DesLauriers, Pratt among newest members of the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame

The DesLauriers family (from left) Ralph, Adam, Evan, and Lindsay. (Bolton Valley)

Bolton Valley patriarch Ralph DesLauriers leads a class of four contributors to Vermont skiing who will be honored later this year as the newest inductees of the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. 

DesLauriers, who founded Bolton Valley in 1966, will be inducted with three others during a ceremony at his own resort on Sept. 24. Other members of the Class of 2022 include Olympic ski jumper Jim Holland, racer and broadcaster Rip McManus, and Betsy Pratt, who was integral in defining Mad River Glen. 

The DesLauriers name is, of course, synonymous with Vermont skiing. Sons Rob and Eric DesLauriers became stars of the extreme skiing film scene in the 80s and 90s. Children Evan, Adam, and Lindsay, who serves as resort president, have helped him run Bolton Valley since the family re-acquired the resort in 2017. 

Ralph served as a board member of the Vermont Ski Areas Association from 1967-1995, including as chairman for 12 years. He served as the representative for Vermont on the National Ski Areas Association Board of Directors from1980-86. According to the Hall of Fame, “Ralph may very well be the last ski area founder alive today who still owns and operates the resort they built, demonstrating an incredible life-long commitment to the Vermont ski industry.” 

Holland, who was raised in Norwich, finished 12th in ski jumping at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France. It was among the top performances by a U.S. jumper. In 1995, Jim retired from ski jumping, graduated from the University of Vermont, and, along with childhood friend John Breese, created Backcountry.com, where he still remains a minority shareholder. 

In 2007, the U.S. Ski Team abandoned ski jumping and Holland stepped in, helping to create USA Nordic Sports, a nonprofit in Park City, Utah that runs men’s and women’s national jumping and Nordic combined programs, keeping the sport alive.

McManus excelled at ski racing with the Pico Peak Ski Club. He joined the Rutland High School ski team and went on to set the record for the Pico Downhill Derby. At the 1964 Innsbruck, Austria Winter Olympics, he and his teammates cheered on Vermont’s Billy Kidd and Jimmie Heuga as they made Winter Olympic alpine ski racing history as the first American men to win Olympic medals. In 1968, he worked in the sound booth with Jim McKay at the Grenoble, France Winter Olympics and worked with Robert Redford in 1969 as a cast member and ski racer double in the American sports film drama, “Downhill Racer.”

Betsy Pratt, Pratt, a native of Greenwich, Conn., made her first visit to Mad River Glen in 1954, There, she met Trux Pratt, who was a member of the Montclair Ski Club. They soon married, buying a ski house in North Fayston on their honeymoon.

In 1972, Mad River founder Roland Palmedo sold the ski area to a group of investment bankers and skiers led by Trux Pratt and Brad Swett. In 1975, following Pratt’s death, Betsy took the reins at the ski area, guiding the mountain to preserve its unique character. It was Pratt and marketing guru, Gerry Muro, who developed the “Ski it if You Can” marketing campaign. According to the Hall of Fame, “The red and white bumper stickers turned Mad River Glen into one of the most recognizable brands in the ski industry. The plain meaning of the slogan was, “ski it when there’s snow,” but many also read it as a competition (ski it if you’re good enough), or a bucket list item (ski it if you get the chance). She also encouraged telemark skiing, which is still taught on the mountain to this day.” 

Tickets for this year’s induction, taking place at Bolton’s recently-renovated Timberline Lodge, can be purchased here.