Section B - The Vermont Standard

A Special
Commemorative
Edition of the
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In cooperation with the
Woodstock Resort Corporation
and the
Friends of Woodstock Winters
March 12, 2009
WOODSTOCK
The Pomo Lift newly installed
at Suicide Six in 1954.
(Photo Courtesy of Jonathan Robinson)
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The Gully House And Ski Hill
Vermont Standard, Woodstock
Thursday March 12 2009
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THE GULLY House, left, was the epicenter of that ski
hill. Above, skiers sun themselves and relax outside the
Gully House. Henrietta Sharp, below, who won the
1941 Fisk Trophy. Clockwise from bottom left, Gully
Swamp Tow in the 1940s. • Inside the Gully House, circa
1930s. • Ski legend, Sig Buchmayer sports a raccoon
coat at the Gully.
(Photos courtesy of the Friends of Woodstock Winters)
1937 - 1961
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Bertram Leaves ‘The Gully’ To Open Suicide Six In 1937
By HEIDI WHITE
Special To The Standard
he next hill to succumb to Bunny’s entrepreneurial energy would
be Suicide Six. He would have his eye on the hill for a few years
before he could buy it, due to some difficulties in clearing the title
for sale, but in 1937, the hill was his. He paid three dollars an acre for 30
acres, then bought the remaining land for $500. The hill was known as Seth
Perry’s pasture at the time. It was also referred to as Hill number six on
a topographical map that an expert had created for Bob Royce, when the
innkeeper was thinking about building a ski tow. All six of the possible ski
hills in town were numbered.
After Bunny bought Hill number six, Dave Farrelly, a 1935 graduate
from Woodstock Union High School remembers Bunny, Johnny Pulsifer,
and himself winding down at the Village Tavern after a day of skiing the
Gully. With the pitch of the hill in mind, they considered a number of
treacherous sounding names. They would finally settle on Suicide Six,
which had the alliterative sound that Bunny had hoped to achieve, having
learned about alliteration in his high school English class.
With the hill already cleared from years of pasturing sheep, Bunny
had little clearing to do to get the hill skier-ready. Near the bottom, a
small plateau had a number of stumps that he would have to remove.
From Bunny’s 1979 interview, it appears that he blasted the stumps
out, disturbing the concentration of a number of school children in the
schoolhouse at the bottom of the hill as he did so. He did not make many
friends with the teachers that year.
On Christmas Day in 1937, Bunny brought in his first income from
Suicide Six. By this time, there were many more skiers in the area from
Boston and New York, so Suicide Six brought in a healthy crowd, keeping
Bunny so busy with the ski tow that he rarely made it out to ski himself. He
remembers standing at the vantage point of what was called the “military
crest,” where he could observe the hill by looking up and down its slope.
Early on, the hill became a favorite place for races. In those days,
Bunny would advertise on the back of the Ski Bulletin, using the entire
back page for an entry coupon that skiers would cut out, affix with a
dollar bill, and place in an envelope to mail off to him. It didn’t matter
what level skier you were in that day, everyone was welcome to race. On
race day, everyone assembled at the top of the hill and with one start, the
race began.
One of the first races Bunny held were the NASTAR style races, in
which skiers would speed down the steep Face with the hope of winning
the gold, silver, or bronze stick pins Bunny offered.
Alex Bright had set the time record at Suicide Six before Bunny placed
a rope tow on the hill, at just over 57 seconds. Later, Tom Corcoran, who
would go on to develop Waterville Valley in New Hampshire, would break
the record nearly in half, speeding down in 27 seconds. He was able to do
this after much studying of the course and marking it for the perfect path.
When conditions were perfect, Corcoran rushed to the hill to do the timed
trials, according to Bunny’s recorded account.
Without the large grooming equipment of today, Bunny would groom
the trails with the aid of three or four other men, hitting the trails with their
snowshoes and skis, tamping down the snow until the end of the school
day. Once the school kids were out for the day, he would have a bunch of
them out on the hills to groom the rest.
T
AT LEFT,
South Pomfret
village
overlooks the
very early
Suicide Six
Ski Area.
Below left,
the popular
skijoring in the
1940s. Below,
Bunny Bertram
enjoys a rare
day off on the
slopes.
