding is not allowed. If you want that, they suggest nearby Sugarbush. "Mad River Glen: Ski it if you can!" is the motto. You get a special feeling of accomplishment after a day on the slopes here! The vertical drop is 2,075 feet (632 meters), with 45 ski trails (13 green, 14 blue, 18 black), and four ski lifts (three double chairs and the famous old single-chair). The preponderance of trails (three-quarters of them) are for moderately well-trained or expert skiers, although the Birdland area is for novice and beginning-intermediate skiers. Mad River Glen is west of VT Route 100, an easy drive along Route 17 from Waitsfield VT: Bolton Valley Ski Resort: 45 miles (72 km) N, 1 hour Boston MA: 180 miles (290 km) SE, 3.5 hours Hartford CT: 196 miles (315 km) S, 3.75 hours Montpelier VT: 32 miles (52 km) E, 50 minutes New York City: 295 miles (475 km) S, 6 hours Sugarbush Ski Resort: 10 miles (16 km) S, 20 minutes Stowe Mountain Ski Resort: 40 miles (64 km) N, 1 hour Mad River Glen has a ski shop, rental shop, a ski school, and a nursery. For information, contact Mad River Glen, Waitsfield VT 05673 (tel 802-496-3551, info@madriverglen.com).
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Mad River Glen: the only place in New England that you'll get to use an antique single-chair lift.
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