Decided to visit Veterans Memorial Recreation Ski Area on Sunday afternoon and had my expectations greatly surpassed! As Nelsap says, the place skis much larger than the 230′ of vertical would suggest. I would describe it as the Mad River Glen or Magic Mountain of small ski areas with its natural snow, low ski traffic, and limited grooming. There was still fresh snow to be found days after the last storm.
The ski area seems to be one big community where everyone knows everyone. The food menu prices are mostly between $1 to $3 and the lodge is cozy. Of course the lifts are vintage and I took lots of pictures and a few videos of the t-bar and rope tow. I talked with some volunteers and they let me take pictures inside the t-bar and rope tow engine rooms. The rope tow still uses a 1949 car engine!
Definitely recommend every make a trip here at some point if they can! However, if you can’t, I made a video of the t-bar ride. Feel free to watch or listen to the “t-bar white noise.”
By the way, I believe the t-bar to be a Constam, originally installed at Mt. Sunapee by Roebling in 1953 (Roebling installed Constam t-bars in their early days, though they developed their own chairlift line).
Rope tow video to follow soon. Remontees-Mecaniques reports to follow in the coming months.
