Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Skiing on Mount Olga came before the lifts. Two trails were cut in the fall of 1937, and the first people skied them on December 28 that year.1,2
Read the whole historyTodayThe slopes are the Town of Marlboro's Hogback Mountain Conservation Area, where old lifts and small buildings still stand beside trails for hiking, skiing and snowshoeing. (2026)1,3,4
Timeline
8 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Hogback Mountain, or worked there?
Tell us what you remember, or what this page has wrong. Memories show here, credited to you, after we read them; facts are checked against a source before they change a figure.
Lost near Hogback Mountain
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- 1944–1985 · 10.7 mi away · VermontA surface-lift ski area at Heartwellville in Readsboro, called Dutch Hill for most of its life and Dutch Mountain for a few years, open from 1944 to 1985.
- 1963–2000 · 11.1 mi away · VermontA chairlift ski area on Route 30 in Dummerston, northwest of Brattleboro, that opened in 1963 and last ran in the 1999–2000 season.
- 1937–1979 · 16.6 mi away · MassachusettsA snow-train-era ski area on Route 8A in Hawley that opened in December 1937 and ran rope tows and a T-bar until the late 1970s.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 4 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Skiing on Mount Olga came before the lifts. Two trails were cut in the fall of 1937, and the first people skied them on December 28 that year. Hogback Mountain Ski Lift, Inc. was formed in April 1946, and its T-bar first carried skiers in January 1947, with five trails open. Harold and Arnold White led the venture at the start, and the White and Hamilton families still owned it at the end.1,2
The area grew on the Route 9 side in the mid-1950s, opened the Alpenglo Lodge for 1961–62 and added lifts through the 1960s. By 1979 it listed four T-bars and 14 trails on a 500-foot vertical, all on natural snow. For years, pupils from the nearby Marlboro School skied free once a week.1,2,3
Insurance costs ended it. In October 1986 Hogback said it would not open. Its insurance quote was $50,000, against $70,000 in revenue the winter before. Plans for a resort development in 1987 came to nothing, and the land sold at auction in October 1993. Local residents formed the Hogback Mountain Conservation Association in 2006, and in 2010 the land passed to the Town of Marlboro as conservation land.1,2,3
TodayThe slopes are the Town of Marlboro's Hogback Mountain Conservation Area, where old lifts and small buildings still stand beside trails for hiking, skiing and snowshoeing. (2026)1,3,4
Timeline
- 1937Two trails cut on Mount Olga; first skiing on December 281
- 1946Hogback Mountain Ski Lift, Inc. formed in April1,2
- 1947The T-bar opens to skiers in January, with five trails1
- 1961Alpenglo Lodge opens for the 1961–62 season1
- 1986In October the area says it will not open, citing insurance1,2
- 1993The land sells at auction in October1
- 2006Hogback Mountain Conservation Association formed1
- 2010The land passes to the Town of Marlboro as conservation land1,2,3
Sources for this history (4)
- 1NewEnglandSkiHistory.com · Hogback Mountain Ski Area History
- 2New England Lost Ski Areas Project · Hogback Mountain Ski Area
- 3Wikipedia · Hogback Mountain (Vermont)
- 4Hogback Mountain Conservation Association · History
Photos
No photographs of Hogback Mountain we may republish yet
Its old photos and trail maps live on the sites that collected them, and Google finds the rest.
Memories
What skiers remember of Hogback Mountain, in their own words.
Facts
Location
42.8521° N · 72.7983° W · Vermont · Green Mountains
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
1946–1986
Closed after the 1986 season. It stays here as part of the record of U.S. ski areas.
Its numbers
all 3all 3, in one list
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain