Vermont Ski Museum to return to original roots

Stowe, VT-The Board of Directors of the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum in Stowe has decided to change the facility’s name back to the Vermont Ski Museum. 

Back in 2011, the decision to add snowboarding reflected the significant impact Vermont had upon snowboarding development and history, according to Tom Sequist, the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum Board chairman. Among Vermont’s contributions are the annual staging of the U.S. Open and Burton, the snowboard manufacturer founded in Manchester Center, VT. With snowboard sales and daily area visits way down, combined with the fact that the U.S. Open has been moved to Vail, and with Burton Products now produced in China, it only makes sense to return to our roots that served us so well in the past.

This decision to revert back to the original moniker reflects the importance skiing has had upon Vermont winter sports.  As early as the 1930’s, the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) began cutting ski trails in Vermont in an effort to promote tourism and recreation.  Snow trains and ski resorts soon followed. According to NELSAP.org Vermont once boasted as many as 146 ski areas. It suddenly dawned on us that not one of these area's opened as a snowboard area!

In an effort to help promote the name change, the Vermont Ski Museum will premiere a Mad River Glen exhibit this September entitled “Ski it if you can”. 

A number of years ago, the Vermont Ski Museum was moved from its original location in a barn behind the Brandon Inn in Brandon, Vt., to its current location in the Perkin’s building near the four corners in the center of Stowe that also includes the Vermont Ski Hall of Fame.