Podcast #135: Dartmouth Skiway GM Mark Adamczyk
07/11/23 • 74 min
This podcast hit paid subscribers’ inboxes on July 8. It dropped for free subscribers on June 11. To receive future pods as soon as they’re live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe for free below:
Who
Mark Adamczyk, General Manager of Dartmouth Skiway, New Hampshire
Recorded on
June 12, 2023
About Dartmouth Skiway
Click here for a mountain stats overview
Owned by: Dartmouth College
Located in: Lyme Center, New Hampshire
Year founded: 1956
Pass affiliations:
No Boundaries Pass: between 1 and 3 days, depending upon when the pass is redeemed
Indy Pass Allied Resorts: Indy Pass holders get 50 percent off weekday lift tickets and 25 percent off weekends and holidays
Reciprocal partners: None
Closest neighboring ski areas: Storrs Hill (33 minutes), Whaleback (36 minutes), Northeast Slopes (36 minutes), Harrington Hill (41 minutes), Quechee (42 minutes), Ragged (48 minutes), Tenney (53 minutes), Saskadena Six (54 minutes), Ascutney (55 minutes), Arrowhead (59 minutes), Mount Sunapee (59 minutes), Veterans Memorial (1 hours, 6 minutes), Campton (1 hour, 6 minutes), Kanc (1 hour, 10 minutes), Loon (1 hour, 11 minutes), Waterville Valley (1 hour, 17 minutes), Cannon (1 hour, 17 minutes), Killington (1 hour, 20 minutes), Pico (1 hour, 21 minutes), Okemo (1 hour, 22 minutes)
Base elevation: 968 feet
Summit elevation: 1,943 feet
Vertical drop: 968 feet
Skiable Acres: 104
Average annual snowfall: 100 inches
Trail count: 28 (25% advanced/expert, 50% intermediate, 25% beginner)
Lift count: 4 (1 fixed-grip quad, 1 double, 2 carpets – view Lift Blog’s inventory of Dartmouth Skiway’s lift fleet)
Why I interviewed him
Isn’t it interesting what exists? Imagine if Yale or Dartmouth or hell the University of Vermont wanted to build a ski area today. They’d have better luck genetically splicing a goat with an Easter egg. Or building a Chuck E. Cheese on Jupiter. Or sealing the Mariana Trench with toothpaste. Imagine the rage from alumni, from the Leaf Defenders, from whatever town they decided to slice the forest up over. U.S. American colleges collectively acting as the NFL’s minor league while piling up millions in broadcast and ticket revenue – totally fine. A college owning a ski area? What are you, insane?
But here we are: Dartmouth College owns a ski area. The origin story, in my imagination: Eustacious VonTrappenSquire VIII, president of Dartmouth and also Scout Emeritus of his local outing club, orders his carriage driver to transport him up to Lyme, where he intends to stock up on parchment and whale oil. As he waits for the apothecary to mix his liver tonic, the old chum takes a draw from his pipe and, peering through his spectacle, spies Holt’s Ledge and Winslow Ledge rising more than 2,100 feet off the valley floor. “Charles, good fellow, the next time you draw up the horses, be a swell and throw my old snowskis into the carriage. I fancy a good ski on those two attractive peaks yonder.” He then loads his musket and shoots a passenger pigeon mid-flight.
“But Sir,” Charles replies, “I’m afraid there’s no trails cut for snow-skiing on those peaks.”
“Well by gum we’ll see about that!” the esteemed president shouts, startling one of the horses so badly that it bolts into Ms. McHenry’s salon and knocks over her spittoon. VonTrappenSquire, humiliated, repays her by making McHenry Dartmouth Skiway’s first general manager.
Unfortunately for my imagination, the actual story is provided in Skiway: A Dartmouth Winter Tale by Everett Wood (sourced from the Skiway’s website):
With its northern New England location and an active Outing Club, Dartmouth College was “the collegiate champion of the outdoor life and winter sports” in the early 1900s. A number of men skied for the United States in the 1936 Winter Olympics in Germany, an amazing feat given that their local ski hills were what is today the Hanover Country Club.
