The Berkshires of Massachusetts have long been known as a winter sports paradise. Over the years, many of these ski areas faded away and are nearly forgotten. Forty-four ski areas arose from the 1930s to the 1970s. The Thunderbolt Ski Trail put the Berkshires on the map for challenging terrain. Major ski resorts like Brodie Mountain sparked the popularity of night skiing with lighted trails. All-inclusive resorts - like Oak n' Spruce, Eastover and Jug End - brought thousands of new skiers into the sport between the 1940s and 1970s. Jeremy Davis of the New England/Northeast Lost Ski Areas Project brings these lost locations back to life, chronicling their rich histories and contributions to the ski industry.

Updated for the first time in ten years, the "bible of Eastern backcountry skiing" returns with an all-new edition, fully revised to reflect the latest and greatest off-piste lines--as well as the trove of newly created and rehabilitated ski glades in New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, New York, and Massachusetts.

Hidden amongst the hills and mountains of southern Vermont are the remnants of sixty former ski areas, their slopes returning to forest and their lifts decaying. Today, only fourteen remain open and active in southern Vermont. Though they offer some incredible skiing, most lack the intimate, local feel of these lost ski trails. Jeremy Davis, creator of the New England Lost Ski Areas Project, looks into the over-investment, local competition, weather variation, changing skier habits, insurance costs and just plain bad luck that caused these ski areas to succumb and melt back into the landscape. From the family-operated Hogback in Windham County to Clinton Gilbert's farm in Woodstock, where the very first rope tow began operation in the winter of 1934, these once popular ski areas left an indelible trace on the hearts of their ski communities and the history of southern Vermont.

Some of the northern Adirondacks' most beloved ski areas have sadly not survived the test of time despite the pristine powder found from the High Peaks to the St. Lawrence. Even after hosting the Winter Olympics twice, Lake Placid hides fourteen abandoned ski areas. In the Whiteface area, the once-prosperous resort Paleface, or Bassett Mountain, succumbed after a series of bad winters. Juniper Hills was "the biggest little hill in the North Country" and welcomed families in the Northern Tier for more than fifteen years. Big Tupper in Tupper Lake and Otis Mountain in Elizabethtown defied the odds and were lovingly restored in recent years. Jeremy Davis of the New England/Northeast Lost Ski Areas Project rediscovers these lost trails and shares beloved memories of the people who skied on them.

Discover the ghosts of former ski areas that made the White Mountains the destination it is today. The White Mountains of New Hampshire are world-renowned for the array of skiing opportunities offered to every skier, from beginner to gold-medal Olympian. Today over a dozen resorts entice tourists and locals each year with their well-manicured trails, high-speed lifts and slope-side lodging. But scattered throughout this region are long-forgotten ski areas that can still be found. In the White Mountains alone, 60 ski areas have closed since the 1930s. Author Jeremy Davis has compiled rare photographs, maps and personal memories to ensure these beloved ski outposts that have been cherished by generations of skiers are given recognition for transforming the White Mountains into a premier ski destination.

Skiing in New England has not always been such a breathtaking sport connected with winter vacations at distant and local resorts. From the early 1870s, Norwegian, Swedish, and Finnish immigrants utilized skis to carry the mail and to travel through the woods to school and work. Later, a group of college men at Dartmouth founded the Outing Club, which transformed skiing from everyday practicality into swift-moving recreation. Since that time, the excitement and exhilaration of skiing has spread nationwide. In this volume, we will explore the history of skiing in this region, from its early, simpler days of cross-country and jumping to the rising popularity of alpine skiing beginning in the 1930s. Rather than a technical history, this book concentrates on presenting a story that is fluid like the sport itself, focusing on places, personalities, and major innovations between the early 1870s and 1940.