The skiing boom continued nationwide, with Vermont leading the way. Within a few years, Stowe's Mount Mansfield was home to the longest ski lift in the world. Stowe was also the site for America's first Ski School. Many of the pioneering techniques in trail design and construction were developed on the slopes of the Green Mountains.
Vermont was the breeding ground for America's next winter sports revolution in the early seventies. It was here that "snow surfing" - riding a single board with a rope attached to the tip - made the leap to snowboarding.
Again, the turning point came outside of Woodstock, this time on the slopes of Suicide Six. In the winter of 1982, Vermonter Paul Graves invited snowboarding aficionados from all over the country for the world's first national championship. It was the first time a ski area allowed snowboarders on its slopes and the event proved that the fledgling sport had a future. (One of the participants was a dark haired entrepreneur from Stratton named Jake Burton Carpenter. Though he didn't place in the event, Carpenter would later launch Burton Snowboards, now the largest snowboarding company in the world.)
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he year was 1934. FDR was in the White House and a revolution was brewing in the hills outside of Woodstock, Vermont.
![image [skier jumping]](img/insert_skihistory.jpg)
A group of adventurous locals hooked a long loop of rope to a Model T Ford engine at the base of Gilbert's Hill and the nation had its first ski tow. In the following years, commercial ski areas started popping up across the state, including Suicide Six, Bromley, Mad River Glen and Mount Mansfield. It wasn't long before New Yorkers were riding a regular "Ski Train" to Vermont, sparking a boom in winter tourism in the state.
Biking
