By Karen Lorentz
“Women don’t get enough credit in the ski industry,†noted Justin Lindholm in a presentation on Pico and Killington’s ski history.
This comment sparked grateful female murmurs among attendees of the 2021 Chittenden Historical Society’s first program on September 14 in the beautiful renovated Grange Hall in North Chittenden.
Lindholm, who is known to many for her years working at the Lindholm Sport Center in Rutland, opened with a brief slideshow and ended with a family movie that her mother, Shirley, shot on the opening day of 1958 at the Killington ski area. It included: an opening ceremony at the end of the [Killington Road] Access road with dignitaries; Governor Aiken greeting the first person to climb Snowdon Poma; view of the slopes; and a young Justin and his brother on skis.
Justin Lindholm shows large 10th Mountain white skis made by Northland.
Among the interesting observations Lindholm shared was information about Janet and Brad Mead. Artist and visionary, Brad designed the North Tower in Mendon, where the family lived in a 24-room castle-like house. It was a place Lindholm knew very well as he, like their daughter Andrea Mead, would grow up there after her parents bought it in 1952.
Showing several slides, he described the north tower and the surrounding cliffs as “an enchanted place”, but added that the 24 rooms were very small except for a large and beautiful chapel with a 9-meter ceiling. and an organ on a balcony.
Lindholm noted that Andrea and her brother Peter often skied the half-mile (private) road to the school bus stop. Like Andrea, Lindholm learned to ski the slopes of the North Tower at the age of 3, but unlike Mead, he never raced, he said.
Andrea Mead Lawrence’s parents were avid skiers who founded Pico Ski Area. The Meads had spent their honeymoon on the Chittenden Reservoir and, after skiing in Europe, searched the Rutland region for a place to build a ski area, Lindholm noted.
They first installed a tow rope for the 1936-37 season at Framar Farms on Cream Hill Road, then opened Pico on Thanksgiving Day 1937 with a tow rope on Little Pico, which they rented from Mortimer Proctor .
They had also been looking for someone to teach skiing, which was still in its infancy for recreational skiers at the time, and brought in Swiss runner Karl Acker who ran the Karl Acker ski school to Pico.
It was Acker, who Lindholm described as one of the “best skiers in the worldâ€, who taught young Andrea to race. She competed in the 1948, 1952 and 1956 Olympics (she eventually married runner David Lawrence) and is famous as a two-time Olympic gold medalist at the 1952 Olympics.
Acker also started the Pico Derby as part of the Pico racing events. It was Acker who found Brad Mead’s body when he died in a boating accident on the Chittenden Reservoir in 1942. Mead is buried on Sunset Schuss, Lindholm noted.
After her death, Janet Mead continued with Acker to manage operations for her until he left for the 10th Mountain Division to fight in World War II. Janet then led Pico with the help of paid staff and volunteers from the Otter Ski Patrol and Pico Ski Club. Pico was one of the top 30 ski areas in the United States and one of the few that remained open during the war.
Acker returned after the war. He built chairs and tied them to the T-bar cable in 1950 for summer walks and foliage to bring in extra cash, which saved the area during the snow droughts of the early 1950s. Janet Mead, who bought the mountain in 1947, sold the area to Acker and his wife, June, in 1954.
Acker enlarged Pico with a T-bar on Gnome’s Knoll (now the Triple Slope area) and had difficulty installing a J-bar to replace two pull cables. He was working long days when he suffered a fatal heart attack at age 42 in 1958.
June Acker then continued her plans for the area and installed Pico’s first chairlift on Lower Pike. But unable to secure funding for a chair at the top, it sold to the Belden Group in 1964.
This chair was desperately needed as the young ski resort of Killington had several chairlifts to the peaks of three mountains and turned out to be serious competition as skiers and runners still had to walk to the top of Pico.
Lindholm highlighted the extreme challenges Prescott “Pres” Smith faced when opening Killington. He had to raise funds by selling shares in a ski area that did not yet exist. Lindholm has several artifacts from this era, including share certificates and an annual report before there was a ski area in Killington. He also highlighted the active role played by Susanne Smith in founding Killington, noting her role in communications and investor relations.
The display of old boots and skis, including 10th Mountain Division white skis made by Northland and bamboo poles used by the troops, was eye-opening for many. He had invited Karl T. Acker, Acker’s son, to bring items for the exhibition and presented it to the public, who chatted with Acker after the presentation.
As an only child, Karl T. grew up in Pico, living in the second floor apartment at the top of the Troll Top Base Lodge across from the T-Bar Brad had set up at the top of Little Pico in 1940. With view of the A and B slopes from his room, Acker literally had the mountain for his garden. His father taught him to ski around the age of 3, he recalls, and he quickly competed in Mid-Vermont Council races and even won the Pico Derby as a teenager.
Among his many memories, that of his mother telling him that one season (before the snowfall), Pico was only open 22 days. It was most likely in the early 1950s when there were several very bad natural snow seasons.
Knowing firsthand the many challenges his mother faced in operating Pico, he agrees with Lindholm’s observation that women do not get enough credit for their contribution to the ski industry. .
One of the reasons for this is that the ski industry was really a ‘man’s world’ until the end of the 20th century, and Vermont was really ahead of the industry in that women played games. key roles as owners / operators.
