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   Massachusetts: Ski Butternut: Expansions
Ski Area Expansions
 
Summit Area at Ski Butternut
Summit Area Details
Summit Area
Status:Open
First Season of Operation:1963-64
Lifts:1 chairlift
Terrain:Novice, intermediate, and expert terrain
Return to Ski Butternut Profile
After a series of ownership changes involving G-Bar-S Dude Ranch, Jug End Barn, and the Barrington School, Channing and Jane Murdock purchased the defunct G-Bar-S Ranch ski area in 1962 and formed Butternut Basin, Inc. in 1963. That April, the Murdocks ordered a new Carlevaro & Savio double chairlift.

Climbing 926 vertical feet, the 3,837 foot long chairlift featured 18 towers and was designed to transport 1,000 people per hour. At a purchase price of $83,585, the lift would service top to bottom skiing (the original G-Bar-S ski area had rope tows on the lower half of the mountain) for the first official year of Butternut Basin, 1963-64.

Thirty years later, the chairlift was upgraded, reusing the original towers, to a Garaventa CTEC fixed grip quad, becoming at the time one of only three Southern New England ski areas which such a lift. Less than two years later the Top Flight Quad was severely damaged by a 1995 Memorial Day F4 tornado. Though the ski area suffered over $2,000,000 in damage, it was able to rebound and reopen the lift for the 1995-96 season.


The Top Flight Quad in 2002
The Top Flight Quad in 2002

The Top Flight Quad in 2003
The Top Flight Quad in 2003

The Top Flight Quad area on the 2009 trail map
The Top Flight Quad area on the 2009 trail map

Ski Butternut Expansion History
Project NameSeasonStatus
East Area1964-65Open
Highline Area1968-69Open
Overbrook Area1975-76Open
Summit Area1963-64Open
West Area1980sCancelled
Return to Ski Butternut Ski History

Last updated: July 2, 2014

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