2025-02-24 - Bellows Falls Ski Tow - first time open in 5 years

Resort or Ski Area

Other / Not Listed

Date

Feb 24, 2025

Snow Conditions

1. Slush or Spring Snow
2. Sticky

Saw a post on r/icecoast mentioning the community rope tow in Bellows Falls, VT opened for the first time in 5 years this weekend, so decided to check it out

https://www.reddit.com/r/icecoast/comments/1iwdn3v

 

[urungus]

First a slight detour … on Monday the Bellows Falls Ski Tow didn’t open until 4pm so I killed a few hours at Okemo which had great coverage and soft springlike conditions (which unfortunately will cause the mountain to freeze solid at the next cold snap)




Challenger:


Double Diamond:




Outrage:






Loose Spruce:


Superpipe:

 

[urungus]

Next a short drive from Ludlow to Bellows Falls, where the town rope tow on Oak Hill has been running on and off for around 75 years, according to https://www.newenglandskihistory.com/Vermont/bellowsfalls.php

“The roots of the Bellows Falls ski tow come from a nearby area named the Ski Bowl, which operated from the late 1930s until around 1950. At this time, the rope tow was reportedly relocated to the present day Bellows falls Ski Tow area on the southeastern side of Oak Hill.”

The vertical drop is 200 feet and rope tow is 950 feet, according to https://www.vermontlifttickets.com/bellows-falls/

Both articles mentioned above have additional background info



The tow is run by the Rockingham Recreation department and is located at their headquarters at the end of Williams Terrace (GPS tried to take me on an alternate approach which turned out to be a one way street in the wrong direction)

Don’t worry that the ski area is not visible from the road.

Main rec department building next to the parking lot is open during skiing hours and has bathrooms and cocoa:


I recommend against booting up in the parking lot area - there is a bit of a walk to the ski area. Go around the back of the baseball diamond:


Then on your left pass by the sledding hill, here is a look up it:


Finally the ski hill starts to come into view:


Rope tow bottom terminal on left, go into warming hut on right to boot up:


Pretty luxurious inside the warming hut:

 

[urungus]

Bottom terminal:










Top terminal:

 

[Abominable]

The invention of the magic carpet has so spoiled our kids.... "when I was your age" the big kids would pull the rope a few feet offline and let go so it swung back and forth and knocked all the little kids downslope off... or left us holding on for dear life as the rope dragged us up sideways. Built character!

Thanks for the pics!

 

[urungus]

Main slope was groomed and above freezing temperatures made the surface soft:



There is a second downhill trail that can be accessed from the top of the rope tow via the path to the rec center on skiers right. It looks like it might be possible to ski back down to the rec center at the end of the day, though I did not attempt.


The second trail was ungoomed cut up and partially frozen




Forgot to turn ski tracks off before I walked back to the parking lot:

 

[urungus]

Had a great time visiting this hidden treasure. Did I mention that it is FREE ?

I left as the sun was setting but the slope is lighted and skiing continues into the evening with views of the lit-up town

A few additional photos from their Facebook page:

 

[reefer]

Nice pics. Always seem to have fun at Okemo especially in those conditions! Got to get up there soon. You are a better man than me stopping for a rope tow ride on the way home. Package store maybe. I am still traumatized from the original WaWa rope tow before summit expansion and all the gloves I ruined my first day on skis. But thanks for that report. It is great and interesting to see places like that still exist.

 

[skimagic]

Nice report, just curious how many people showed up.

 

[urungus]

Nice report, just curious how many people showed up.

Fewer than 10 people were there at any given time during my visit. Hopefully they got a better turnout over the weekend.

 

[Tonyr]

I had no idea a place like this existed, thanks for sharing. It looks more like a snow tubing hill then a ski area.

 

[LoafSkier19]

Nice find! Great to see support of these very small but important community operations. Similarly I had some free time on my way through southern ME to MA last night and paid a visit to Powderhouse Hill in So. Berwick. For $5 I got to strap in to my skis on a night I otherwise wouldn't have.

 

[djd66]

Great report,... I haven't rid a rope tow since I was a Kid (many decades ago!) What I do remember is my glove (or mittens) would get holes in them for the friction burns

From the pictures, seems like a decent amount of vertical,... How were your arms/hands feeling after holding onto to the rope for all your runs?