East Corinth, Vermont - February 5, 2009
It's 1:30 in the afternoon at Northeast Slopes in East Corinth.
Volunteers are busy firing up the old rope tow. While inside, a group of third-graders are busy strapping on their ski boots.
You won't find any slopeside condos or high-speed gondolas at Northeast Slopes. And that's what makes the place so special.
"It's not about money and fancy gear," says Genevieve Faherty, a volunteer ski instructor. "It's about getting out and having fun."
The ski area operates on a shoestring budget of $15,000 a year-- peanuts compared to most other ski resorts in the state.
"This is the way it should be," says Steve Simpson, the director of Northeast Slopes.
A lift ticket costs just 12 bucks a day. And that gives you access to all of the mountain's seven runs.
"It's really good skiing and there's a lot of trails," says Steele Lahe, a third-grader from Waits River.
"It's really fun and there's a lot of nice jumps up there," agreed Tucker Sweet, another third-grader from Waits River.
There are a lot of things that make this place unique and one of them is this rope tow. It's been around since 1936 and you definitely want to wear old gloves, because it'll tear holes right through them.
John Pierson helps operate one of the tow ropes. Both are powered by old truck engines.
"Actually some of that chain mechanism has been there since 1936 and that's the way they did it then so we just keep doing it," Pierson explains.
"It's on a 960 Ford farm truck that I cut down and modified and that's what's in there now," Simpson says.
Northeast Slopes first opened in the 1930s and has been operating ever since. Some believe it's the oldest continually operating ski area in all of North America.
"There's some folks in Canada who take issue with it," Simpson says, "but we've never seen anything in print or anywhere else to substantiate they were operating before we were."
Thousands have learned to ski here and young or old-- they keep coming back.
"I first learned snowboarding here on the little tow and just worked my way over," says Bobby Henry, 15.
"The views are just fantastic. If you look off to the east you can see Mount Washington... It's just beautiful," Simpson says. "And this is what it's like; no place like it."
Skiing at its best in East Corinth, Vermont.
And the runs at Northeast slopes are much steeper than you might think each have a 25-35 percent pitch. The ski area is currently in the process of installing a T-bar to replace the tow rope. It should be up and running by next winter.
Click here for more information on Northeast Slopes.
Keagan Harsha - WCAX News Click here to see more Destination Recreation stories.