(Photos Courtesy
of the Friends of
Woodstock Winters
and the Woodstock
Historical Society)
WINTER
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CONGRATULATIONS
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Suicide Six: The Early Years
Vermont Standard, Woodstock
Thursday March 12 2009
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Night Skating To Victrola Music Makes Woodstock Green A Hot Spot
W
hile the ski industry experienced its initial boom and settled
into a calmer holding pattern throughout the thirties, visitors to
Woodstock could enjoy any number of winter sports throughout
the town. Undeveloped ski hills like Blake Hill on Route 4 and some on
Dunham Hill and Mount Peg continued to attract skiers who were still
willing to climb the hills unaided by newfangled tows. Snowshoeing
enthusiasts could strike off on trail or in any direction they liked, and ice
skating, which had historically been part of Woodstock winters found it’s
way to The Green, though local memory differs on the exact time period of
its arrival there.
Joan Wilder Pearsons (recently deceased) remembered the rink in the
early forties. In a January 23, 1997 article in the Vermont Standard, she
wrote that the Woodstock Rotary Club, the Woodstock Fire Department,
and the Woodstock
Electric Company were
generous contributors
to the small rink, giving
freely of their time and
money in its creation.
She also credits an
unnamed light company
for providing light for
night skating, of which
she was a big fan.
Pearson’s father, a
self-taught figure skater
that enjoyed practicing
his moves with figure
skating book in hand,
would create routines
that the two would
practice on The Green.
They practiced their
routines to background
music produced by a
1920’s Victrola that they pulled out onto the ice in a sled. She describes
how they would wind up the Victrola and skate for the two minutes
allowed to them by player, then wind it again and return to their routine.
The machine played Viennese Waltzes, Polkas, and Great American
Marches. Later, the Woodstock Inn would use a set of loudspeakers to play
music for the public.
Pearsons told of professional skaters from New York and Boston that
would stay at the Woodstock Inn and skate at the rink, much to the joy of
onlookers.
Farrelly places the rink further back in time, to the late twenties and
thirties. In a 1997 article written by Kathie Wendling in her Vermont
Standard column Historically Speaking, Wendling relays Farrelly’s
memories of a rink where he practiced figure eights with his dad and
played around with his hockey stick and puck. He remembers that
Gillingham’s sold skates and eventually offered to sharpen skates with their
patented skate grinder.
CLOCKWISE
from left, a poster
promoting Bunny
Bertram’s Suicide Six.
• A scenic shot of
Prosper Ski Hill when
it was serviced by
one long rope tow.
• Gertrude Mertins
skiing with Billy and
Dana Emmons.• Ski
jumping at Prosper Ski
Hill in the 1940s.
(Photos Courtesy of the
Friends of Woodstock Winters and
the Woodstock Historical Society)
CONGRATULATIONS
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Phone: 570-286-0644
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email: [email protected] • www.splicr.com
Skiing Heritage Journal…A must read packed
with enlightening and entertaining articles
which preserve skiing history and increase
awareness of the Sport’s Heritage.
Go to skiinghistory.org or call
Jennifer Ament at 720-963-4204 to learn
more, to subscribe to the quarterly
Skiing Heritage, and to join ISHA.
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3 Elm Street • Woodstock, Vermont • 802-457-3232
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WWII Takes Its Toll On Ski Area Development Everywhere
P
rior to their purchase of the grinder, skaters got their skates
sharpened by Tink Day or maybe at George Charon’s blacksmith
shop for 25 cents.
Farrelly remembered George Goodrow as the best figure skater in town
and the only one to own skates with a “rocker bottom and the teeth on the
toe end.” Farrelly started skating on double runners that strapped onto his
winter boots and which made for unreliable bindings. The upgrade from
those that strapped on were those that fastened with a clamp. Farrelly liked
them better for hockey, but wasn’t truly happy with his skating equipment
until he finally got a pair of shoe skates. Farrelly remembered the rink
closing down in 1950.
During World War II, much of the ski industry shut down and the
government sent many of the most talented service-aged skiers in the
northeast to train just outside of Leadville, Colorado, to be part of the 10th
Mountain Division of the United States Army. According to Jeff Leich, the
Executive Director of the New England Ski Museum in Franconia, New
Hampshire, at the time, the War Department didn’t know anything about
training troops for mountain warfare, so they outsourced the job to the
National Ski Patrol, which was still young, having been formed in 1938.
In order to become a soldier in the 10th Mountain Division, applicants
were required to present three letters of recommendation and to fill out an
application that asked a number of questions about the physical abilities
and experiences of the applicant. Not every soldier went through that
process, but most did. Once they were accepted into the Division, soldiers
were trained in a facility in Colorado in what Leich describes as “probably
the longest training regimen.”
