Basecamp podcast: Skiing with school spirit and savings at Dartmouth and Middlebury

Middlebury and Dartmouth are among the affiliate members on the Indy Pass. (Middlebury Snow Bowl)

Dartmouth and Middlebury are two of the most-storied collegiate environments in the Northeast, in no small part for their excellence in outdoor athletics over the years. Each school touts its own ski area for students and staff to use and welcomes the public to come ski at a rate you’re not likely to find at other ski areas in Vermont and New Hampshire. 

“It’s one of the few places where you can show up, rent your skis, buy a lift ticket, have a snack, and spend less than $100 per person,” Dartmouth Skiway general manager Mark Adamcyzk said. “And that’s pretty rare these days.” 

Adamcyzk and Middlebury Snow Bowl director of skiing Mike Hussey joined New England Ski Journal Basecamp hosts Eric Wilbur and Mike Specian to discuss the ski areas’ importance in teaching skiers at the college level, as well as how each spot excels at making skiing an affordable family activity. 

Listen: 

Highlights from this edition of the Basecamp podcast: 

Hussey: There’s great history here. They literally loaded people in what essentially were cattle trucks, put the skis on the outside of the trucks down [at Middlebury’s campus] — which is 12 miles from the ski area — and they drove up the mountain standing up in the back of these trucks. Then, of course, there were no lifts. So they would skin up, wax, and then back down the hill.

Hussey: It’s that sort of vibe, that group of people that really keep this place affordable. You take that family of five, all five are going to ski here for less than what they’e gonna pay at one of the big corporate areas for a day of skiing. And that’s just, tickets; include rentals and lessons and all that in there as well. So, it is extremely affordable.

The podcast can be streamed at skijournal.com/podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple, Spotify and Amazon.