Thursday, October 04, 2007

Time for a trip in the Way Back Machine

Further back than usual, that is. I just found these links, which give a great overview of the history of Vernon Valley and Great Gorge, before and after they merged into one ski resort. A lot of it was new to me, especially the part about Vernon Valley's penchant for all-girl lift attendants in its early days. Very 1960s. (You know what was also very 1960s? The Playboy Club that was located across the valley from the resort. Swinging! )

I got a litle misty seeing images of the old lodges:

Here's Vernon Valley's lodge, which burned down in the mid-90s and was replaced with a collection of horrible, industrial-feeling domed tents. Seriously, they make you feel like you're in some sort of refugee camp. Or maybe a space port.


And here's the old Great Gorge, or South, lodge. It had three bars!!! It was also kinda creepy and to rumored to be haunted. I remember Phil, the director of security, saying he hated going there at night because "There's monstahs down there!" Phil ruled.

4 comments:

Daron said...

Ah, the old north lodge. I remember Mike C. telling me the happiest day of his life was when he got to work and it was on fire!

therese said...

Yeah, because that meant he didn't have to work.

Anonymous said...

I remember kids with their doctor dads and lawyer moms coming to school every day with their ski passes pinned to their jackets from there. They'd leave them on all the time. Pretentious pricks.

By the way, my "word" for the word verification is "luvermnn". Just had to share.

therese said...

I hear you, Amanda. At my school, it was cool to either have 75 lift tickets hanging from your jacket or, preferably, a season's pass. The really fancy kids had VV/GG season passes AND day tickets for better mountains like Killington. Show offs.