[W]OODFORD — Efforts by a nonprofit group to buy the Prospect Mountain Nordic Ski Center were energized this week with receipt of a grant from the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board.
The board on Thursday authorized $285,000 toward the approximately $900,000 needed by mid-August for the purchase of the 144-acre site and trail grooming equipment.
Gus Seelig, executive director of the board, said the Prospect Mountain Association proposal was “unanimously and enthusiastically endorsed.”
Prospect Mountain opened during the 1930s as a small downhill ski area, with a rope tow and later two T-bars. For the past 26 years, it has been exclusively a cross-country facility, offering 17.8 miles of trails. Some of the trails are located on Green Mountain National Forest land in Woodford and maintained by the center under a permit from the U.S. Forest Service. The base lodge elevation near the parking area off Route 9 is at 2,150, while the peak is at 2,740 feet.
The Prospect Mountain Nordic Ski Center, which has been run by longtime owners Steve Whitham and Andrea Amodeo, is important to the economic vitality of the area, Seelig said. The parcel is surrounded by national forest land and the mountaintop is ranked among the highest sites in the state that should be protected.
“It is also important to preserve any opportunity for young people to be outdoors,” Seelig said. “That is a positive thing.”
The nonprofit Prospect Mountain Association is working with the Vermont Land Trust to conserve the land, according to Donald Campbell, director of the southwest region for the trust.
“Most communities have places they treasure but only the communities that roll up their sleeves and do something get to keep them,” Campbell said. “We are lucky to have the committed Prospect Mountain Association — a dedicated nonprofit comprised of locals — taking the lead on making this possible.”
Expanding recreational activities “is critical for southern Vermont,” Campbell said.
He said the Prospect center is becoming “a world-class cross-country ski center” and is a summer recreational attraction for hiking, biking, and special events.
Support for conservation of Prospect
The Nordic center, located seven miles east of Bennington off Route 9, is cherished by thousands of people, including a couple of Olympians, who’ve skied there over the years, supporters say.
Backers of the purchase say the popularity of Prospect Mountain will make it possible to attract needed financial contributions from enthusiasts from nearby Windham County towns and Berkshire County, Massachusetts.
Prospect Mountain Association is comprised primarily of skiers from Bennington, Wilmington and Williamstown. About a dozen people were involved in the initiative over the past couple of years, and that number is expected to grow as the group seeks financial support from individuals and other sources, according to attorney Jonathan Cohen, of Bennington.
Williams College alumni are expected to provide “a significant” portion of the total needed to be raised. The college Nordic team trains at Prospect Mountain and hosts meets and other winter events there.
Local high schools, including Mount Anthony Union High School in Bennington and Mount Greylock Regional High School in Williamstown, Massachusetts, also send teams to train at the center and for multi-school races.
David Newell, a spokesman for the Prospect association, said the “very enthusiastic” comments of many involved in the effort apparently helped convince the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board to award the grant, which his group considered essential to moving forward toward a purchase. Area lawmakers and economic leaders also sent letters of support.
The nonprofit group will soon begin a campaign to raise $250,000 to complete the purchase and cover equipment and transition costs for the center, Newell said.
That fund drive will begin quietly, he said, but at some point will be expanded with outreach to the community.
In addition to immediate upgrades, including new equipment and enhanced internet service, long-range plans call for snowmaking equipment and an enhanced ski shop, Newell said.
Although Woodford is famous in the Bennington area for the many feet of snow it regularly receives, he said there have been times when the need for snowmaking equipment has become evident — particularly when state high school Nordic championships or collegiate events involving Williams could not be held at Prospect. Snowmaking equipment would allow for skiing earlier and later during the season as well, Newell said.
The site also has twice hosted national snowshoe racing events.
MAU senior and Nordic team member Brigit Keenan said the group’s effort to preserve the center highlights “how important Prospect is to the youth of Bennington, including to me personally.”
Like hundreds of others from the area, including Olympic Nordic team members, Keenan, David Jareckie, a two-time biathlon skier, and Andy Newell, a member of the U.S Nordic team over four Olympics, all learned to ski through Bill Koch League programs at Prospect.
“There are just not many places like that,” Keenan said. “I would not like to see it go to private development.”
She said the “great venue has a whole homey feel to it — that’s what we are constantly being told by people from other areas.”
Katie Swabey, head of the Koch League at Prospect, said about 100 local kids annually participate in the Nordic skiing program.
“In addition to simply learning to ski, these kids will continue to make many decades-long friendships and develop a life-long love for Nordic skiing,” Swabey said.
