Monteau

Monteau grew out of Mountain Lakes, a residential development in Haverhill whose developer, Town & Country Homes of Massachusetts, was formed in April 1965. In 1972 a Thiokol double chairlift went up on Whites Pinnacle, a 1,470-foot mountain, and the ski area, called Swiftwater Valley, probably opened in December 1973; thin snow held it to seven days that winter. Its three trails were gentle ones.¹

The developer went bankrupt in 1975, and the ski equipment was reportedly auctioned in 1976. In August 1978 investors formed Monteau Ski Area, Inc., bought the area and renamed it Monteau. The Mountain Lakes District bought the property in December 1981, cut two more trails for 1982–83 and added snowmaking in 1983. A brochure described a 2,800-foot double chair and close to 40 acres; 1980s guides added a rope tow, and the vertical is given as 600 to 650 feet. The operator went bankrupt in 1990, the area shut down, and the chairlift came down in the late summer of 1992.^1,2

NELSAP tells it differently, from local recollection: it has the area opening in 1975, taking the Swiftwater Valley name in the late 1980s and closing around 1990.²

TodayOnly the lower slope is kept clear, for sledding, and narrow paths climb through the overgrown trails; the lodge, repaired in 2002, hosts functions. (2014)¹