So who are the big names who got skiing to where it is today here in New England?
I've got some names to throw out there for discussion. Perry Merrill played a huge roll in getting Stowe, Killington, and Jay Peak going. He helped lay out some of the first trails on Mansfield with the CCC. He has two trails named for him--one at Stowe and one at Jay (I think).
Along those lines, we can't forget Preston Smith and what he did at Killington. He MADE Killington and drove skiing in the 1970's and 1980's. Many advances in snowmaking and ski area design. He also founded SKI.
He was the forerunner and mentor of his successor, Les Otten, who took SKI's work to a new level at Sunday River, which was the dominant force in skiing in the 1990's. Arguably they revolutionized the sport with faster lifts, wider trails, grooming, snowmaking techniques, lodge designs, and overall ski area design and management innovations.
I think that the current "new kids on the block" would have to be the Muellers of Triple Peaks. They are making a profit running Okemo, Sunapee, and Crested Butte. Many folks are digging the Okemo style of skiing...which is very similar to Sunday River only prepped up a bit.
Lots of other names too...Dick Durrence, Hannes Schneider, Warren Witherall, Bill Stenger (the guy who helped get glade skiing on the minds of all of us).
I've got some names to throw out there for discussion. Perry Merrill played a huge roll in getting Stowe, Killington, and Jay Peak going. He helped lay out some of the first trails on Mansfield with the CCC. He has two trails named for him--one at Stowe and one at Jay (I think).
Along those lines, we can't forget Preston Smith and what he did at Killington. He MADE Killington and drove skiing in the 1970's and 1980's. Many advances in snowmaking and ski area design. He also founded SKI.
He was the forerunner and mentor of his successor, Les Otten, who took SKI's work to a new level at Sunday River, which was the dominant force in skiing in the 1990's. Arguably they revolutionized the sport with faster lifts, wider trails, grooming, snowmaking techniques, lodge designs, and overall ski area design and management innovations.
I think that the current "new kids on the block" would have to be the Muellers of Triple Peaks. They are making a profit running Okemo, Sunapee, and Crested Butte. Many folks are digging the Okemo style of skiing...which is very similar to Sunday River only prepped up a bit.
Lots of other names too...Dick Durrence, Hannes Schneider, Warren Witherall, Bill Stenger (the guy who helped get glade skiing on the minds of all of us).
