Eastern Operators Set Up Employment Service
The board agreed that the most acute problem was finding ski instructors. Employment laws sometimes demand that employers must search for instructors in the U. S. before recruiting European instructors.
If suitable or sufficient U. S. instructors can’t be found, time lapses make it difficult for areas to find any instructor. The employment office will not issue clearance papers to hire foreign personnel until the U. S. requirements have been met.
The employment service proposed by the ESAOA will initially be handled through the NSAA office in New York City. The service will be free to all members of the Eastern Ski Area Operators Assn. with a small fee to non-member areas.
Ski areas are urgently requested to send in notices of positions open now so that employment regulations may be met. Persons seeking ski area jobs should also send in resumes now.
The address of the Ski Area Employment Service is Room 1001, 369 Lexington Ave., New York 10017.
Craig O. Burt
Craig Burt, Stowe ski pioneer and lumberman, died recently at the age of 82.
Mr. Burt began skiing in 1906 with homemade skis. In 1921, he was one of the instigators of a winter carnival, which was the first spurt of interest in winter sports in Stowe. Ranch Camp, his logging camp, was one of the first accommodating skiers who came to climb Mt. Mansfield for the run down. He was instrumental in the re-building of the Toll Road, a century-old carriage road running the length of Mt. Mansfield, to accommodate cars.
His interest in the town of Stowe and in the sport of skiing helped the town achieve the position it now maintains in skiing.
Attendance to Soar Like Fountain as Mt. Snow Hosts Convention
Four ski areas submitted bids to be the host area for the 1965 National Ski Areas Association convention, but Mt. Snow, Wilmington, Vt., won hands down. Most members who voted for the New England site were naturally curious about a fast-growing ski resort that could claim 10 double chairlifts and a gondola and total uphill capacity of over 13,000 skiers per hour. But prospects of seeing one of the hydraulic wonders of the world undoubtedly influenced the voting.
Mt. Snow, as well as being one of the most popular ski areas in the nation, is the home of a unique fountain that Mt. Snow president Walter Schoenknecht admits is capable of shooting a stream of water 350 feet in the air. While this should be adequate for most ski areas, Schoenknecht has expressed interest in adding a few more feet of height to surpass a fountain in Geneva, Switzerland, that the Mt. Snow area operator understands hits over 360 feet.
Of interest to less impressionable area operators would be the new lift designed by Carlevaro and Savio, which is, in fact, a cabin chair. It accommodates two skiers, wearing skis, in an enclosed cabin. A second Mt. Snow lift, which isn’t included in uphill capacity, transports skiers from the Snow Lake Lodge across a lake, over the road and past the fountain to the main base lodge.
The lift capacity at Mt. Snow makes it the highest capacity single ski area in the world and the only ski area in the world with a 350-foot fountain.
The first NSAA convention was held at Lake Tahoe in 1963 and a second annual meeting at Caberfae, Michigan, in 1964. Thus, members of the National Ski Areas Association will continue eastward to attend the meeting June 11-12 at Mt. Snow. This third annual convention will get underway at 8:30 p.m., Friday, June 11, when NSAA committees will give their reports and recommendations and hear a comprehensive review of the association’s activities in the past year.
Saturday, June 12, at 4:30 p.m., the final general membership meeting will vote on new proposals, elect officers for 1965-66 and adjourn for a reception for the new board and banquet.
With the convention being held in the more populous East, plus three years of growth, attendance is expected to reach a new high. Several regional area operators’ associations will meet at Mt. Snow in conjunction with the NSAA convention and with the Ski Area Management Clinics and Equipment Trade Show.
Harvey Clifford of Mt. Snow has announced a Vermont Area Operators Assn. meeting for June 10 and L. Perry Williams has called a meeting of Eastern Ski Area Operators to follow the Vermont association’s meeting.
New Area Briefs . . .
