PSIA-AASI

9.16.2011

Vermont Snowsports Community Aids Irene Recovery Effort

It’s been nearly three weeks since Hurricane Irene blasted its way up the East Coast, but some badly damaged towns are only now beginning to see progress in their recovery efforts.

Vermont in particular—where almost every stream and river in the state flooded, at least three people were killed, and dozens of towns were so isolated by floodwaters that food and other necessities had to be delivered by helicopter drops—could be rebuilding homes and roads for years to come. If there has been any good news coming out of the disaster, it’s been how the people of the state and its strong ski and snowboard resort community have banded together to help each other out.

The Stratton Foundation, for example, has organized several events to raise money for disaster relief and is accepting donations on its website at strattonfoundation.org (where you can also see some pretty scary photos and video of the flooding). Killington Resort, which was one of the hardest-hit ski areas in the storm, sustaining significant structural damage to the K-1 Lodge’s Superstar Pub, offered free lodging to locals displaced by Irene, as did Stratton and Mount Snow. And the area also launched the “From the Ground Up” online fundraiser at biddingforgood.com, where everything from season passes to skis, vacations, and snowboards autographed by Jake Burton Carpenter are being auctioned off to benefit local farmers who had their crops washed out.

“Many of our local farmers lost everything,” said Chris Nyberg, president and general manager of Killington Resort. “The From the Ground Up online auction will help Vermont farmers replace infrastructure as well as help cover losses sustained from the storm.”

In other fundraising efforts, legendary Vermont jam band Phish played a benefit concert at Essex Junction on Sept. 14th, and Burlington native Grace Potter will play two benefit shows with her band The Nocturnals on Oct. 9th and 10th. The State of Vermont launched a Fall Foliage campaign to encourage tourists to book their annual leaf-watching visit. And all over the state, individuals did what they could to help their neighbors get back on their feet.

Adam Howard, who is the editor of Backcountry Magazine and also a state senator, collected 3.5 tons of food and $4,000 in donations at the magazine’s Jeffersonville offices. He said it only took 48 hours to receive that many donations, which he and a cousin delivered to the hard-hit town of Bennington using an enclosed trailer and a dump truck.

“It really was a grassroots effort, but that’s the way it’s been all across the state,” Howard said. “Our emergency management agency got wiped out in the flood, and there weren’t enough signs or markers to close all of the roads, so people were just out there doing it themselves with home blockades and fences and sticks.”

And more good news came in on the afternoon of Sept. 16th as this blog was being written. Route 4 East—the artery to Killington—had just reopened. The area itself also reopened, just in time for the fall foliage season. And hopefully, for the tourists to start coming back.

— Peter Kray