In 1945, the 10th Mountain Division arrived in Italy, where they engaged
in mountain warfare in the Apennine Mountains in Italy. Over the course
of World War II, they would lose 1,000 to death and 4,000 would leave
wounded. According to Leich, the casualty rate ran near 25 percent of the
troops sent into battle.
The ski-ready troops were possibly disappointed to find that they would
not have much of an opportunity to use their Alpine skills in Europe.
The Division did not end up using skis in Italy, except in a few minor
incidences. Most of the warfare required climbing and maneuvering in
mountainous terrain. Their physically arduous training in the Rockies paid
off in their ability to form an elite combat unit.
Local historian and photographer Sherm Howe remembers John Jay,
who joined the 10th Mountain Division in 1942. Jay was a well-known
filmmaker who would spend his winters skiing and shooting film of his
experiences, his summers splicing and developing the film into movies
and his springs traveling from town to town showing his films. Howe
remembers Jay bringing his films to Woodstock each month and laughing
at the dry, humorous commentary that made Jay’s films a joy to watch. Jay
would return from the 10th Mountain Division to continue film making and
writing in 1945.
When the troops came home from the war, many of the vets were
integral in founding and developing ski areas across the United States from
the fifties through the seventies.
Skiers were no doubt thrilled when the Woodstock slopes opened up for
business again. And so was Wallace “Bunny” Bertram, who had lost three
years of income.
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AT LEFT, ski
pioneer Bunny
Bertram, far left,
and Vermont Gov.
Lee Emerson (2nd
from right) join
some colleagues
in dedicating
the poma lift
at Suicide Six.
Below left, the
old Woodstock
Inn. Below, skiers
take a break at
the Mount Tom
Skiway base lodge
overlooking the
beginner slope.
(Photos Courtesy of the
Friends of Woodstock
Winters and the Woodstock
Historical Society)
Congratulations On 75 Years!
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Poma Lift Installed In 1954 At Suicide Six For $40,000
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shortage of electricity after the war forced Bunny to run only one
electric ski tow at a time, but nevertheless, he was back in business.
A shack at the bottom of Suicide Six served as a lodge for the
skiers. The building had seven windows out of which one could gaze up
at the hill and a huge fireplace that fit four-foot logs according to Bunny’s
account. Any injured skiers were brought to the lodge on a toboggan, on
which they would lay in front of the fireplace until the doctor arrived to
help them. The lodge served food and non-alcoholic drink to skiers but
served mainly as a warming hut.
Bunny never used a cash register during all of the years he ran the hill
and, since he was constantly working the lifts and ensuring the safety of
all aspects of the hill, he was lucky to have a friend he could trust with
the money. Bill “Pearly” Wheeler had helped Bunny clear the trails of the
Gully and continued to act as his head cashier at the hill, keeping careful
watch on the money they brought in.
Pearly had his own unique way of attending to the safety of Bunny’s
income. According to Bunny’s account, Pearly used homemade moneybags
to hold the bills and when one bag would fill to capacity, he’d hide it in
the sand pile Bunny used to sand his road. Bunny soon found out what
Pearly had done and asked him what would happen if somebody got their
car stuck and grabbed some sand to help themselves out. One other time,
Pearly hid a moneybag between Bunny’s bed mattresses and it wasn’t until
spring cleaning time that Bunny found the money.
If Pearly was peculiar in his habits, it did not seem to bother Bunny.
Bunny trusted him completely and in his 1979 conversation with Emerson,
said, “he made me feel ashamed of myself, he was so honest.”
As ski lift technology advanced across the country, a man named Ernie
Constam patented many of the lifts. In a move that would ultimately prevent
him from keeping up with the competition and therefore would mean the
loss of revenue, Bunny refused to pay the patent holder for his rights. It was
not until 1954 that Bunny would purchase a Poma lift for $40,000.
As with the rope tow, things were bound to go wrong and it was just
before Washington’s birthday when all 90 of the hangers on the Poma lift
stretched, according to Bunny’s account. Bunny had to remove all of the
hangers and their springs and haul them to Worcester, Mass., where the
springs were replaced just in time for the president’s birthday. The Poma
lift increased Bunny’s capacity exponentially, making it possible to lift 950
skiers in one hour. It placed the hill in an entirely different league
By 1961, Bunny was ready to pass the responsibility of the hill to new
ownership, selling it to Laurance Rockefeller. In his 1979 taped interview,
Bunny admitted that he was relieved to “get rid of it.”