The first major ski development in the San Juan mountain terrain of Southwest Colorado is planned. Durango Ski Corp. says it will invest $550,000 in a double chair, base facilities and trail clearing. Headed by oilman Raymond Duncan, Durango expects a $350,000 loan from the Small Business Administration. The “Purgatory” area will be 85 per cent intermediate-beginner terrain. . . Expansion of the Breckenridge, Colorado, ski area will be assured this year as a result of an increase of one million dollars in paid-in capital. Additional stock has been purchased by Rounds & Porter Lumber Company, Inc., of Wichita, Kansas. New lift facilities and other improvements contemplated would increase the area’s capacity by over 1,000 skiers daily. . . Semi-new in Colorado is the Grand Mesa ski area, about two miles west from a small existing area about 30 miles easterly from Grand Junction. With about an 800-foot vertical, the area will have a 7,000-foot double chairlift plus the beginners’ lift already in use at the existing area. . . At Sunapee in New Hampshire, about $175,000 is being spent to create a “sub-novice” bowl area of 20-25 acres. A 2,000-foot chairlift has been designed by Heron Engineering. . . Also in the Granite State, Tom Corcoran is laying plans for a 1966-67 opening of Waterville Valley. . . In Maine, Amos Winter and the Sugarloaf Mt. Corp. plan to have a gondola lift rising 2,600 vertical feet to the summit snowfields in operation this coming winter. No details are available, but a sizeable T-bar development in Jackman on Route 201 near the Canadian border is being planned on a 3,800-foot peak. . . At Brodie Mountain in the Berkshires which opened this past winter, Kelly Hardwood Co. is sufficiently encouraged to start cutting a 6,200-foot liftline for another chair and announce plans for a 100-unit motel and large swimming pool. . . At Lyon Mountain, the Lowenberg Corp. has engaged the Hall Ski Lift Co. to do preliminary engineering and design for a 6,400-foot double chairlift part way up 3,830-foot Lyon Mountain. A 3,500-foot T-bar is also planned for the resort, which is near the corporation’s Chazy Lake recreation home development. . . Also, in Western New York, a very major area is planned at Sinclairville. . . A major ski area will be built at Great Gorge in New Jersey. . . Near Boise, Idaho, Bogus Basin on Shafer Butte is set to spend $350,000 for two new double chairlifts. Skiing acreage will be expanded from the present 180 acres to 760 acres. The development would require a 2½-mile road extension. . . At Boreal Ski Area Development on Highway 40 near Donner Summit, California, plans are underway to construct two chairlifts and a major lodge. It will be a novice area with a vertical of about 370 feet. . . The proposed Colorado area at Marble seems set to go, with a recent purchase of land by the Oberlander Corporation in the Marble area. The purchase price was disclosed as $375,000.
Heavenly Valley ski area at Lake Tahoe will undergo $20 million expansion extending over several years, it was announced by Hugh Killebrew, Jr. Forest Service permission has been granted to add 2,000 acres to the present 1,000 acres in the Eldorado National Forest in Nevada and California, making Heavenly Valley a two-state area. Construction will start in summer of 1966 with the first of 10 new lifts and tramways.
Accident Reports Sought
L. Perry Williams, Chairman of the Legal Committee, requests all ski areas interested in the establishment of fair ski law to send their reports of ski accident cases to the NSAA office.
By compiling a comprehensive ski litigation file, NSAA can follow the direction of the law. The need for a central clearing house for legal information grows ever more evident when case laws established in one state affect the outcome of a case in another.
Information should be sent to NSAA, 369 Lexington Ave., New York 10017. Data will be kept confidential.
Ski Team Fund Shy of Goal
After crying the blues through the season and realizing little support from the American public, U. S. Ski Team fund raisers say they wonder which will end first—the Team or the Fund.
The contribution deadline set by the U. S. Ski Association to be originally April 20th was extended 15 days in hopes that the team would raise enough money to pay this year’s bills.
SAVE-THE-TEAM DOLLARS may be sent to the U. S. Ski Team Fund, c/o The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs Colorado.
Central Areas Forge Link with NSAA
The Central Ski Areas Association, composed of 51 ski areas in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana, has joined NSAA on a 100 per cent basis.
Tom Joynt, executive secretary of CSAA and a long-time supporter of the national association, said, “We got our membership to join NSAA partly because areas here who have been members of NSAA all along, made the others aware of the benefits and worthwhile activities of NSAA that affect Central ski areas.”
Jack English of Indianhead Mountain, Mich., was elected president of CSAA.
These are the 51 members of NSAA from the Central Ski Areas Association. (Asterik indicates area had been NSAA member for the past year.)
- Alpine Valley, Mich.
- *Alpine Resorts, Ohio
- Apple Mt., Mich.
- Ashawabay, Inc., Wisc.
- Big M, Mich.
- Big Powderhorn, Mich.
- Boston Mills, Ohio
- Boyne Highlands, Mich.
- Boyne Mt., Mich.
- Brandywine, Ohio
- Brule Mt., Mich.
- Buck Hills, Minn.
- Buffalo Park, Ill.
- *Caberfae, Mich.
- Carousel Mt., Mich.
- *Clear Fork, Ohio
- Crystal Mt., Mich.
- Four Lakes, Ill.
- Gander Mt., Ill.
- Hidden Valley, Mich.
- Holiday Resort, Mich.
- Indianhead Mt., Mich.
- Iroquois Mt., Mich.
- Lansing Ski Area, Mich.
- Little Switzerland, Wisc.
- Lutsen Resort, Minn.
- Mott Mt., Mich.
- Mt. Wawassee, Ind.
- Mt. Christy, Mich.
- Mt. Holly, Mich.
- Mt. LaCrosse, Wisc.
- Mt. Mancelona, Mich.
- *Mt. Telemark, Wisc.
- Nor-Ski Ridge, Wisc.
- Nubbs Nob, Mich.
- Pine Knob, Mich.
- Pine Mt., Mich.
- Rib Mt., Wisc.
- Shanty Creek, Mich.
- Silver Bell Village, Mich.
- Ski Pal, Iowa
- Snow Trails, Ohio
- Sugar Hills, Minn.
- Sugarloaf Mt., Mich.
- Swiss Valley, Mich.
- Sylvan Knob, Mich.
- Timber Ridge, Mich.
- Timber Lee, Mich.
- Trollhaugen, Wisc.
- Walloon Hills, Mich.
- Wilmot Ski Hills, Wisc.
