Ski Lodge Burns at Snow Valley

Nick · Aug 7, 2011

http://www.firsttracksonline.com/2011/08/07/ski-lodge-burns-at-vermonts-defunct-snow-valley/

Winhall, VT - At 8:45 a.m. on Saturday morning the Winhall Fire Department in southern Vermont responded to a structure fire at the defunct Snow Valley ski area in the town of Winhall, near Manchester.

Det. Sgt. Michael Manley of the Vermont State Police reports that the base lodge of the ski area, closed since 1984, was fully engulfed in flames when authorities arrived. The Peru Fire Department and the Manchester Fire Department provided assistance but the structure was declared a total loss in the blaze.

Snow Valley's base lodge in 1999 (photo courtesy: NELSAP)
While State Police estimated the loss at $300,000, the building was for many years empty and unoccupied and had fallen into disrepair. In the years since the ski area closed vandals and the weather had heavily damaged the base lodge and other structures, some of which had collapsed on their own and were subsequently removed.

:angry:

Looks like it was in pretty rough shape previously anyway. Anyone ever been there?

riverc0il · Aug 7, 2011

I skied there a few years back as part of a NELSAP outing that was sanctioned by the owner. As I recall, they were trying to turn Snow Valley into a private ski area. Not sure where that project stands today but given the lack of news these past few years, I have to assume that the plan was dead.

Glenn · Aug 7, 2011

Wow! What a bummer! We drove by that general area on Friday.

I was hoping that they'd reopen; even if it was private. The area was in rough shape and it's hard to say if the lodge could have been rebuilt.

Here's a few shots from a few years ago. We actually stumbled upon it by accident. We wondered why there was such a wide dirt road off Rt. 30.

drjeff · Aug 7, 2011

While I was in that area with my family on Saturday at Bromley's sun mountain adventure park, let the record show via my credit card receipt that I didn't get to the area until about 1:15PM! Take me off the possible arson suspects list please! :lol:

wa-loaf · Aug 7, 2011

Seems a lot of lodges have gone up in smoke this year. Mt Abrahm and a place out in PA or Western NY.

Nick · Aug 8, 2011

yeah ... i'm guessing just vandalism?

These things aren't spontaneously combusting are they.

Glenn · Aug 8, 2011

Nick said:
yeah ... i'm guessing just vandalism?

These things aren't spontaneously combusting are they.

Snow Valley is pretty far off the road. Probably a bunch of kids out there partying or something.

bigbob · Aug 8, 2011

If the state police think that dump of a lodge was worth $300,000, I've got some real estate to sell them

bvibert · Aug 9, 2011

bigbob said:
If the state police think that dump of a lodge was worth $300,000, I've got some real estate to sell them

I was wondering who came up with that estimate. Those pictures look like it was in pretty bad shape in 1999 and 2004. I can't imagine it was in any better shape a few days ago.

Still a bummer. Looks like it was probably a fun little place to ski.

drjeff · Aug 9, 2011

bvibert said:
I was wondering who came up with that estimate. Those pictures look like it was in pretty bad shape in 1999 and 2004. I can't imagine it was in any better shape a few days ago.

Still a bummer. Looks like it was probably a fun little place to ski.

I wonder if that figure is just for the building, or the building and the land?? Wouldn't be the 1st time that a reporter messed up the facts

Glenn · Aug 10, 2011

Could be the cost to rebuild the lodge to it's former state.

skidmarks · Aug 15, 2011

Sorry to hear! Snow Valley is on my poach NELSAP list and I know they've been doing some work on it to get it back online. I should have skied it last year when I had the chance.

billski · Sep 4, 2011

skidmarks said:
Sorry to hear! Snow Valley is on my poach NELSAP list and I know they've been doing some work on it to get it back online. I should have skied it last year when I had the chance.

Why not ski it anyways? You probably wouldn't have used the lodge regardless.

vdk03 · Sep 4, 2011

This is a shame, growing up in manchester my brothers and I used to frequent snow valley quite a bit. The old ski trails made for great dirt biking and snowmobiling trails. We used to hang out at the lodge and watch each other race up the main trail there. I wouldn't be surprised if it was vandals, there have been some other old deer camps and thought to be abandoned shacks torched in the past few years. Hopefully the extremely 'gifted' police from the surrounding towns will get to the bottom of it.

Ski Lodge Burns at Snow Valley

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