The South Pomfret ski area Suicide Six announced Wednesday it would rebrand as Saskadena Six in a nod to the Indigenous people of Vermont, the Abenaki.
“Much time, care and thought has been invested in the process to choose a name more representative of our values, one that celebrates its 86-year history, honors the Abenaki tradition, and will welcome future generations,” Courtney Lowe, president of the Woodstock Inn & Resort, which owns the ski area, said in a statement. “While the name might be changing, the experiences offered on this beloved mountain are not.”
According to a statement on the ski area’s website, “In the Abenaki language, “saskadena” (sahs-kah-deena) means “standing mountain.”
Last month, the Woodstock Inn announced it would be changing the ski area’s name, citing its insensitivity and the need for increased mental health awareness.
The name change came through a collaborative process with the Nulhegan Abenaki, one of Vermont’s state-recognized tribes, according to the statement.
“This is more than renaming this place; this is recognizing the original stewardship of this land and providing cultural education to those who visit this standing mountain,” Don Stevens, chief of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk-Abenaki Nation, said in a statement.
The first rope tow in the United States was installed at the mountain in the mid-1930s on so-called “Hill No. 6,” from which the area derived its name. Today, the small ski area, situated a short drive north of Woodstock and south of the White River, has three lifts and 24 trails.
—Ethan Weinstein
