Family-Owned Vermont Ski Resort Offers the Common Man 1,200 Acres of Powder for $100

In Vermont, a family-owned skiing business is rising to prominence as a backcountry and downhill paradise in an area and age saturated with big corporate luxury ski resorts.

Just 30 minutes east of Burlington, Bolton Valley Resort trades luxury for comfort and status for friendly, powder-loving vibes.

Featured in a great travel piece in the New York Times, Bolton Valley has been run by the same family for decades, finding its feet between the corporate resorts of Stowe and Sugarbush by offering skiing to the common man at an affordable price.

Ralph DesLauriers, now 90 years old, opened Bolton Valley in 1966 with his father for that express purpose. Today, it’s run by his daughter Lindsay.

“Skiing was a luxury sport for out-of-staters,” she told the Times’ David Goodman. “He wanted it to be accessible to Vermonters.”

Along with offering cheaper passes, they installed flood light systems on the slopes to allow working Vermonters to ski after work. Every afternoon, yellow school buses disgorged students who swarmed over the 71 slopes while honing their skills, an idea of her father’s and grandfather’s that she says probably helped save the resort in the long run.

That’s because nearby areas became larger and more accommodating, with bigger hotels, slopeside lodging, and hundreds of ski trails all developed at the cost of tens of millions fronted by resort conglomerates marketing for a more luxurious clientele.

Bolton Valley had issues competing, and the ownership of the resort passed to the bank 31 years after its lifts first started lifting. After several new owners failed to make it profitable, locals moved in to save it—perhaps some of those who learned to ski under the floodlights.

Bolton Valley Resort’s crown jewel was a 1,200-acre network of backcountry skiing trails of rare continuity. In 2011, residents learned it was going to be sold, and in opposition to that notion, worked with the Vermont Land Trust to raise $1.8 million to buy and then donate the land to the state for inclusion into Mount Mansfield State Forest with the provision that it should be kept open to backcountry skiers.

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In 2017, Mr. DesLauriers bought back the resort for less than what it cost him to build it half a century before.

Now run by Lindsay and her brothers Evan, Adam, Eric, and Rob, it’s become a profitable venture for the first time in decades in a classic case of large corporations leaving gaps in the market to be filled by charming, alternative options. A ski pass at Bolton costs $100, around half or even a third of other East Coast ski resorts like Stowe and Sugarbush.

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For that price, you get six ski lifts with wait times of around 4 minutes, 1,700 feet of slopes, and nighttime skiing. Bolton is also the only place in the region that offers backcountry skiing and snowboarding, lessons, guides, and rentals all out of the same establishment.

A 60-room hotel may not score big on luxury, but makes up for it with the lack of traffic jams, waiting times in restaurants and ski lifts, and parking space. Bolton Valley is included on the Indy Pass, a multi-mountain ski lift pass that includes smaller operations like Bolton.

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