Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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The Retreat, also called Bart's Tow, was built by Mr. Bartenstein, a mechanical engineer who had come from Germany in 1928 and settled in North Sherburne, now Killington, in 1946.1
Read the whole historyTodayBuilding lots were sold on the old ski hill, reached by what is now Bart's Hill Road.1
Timeline
3 events · swipe
Memories
Skied The Retreat Ski Area, 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 The Retreat Ski Area
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- Closed 1979 · 5.7 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.
- Closed 1980 · 15.9 mi away · VermontA small ski area on Mt. Tom in Woodstock, owned with nearby Suicide Six by the Rockefellers, that ran on rope tows and Poma lifts until around 1980.
- Opened 1962 · 16.6 mi away · VermontA small ski area on Birdseye Mountain, on the Castleton–Ira town line, that ran disc lifts and a T-bar from 1962 until the late 1960s.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 1 page below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
The Retreat, also called Bart's Tow, was built by Mr. Bartenstein, a mechanical engineer who had come from Germany in 1928 and settled in North Sherburne, now Killington, in 1946. By his son's account on NELSAP, he cleared the hill just above Route 100 and opened it in 1947, though the page also shows a Rutland Herald article on the area from December 27, 1946. A 600-foot rope tow, driven by a Ford Model A engine and strung on telephone-style poles with car wheels for pulleys, served six slopes and trails, among them the 1,200-foot Christmas Tree Alley. The Retreat Lodge had bunks for 30 guests.1
When the Korean War broke out in 1950 he went back to engineering, and the tow was sold to Pico. The path from the old parking area became Bart's Hill Road, and the family sold building lots on the hill where the ski area had been.1
TodayBuilding lots were sold on the old ski hill, reached by what is now Bart's Hill Road.1
Sources for this history (1)
- 1New England Lost Ski Areas Project · Retreat Tow / Bart's Tow
Photos
No photographs of The Retreat Ski Area 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 The Retreat Ski Area, in their own words.
Facts
Location
43.7126° N · 72.8267° W · Vermont · Green Mountains
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
until 1950 · the year it opened is not yet collected
Closed after the 1950 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