The Morse Farm Ski Touring Center, Montpelier, VT

Burr Morse is one of those classic, hard working Yankee entrepreneurs. He grew up on a 240 acre dairy farm in East Montpelier, VT. Like many Vermont farmers, the Morse family had a sugar house and made maple syrup every spring. Because the sugar house was adjacent to the County Road, and only a couple of miles from the state capital, it attracted visitors every spring. Seizing the opportunity, Burr established a store, snack bar and gift shop which soon became a destination for tourists in the spring for sugaring, the summer during school vacation and in the autumn for the foliage. With a wry smile, Burr Morse confesses, “I used to milk cows, now I milk the tourists.”

Although Burr never complained about the winter being slower than his three busy seasons, three local skiing enthusiasts put an end to his only slack time. In 2001 they raised the money to create a system of trails at the Morse Farm, and convinced Burr to establish a ski touring center. I was hired to design a trail network, incorporating existing farm and logging roads, that would be safe and fun for skiers of all ability levels.

As soon as I had completed the preliminary design work, Burr and a dedicated group of local volunteers worked like crazy to get the trails ready for the winter. Blessed with bountiful snowfalls their opening season, they sold more season passes than projected, hosted weekly events, and earned rave reviews from Nordic enthusiasts throughout the region. The success of their first season allowed them to expand their trail network and upgrade their grooming equipment prior to their second season of operation.

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Testimonial

Get Ready to “Schuss” at Morse Farm
Bill Holland, The Montpelier Bridge, September, 2002

“If the snow gods smile this winter, cross-country skiers in the Montpelier area will have an even bigger reason to smile as well. Morse Farm, ...for many years a local tourist attraction thanks to its maple sugaring house and gift shop, will offer 15 kilometers of groomed ski trails.

Local ski enthusiast Nat Winthrop, had a vision od Morse Farm as an ideal venue for a cross-country ski center...Winthrop, in turn, persuaded fellow-skiers Bill kaplan and Chip Stone to invest in the venture as equal partners.

They approached Morse, who was at long last receptive to the idea of a forth season...The partners, determined to do things right, hired John Morton to lay out a system of trails.

Morton, a participant in six Olympics and for 11 years coach of the Dartmouth ski team, is known for creating trails that maximize the terrain to insure that something interesting is always happening. The characteristic result is a swooping, swerving roller-coaster course that challenges the expert without overwhelming the novice.

...It’s going to be an elegant ride, folks (those fickle snow gods willing).