Betsy Pratt: The Woman Behind Mad River Glen

Betsy Pratt kept the Vermont resort vital, as a piece of living history.

Roland Palmedo was an adventurer, naval aviator, New York financier and, in 1931, a founder of the Amateur Ski Club of New York. He led the investment group that put a lift on Mt. Mansfield, Vermont, in 1940, but when he returned from the Navy after World War II he was unhappy with the chaotic management of development at Stowe, the resort on Mt. Mansfield. With a few investors he bought 1,800 acres on General Stark Mountain in Fayston, Vermont, and carved Mad River Glen into the eastern side of the mountain. He promised that it would offer skiers the joy of the natural mountain experience, free of crowded, commercial development.

Betsy Stratton grew up in Connecticut and began skiing while a student at Vassar. After graduating, she moved to New York, working as comptroller of the TV series Omnibus, sponsored by the Ford Foundation. She joined the Amateur Ski Club and, while skiing at Mad River, met banker Truxton Pratt. They married in 1954 and bought a house at Mad River. Betsy Pratt became assistant treasurer of the Ford Foundation. The busy couple drove eight hours every Friday night to Mad River and taught their four kids to ski.

Said Pratt, “My earliest memory here of skiing is seeing Roland on the mountain. In those days there were not any machines to groom the trails and there was just the patrol to see that it was safe for people. It was in the 1950s, and it took hours to get to Vermont from New York, and you had to travel on mud and country roads. We would come to Mad River for 16 weekends in a row. I have always said it is the love for the mountain that holds the community together, and I think Roland Palmedo gave us that. He just built a lift so we can go up and enjoy the mountain.”

In keeping with Palmedo’s founding principles, Mad River maintained its natural terrain, with a few narrow trails from the top served by a long single chair. A rope tow served the practice hill beginning in 1954, and double chairs were installed on the lower slopes in 1960 and ’67. The trickle of water in Mill Brook made snowmaking impractical; the resort depended on moisture from Lake Champlain, dumped as snow on the lee side of the Green Mountains and sheltered by the hardwood forests, which provided sterling glade skiing for the brave and skilled.

Mad River provides a family and community experience with a small-town vibe and local energy that makes everyone feel welcome. Even the best skiers will find challenging terrain that can send a chill up their spines—trails like Fall Line, Chute, Paradise and Panther. Woods skiing is encouraged, and after a snowfall that is where the most daring skiers head. With a 2,000 vertical foot rise, this mountain is formidable while also remaining affordable and with a uniquely easygoing character.

By 1972, 77-year-old Palmedo was ready to retire. Trux and Betsy Pratt, with Brad Swett and a few other investors, purchased Mad River Glen. They installed the practice hill chairlift, expanded the Basebox lodge and installed snowmaking on about 10 percent of the terrain. They were committed to preserving the mountain, protecting its natural beauty and vertical terrain.

Tragically, Trux Pratt died in 1975. Betsy, still raising four young children, bought out Brad Swett’s interest and, with the backing of the other investors, became the majority owner of Mad River. For the next 20 years, she nurtured the business and the community with focus and determination. She skied the mountain, ran the business and kept it alive and thriving. According to her children, she dug deep into the family’s resources to keep the business going through the toughest of winters, even mortgaging their home. One wonders how she found the resolve and the depth of commitment, but she genuinely loved the mountain.

Pratt connected with skiers who arrived early for the milk run, catching the new-fallen snow. She identified with those who took to the woods on a clear, windless, below-zero February morning, seeking to be alone with just the sound of their skis making that perfect turn in the deep powder. In comparing Mad River to other ski areas, she said, “Modern ski areas are carpets. People at Mad River learn to ski because they ski in any conditions. Carpets don’t teach people to ski, just to slide on snow.” In 1989, she told a writer for the New York Times, “I’m not a member of the ski industry. I’m a steward of a mountain.”

Pratt held tight to her love of this place, protecting the skiers’ experience until the mid-90s, when she decided to retire. Rather than sell to a ski-resort empire, she determined to sell Mad River Glen to those who shared her love of the mountain—its skiers. Within a couple of years 1,500 faithful Mad River skiers had stepped up to join a co-operative ownership organization launched in 1995. Pratt financed those who needed assistance in buying shares. The Mad River Glen Co-Op stands strong today, 27 years later, with well over 2,000 shareholders. For $2,000, anyone can own a piece of the mountain, with a voice and a vote at the shareholders’ annual meeting. The result was a resort owned by local and out-of-state skiers. This was a brilliant solution that preserved the Palmedo-Pratt vision.

Pratt is a maverick who bucked all the trends she disliked in the modern ski industry: consolidation, expansion, corporate ownership and profit motivation. She held strong to the belief that Mad River Glen should remain a skiers’ mountain, and shareholders have held firm to this policy. Snowboarding is not allowed, and Mad River remains one of only three mountains in the country to maintain this ban. Skiers still ride a single chair, and the limited uphill capacity controls how many people reach the trails. The no-crowding policy naturally extended to Mad River’s curious non-marketing campaign, created by Pratt in consultation with Gerry Muro. It consists solely of the ubiquitous red-and-white sticker: “Mad River Glen: Ski It If You Can.” With no crowds, the skiing experience provides solitude, peace and an independent run without feeling jostled.

Pratt continued to run the Mad River Barn guest lodge and restaurant until 2012, when she finally retired—for real this time—to North Carolina.

In September 2022, at age 94, Pratt was inducted into the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame. She is an uncompromising force who ensured that Mad River Glen would always offer a unique world-class mountain experience. 

Melinda Moulton has been skiing and working at Mad River Glen since 1977.