Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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NESH says lift-served skiing on Mt. Tom likely began in the winter of 1935–36, when veterinarian Walter Pulsifer owned the slopes.1,2
Read the whole historyTodayThe lifts are gone, but the ski slopes are still open and used by sledders. (2020)2
Timeline
7 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Mt Tom, 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 Mt Tom
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Closed 1950 · 15.9 mi away · VermontA one-tow ski hill and lodge above Route 100 in North Sherburne, now Killington, run by the Bartenstein family from 1946 or 1947 until 1950.
- 1936–1966 · 21.5 mi away · VermontA free rope tow on Harold Farr's farm on Elm Street in Randolph village, run from the 1930s until 1966 and the subject of a community revival since 2018.
- Closed 1979 · 21.6 mi away · VermontA downhill ski area with a T-bar at the Mountain Top Inn in Chittenden, north of Rutland, that closed by 1979; the inn's cross-country center remains.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 2 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
NESH says lift-served skiing on Mt. Tom likely began in the winter of 1935–36, when veterinarian Walter Pulsifer owned the slopes. NELSAP dates the ski area to the early 1950s, names Maurice Wood as its first owner and says it ran at first on a few rope tows.1,2
Rockefeller bought Mt. Tom in 1960, planning a simple ski area near his Woodstock house, and a Poma lift, a Larchmont snowmaking system, a new base lodge and a parking lot came for 1960–61. NELSAP describes two Poma lifts on a 500-foot drop and seven trails and slopes at the area's largest, in the early 1970s; it never had a chairlift. The same family owned Suicide Six.1,2
Running two ski areas grew costly, and a Sno Engineering study advised closing Mt. Tom and concentrating on Suicide Six, which gained new lifts and, in 1978, a new lodge. NESH puts the closing around 1978, noting some sources say as late as 1981; NELSAP says 1980. By 2020 the lifts were long gone, but the slopes remained open and sledders used them.1,2
TodayThe lifts are gone, but the ski slopes are still open and used by sledders. (2020)2
Timeline
- c. 1935Lift-served skiing likely begins under owner Walter Pulsifer, by NESH's account2
- c. 1950Ski area opens in the early 1950s, by NELSAP's account1
- 1960Rockefeller buys Mt. Tom; a Poma lift and snowmaking follow2
- c. 1970Seven trails and slopes at the area's largest1
- c. 1978Closes around this year, by NESH's account2
- 1980Closes as Suicide Six adds two chairlifts, by NELSAP's account1
- 2020Lifts long gone; sledders use the open slopes2
Sources for this history (2)
- 1New England Lost Ski Areas Project · Mt. Tom (VT)
- 2NewEnglandSkiHistory.com · Mt. Tom History
Photos
No photographs of Mt Tom 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 Mt Tom, in their own words.
Facts
Location
43.6373° N · 72.5254° W · Vermont · Green Mountains
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
until 1980 · the year it opened is not yet collected
Closed after the 1980 season. It stays here as part of the record of U.S. ski areas.
Its numbers
all 2all 2, in one list
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain