by Laurel | October 8th, 2009
October 8, 1960, page 6
Holyoke. — A construction company here has started work on a new ski center at Mount Tom, a 1,300-foot peak in the Connecticut River Valley, midway between Holyoke and Northampton.
Immediate plans call for construction of a 1,000 foot run with a 225-foot vertical drop on the mountain’s northeast slope. This run is designed for novices and intermediates.
Daniel J. O’Connell, president of Daniel O’Connell’s Son, Inc., is joint owner of the mountain with the Hampden-Hampshire Corp., operator of Station WHYN and WHYN-TV.
Mr. O’Connell, whose construction firm is carving the ski center out of the woods on Mount Tom, says that an expert run, 3,200 feet long, will be built another year. A T-bar lift will be built this fall, if time permits; if not a tow rope will be installed.
The principal architect for the Mount Tom ski center id Roland Palmedo of New York City, designer of the Vermont ski centers on Mount Mansfield in Stowe and Mad River in Waitsfield.
Among others who have given advice on the jproject are Walter F. Stugger of Pittsfield, who is building the Carinthia ski area near Mount Snow, Vt., and Stanley Brown of Springfield, who operates the Cummington Snow Basin.
Mount Tom’s owners expect their center to become a rendezvous for collegiate skiers. THe mountain, one of the elevations in the Connecticut River Valley suitable for ski development, is conveniently near the University of Massachusetts, Smith, Mount Holyoke and Amherst Colleges.
From The Berkshire Eagle.