“Things were getting more expensive all the time,” said Bunny, who had
enjoyed free electricity and free hill rental during the earliest days of his career
in the ski industry. “The competition was so great, you know, with these other
areas all around and all that…And the work was getting pretty hard, too.”
Bunny would miss the work for a while, but would continue to enjoy
the afterglow of nearly thirty years of memories of races, ski tow snafus
and friends earned along the way. He would go on to work in Construction
until November of 1978. In 1981 he was inducted into the U.S. Ski and
Snowboard Hall of Fame in recognition of his contributions to the birth
and growth of the sport of modern-day skiing.
SKI GUESTS arrive at
the Woodstock Inn in
the 1950s, left. Butch
Sutherland, below,
Woodstock’s present day
fire chief, was the Vermont
high School Slalom Champ
and New England Giant
Slalom Champ in 1957.
Woodstock High School Ski
Team in 1957, left below,
left to right, Bob Summers,
Bob Lewis, Allen Sawyer,
Jim Ransehousen, Dwight
Camp, Lindley “Butch”
Sutherland, Peter Hall, Paul
Sawyer and Coaches Brown
and Kasprzak.
(Photos courtesy of the
Friends of Woodstock Winters
and Butch Sutherland)
THE FOLLOWING SPONSORS SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGE WOODSTOCK’S UNIQUE SKI HISTORY
Juniper Hill Inn
& Cornish Colony
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Find Out Why Woodstock
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Congratulations To
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Vermont Standard, Woodstock
Thursday March 12 2009
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Winter Fun In Woodstock
Wasn’t Just About Skiing
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CLOCKWISE FROM TOP, metal skis acted as a runner
on these “ski planes” that flew across Silver Lake in
Barnard. • A winning ski plane operator poses proudly
for the camera. • Mary French (far left), mother of Mary
French Rockefeller, enjoys a Travis Sled with some friends.
• An up and coming flyer has some fun with a ski plane.
Snow rolling at the Gulley.
(Photos Courtesy of the Friends of Woodstock
Winters, Dan Atwood and Harold Parsons)
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802-824-5522
7
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Rockefeller Buys Mt. Tom, Suicide Six Ushering In Resort Era
By JONATHAN ROBINSON, Special To The Standard
y late 1950s and early 1960s, the ski industry was in a rapid ascent
throughout the country, with new ski areas opening every year.
Many of the older, smaller ski centers which had been around since
the earliest days, found themselves increasingly one-upped by larger areas
with more lifts, longer trails and more snow-making capability. It was
during this peak period that New England had more ski areas than at any
other time in history.
With that great expansion,
however, came inevitable
dangers, namely, unsustainable
growth. A great number of
smaller rope-tow type areas
found it impossible to compete,
eclipsed by the ever-increasing
tide of bigger and better
mountains.
Despite its rich and celebrated
history, Pomfret’s Suicide Six
could very well have been one of
those destined for the scrap heap
of forgotten areas. Even though
the first ski lift in the U.S. got its
start only a ridge away, by 1961,
ski pioneer Bunny Bertram was
realizing how difficult it was
to “play with the big boys”. It
only took a span of five years
to change the ski area calculus
in the immediate region, with
the addition of Ludlow’s Okemo in 1956 and Killington Basin in 1958,
right in Woodstock’s backyard. With increased local competition for skier
dollars, not to mention all of the other places in New England (and beyond)
that folks could go to ski at that time, small areas like Suicide Six felt the
squeeze.
When asked if he (Bunny) thought he might like to get back into the ski
business again in a January, 1979 interview in Skiing Magazine, Bunny
told Paul Robbins: “No sir. I thought I was damn lucky to get out of the
business, and I still do. I wasn’t exactly working on a shoestring, but it
was close to it. Where would I be with the jumps in insurance, fuel, energy
and labor? No sir, it was fun and the memories are pleasant…but I don’t
have the slightest desire to be back in the middle of it.” In retrospect, and
with that quote in mind, 1961 proved to be the perfect time for Laurance S.
Rockefeller to come along.
Third of the four grandsons of industrialist John D. Rockefeller,
Laurance Spelman Rockefeller had a long and storied connection to
Woodstock. It was here that, in 1934, he married Mary Billings French,
granddaughter of Frederick Billings, at the Woodstock Congregational
Church. Over the following years he would develop a native’s devotion
to the area. Throughout the rest of his life he was continually involved
with preservation and civic improvement projects in the pursuit of
keeping Woodstock the pristine, storybook New England town it had
always been.
