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CAMPUS

The Norwich Guidon
Dec. 11, 2003

Remembering the Norwich ski hill

Once used as a recruiting tool, it now is a distant memory

By John Higgins
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

The Norwich University ski hill, seen here in an undated photo, was located across from the campus and provided free skiing to students, staff and faculty until it was closed in the early 1990s.

Located east of route 12, opposite the Northfield Campus of Norwich University, the old ski area is a unique parcel of land, because, not only did it host ski competitions for a number of years, but it also provided a protected environment for the animals, trees, and plants that live there.

The 275 acres of land on Paine Mountain have long ago given up the moguls and ski runs. But for many years it provided students and community residents with a convenient and economical skiing experience.

It is unclear when the original ski lift was installed, but it was replaced in the early 1970s. The Norwich Ski Area consisted of one double chair lift, a tow rope, warming hut, snack bar, rental shop, ski shop, and a ski school.

Communications Professor William Estill said, "I came here in 1987, and there was a ski lift at the hill. I lived in the back of the Shaw house, so the ski hill was in my backyard."

Estill said, "The best thing was, because it wasn't a well-known ski run, when it snowed a lot and I lived right there, I could be the first one out the door on Saturday morning and ski virgin snow that no one had skied before."

Estill also said that, "During my lunch I would go over there and get about eight runs in, and it was really nice."

Barnard said that when the ski hill was active, Norwich students "had to take so many courses of physical education and you could take skiing as one of them."

Estill said Norwich used the ski hill to lure students in. "It was on the student view book and it was in the video they had."

It remained in the view book for some time, even after they closed the ski area down.

"When I was over there, I might be sitting next to someone that was on vacation. When it was a really busy day over at Sugarbush or somewhere, people would come here, because it was a little ski hill that they could get a full day of skiing without the lines, and when there was heavy snowfall, it was great riding." Estill said.

"I just thought it was a great chance to interact with students. You would ride up the chairlift with them, talk with them, and then see them in the hall," Barnard said.

"It was a really healthy thing for everyone," Estill said. "They even had groomers; it was well taken care of."

But because of the south west face of the slope, Estill pointed out that "when it was getting close to an inch, that's when you hit rocks, and it was rocky. You wouldn't want to use new skis. But when there was 21 inches, it was wonderful."

"Anyone who skied Norwich accepted bare spots," Barnard said.

David Magida, chief administrative officer, said, "There are a lot of people [at Norwich] that learned to ski there, so the community and staff were not happy to see it go."

In 1991, the ski hill didn't open, because there was not enough snow, and it never opened again.

"Fairly shortly after [President Richard] Schneider came, it was closed. He started looking at the institution and making tough decisions," said Oceanography and Geology Professor David Westerman.

There were several reasons why the university decided to close the ski area, Magida said, adding that it has the worst exposure possible for a ski area.

The former Norwich ski hill (above) also provided physical education classes for students.

"It has a south west exposure, so the snow just doesn't stay."

Magida added that "we went from some years having 70 days that it was open, to other years that we didn't open it at all.

"We were looking into snow making, but that was very costly, and we are not sure we would have even gotten a permit to do it." Magida said.

Barnard also said that "there was some resistance at the base of the mountain, because of the noise that the snow makers would make."

Westerman said, "if you used the water at the same rate that it is available, you wouldn't deplete the water resource. On the other hand, you could design a bad one, as well."

Another major reason for the closure, as Barnard put it, was because "the university was in a financial pinch."

Magida said that after ticket sales and ski rental profits were collected, the ski area was still costing the university $160,000 a year.

He said that "there were a lot of significant maintenance that needed to be done to the lift and to the facilities over there."

Chan Stowell, director of student activities, intramurals and recreational sports, said that part of the reason that the ski area closed was because the maintenance crew fell behind, and the lift became a liability risk.

Magida explained that "in order for us to keep the lift, the state was requiring us to do quite a bit of work on it."

Barnard also said, "I think it's unfortunate that it had to be closed, but none of the managers of the ski area were skiers, and I think that was one of the problems. They didn't seem to know when to open it and when to close it."

"I think they could have run it more efficiently" Barnard said. "It was expensive because they had too many full-time people working there."

Part of the reason that the university was not making any money was because all students skied for free as a perk for attending Norwich.

The price for a non-student to ski at the ski area was $18 for adults and $14 for children 12 years and under. Two day passes cost $30 for adults and $20 for children 12 and under. Season passes could be purchased by adults for $144, and children 12 and under cost $90. According to a Norwich ad, the ski area was "the skiing alternative for the whole family and reasonable rates."

"Our sizable lift capacity and acres of trails assure you of minimal lift lines and uncrowded ski slopes. You will truly get a full day of skiing -- not a day filled with waiting in lines," the ad stated.

"The way we went about deciding whether to keep the place open or not was, we looked at our data and found that the amount of utilization was very low," and "the students didn't use the ski area that much," Magida said.

Barnard said, however, that "the ski area clearly brought people here and probably contributed to people staying."

"One year, the ski slope was closed for operation, which saved an enormous amount of money," Westerman said.

The chair lift also ran in the fall on alumni weekend, so everyone could enjoy the foliage from the chairlift, Estill said. They would also start it "whenever we wanted [photo] shoots of campus."

"We had the students do a survey, and found out what their feelings were about the ski area," Magida said. "The students essentially were telling us we should open the ski area, but they didn't want to pay [any additional charges]. The ski area ranked fifth out of 10 choices.

"We concluded and recommended to the trustees that the money could be much better spent in other areas," Magida said.

Magida explained that "the president asked a committee of outsiders to take a look at it, and they came to the same conclusion: that it was just not cost effective.

The hill was featured as part of a 1977 calendar (above).

"We even entertained the idea of having another group run the ski area, but they said that they would have to charge considerably more than we were charging," Magida said, adding that "the way that ski areas make money is real estate, not ski tickets, and there is no opportunity to develop over there.

"It just didn't make sense from a financial and strategic viewpoint to keep the mountain open as a ski area." Magida said.

Estill said that "we looked up one fall, and the chairs were gone, and all of a sudden the next fall, the towers were gone."

"We sold that old equipment to a broker, and they sold it to another ski area," Magida said, adding that "we still have some of the grooming equipment, which we use periodically to make a sledding or tubing trail."

The Norwich Guidon is a twice-monthly student newspaper distributed at Norwich University. It provides laboratory experience for students in the Communications program. Claims asserted by letter writers, editorials and other articles do not represent the positions of Norwich University. The Norwich Guidon welcomes signed letters to the editor. They should be no longer than 300 words. Unsigned letters will not be printed, but names may be withheld upon worthy request. All letters are subject to editing for length and good taste. Mailing address: The Norwich Guidon, Communications Center, Norwich University, Northfield, VT 056632. www.norwich.edu/guidon. If you have any questions or comments about the paper, please contact Professor Ken Bush at kbush@norwich.edu.