Read the Q&A with Tracy from Wild Wings

We'd love to hear a little bit about the history of Wild Wings.

My husband's parents bought the property in 1955, and they started building ski trails on it in about 1970. Wild Wings opened as a “ski area” in 1975 - 50 years ago! When it first opened people would just ski up the road and then turn around and ski back down instead of starting where our parking lot is now and skiing on actual trails!

They didn’t charge for skiing and if you wanted to rent skis, I think it cost close to a dollar. Eventually they built a training trail for some of the local kids who got into racing and now we are here with 25K of trail to ski on. 

You are celebrating 50 years in business - congratulations! What are some of your favorite memories from the early days?

Wild Wings always seems to get more snow than the other areas around us. In 1974 we held what would have been now called the Bill Koch Festival. Back then it was called the Torger Tokle League. There was just no snow anywhere else but we had just enough snow for them to hold this little race. It was a hectic day but a fond memory! We’ve come a long way since then. 

The biggest change at Wild Wings was in 2018. My son Ian, who is in charge of grooming and trail upkeep, decided that we needed to build skating trails. For a long time we remained classic only. 

The community came together to raise money to build the skating trail. Our first skating trail was 3.3K, and since then we are up to about 10K of skating trail. We transitioned to skating a long time after a lot of other areas did. It was sort of like the skiers fighting the snowboarders! We are excited to be able to have trails for all skiers now!

What is it like running this center with your family? Can you give us a little breakdown of who does what?

Our kids grew up spending their days at the center and on the trails. When our youngest son, Ian, was 2 or 3 he didn’t go to preschool because he was hanging out here while we were working. I would get him dressed in the morning and Chuck [my husband] would start the grooming machine. At 6:30 or 7am I would drop him off and he would spend the morning on the groomer riding around with Chuck. Now he’s in charge of grooming and maintaining the property, so obviously those early days had some impact!

Heather is the oldest and is in charge of the rental shop and all the Skida ordering. People just love Skida here. We just don't even have to have anything else!

Gretchen is my middle child and she teaches lessons at the center. 

All the grandkids also help out moving wood, mowing ski trails, helping with the food, waxing skis and generally doing whatever needs to be done!

When our granddaughter Catie was seven, some people called about a lesson but didn’t book anything and I never heard back from them. All of a sudden a few hours later they walked in the door and it was just Catie and I at the center and these people needed a lesson. So at seven years old, I sent Catie out with the mom, dad and two little kids to teach them to ski on the little loop until somebody could get here and relieve me so I could go out and help her. Finally, I get out there and she's got the mom and the two kids skiing beautifully. The dad decided that he was never going to be a skier and there was nothing she could have ever done for him (hah!). 

She still shakes her head and says, I can't believe you did that. 

What does it mean for your community to have this space to congregate?

Well for instance, I’m looking outside right now and there is a group outside finishing up their ski who get together here every Sunday afternoon. They come at around 2:30pm and stay until after it gets dark. Sometimes the same five people as sometimes ten people or more. They bring food and drinks and sit around the fire pit. 

Last week we had a local shop run a skate clinic, and 30 people showed up! A lot of times we host a lot of race kids on the trails, but these were just groups of adults who wanted to be better skiers, and it was really fun to watch.

The BKL kids league program comes here on Friday nights. That group has grown to 120 kids! Those kids are really having a good time and learning to ski.

Wild Wings offers a space for so many members of our community to come together of all different ages and for all different reasons. That makes it special!

What is different now and what remains the same? Any traditions?

One tradition that comes to mind is I always hand out hot cocoa on the first day of the kids league program. They love it and it keeps them wanting to come back! 

What always remains the same is how fun it is watching kids learn to love skiing. The kids in the BKL program love to go off the little jump we have here. The funny thing is that the adults who are teaching them to ski also used to love doing that same exact jump 30, 40 years ago. A lot changes, but a lot of things stay the same. 

What do you think it is that makes nordic skiing so special?

It is really a community you don’t get anywhere else. It is much slower than alpine skiing, much calmer. 

We’re so proud to be featured in your rental shop at Wild Wings, what is it about Skida that resonates with you and your community? 

We brought Skida in because of the Vermont connection, Corinne’s connection with Nordic Skiing, and the desire to keep things local!

Whenever I am in the little local health food store, I look around and almost everyone is wearing a Skida hat, and most of them have our Wild Wings logo on them. There's such a feeling when you see someone else in Skida - you know you share something, it almost feels like you’re part of a club. 

They’re happy hats!

What is your favorite part of being out on the trails?

I love being out there by myself. Skiing along the brook, watching the ice, and seeing all the animal tracks.

What does your perfect ski day look like?

An extra blue day. Extra blue is a wax that covers from 19 to 26 degrees, and I think that is just the perfect temperature. So almost always on those days, it's blue sky and the skiing is great. Sometimes extra blue is offhandedly called the State Wax of Vermont. 

What are a few of your most cherished memories at the center?

Chuck's [my husband’s] mother has a gruff demeanor but was an incredible teacher. She could teach anyone how to ski, and if she couldn’t teach you that meant that maybe skiing wasn’t for you! Watching her teach is a fond memory I think back to often. 

On president’s weekend decades ago the snow was so bad that even the newscaster on Channel 4 announced to all of Boston to not to go skiing. My father in law called him and told him that Wild Wings was open for skiing and that we had snow! The newscaster went back on air and said “above 1,500 feet there was skiing in Southern Vermont”. That weekend we were so busy - there were cars parked all down the road going a good half mile in every direction from there. It was crazy, and definitely memorable. 

How do you integrate Skida into your chilly day layering strategy?

I put the hat on in the morning, and I take it off about 6:00 at night. I just wear it all day long. I like to find my favorite pattern and stick to one hat. Right now my favorite is Bentley, and before that I was wearing the Sophie’s World fox hat. 

The Kids Balaclava underneath the Kids [Alpine] Hat on the baby has been a lifesaver this winter. 

The racer kids wear less clothes because they’re working so hard. They all wear the Snow Tour over their hat just so and I'm always jealous that they pull it off so well. When they do it right, it just looks good!