Vibe-Winter-2425 - Flipbook - Page 22
The Revival
of Jackson’s
Black Mountain
By Josh Laskin
The future is looking brighter as new
owners endeavor to retain the soul of skiing.
T
he all-terrain vehicle struggled up the final section of eroded trail as we neared Black Mountain’s summit. Erik Mogensen, the owner of Indy Pass, which recently purchased
the ski area, kept his cool and seemed to even grow excited.
“Oh yeah, this thing’s got this no problem,” he said in response to my obvious nervousness.
And he was right. A minute later, we were standing on Black
Mountain’s summit, perched 1,100 feet above the town of Jackson, overlooking the upper reaches of Mount Washington. An
oversized front-end loader sat on a freshly cleared section of
trail, and a few guys worked on rebuilding the deck of the Alpine
Cabin that offers beverages to skiers and riders who get thirsty
between laps.
“We’re going to have bands playing up there—and we’re going to keep it going until long after all the other mountains close
in the spring,” Mogensen said excitedly. “I want this place to be
the soul of skiing.”
Unlike the real estate moguls and developers who often
come from out-of-state to dump money into random ski areas
with the hope of getting a significant return on their investment, Mogensen is a ski bum-turned-tech entrepreneur who
isn’t looking for a profit. He’s always been pulled towards these
smaller “mom-and-pop” ski areas and is finally in a position to be
able to help ones that—like his hometown mountain Tamarack
once was—are struggling.
“I didn’t grow up skiing at Black, but
I don’t think it really matters,” said
Mogensen, owner of the Indy Pass which
recently purchased the ski area. “I think
making sure these smaller, independent
ski areas succeed and keeping skiing
affordable is really important.”
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