Climbing to Ranch Camp

In the story, “Stowe’s Early Austrian Connection” (Jan. 17), Horace Sutton writes, “The place to go then was the lodge at Smuggler’s Notch.” Not so. The place to go for real skiers, long before the chairlifts were built on Nose Diveto, the peak of Mt. Mansfield, was Craig Burt’s Ranch Camp. The old converted logging camp was just off Long Trail.

Climbing up to Ranch Camp was worth the effort, not only for the companionship of the skiers but for food and accommodations, though not as luxurious as the lodge. Burt, a native Vermonter, was one of the early pioneers of the Mt. Mansfield development, long before the lodge began to attract the moneyed ski enthusiasts.

ALBERT SCHOENFIELD

Rancho Palos Verdes