Over lunch they complained to the owners, Elizabeth and Robert Royce, about paying $40 each for the privilege of climbing up a mountain in order to ski down it.
Wallace ‘Bunny’ Bertram, the Dartmouth ski team’s first coach, had been telling the New Yorkers about a tow rope he’d seen in Shawbridge, Quebec. He was in the room when they complained about climbing up the hill. Bertram asked the Royces if they had a Montgomery Ward or Sears catalog, explaining he wanted to figure out how much it would cost to build a rope tow.
Robert Royce decided to get there first. He rented a former sheep pasture called Gilbert’s Hill before Bertram could.
With an investment from the three New Yorkers, they bought the equipment for the first U.S. rope tow: pulleys, an 1,800-foot rope and a Model T Ford engine.
They rented a hilly pasture and the White Cupboard Skiway was born.
They sold ski tickets for $1 a day and 50 cents for night skiing. Skiers grabbed on to the circulating rope and let it carry them up the 900-foot hill.
The next year, the Royces intended to rent Gilbert’s Hill again. Elizabeth Royce gave a cab driver $100 in bills and asked him to go to the bank and fetch a crisp $100 bill. She intended to present to the hill’s owner. The cab driver brought back a limp, crumpled bill.
While she took the time to clean and iron it, Bertram rented the hill out from under her for $10.
True to its name, it was a rope, often attached to an old car engine. The engine turned the wheel, and the rope moved upwards. Skiers then grabbed on, and the tow pulled them up the slope. In reality, building the machine was simpler than riding it. Riding a rope tow was a skill all to itself. Nevertheless, once learned, people could ski several runs a day, rather than just once.
Along with changing the nature of Alpine skiing, the rope tow changed the economics of ski centers. Once built, rope tow owners would charge people (usually around $1 per ride) to use the tow. This change was the first step towards modern ski resorts.
Along with changing the nature of Alpine skiing, the rope tow changed the economics of ski centers. Once built, rope tow owners would charge people (usually around $1 per ride) to use the tow. This change was the first step towards modern ski resorts.
from Google Books;
Lost Ski Areas of the Southern Adirondacks
By Jeremy K. Davis
I went thru a few gloves on rope tows in the Cascade Mountains.(Snoqualmie Pass) but if I had to walk up those hills, no way! I would have stuck to water-skiing on Lake Washington or Samamish, not in the winter..Duh???
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