Many people confuse the ski resort of Stowe Mountain with Stone Mountain Park, which is home to the huge monolithic mountain that gave it its name. But the stone block lies near Atlanta in the state of Georgia (USA). And to understand where Stowe is, you need to move your eyes a little north on the map and find the state of Vermont. One of the most beautiful ski resorts in the USA is located there near the town of Stowe.
The town is located in the valley between two mountains: Spruce Peak and Mansfield. The latter is considered the highest in the state - 1 340 meters. Winding long trails are laid through wooded mountains, which are covered with snow from November to April. The U.S. currency in Stowe is the United States dollar (USD).
Researchers believe that the first skis glided over the local mountains at the end of the 19th century. In the town of Stowe, located a few kilometers from today’s resort, there was a logging operation, so people often had to move around in winter on makeshift skis. The first descent from the local mountains on real skis for pleasure took place on February 1, 1914, by Nathaniel Goodrich, a librarian from Dartmouth College. Documentary evidence of this event is preserved in the college archives.
However, the history of Stowe as a ski resort began in 1934. During the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps, which recruited young men. The head of the Vermont branch, Perry Merrill, assembled his team and began clearing ski trails on November 1, 1933. Exactly 20 years after the Dartmouth librarian, on February 1, 1934, one of the patrol members, Paul Barquin, made the first descent down the new trail. Therefore, Stowe is considered to have been founded in 1934.
Two weeks before the first downhill run, the town officially opened a ski school, founded the Mt. Mansfield Ski Club and registered the official Mansfield Ski Patrol, one of the first in the United States. At the beginning of the 1936 season, the first rope tow elevator opened here, followed by another in the middle of the season.
The resort was gaining popularity, and in 1938 the National Race was held here. There was a huge number of people wishing to participate, and the elevators could not cope with them. Some daredevils tried to climb the mountain in their cars. As a result, they got stuck in snow drifts, so much so that some cars were dug out a few weeks after the event was over.
Two years later, the resort added a single chairlift, the longest cable car in the U.S. at the time. But it worked so slowly that skiers had to wait at least two hours for their turn. Nevertheless, the elevator operated safely until 1986. In 2000 Stowe was completely reconstructed taking into account the requirements of environmental services. Some of the slopes were renamed in honor of the skiers who organized the resort and laid the slopes here.
