Nonprofit ski area to restore 1963 T-bar
Toolbox
By ROBIN PALMER Times Argus Staff - Published: May 2, 2005
EAST CORINTH — There's little modern about Northeast Slopes ski area — except perhaps its acceptance of snowboarders.
So it stands to reason the biggest, most exciting change in the small East Corinth ski area's history is the upcoming installation of a piece of equipment built in 1963.
Northeast Slopes, a nonprofit ski hill supported by taxes and piddling lift fees, has raised $57,000 toward a $75,000 T-bar surface lift it plans to install this summer. The Hall brand T-bar was built in 1963 at Stratton Mountain Resort. It was later moved to the Bradford Ski Area in Haverhill, Mass., in 1978.
Northeast Slopes is now bringing the T-bar home to Vermont and realizing a dream more than 30 years in the making.
Northeast Slopes is home to the nation's oldest continuously operating ski tow in the United States, according to ski area board members who volunteer their time to both manage ski area finances and day-to-day operations. A 1,200-foot rope tow has brought skiers to the top of Northeast slopes — all 330-foot vertical drop of it — since the ski area's founding in 1936. There's also a 400-foot rope tow for beginners, board president Steve Simpson of East Corinth said.
Since the early 1970s, ski area managers have hoped to add a T-bar to make it easier for skiers who have a hard time gripping the rope tow.
An initial effort in the early '70s didn't raise enough money for the lift, Simpson said, and much of that is gone now. "Through the years, it's been a tough time for us. Through the years we've had to dip into what we call the T-bar account for operating expenses."
Thanks to a fund-raising drive that began a year ago and donations that have ranged from $10 to $10,000, the T-bar account is flush once more, however. Northeast Slopes has already agreed to purchase the T-bar from the Massachusetts ski area for $14,000 and appears on track to do the more costly installation of the lift this summer.
"I always thought it was going to be a dream and never become a reality," Simpson said. "You have to pinch yourself to know it's reality."
Simpson calls it his field of dreams: If they build it, he hopes skiers will come.
Northeast Slopes is meant to bring skiing — which can be pretty costly at larger ski areas — to all, particularly Corinth, Bradford and Topsham residents who support the ski area with property taxes.
"We want it to be open to anybody who wants to ski," Simpson said.
Northeast Slopes, located on 50 acres of former farm land that is largely open field rather than traditional trails, last season charged skiers and boarders $12 a day for use of the longer tow and $4 for children using a smaller tow. Those who choose to walk up the mountain can do so for free, Wednesday afternoon skiing was just a $1 and a family (including two adults and an unlimited amount of children) could ski for the season for $235.
The season runs 29 to 40 days, depending on Mother Nature's generosity. The ski area is open weekends, school vacations and Wednesday afternoons.
John Pierson, 75, remembers skiing with his family at Northeast Slopes.
"I started skiing there probably in the late '40s," says Pierson, treasurer of the ski area board and an East Corinth resident. After his five children were born, he and his wife and all five kids would ski on Saturday afternoons.
"They started right in when they were quite young," recalls Pierson of his children. "Way back then, it wasn't groomed like it is now … . If you had a foot of snow, you had to ski through the snow until it packed down."
In the last several years, Pierson says he's given up skiing. The T-bar might open the mountain to him again. "I'd like to try it again."
With competition from other winter hobbies, such as snowmobiling, and kids' fascination with the television set, Pierson says he seen interest in skiing at Northeast Slopes decline. "We don't get the crowds now that we did 20 years ago," he says. "Years ago, we would have waiting lines at the ski tow."
Board members hope an excited buzz from skiers about the coming T-bar may return crowds and lines, such as they are, to the modest hill.
"We want to see this go another 50 years," says Simpson. "It's lasted this long; I'd like to see it last another lifetime."
Northeast Slopes began with Simpson wife's late grandfather, Eugene Eastman, in 1936. Dartmouth College skiers in search of a practice slope during a year of poor snow in the mid-1930s spotted the sloping, snow-covered farmland and soon after, the ski area was born.
Eastman, who ran the ski area into the 1970s, used to use a pair of horses towing a harrow to groom the trails. He walked behind the horses through the snow. In the 1980s, the mountain updated to a 1976 snowcat groomer.
The long tow rope and parts of the lodge building still date back to 1936, however, and some rather traditional mechanisms still operate the rope tows.
"It was initially powered off the back of an old car," says Simpson of the longer rope tow. That vehicle was originally a 1937 GMC farm truck. Its motor was changed several times over the years, and the truck was finally replaced in the late 1980s when parts were no longer available. Modernizing, Simpson cut down a 1960 Ford farm truck to put in an outbuilding, the truck's drive system powering the rope tow.
That truck's motor has also been replaced with one donated by a community member and the truck's transmission was donated by a junkyard, Simpson says. The smaller tow is powered by a 1965 Plymouth Valiant Simpson also cut up to fit in an outbuilding.
Never did board members consider replacing these parts of the ski area's history, and Simpson suspects many will still use the long rope tow to reach the top of the mountain. A 50-second ride to the top, it is about twice as fast as the T-bar is expected to be. The T-bar will be 300 feet longer, however, dropping skiers off higher on the slope.
Pierson refers to himself and some fellow board members as "old fools" working to keep a community ski area open.
Work on the T-bar is expected to take place in July or August. It first needs Act 250 approval. The nonprofit will borrow money if it can't raise the remainder by then. The ski area is looking for volunteer labor and services to cut down on the expense, however.
A professional will do the major work to remove the T-bar and re-install it in Vermont for a cost of $30,000 to $35,000. The lift may need some refurbishing and its 50 bars will be need to be painted before the lift is put up. Actual installation work will take only a week to 10 days.
While board members say skiers are excited about the new lift, the cost will mean changes at Northeast Slopes. Prices are expected to go up, from $12 to possibly $15 or $18 a day, Simpson says. The ski area's biggest expense is $8,200 annually for liability insurance – up from just $250 in 1965 for both fire and liability.
The price increase will pay for two employees – the ski area's first – who may be hired to man the lift. The tows are currently manned by volunteers, as is a snack bar that is, of course, staffed by volunteers.
Northeast's philosophy will remain the same, however. "The rates we charge, we try to make enough to cover our expenses," Simpson says.
To volunteer for the T-bar project, call Gary Bicknell at Waits River Farm at 439-5149. Tax-deductible donations can be sent to Northeast Slopes Inc., Box 1105, Route 25, East Corinth, VT 05040.
Contact Robin Palmer at robin.palmer@timesargus.com or 479-0191, ext. 1171.
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