Ski Tow in Royalton

Jay, Bill and I checked out an old active rope tow down the road in Royalton.  The owner of the farm, Wilder went out of his way to give us a tour and share his experiences with us.

The bottom of the tow sits inside of a shed that also doubles as a farmstand in the summer months.

The rope drive wheel is attached to a larger wheel that has a belt (not shown) wrapped around it.  The belt also wraps around a truck tire that provides the drive power.  Since it was crrently being used as a farmstand the truck was not in place.  The float tire seen in the picture is used to keep tension on the belt.

We also hiked up the hill to check out the top return wheel.

We were suprised to find how simple the return setup wheel was.  Basically it was an old car rim from a post that has several cables with come alongs attached to keep it suspended in place.

Looking down the tow from the top - a nice view of the valley.  Wilder used an excavator to re-grade the tow line and a few trails.  Since it's mowed to short grass by the cows in the summer it doesn't take much snow to ski.

The tow was originally built by Wilder's grandfather.  At one point in time back in the 1950-70's it was typical for most towns have a rope tow.  3/4 of all VT towns had at least one ski hill.  Families and communities were much more active in the winter months back then.

The tow was fairly long 1000' to 1200' maybe.  Ours will be about 850' long and a bit steeper.

Here we are headed back down the hill.

It was interesting to note that there were no saftey features.  The only way to shut it off was using the key ignition in the truck.