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Those Lost Ski Areas Of The White Mountains
By Roger Leo
August 26, 2008
Jeremy Davis, 30, is familiar in the Glens Falls, N.Y., area as a television meteorologist, but he is best known in the Northeast - at least among skiers and riders - as creator of NELSAP, the New England Lost Ski Areas Project.
His fascination with ski areas lost in the mists of time led first to a Web site, www.nelsap.org, and now to a book, "Lost Areas of The White Mountains." The book, published by History Press, chronicles 60 now-closed areas in this historic region, in 128 pages, with 180 photos.
NELSAP began in October 1998, when Davis was in college and became interested in lost ski areas as a hobby.
"It took off slowly, then rocketed in 2000 when the Boston Globe did a story. That launched it to the next level," Davis said.
"I love skiing, love mom-and-pop kind of ski areas, lost Americana: old diners, HoJos, amusement parks, that kind of stuff. I love to find the before and after, look at the process of succession and deterioration. It's amazing how fast things disappear in New England, how quickly the farms grew in and became forest again; everywhere you look, you can find cellar holes in the middle of the woods."
Davis often thought he was alone in his interest. Then he saw "First Tracks," a book by Glenn Parkinson, former president of the New England Ski Museum, about the Maine skiing heritage.
"It has a little section on lost areas in Maine. I was 'Yes, other people like this too.'
"The site started growing and attracted what I call rabid fans. They're very supportive. It's amazing how people latched onto it. The best thing about that is that when I started I had to do all the research myself; now the material just comes to me. It's amazing how much comes to me; it's overwhelming, but that's a good problem to have."
An example: Davis had little info about Frank Kilmer's Tow in Grafton, Mass. One day Kilmer's son was "googling" his family name and found NELSAP. He contacted Davis with a ton of family lore and photos of the tow in operation.
Many consider history an old person's game, but NELSAP's fans are often young. "People started on the site when they were 12; now they're graduating from college," Davis said.
Davis has no single favorite lost area, but a list. They include Dutch Hill in southern Vermont, an area with a long history and few changes over its 40-year life; Temple Mountain in New Hampshire, swiftly growing in since closing seven years ago; Mt. Agamenticus in York, Maine, now a town park, with ski stuff still there for people to see and enjoy; Mt. Watatic in Central Massachusetts, now preserved as undeveloped open space, with trails growing in but still discernible; Thorn Mountain in Jackson, N.H., with 1,000 feet of vertical, two chairlifts, and three rope tows.
"Thorn had potential to be a great ski area. It was the first area in New England that had two chairlifts at once. It was way ahead of its time, with some really interesting trails," Davis said.
Why did so many areas fail? "There are so many reasons. High energy costs in the '70s and early '80s, high insurance because people got sue-happy, lack of volunteers for club-run areas, changing family habits where people don't have as much time, impact of divorce on families, area owners dying or selling, the interstate highway system physically obliterating areas, bad weather patterns where it only takes one bad year for an area not to open."
Are there lessons for the ski industry to take away from history? "All ski areas have a place. Big resorts have a large place that small places could never offer, but smaller feeder areas are where so many people learned to ski. With everything skyrocketing out of control, it would be nice if some of these smaller places were still around where kids could learn without spending a fortune. It's so expensive. By the time I go to Killington it's $120, and that's not going to happen very often.
"I visited one of the smaller, family resorts for the first time last season. It's literally like a time warp; the atmosphere is so different. They showed me how the lift worked, toured me through the lodge. The rope tow was fun, and everybody was polite. You really can't duplicate that experience at a bigger resort, but you can get bigger skiing and more runs.
"I wish there could be more support for the smaller, older areas that are left. Maybe the big resorts could sponsor smaller ones, give them free groomers or something in return for an affiliation as a feeder ski area, where people could learn cheaply and work their way up to the bigger mountain. There are still a dozen or two dozen in New England that are really small, and really fun."
Davis graduated from Lyndon State College in 2000 with a degree in meteorology and now is senior meteorologist at Weather Routing Inc. in Glens Falls. He provides forecasts for cargo ships, private yachts, and cruise liners, and reports the weather on the evening news at a local TV station. Davis also is on the Board of Directors of the New England Ski Museum.
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