In April 1955, a report, spearheaded by John Meck ’33 entitled, “Development of Adequate Skiing Facilities for Dartmouth S...
This podcast hit paid subscribers’ inboxes on July 8. It dropped for free subscribers on June 11. To receive future pods as soon as they’re live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe for free below:
Who
Mark Adamczyk, General Manager of Dartmouth Skiway, New Hampshire
Recorded on
June 12, 2023
About Dartmouth Skiway
Click here for a mountain stats overview
Owned by: Dartmouth College
Located in: Lyme Center, New Hampshire
Year founded: 1956
Pass affiliations:
No Boundaries Pass: between 1 and 3 days, depending upon when the pass is redeemed
Indy Pass Allied Resorts: Indy Pass holders get 50 percent off weekday lift tickets and 25 percent off weekends and holidays
Reciprocal partners: None
Closest neighboring ski areas: Storrs Hill (33 minutes), Whaleback (36 minutes), Northeast Slopes (36 minutes), Harrington Hill (41 minutes), Quechee (42 minutes), Ragged (48 minutes), Tenney (53 minutes), Saskadena Six (54 minutes), Ascutney (55 minutes), Arrowhead (59 minutes), Mount Sunapee (59 minutes), Veterans Memorial (1 hours, 6 minutes), Campton (1 hour, 6 minutes), Kanc (1 hour, 10 minutes), Loon (1 hour, 11 minutes), Waterville Valley (1 hour, 17 minutes), Cannon (1 hour, 17 minutes), Killington (1 hour, 20 minutes), Pico (1 hour, 21 minutes), Okemo (1 hour, 22 minutes)
Base elevation: 968 feet
Summit elevation: 1,943 feet
Vertical drop: 968 feet
Skiable Acres: 104
Average annual snowfall: 100 inches
Trail count: 28 (25% advanced/expert, 50% intermediate, 25% beginner)
Lift count: 4 (1 fixed-grip quad, 1 double, 2 carpets – view Lift Blog’s inventory of Dartmouth Skiway’s lift fleet)
Why I interviewed him
Isn’t it interesting what exists? Imagine if Yale or Dartmouth or hell the University of Vermont wanted to build a ski area today. They’d have better luck genetically splicing a goat with an Easter egg. Or building a Chuck E. Cheese on Jupiter. Or sealing the Mariana Trench with toothpaste. Imagine the rage from alumni, from the Leaf Defenders, from whatever town they decided to slice the forest up over. U.S. American colleges collectively acting as the NFL’s minor league while piling up millions in broadcast and ticket revenue – totally fine. A college owning a ski area? What are you, insane?
But here we are: Dartmouth College owns a ski area. The origin story, in my imagination: Eustacious VonTrappenSquire VIII, president of Dartmouth and also Scout Emeritus of his local outing club, orders his carriage driver to transport him up to Lyme, where he intends to stock up on parchment and whale oil. As he waits for the apothecary to mix his liver tonic, the old chum takes a draw from his pipe and, peering through his spectacle, spies Holt’s Ledge and Winslow Ledge rising more than 2,100 feet off the valley floor. “Charles, good fellow, the next time you draw up the horses, be a swell and throw my old snowskis into the carriage. I fancy a good ski on those two attractive peaks yonder.” He then loads his musket and shoots a passenger pigeon mid-flight.
“But Sir,” Charles replies, “I’m afraid there’s no trails cut for snow-skiing on those peaks.”
“Well by gum we’ll see about that!” the esteemed president shouts, startling one of the horses so badly that it bolts into Ms. McHenry’s salon and knocks over her spittoon. VonTrappenSquire, humiliated, repays her by making McHenry Dartmouth Skiway’s first general manager.
