Pinnacle Ski-Ways
Randolph, Vermont1965-1976
Browse Pinnacle Ski-Ways tees, long sleeve tees, hoodies and crewnecks. Randolph townspeople raised about $50,000 from more than 300 local contributors, and a four-man crew built the hill in 1965. The first season's day ticket was $3.50 with a two-hour ski lesson included, and the 1968 brochure called it Tops in Family Skiing. Choose a style below, and the full Pinnacle history is further down. We are an American small business bringing back the signs and logos of places and teams that are long gone but remembered fondly.
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Pinnacle Ski-Ways History
Pinnacle Ski-Ways in Randolph, Vermont, was a community-built ski hill on Pinnacle Road off Route 12, one mile south of the village in the middle of the state. Harold Farr had run a rope tow on his pasture west of town since the late 1940s, and when the planned route of the interstate was surveyed through Randolph in 1964, a group of townspeople formed a small corporation to build something bigger. Led by president Driscoll Reid and later area manager Brett McKinney, they raised about $50,000 from more than 300 local contributors, and a four-man crew built the area in the summer and fall of 1965.
The first lift ran just before Christmas 1965, and the official opening day was February 27, 1966. A 2,250-foot surface lift served four trails from the summit, with a vertical drop of 550 feet on the brochure and about 600 by the area's own later count. A short intermediate lift served a beginners' practice slope that was named for Harold Farr. The first season's day ticket was $3.50 with a two-hour lesson included, and more than 200 children signed up for ski school in the first month under director Jim Condict. The 1968 brochure promised low-cost family skiing with no waiting in line and a slogan, Tops in Family Skiing, above a drawing of a mother, father and child on skis in front of a peak.
The hill never made money. Shareholder reports show a net loss every year from 1966 through 1974, and by 1973 the directors could not borrow for the repairs the lifts needed and were talking about handing the area to the town. It closed on New Year's Day 1976 when the Randolph bank called the mortgage. The club reorganized as the Valley Ski Club and leased the hill for $1, volunteers ran it on weekends and holidays for the rest of that winter with about 270 members, and no buyer came forward. A 1986 study committee proposed reopening with a chairlift and snowmaking, but the grant never came. The base area is now a private home, one of the old lifts still stands beside the road, and the slopes have mostly grown back to forest.