Family is well-groomed

Home or away, Cochrans succeed on slopes

November 19, 2009|Tony Chamberlain, Globe Correspondent

RICHMOND, Vt. - It won’t be long before Killington, Stowe, Mount Snow, and Okemo will be roaring along in their seasons - weekend skiers and riders by the thousands, blizzards of press releases, and endless video and radio ads.

For the last half-century, these major ski areas in Vermont have come to define the New England branch of winter sports.

But in a smaller, quieter, and much less expensive way, a single family ski area along the Winooski River in the farm town of Richmond makes a strong claim as the heart of skiing in the Green Mountain State.

And the family that started Cochran’s Ski Area nearly 40 years ago is still at it, teaching the sport to local kids, and sending their own off to World Cup and Olympic competitions.

“The family is still very tight,’’ said former slalom great Barbara Ann Cochran, winner of three World Cup events, a silver medal in the 1970 world championships, and a gold medal in the 1972 Sapporo Olympics. “The ties are still very deep in the family and our love of skiing and the mountains.’’

Barbara Ann and sisters Lindy and Marilyn are working hard to meet their opening day deadline of Dec. 19. Their parents, Mickey and Ginny, founded Cochran’s Ski Area on a hillside farm in 1961. Mickey, a trained mechanical engineer, transformed the land and created a vision that has never changed: Provide affordable skiing and riding, and get local kids started in the sport.

At first it was the Cochrans’ kids and neighbors who used the two slopes and short rope tow. Ginny offered the first after-school ski program at the behest of the Richmond PTO.

“We’ve always been about teaching families to ski and keeping it affordable,’’ said Marilyn. “That hasn’t ever changed. We know kids will not stay here once they get started. They get bored and want to go on to the bigger places around. But you don’t need a big area to get started.’’

Reflecting skiing’s growth nationally, the Cochran family and their ski area saw rapid change in the 1960s. Five years after the area opened, an adjacent 140-acre parcel was added with new trails and rope tows. Steadily, the crowds grew and the area became well established in its mission.

All that time spent on skis began paying dividends for Marilyn and Barbara Ann, who were named to the US Ski Team in 1968. The next year, brother Bobby joined them on the team, and eventually Mickey was lured to coach the US skiers “the Cochran way.’’ Lindy later made the team and went on to the best US finish in both slalom and giant slalom at the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck.

But that’s hardly the end of Cochrans’ great story. Despite Mickey’s death in 1998 at age 74, neither the family nor ski area have showed any signs of slowing down, and today both are stronger than ever.