High Pond Ski Area
Hubbardton, Vermontc1950-c1985
Browse High Pond Ski Area tees, long sleeve tees, hoodies and crewnecks. W. Douglas Burden built the hill largely for his friends, and its painted trail map featured a Canada goose for the geese that stopped at the ponds. The slogan read Not the Biggest, But One of The Best, and the log buildings used hand-hewn timbers. Choose a style below, and the full High Pond history is further down. Every shirt is printed to order in the USA and carries the memories of bygone places and teams.
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High Pond Ski Area History
High Pond Ski Area in Hubbardton, Vermont, sat on the Brandon town line, which is why its own signs and ads say Brandon. W. Douglas Burden, a naturalist and filmmaker who also developed marine parks in Florida and California, began buying land there in the 1930s and built the ski hill largely for his friends. It opened to the public around the winter of 1950-51, and a Boston Globe item called it a new area for that season. The Eastern Ski Map ad for 1951-52 put it six miles southwest of Brandon, with an Alpine platter pull serving three runs and a snowmaking machine.
The platter pull is described as Vermont's first, built by Bridger in Montana, and the snowmaking may have been one of the earliest in the state, though it was advertised only for two winters. A beginner's rope tow stood below the base lodge. A T-bar replaced the platter pull around 1962, and a 1968 guide lists a 1,400-foot T-bar plus two rope tows and eight trails. The vertical drop was about 300 feet. Bill Jenkins ran the ski school on weekends, and the Jenkins and Stan Whitney families ran the High Pond Inn. Jenkins is credited with the slogan, Not the Biggest, But One of The Best. The painted trail map, by Harold Blittersdorf of the Vermont Art Studio in Pittsford, featured a Canada goose, for the geese that stopped at the ponds in migration.
The hill was a family area, with a base lodge, warming hut, ski shop, snack bar and parking for 200 cars. A 1973 guide listed adult tickets at $5 and juniors at $4, and runs named Just Nice, The Run, The Chute, Hemlock and Easy Roll appear on the old map. The log buildings used hand-hewn timbers that Jenkins said came by rail from Canada.
Burden closed the area after the 1977-78 season, and one account says liability insurance costs after a Vermont court ruling in 1977 were part of the reason. He died in November 1978. A later operator ran it briefly in the early 1980s, and it was private after that. Peter and Karen Dartley bought the 330 acres in 2016, restored the base buildings and put in a T-bar for family use. They have said it will not reopen to the public.