Regulators with the state of Vermont have signed off on a bid to establish new backcountry skiing along the eastern flank of Camel’s Hump.
Once completed, this will be the second sanctioned backcountry ski zone developed on state lands in Vermont. The first was developed at Willoughby State Forest in 2016.
The Old Callahan Backcountry Zone will run through an area backcountry skiers started exploring after it was logged more than a decade ago. It’s accessed via the Monroe Trail in Duxbury and was featured in Vermont author David Goodman’s popular guidebook Best Backcountry Skiing in the Northeast.
“It's a classic example of skiers following loggers and exploring an area after a major logging operation. But over time, it's grown in and it is a little bit difficult to navigate,” said Matt Williams, who leads the Catamount Trail Association, a backcountry ski organization that’s working with the state to permit and develop the glades.
Williams says skiers often get pulled into the wrong drainage, and his organization hopes signage and clearing brush on some formal gladed lines between existing trees will help people navigate better.
Each line will be 30 to 35 feet wide and feature terrain friendly to beginner and intermediate skiers.
“Each of these lines will be close to 900 vertical feet and that’s continuous tree skiing from top to bottom,” he said.
Volunteers with the Mad River Valley Backcountry Coalition, a chapter of CTA, will maintain the area.
Formalizing this increasingly popular backcountry zone was first proposed as part of the latest management plan for the state lands that surround Camel’s Hump. The plan drew criticism from some environmental groups for proposing logging.
Kathryn Wrigley with the state Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, which approved the new ski zone, says it won’t require any new timber harvests.
She says the state is carefully reviewing proposed lines to make sure they don’t impact sensitive ecosystems like wetlands and vernal pools.
“Having signage and maps can really help make a recreational resource like this more accessible,” she said.
Williams says volunteers will start work on the ski glades this fall, with the hope that the zone will be formally open — signs, maps and all — before snow flies next winter.
