Now Pam Fletcher, “Fletch’’ to her former teammates, is back at the ski area Al founded nearly a half-century ago, and that is carrying on its original mission, catering to families. Run by the family that founded it (Pam’s brother, Al, bought it from their father), she serves as events marketing and sales manager.
Though he says he’s retired, 80-year-old Al Sr. looks in on things a couple of days a week.
“I was selfish,’’ he said of when he arrived in the area and bought a tract of land with the 248-foot vertical hill in the middle, with a couple of pleasingly steep faces.
“There were a lot of little ski areas all around with 100-foot drops, but I like to ski fast, and by the time you make one turn you’re done. So, I wanted better skiing for myself.’’
Area skiers and riders who are now used to Nashoba Valley’s plush snowmaking and grooming, full cafeteria and restaurant, and the largest tubing park in the state, would have a hard time picturing the area in its first year, 1964.
Skiers got their boots on in a one-story building with a gravel floor, heated by a potbelly stove. Then they’d snag onto the rope tow to the top of the hill. The only grooming they would expect is where workers packed snow with skis and shovels, and of course the only snow was natural.
In fact, that first season was so warm that the area had but 14 days of skiing open to the public, and Al knew what he had to do to make it work.
“You had to do something about the consistency of the snow,’’ he said. “The worst thing about it was the inconsistency. Some places you’d have powder, then glare ice. That was the bad part of skiing.’’
To combat it, Al bought a power tiller with teeth to grind up ice and mix it into the snow. It was so revolutionary, he took it to the Boston Ski Show and it landed on the cover of a skiing magazine. Even owing for years of development in snowmaking and grooming, “That was the biggest advance I’ve ever seen in skiing, and pretty soon everyone was getting them,’’ he said.
