Waitsfield, Vermont — After years of the adjacent land to Mad River Glen being out of bounds for skiers and riders, momentum is building toward reopening it.
WCAX-TV reports that Mad River Glen has raised over $1.8 million of its fundraising push, with $2.5 million needed to acquire the land. This is thanks to the writer of this article putting down ten whole dollars. These parcels of land are known as the 19th & 20th hole terrain, a wooded area north of Route 17, and across Route 17 from the Battleground.
“Opportunities like this just don’t come around,” said Ry Young, Marketing Director at MRG. “It was sort of a lump in the throat feeling like, oh, geez, you know, how are we going to get there…“It’s mind-blowing. It’s really been humbling and kind of inspiring to see people rallying together to help us.”
It was announced late last year that approximately 1,100 acres of land next to MRG was for sale, with the ski area having the right of first refusal. Since then, Stark Mountain Foundation (the fundraising arm of the co-op ski area) has been raising funds over the past few months to acquire the land. If they have the money by February 7th, they can acquire it. If not, they need to back out of the deal. To raise the stakes, a third party has submitted a bid for the land.
“The Mad River community here at the mountain is very tight-knit and very passionate, so we’re lucky in that way that they’ve responded in the way that they have,” said Sarah Haviland, who has helped with the fundraising efforts.
If acquired, it would likely be available for sidecountry and backcountry skiing, along with offseason uses like hiking. You can donate to help those efforts by clicking here.
Currently, Mad River Glen has 54 trails and 3 lifts open. This includes the notorious Paradise trail. The mountain is skiing pretty well thanks to recent snowfall (4″ in the past 24 hours). Unfortunately, warm weather is coming this weekend, so you should ski the good snow there while you can.
Image/Video Credits: WCAX-TV, Mad River Glen