B
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MT. TOM SKI AREA, also owned by Laurance Rockefeller, shown above in summer, was a location where many
children first learned to ski. Shown below and inset, the
construction of the ski lifts at Mt. Tom in the 1960s. Left,
Clarence “Red” Mills operating the main lift at Mt. Tom
with an unknown child.
(Photos courtesy of the Woodstock Historical Society and Jim Mills)
.%7Ê-"*Ê" L>ȘŜ««ˆ˜}°Vœ“
CELEBRATING OUR
TH
50 ANNIVERSARY
thank you
And a Happy 75th Anniversary
to the ÀUVWVNLWRZLQ$PHULFD
on Gilbert’s Hill in Woodstock, VT
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603-334-3002
www.mountainguard.com
7
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Suicide Six Is 2nd Ski Area In VT To Have Snowmaking Ability
W
hatever it was that Rockefeller was doing to help preserve the
town, he always felt that he was doing it to protect “Mary’s
hometown” as they’d come to think of it.
Much has been written about Rockefeller’s conservation and
beautification efforts in Woodstock over the last 70 years, from the burying
of electric and phone lines in town, to his building renovations, as well
as his continual work at Billings Farm & Museum and the creation of the
Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park. He certainly spared no
expense in securing for the town a future whereby any new developments
would gracefully coexist with those already established.
Within the first two to three winters (1960-63) under Rockefeller’s new
ownership at the Mt. Tom Ski Area, the two old rope tows were replaced
by two Poma lifts, snowmaking was installed along with a new “snow
packer” (groomer). A new warming hut was built with a cafeteria, first aid
room and sun deck. Mt. Tom had opened with its first rope tow in 1936
as Jim Parker’s Ski School and Tow, later as the (Johnny) Pulsifer Tow
in the 1940s, and then owned and operated by Maurice Wood throughout
the 1950s. It was during that last period that Spencer Field, a local skier
since the early 1940s, taught skiing at Mt. Tom, before becoming Bunny
Bertram’s first paid ski patroller at Suicide Six in 1955.
During the Rockefeller years, Mt. Tom continued as a place for family
skiing, as well as being a “feeder” hill for Suicide Six for the next 20 years,
where newer skiers would cut their teeth on the gentler slopes of Mt. Tom
before heading up the road to the far greater challenges that Six offered.
By 1979, skier visits were down to where it was deemed necessary to scale
back the operation and only offer skiing on weekends and holidays for
the following winter of 1979-80. Unfortunately, Mother Nature failed the
northeast miserably that winter. That season’s two six-inch snowfalls in
March only hastened the decision to close Mt. Tom altogether.
In 1961, the year after the purchase of Mt. Tom, Rockefeller bought
Suicide Six from Bunny Bertram, who, after 27 years and three ski areas
later, was ready to get out of the business for good. Of course, the thought
of an outsider coming in to take over two small, local family ski areas
did not sit well with many of the regulars. Waves of local resentment
reverberated. Rockefeller had purchased the two ski areas, the Woodstock
Country Club, the White Cupboard Inn and other properties, reminding
many of Laurance’s father, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his similar efforts
to restore Colonial Williamsburg (VA) earlier in the century. Locals saw
no reason to “restore” Woodstock-- they thought it was fine just the way it
was--although the creeping gentrification, both in town and at the ski areas,
was hard to ignore.
One of the first changes in this new era was the installation of a
snowmaking system, only four years after Vermont’s first man-made snow
success at nearby Mt. Ascutney in 1957. The system was put together by
three employees of the Woodstock-based Poma company: Paul “Reds”
Ostrowsky, Clarence “Red” Mills and Bob Pearsons, who would later
go on to work at Suicide Six for 40 years. These gentlemen were also
responsible for much of the trail clearing and lift installations at many
other ski areas, including Stowe, Sugarbush and Okemo, among others.
Claude Gaudin was the manager of both Six and Tom from the 1950s
until the early 1970s, when he died unexpectedly during a trip to Australia.
THE ORIGINAL Warming House at Suicide Six, above,
built by Rockefeller in the 1960s. Laurance and Mary
French Rockefeller, left, announcing plans for Vermont’s
first National Park, The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National
Park, early 1990s. Suicide Six, below, showing the Warming House and earlier Lodge, both demolished to make
way for the present day structure. The Rockefeller’s at the
opening of the new Woodstock Inn and Resort in November of 1969 with Governor Deane Davis, below left.
