Mad River Glen: the back story

Roland Palmedo surveyed Vermont’s peaks from the air, chose General Stark Mountain for its terrain, northern exposure and snow, and on 11 December 1948 started up his Single Chair. Almost half a century later the skiers bought the mountain themselves, and Mad River Glen became America’s only cooperatively owned ski area.

Chosen from the air

Roland Palmedo looked at Vermont’s mountains from a plane. He chose General Stark Mountain for its terrain, its northern exposure, its snow and its private land, bought more than 700 acres from the Ward Lumber Company, and on 11 December 1948 started up his Single Chair. The mountain opened for the 1949 season with five trails.

The Pratts

In 1972 a group led by Truxton Pratt bought the ski area. After his death in 1975 his widow, Betsy Pratt, cared for it with Palmedo’s vision in mind, and it was she who proposed that the skiers should own it.

Ski It If You Can

The bumper sticker appeared in 1984 and became the mountain’s creed: narrow, natural trails such as Paradise, one of America’s toughest, and the Chute, Fall Line and Lift Line under the Single Chair. Snowboards were allowed from 1986/87; since 1991/92 the mountain has been for skiers only, telemark skiers very much included.

Ski It If You Can.

The co-op

On 5 December 1995 the Mad River Glen Cooperative was formed, the first and only cooperatively owned ski area in America. Its shareholders have since restored the Single Chair, whose original made its last run on Easter Sunday, 8 April 2007, and in February 2026 completed the purchase of about 1,100 surrounding acres.

A different kind of day

Little grooming, limited uphill capacity and daily ticket limits are all by design. The Single Chair and the Sunnyside Double carry you up; Stark’s Pub feeds you; and the Mad River Valley’s farmhouse inns put you up.