Unfortunately for my imagination, the actual story is provided in Skiway: A Dartmouth Winter Tale by Everett Wood (sourced from the Skiway’s website):
With its northern New England location and an active Outing Club, Dartmouth College was “the collegiate champion of the outdoor life and winter sports” in the early 1900s. A number of men skied for the United States in the 1936 Winter Olympics in Germany, an amazing feat given that their local ski hills were what is today the Hanover Country Club.
In April 1955, a report, spearheaded by John Meck ’33 entitled, “Development of Adequate Skiing Facilities for Dartmouth S...
Previous Episode
Podcast #134: China Peak President & GM Tim Cohee
The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and to support my work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Who
Tim Cohee, President and General Manager of China Peak, California and President of California Mountain Resort Company
Recorded on
June 19, 2023
About China Peak
Click here for a mountain stats overview
Owned by: California Mountain Resort Company
Located in: Lakeshore, California
Year founded: 1958
Pass affiliations:
Cali Pass – Unlimited access
Indy Base Pass – 2 days, potential blackouts TBD
Indy+ Pass – 2 days, no blackouts
Powder Alliance – 2 days, potential blackouts TBD
Reciprocal partners: None (Cali Pass includes Powder Alliance + unlimited access to Mountain High and Dodge Ridge)
Closest neighboring ski areas: Badger Pass (2 hours, 45 minutes), Dodge Ridge (4 hours, 1 minute)
Base elevation: 7,030 feet
Summit elevation: 8,709 feet
Vertical drop: 1,679 feet
Skiable Acres: 1,200
Average annual snowfall: 300 inches
Trail count: 54
Lift count: 11 lifts (2 quads, 4 triples, 1 T-bar, 4 carpets) - Total includes Chair 6 upgrade from a double to a fixed-grip quad this summer; China Peak also plans to replace the Firebowl T-bar with a used quad from Taos in 2024 - view Lift Blog’s inventory of China Peak’s lift fleet
Why I interviewed him
The Storm Skiing Podcast is not yet four years old, but it is established enough to have hosted several repeat guests: Indy Pass founder Doug Fish (four appearances), Boyne Resorts CEO Stephen Kircher (three), Alterra chair Rusty Gregory (three), and snowsports columnist Shaun Sutner (two, with a third scheduled for November). Magic Mountain, Vermont President Geoff Hatheway and Berkshire East/Catamount owner Jon Schaefer have also appeared twice.
What makes a good repeat guest? Many things. Fish, Kircher, and Gregory oversee rapidly changing and expansive portfolios whose evolutions shape the lift-served ski landscape as a whole. Hatheway and Schaefer guide small operations, but they are among the most original thinkers in skiing. Sutner brings deep experience and perspective to the layered New England ski scene.
Tim Cohee fits into the Hatheway/Schaefer camp. Anyone who listened to my first podcast interview with him, in 2021, knows this. He brings a West Coast moxie and brashness to the rough-and-ruthless Sierras, tempered by the humbling realities of operating mountains in the fickle range over four-plus decades.
The Storm, in general, is more interested in place over person. I don’t seek out whacky characters or eccentrics. They may be captivating in an oddball way, but I need to find the individuals who actually make things happen, who, through will or persistence or luck or planning help shape our collective lift-served ski experience.
Sometimes, however, you get both charisma and decision-making. Would I be running my second podcast focused on a mid-sized California ski area if it were owned and operated by someone else? Maybe. But probably not. At least not so soon. This is a hyper-regional mountain, isolated and hard to reach for anyone who doesn’t live in or near Fresno. It’s 65 miles and an hour and a half off the expressway – time that most SoCal drivers are going to use to keep moving north to Mammoth or Tahoe.
But here we are, back in the parking lot at the end of highway 168, for the second time in two years. You’ll understand why once you click “play.”
What we talked about
China Peak’s record-smashing snowfall this past season; when big snow equals big problems; how running Kirkwood prepared Cohee for a huge 2022-23 at China Peak; weathering nine droughts in 11 seasons; selling the ski area to California Mountain Resorts Company; Karl Kapuscinski, “mountain guy”; the Cali Pass; “I wish I was partners wi...