(Photos Courtesy of the Woodstock Historical Society and Jonathan Robinson)
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7
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Woodstock Resort Opens New Ski Touring Center
H
e was succeeded by Bob Pearsons, who had been working under
him at Mt. Tom in 1960 and at Suicide Six starting the following
year. Bob finally retired in 2001 after 40 years of remarkable
service, handing the reins over to long-time mountain employee Bruce
Maxham, who continues as mountain manager to this day.
In January, 1964, on the 30th anniversary of the first American ski tow
on Gilbert’s Hill, then-Governor Phillip H. Hoff dedicated an historic
marker by the roadside at the site. Many in attendance at the ceremony
included those who were there on the day it started, regaling the crowds
with colorful tales of their early visits. That roadside monument still
stands today as a testament to the dedication of those skiing pioneers.
Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Suicide Six and Mt. Tom served as
sister areas, with a lift ticket that was good at both areas. To reduce
the confusion caused by another Mt. Tom ski area of the same name in
Holyoke, Mass., Suicide Six and Mt. Tom were marketed as Woodstock’s
Six and Tom through much of the 1970s. With that title, it also connected
the two areas in skiers’ minds with the town of Woodstock. These
efforts to lure skiers to Woodstock had varying degrees of success, but
the two areas always were seen as havens for the locals. This created
an atmosphere of community and togetherness that could be seen in the
face of every youngster that skied there. It may have been owned by
Rockefeller, but you wouldn’t have known it by talking to any of those
young skiers. They always thought of it as “their” mountain! It was with
that realization that the future of local skiing, and skiing in general, resided
in the hopes of the young skiers eager to take up this great American
pastime.
With that in mind, Spencer Field and Jimmy Mills, under the aegis of
the Woodstock Ski Runners Club, instituted a program in the late 1960s
and early 70s to distribute 100 pairs of skis each year to local kids who
were without equipment. This, along with the club’s Friday afternoon free
skiing program, aimed to foster their interest and love of the sport, thereby
helping to create the next generation of local skiers. Unfortunately, after a
few years, the free ski distribution was deemed an unacceptable insurance
risk and the program was stopped. The Friday afternoon ski program
continues to this day,.
Around 1970, the year after the new Woodstock Inn opened, the Inn
debuted its ski touring center for the cross-country devotees that were
growing in number at that time. The Nordic Center, based in the winter at
Woodstock Resort’s Country Club, grew over the years to nearly 75 km of
trails and meadow runs through the golf course and on Mt. Tom as well.
It continues to this day as one of the premier touring facilities in New
England.
For 20 years after its rope tows were replaced by Poma lifts in 1954,
Suicide Six had soldiered on as a smaller, yet quite potent ski area, as well
as a fertile breeding ground for hopeful ski racers. It had become widely
believed since its inception in 1937, that if you were good enough to ski
down the Face, it was only because you were equally tough enough to ride
the rope tow (and later the Poma lift) all the way to the top. By the mid70s though, things were about to change again.
To further the progress of the ski area, the summit Poma lift was replaced
by a new, 2,000-foot double chairlift in 1976, a move which was roundly
applauded.
Ski Industry Icon
BUNNY BERTRAM, above, in his
later years. Bunny with Santa Claus,
below, at Suicide Six in the late
1970s. Left, standing beside the trail
at Suicide Six that bears his name in
1978.
(Photos Courtesy of Jonathan Robinson)
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7
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1st National Snowboarding Championship Held At Suicide Six
H
owever, that same summer also saw a change that was not as
well-received as the new lift. After years of seeing the monstrous
mogul fields that sprouted on the Face winter after winter, it was
deemed a good idea to try and tame the slope, or at least, a good portion of
it. That was done by reshaping the contour of the Face with a bulldozer,
creating a shelf of sorts, which now acts as a boulevard across the middle
of the steep, open slope. This move was seen as an improvement by some,
but many local old-timers saw it as something akin to drawing a mustache
on the Mona Lisa. Though slightly de-fanged, much of the Face will still
drain the blood from many a tyro’s countenance.
Two years later, in the summer of
1978, the new $400,000 base lodge
was built, with gorgeous high-beamed
ceilings and towering windows facing
the slopes. It was a fantastic upgrade
from the old warming hut, which, over
the years had been cobbled together
like a house-that-Jack-built chicken
coop. That summer also saw the
1,200-foot Poma lift replaced by a new
1650-foot double chairlift and increased
snowmaking coverage to two-thirds of
the mountain.
