Green
Mountain College Slope Part 1
Marcy Farm
Hampton, NY
1950's
Thanks
Being of entrepreneurial bent, a friend, Bob Daniels, and myself decided to start a ski school at Green Mountain College, twenty miles from Rutland. When we proposed ski lessons, 50% of the students enrolled. We found a suitable slope for skiing a mile from the college, in Hampton, NY, on the Marcy Farm. On the slope we installed a portable toboggan tow which provided 300ft of uphill conveyance. Later this was replaced with an electric powered tow. In those days, grooming the new snow after a snowstorm meant that time tested method of sidestepping the slope. Fifty young ladies are about as good a grooming device as can be found. No wages, no gas, beautiful faces, etc. Each hour, for five hours a day, we transported students to the slope in a bus. A trailer carried the skis. Matching up the students and their skis was chaos! After this, the area was moved to the Green Mountain College campus. On the right is a 1951-1952 brochure. The electric tow was the Marcy Farm, while the jeep tow was on campus. When snow was minimal, the jeep tow would run at school, and if snow was plentiful, the Marcy farm area would run.
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A student rides the rope tow in Hampton on the Marcy Farm. Year unknown. Note how the ski area was basically an open slope. |
Skiers lined up at
Hampton Hill, looking to the East, and
that is the Marcy Farm barn in the background. Click on image for larger version.
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The top of Hampton Hill, and you can see the south peak of Birdseye in the distance to the left, in the slide. Click on image for larger version. |