Brownsville, VT – The ski lifts on Mt. Ascutney, high on a monadnock above Vermont’s Connecticut River Valley, have been silent since the winter of 2010-11, 64 years after the ski area first opened. But despite a series of obstacles, including the sale of its lifts and a base lodge blaze that destroyed the structure last January, have not deterred a newly-formed group from trying to reopen the ski area as a non-profit.
The eight-member committee Mt. Ascutney Outdoors is exploring an opportunity to resurrect the 489-acre resort for mountain biking, hiking and horseback riding, as well as skiing. They estimate that it will cost nearly $1 million to purchase the former Mt. Ascutney Mountain Resort property and add it to the existing West Windsor Town Forest on the mountain’s northwest quadrant (an adjacent State Forest occupies the eastern half of the mountain). Over half that amount has already been raised through contributions from the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, West Windsor voters, the national conservation group Trust for Public Land, and an online campaign.
The committee has proposed leaving the top third of the mountain for backcountry skiing, with lifts erected on the lower two-thirds of the former ski area. When it last operated, Mt. Ascutney claimed an 1,800-foot vertical drop.
The ski resort was last operated by New York City residents Steven and Susan Plausteiner, who purchased the property for just over $1 million in 1993 after a bankruptcy prompted three years of closure. After adding on- and off-mountain improvements, the Plausteiners — who by 2010 were $2 million in debt – were foreclosed upon. The principal lien holder on the property assumed ownership as the only bidder at an auction of the resort’s assets in November 2013. The only activity currently taking place at the site is the base area resort hotel, currently being operated as a Holiday Inn Vacation Club.
Committee member Laura Farrell, who founded Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports, already has experience in the arena of non-profit ski areas, as she has also served as a fundraiser, grant writer and event coordinator for the Cochran’s Ski Area in Richmond, Vt., upon which she is modeling the effort at Mt. Ascutney. Farrell is hopeful that the group can get at least a rope tow up and running at the mountain this winter.