Next Episode
Podcast #136: Timberline, West Virginia General Manager Tom Price
This podcast hit paid subscribers’ inboxes on July 15. It dropped for free subscribers on June 18. To receive future pods as soon as they’re live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe for free below:
Who
Tom Price, General Manager of Timberline, West Virginia
Recorded on
June 26, 2023
About Timberline, West Virginia
Click here for a mountain stats overview
Owned by: The Perfect Family
Located in: Davis, West Virginia
Year founded: 1983
Pass affiliations: The Perfect Pass – unlimited access
Reciprocal partners: unlimited access to Perfect North, Indiana with the Perfect Pass
Closest neighboring ski areas: Canaan Valley (8 minutes); White Grass XC touring/backcountry center (11 minutes); Wisp, Maryland (1 hour, 15 minutes); Snowshoe, West Virginia (1 hour, 50 minutes); Bryce, Virginia (2 hours); Homestead, Virginia (2 hours); Massanutten, Virginia (2 hours, 21 minutes)
Base elevation: 3,268 feet
Summit elevation: 4,268 feet
Vertical drop: 1,000 feet
Skiable Acres: 100
Average annual snowfall: 150 inches
Trail count: 20 (2 double-black, 2 black, 6 intermediate, 10 beginner), plus two named glades and two terrain parks
Lift count: 4 (1 high-speed six-pack, 1 fixed-grip quad, 2 carpets - view Lift Blog’s inventory of Timberline’s lift fleet)
Why I interviewed him
In January, I arrived at Timberline on day five of a brutal six-day meltdown across the Mid-Atlantic. I’d passed through six other ski areas en route – all were partially open, stapled together, passable but clearly struggling. Then this:
After three days of melt-out tiptoe, I was not prepared for what I found at gut-renovated Timberline. And what I found was 1,000 vertical feet of the best version of warm-weather skiing I’ve ever seen. Other than the trail footprint, this is a brand-new ski area. When the Perfect Family – who run Perfect North, Indiana like some sort of military operation – bought the joint in 2020, they tore out the lifts, put in a brand-new six-pack and carpet-loaded quad, installed all-new snowmaking, and gut-renovated the lodge. It is remarkable. Stunning. Not a hole in the snowpack. Coming down the mountain from Davis, you can see Timberline across the valley beside state-run Canaan Valley ski area – the former striped in white, the latter mostly barren.
I skied four fast laps off the summit before the sixer shut at 4:30. Then a dozen runs off the quad. The skier level is comically terrible, beginners sprawled all over the unload, all over the green trails. But the energy is level 100 amped, and everyone I talked to raved about the transformation under the new owners. I hope the Perfect family buys 50 more ski areas – their template works.
Perfect North is one of the most incredible ski areas in the country, a machine that proves skiing can thrive in marginal conditions. Timberline is Exhibit B, demonstrating that an operating model built on aggressive snowmaking and constant investment can scale.
Which seems obvious, right? We’re not exactly trying to decipher grandma’s secret meatloaf recipe here. But it’s not so easy. Vail Resorts has barely kept Paoli Peaks – Indiana’s only other ski area – open two dozen days each of the past two seasons (Perfect North hit 86 days for the 2022-23 winter and 81 in 2021-22). And Canaan Valley, next door to Timberline, is like that house with uncut grass and dogs pooping all over the yard. Surely they’re aware of a lawnmower. And yet.
Skiers, everywhere, want very simple things: snow to ski on, a reliable product, consistency. That can be hard to deliver in an unpredictable world. But while their competitors make excuses, Timberline and Perfect North make snow.
What we talked about
Snowmaking, snowmaking, snowmaking; applying an Indiana operating philosophy to the Appalachian wilds; changing consumer expectations; 36 inches of snow in May and why the ski area didn’t open when the storm hit; night skiing returns; when you fall in love with an uncomfortable thing; leaving Utah for Indiana; The Perfect family and Perfect North Slopes; fire in Ohio; what happened when Perfect North ...
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