In 1979, Paul Graves, now of
Reading, went insane on a snurfer
— a precurser to a snowboard
— at the Annual Snurfer Contest in
Michigan. He did flips, bent down
on the board halfway through, and
did four sliding 360s. Also in 1979,
Graves appeared riding a Snurfer in a
LaBatt’s beer commercial. The history
of snowboarding has finally begun to
include more than just a handful of
people. People all over Canada and the northern U.S. saw Graves in the
commercial and wanted to try it out for themselves.
In 1982, a very important part of the history of snowboarding took
place. Paul Graves organized the very first National Snowboarding
Championships at Suicide Six Ski Area in Woodstock. Sports Illustrated,
Good Morning America, and The Today Show all covered some aspect of
the contest.
Throughout Suicide Six’s history, ski racing has always played an
integral part, dating back to 1937 and the annual races that were put on by
the Woodstock Ski Runners. That year, which was the sixth annual event,
the race was renamed The Fisk Trophy Race, after Mrs. Harvey (Elizabeth)
Fisk who donated the silver bowl which bears her name. First won by
U.S. Olympic Ski Team member Alexander Bright, the Fisk Trophy Race
is the longest running individual ski race in the country. Suicide Six has
also played host to countless other races, from the local interscholastic and
collegiate races to the Junior Class III and IV Championships, as well as
hosting the New England Masters’ Bunny Bertram Memorial Race.
Shopping for a
New Kitchen...
PAUL GRAVES of
Reading, pictured
at left at the 1982
Snowboard Nationals
at Suicide Six and
below right in 1977
at Powder Ridge Ski
Area in Connecticut, is
regarded as a pioneer
of snowboarding
and was National
Freestyle “Snurfboard”
Champion in the late
1970s. Inset, the first
known prototype for
a snowboard and an
early snurfer board.
At below left, Will
Peabody streaks down
“Six” on an early
snowboard.
(Photos Courtesy Paul Graves)
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Woodstock, Vermont 05091
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Congratulations
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Local Meats - Crafts - and soooo much more!
Rain Or Shine
7
1961 - Present
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Suicide Six: The Resort Years
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Bourdon Memorial Race, Friends Of Woodstock Winters Created
S
uch an emphasis helped spawn many accomplished ski racers,
including Lindley “Butch” Sutherland, 1984 Olympic downhiller
Peter Field (son of Spencer), and many more.
In 1999, the Bob Bourdon Memorial Race was inaugurated by a group of
local ski historians, The Friends of Woodstock Winters. The Bourdon Race
was a four-event relay race created to benefit the Bob Bourdon Memorial
Scholarship Fund, which was awarded to an aspiring winter sports athlete
from the Woodstock area. The “Bourdon Man” award that year went to
Charlie Kimbell, the all-event winner. Unfortunately, for organizational
reasons, the race was only run in 1999, but the work of The Friends of
Woodstock Winters continues.
The Friends group was incorporated on August 11, 1994. Founders
included Sherman Howe, his wife Anne F. (Petie) Howe (daughter of
Elizabeth Fisk), their daughter Margaretta Howe, Coleman Hoyt and
John Wiggin. The group’s mission, as stated in its 2003 newsletter, was
to collect, preserve and display items of Woodstock ski history for the
education and enlightenment of
the local population, to serve as a
resource for local winter historical
research and to encourage the
continuation and expansion of
winter sports in the area. The
year after it began, the Friends
staged their first race at Six, The
Bob Bourdon Inferno Race, down
Six’s Back Scratcher trail, on
March 3, 1996. The group was
also instrumental in organizing
this year’s festivities celebrating
the 75th Anniversary of the
inauguration of the country’s first
rope tow on Gilbert’s Hill.
Today, the core group of the
Friends consists of Sherm and
Grettie Howe, Paul Bousquet,
whose family started Bousquet’s Ski Area in Pittsfield, Mass., back in
1935 and Phil Camp, publisher of the Vermont Standard. Phil was also
the first director of the New England Ski Areas Council (NESAC), which
was first organized in 1968 (and headquartered in Woodstock) to collect
and disseminate the snow and ski reports of the day. Snow reporting until
that time was a very loose arrangement, without any firm guidelines or
rules to be of any serious use to the skiing public. NESAC was the first
clearinghouse of its kind for gathering snow condition information from
the ski areas and then sending it out to the news services for the public’s
use in deciding which area had the best conditions and snowfall. They
were considered to be the first independent service of its kind. By the early
1970s, the demand for the service expanded beyond New England and the
name was changed to NESAC/Snocountry Worldwide. In 1997, after 30
years of service, Phil passed the reins to Tom Cottrill, who continues as
director today.
