I was lucky enough to grow up in a town where volunteerism in community projects was as common as going to work. Stanfordville in the 1960s saw the creation of a recreation park, a Christmas tree center for the holiday season, baseball fields for a new Little League program, and a doctor’s clinic hoping to attract a doctor to town. But the project that sticks out most for me, and made Stanfordville unique, was the local effort to create the Mount Disposal ski slope in town.
In the fall of 1967, an all-volunteer group of townspeople were given permission to turn a hill near what was a landfill on Bangall-Amenia Road into a pioneering ski slope, nicknamed Ski Dump, complete with a rope tow.
Months of fundraising through dances, dinners and ski movie projections allowed for a totally volunteer-led project. Local groups, such as the Grange and the Lions Club, donated to help meet the costs of the slope. And a generous individual in town bought the first rope for the rope tow.
While the real labor was done by a dedicated team of townspeople, most of whom had participated in the projects I mentioned above, there was some work that could be done by us kids who wanted to be part of the project. That fall, I spent Saturdays cutting brush to make way for what would become the main trail of the ski slope.
While a group of us teens were doing that clearing work, the adults were busy clearing trees and preparing to install the rope tow type ski lift. Specially fashioned car tire rims were attached to raised telephone poles alongside that main slope. A bulldozer cleared a place for a donated tractor to firmly sit, positioned to turn the rope that became the tow.
That first year at Mount Disposal was a wonderful success. Open only on weekends, the first order of business on arrival was to pack down the slope by walking sideways up and down the hill on your skis, especially necessary after a fresh snow. If a spot was worn bare, someone would remove their skis, grab a shovel and fill the bare spot with snow from the hillside — often necessary under the rope tow’s path. There was a single slope and a “half slope” for beginners. The main slope was only about 300 yards long, but it was a decent run. At the bottom, we would ski to the rope tow and be pulled back to the top. The beginners’ half slope allowed for entry to the rope tow at the halfway point. It took some skill to ride the rope tow!
The success of the first year bred a desire to expand. The half slope bunny hill was lengthened to go all the way to the bottom of the hill. In subsequent years, a warming hut with a wonderful fireplace and a somewhat steeper third slope were added. The popularity of the slopes was amazing! I think half the young people of Stanfordville learned to ski on those hills!
I spent most winter weekends skiing at the Ski Dump for a good four years, but with the advent of college I became only an occasional visitor. Without the capability to make snow combined with a string of less snowy winters, the operations at Mount Disposal eventually wound down. Perhaps they were nudged along with the need for liability insurance or perhaps by the aging of the volunteers who were so passionate at the outset. By the late 1970s, it had ceased to be operational despite an effort to revive it. No longer visible from the transfer station, today it is only a fond memory for those of us in our 60s and 70s. But for a handful of winters, skiing in Stanfordville was as much fun as any place on the East Coast!
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Chip Couse is a lifelong resident of the area and is completing his 24th year as a member of the Pine Plains Central School Board of Education. A retired executive of an international trading company, he currently lives in Milan with his wife.
Throughout the year, the Herald has featured many stories about folk’s experiences living in and around Pine Plains as part of our town Bicentennial coverage. We anticipate continuing this series beyond the Bicentennial year and we invite you to send us your tale. We welcome stories from Ancram, Gallatin, Stanford and Milan as well.