March 1963, from the highway looking at north peak face. Click on image for larger version.

A view of the mountain in the early 1960's. Click for larger.

This lost ski area was founded by Bill Jenkins, along with a board of directors, in 1961. These include Stan Brzoza of West Rutland; Harold Blittersdorf of Pittsford; Malcolm Williams from Poultney; and Herman Dederer of Shelburne. You will be able to learn all about Bill's development and history at the mountain below. The area was constructed on the north side of Bird Mountain, just off Route 4 (now 4A). It was easily accessible from eastern New York and the Rutland area. The mountain range there is the northern end of the Taconics, and is geologically very different from the nearby Green Mountains. The north face starts off gradual near the base, but rises dramatically near the summit - with nearly vertical cliffs in spots! The area is not known for its heavy snow, and is actually located in one of the least snowiest parts of the state, averaging only near 60-70" a year.

Snowmaking was installed during those first few years, but was not needed very much, due to higher than average snowfalls. Snowmaking was mostly setup on the west facing slope served by the 750' disc lift. Night skiing was available on this sloep.

Plans for a summer operation were also developed, but never fully implemented. These included a Vermont style park, dedicated to the history of the state. Shuttles to the summit of the mountain to another restaurant were planned but were not implemented.

(To the left is a topographic map of the area, showing the trails and powerline)

With all the good snow during the first few years of operation, the Board of Directors decided to build another lift in 1965- this time a Doppelmayr T-bar. This was built above the powerline, and served several new trails. This lift was 1300' in length, had 390' of vertical, could serve 900 skiers per hour, and traveled at 500 feet per minute, giving it about a 2.5 minute ride. From the top of the T-bar to the base was about 500' of vertical. A total of 6 trails were now available for skiing.

Unfortunately, building the lift went against the overall plan of the mountain. Bill Jenkins wanted all new trails to be covered by snowmaking, but the board decided to expand anyways, and Bill resigned. Accordingly, two bad snow seasons followed, and the area folded. The T-bar was removed likely in the late 1960's or early 1970's. We are not sure where it ended up, but for all we know, still operates at another area!

To the right is an aerial shot of the mountain, year unknown. You can clearly see the powerline and the various trails. Click for larger.

In the late 1970's, the area was bought by Donald Goldman, who also owned/operated Roundtop Ski Area. Bill Jenkins by this time was the manager and ski school director of Roundtop, and he started to work on plans to get Birdseye operational again. Unfortunately, Round Top had two back to back low snow years, and closed, and the plans were scrapped.

During the 1980's through early 2000's, the trails at Birdseye grew in, and some logging took place at the mountain. The base lodge burned down, and the camping ceased.

When I (Jeremy) first visited the area in 2001, the access road was flanked by trees, and was easily accessed. These trees were removed in 2003, and flooding took place over the access road, making it difficult to walk in. I visited the area in May 2003 and got a personal tour from Don Sevigny, and took many photos which are viewable below.

To the left is an aerial view of the area in the early 1990's. I have labeled various features for you. Click on it for larger version.

The winter design would have included a chairlift on the north face of the North Peak facing Rte 4. There would also have been chairlifts on the east and west sides of the mountain.

All slopes would have snowmaking at there was unlimited water available from the Castleton River at the base of the mountain.

(Right - Bill Jenkins' wife at the top of Birdseye, early 1960's)

(Left-a view of the back of Birdseye, click on image for larger version)

Incidentally, the big powerline cut was done just before we purchased the property. As a result, one chairlift would have gone through a tunnel under the powerline.

Unfortunately, my directors linked me so much with skiing, that they decided to go with the skiing operations first. This was understandable as skiing was really taking off, and there was an obvious need for more areas.

(Right- a view of the construction of the far western wide slope. Click on image for larger version).

(Left- a picture of the first Stabil Disc Lift, early 1960's. This served the wide open west facing slope. Click on image for larger version)

We installed a 10 snow gun system by Larchmont which worked very well. This was the 3rd in Vermont, after High Pond and Green Mountain College. Many are surprised that Killington and Pico were much later to snowmaking.

A very nice base lodge was built. It had a large open eating space and food service on the 2nd floor. This was entered from the slope using a stairless ramp. Toilets were on the ground floor, as were the ski and rental shops.

(Right- a view of the North Face Disc Lift, March 1965. Click on image for larger version).

The area did quite well for several years with this limited operation. We built a large camping area for the summer tourists. This was very popular, and profitable. We also sold a number of homesites in a development at the base of the west side of the mountain.

Then, a serious and fatal mistake was made. As unlikely that it would occur in such a poor snowbelt, Birdseye had two extremely heavy snowfall years, and the snowmaking was hardly used.

(Right- a view of the rope tow and beginner area, developed April 1962. Click on image for larger version).

I reminded the directors of the policy of no lifts without snowmaking, but was not successful in pointing out that a large expenditure could be jeopardized, if we had the usual low snowfall season, and no snowmaking on the new lift and its slopes.

I resigned over the issue, and they went ahead with the expansion. As might be expected, we then had several nearly snowless years, no snowmaking on the new slopes and T-bar, and the area went out of business.

Another ironic situation also contributed to Birdseye's problems. We were still trying to raise capital through stock sales. Killington was starting up at the time. Local investors decided because Killington received so much natural snow, they would be better off investing there. Snowmaking wouldn't be needed up there.

Of course, Preston Smith, Killington's founder, had seen our snowmaking system at Birdseye and the college. He was convinced, and proceeded to make Killington the biggest snowmaking operation in the country.

(Right-a flyer showing the area for sale, likely late 1970's. Click for larger version)

In the late seventies, I almost instituted my original summer operation for a Vermont theme park at Birdseye. At the time, I was the manager and ski school director of Roundtop Mountain in Plymouth. The owner purchased the Birdseye Mountain property. We planned to start with an Alpine Slide, and expand it into my original design.

However, another nearly snowless winter nearly bankrupted Roundtop, which had a very limited snowmaking system, and that cancelled the Birdseye plans.

I left Roundtop, and sold flotation tired tractors to ski resorts until I sort of retired in the mid 90's. As you can perceive, I am somewhat a compulsive inventor/innovator, and am still at it.

(Right-one of Bill's plans for the mountain's revival, late 1970's, showing the alpine slide. Click for larger version).