Since its creation in 1892, the Woodstock Inn has been the focal point in
POLARIS RANGER:
HARD WORKING,
LEFT, a map of various trails at
Suicide Six. Above, Skiers in
front of the old warming house
at Suicide Six. Below right, the
new Union Arena exemplified
the evolution of winter recreation
in Woodstock. Below left, the
present day lodge at Suicide Six.
Inset, a helicopter transports a
Poma lift tower at Suicide Six.
(Photos by Rick Russell and Courtesy of the
Friends of Woodstock Winters)
town for visitors from around the world. During its first heyday in the late1800s through the first third of the next century, under the management
of Arthur Wilder, the Inn offered its guests all manner of activities and
amusements, none more popular than those enjoyed during the winter
months. There was skiing, tobogganing, ice skating, snowshoeing, sleigh
rides and much more to keep the guests coming back year after year.
Except for a few years during the Depression when the Inn was closed
during the winter months due to financial constraints and poor snow, the
Inn has had a long tradition of treating its guests with the utmost in service,
quality and great dining.
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Inn continues to provide an unequaled experience for its guests, with yearround activities for all interests.
•
I am very grateful for the help of the those without whose help this
article could not have been written: Sherm Howe, Spencer Field, Grettie
Howe, David Donath, Stu Repp, John Wiggin, Phil Camp, Jimmy Mills,
Bob Pearsons and Tom Cottrill.
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7
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Woodstock Pulls Out All The Stops In ‘84
Vermont Standard, Woodstock
Thursday March 12 2009
19
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Bringing
Gilbert’s Tow
Back To Life
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT, Bruce
Gould, Chet Williamson, Tom Wright
(kneeling), Bill Alsup, Bill Currier
and Phil Camp helped engineer the
reenactment of the nation’s first ski
tow on its 50th anniversary. • The state
historic marker commemorating the
first ski tow. • The Tenth Mountain
Division “Pando Commandos” put on
a real show. • The view from the top
of Gilbert’s Hill before the relay race. •
Cecilia Hoyt dons a 1930s outfit in the
DuPont Vintage Skiwear Competition.
• Gov. Richard Snelling (left) and
a friend wait for their turn at the
rope tow. • A smiling Sel Hanna at
the skiwear contest. • The “Skiing
Governor” Richard Snelling.• Bill Hoyt
(left) and Frankie O’Rear enjoy a snowy
moment. • The ski tow in full force.
• Bob Bourdon steps up to the newly
invigorated rope tow.
(Photos Courtesy of the Friends of Woodstock Winters
and the Woodstock Historical Society)
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Woodstock Community Remembers ‘34
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CLOCKWISE from left, a line of flags marks the route of the
Gilbert’s Hill rope tow. • Woodstock resident Bill Blaiklock
presses on during the Union Arena’s Winter Triathlon. • From
left to right, State Rep. Mark Mitchell, Woodstock’s Winterfest
Coordinator Charlie Kimbell, Gov. Jim Douglas, Dorothy
Douglas and State Rep. Alison Clarkson pose for a shot at the
Fisk Trophy Race at Suicide Six. • The historic house at the
bottom of Gilberts Hill. • At the Winterfest Film Festival are
local students Andrew Holson, Galin Foley and Charlie Kahn.
• Maggie Parker, 6, and her mom, Shelly hit the dance floor
at the Suicide Six lodge. • Peter Schouw of Connecticut at the
Winter Triathlon. •Bobby Farrell tackles the Fisk Race course.
(Rick Russell, Dan Powell Photos)
DOMINION
GRANITE INC.
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Happy
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NORMAND La
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[email protected]
P.O. Box 305
Beebe Plain
Vermont 05823
1-800-567-2747
Fax:
1-819-876-7644
Page Sixteen-B
Thursday March 12, 2009
C O
N
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E X C E E D
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A T
Y O U R
U
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Vermont Standard, Woodstock
A T
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O
N
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E X P E C T A T I O N S
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Visit us online at www.thegranitegroup.com or stop in at:
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