Vermont’s Mad River Glen is now the only major eastern ski area that does not allow snowboarding. While it represents a huge and growing segment of the "snowsliding" market the skier-shareholders of Mad River Glen believe there are enough skiing purists to create a viable niche market.

"Most people don’t realize that Mad River did allow snowboards quite early on in snowboarding’s history." Explains Marketing Director, Eric Friedman. Betsy Pratt, the previous owner, was friendly to snowboards and then ran into safety issues on the Single Chair." Mad River Glen’s main lift is their circa 1947 single chair. "She restricted them from the Single and then, after a now legendary confrontation between Betsy and some local riders, she decided to ban them completely. When the Co-op took over the mountain the shareholders voted on the issue and more than 70% voted to maintain the snowboarding ban."

While the snowboarding issue never seems to go away the mountain tries hard not to offend. In fact they offer free alpine or Telemark rentals to any one who shows up not aware of the snowboarding ban. "We want to make clear that there is no animosity towards snowboarders here. The ski industry is a very competitive and our ownership believes that creating this market niche is the best course for Mad River Glen. If we were any other ski area it wouldn’t be a big deal, but because we have the East’s best ski terrain, many riders want the opportunity to ride it. Can you blame them?" Friedman remarked.

The reasons for the snowboarding ban varies depending on who you talk to. Some will say it would ruin Mad River’s unique character. "Our Single Chair, the Cooperative ownership, the natural snow skiing, a non-commercial atmosphere and the ban on snowboards is what make Mad River Glen special, we don’t want to end up looking like every other ski area." Said Mad River shareholder, Sarah Haviland. Other people believe that the snowboarders would ruin the legendary moguls while still others feel that they would scrape the natural snow off the trails. Whatever the reason don’t bet on seeing snowboarding at Mad River any time soon. That is unless a whole bunch of snowboarders decide to buy shares in the Mad River Glen Cooperative.

Snowboarders need not worry too much about available terrain. While Mad River Glen is the only ski area in the East not to allow snowboarding, only Alta, Utah and Taos, New Mexico continue the ban out West.

e-mail us at ski@madriver.com