Mad River Glen in NY Times

[Mohamed Ellozy]

For the skiers: Happy Trails:

Here at Mad River Glen, you won’t find high-powered quad chairlifts or gondolas. You’ll find hardly any snow making or grooming. And you won’t find snowboards at all — they aren’t allowed. What you will find is a cult of simplicity and rugged outdoorsmanship, and a form-follows-function aesthetic in which some of the best skiers in the country are often kitted out in a kind of duct-tape-and-deerskin-gloves reverse chic. They pray at the altar of natural snow and are impatient with the kind of spoon-feeding that many ski resorts serve up these days, in which the bumps are literally smoothed out for their customers. “The skiing is so different from the places where everything is just like a big superhighway because it’s been plowed or groomed,” says Elliot Wiener, an attorney from Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., who’s been coming here for years. “You get to Mad River Glen and it’s like driving the back roads. What would you rather do — drive the interstate or drive the back roads?”

Though I do not ski I enjoyed reading it very much!

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Agreed - interesting article.

I taught my son how to ski at Mad River as it wasn't too far from our home. Figured if he could ski there he could ski anywhere.

I wonder why they didn't mention that it became a coop after Betsy Pratt decided to sell?

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

I wonder why they didn't mention that it became a coop after Betsy Pratt decided to sell?

They did (very briefly):

This testament to New England thrift, and to Pratt’s own personal philosophy, is also at the core of what Mad River Glen is today. In 1995 Pratt sold it “to the skiers,” as she puts it, a co-op of some 2,000 loyalists committed to protecting everything that makes the mountain so unusual — a very Vermont arrangement and one of the few of its kind in the nation.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Thanks - didn't read it quite closely enough.

Haven't skied there in many years, but when I did - you never wore a good coat on the lift, as there was a good chance a glob of grease would fall on you from the overhead cable/towers. One of the charms of the place. It was a very different experience from skiing at nearby Sugarbush North (the old Glen Ellen).

 

[MichaelJ]

The old single chair was replaced just two (?) years ago … with a new single chair.

 

[Maddy]

I LOVE MAD RIVER!

 

[forestgnome]

The old single chair was replaced just two (?) years ago … with a new single chair.

My first time ever on downhill slopes was MRG. I was a never-ever, by myself on rental skiies, in a steady light snowfall. I thought that chair went up to the next bump, where it disappeared from view. So, there I was, at the top of MRG getting covered in powpow for my first time going downhill on skies loved it didn't fall once, and no, it was not a 2 mile long pizza wedge...I learned to hop and kick out the backs of the skies real quick.

Anyway, sad to hear that chair is gone because I'll never forget that ride.

 

[skiguy]

Anyway, sad to hear that chair is gone because I'll never forget that ride.

The Chair is still there and in great condition thanks to us coop shareholders and a capital fundraising campaign. There was a complete rebuild. Chairs are still single,replaced and look just like the old ones....and no more drips

 

[forestgnome]

nice! thanks