The Catamount Trail. (Finding Vermont's Winter Wilderness).(cross country skiing)(Brief Article)

Skiing the Catamount Trail in Vermont is about as much fun as hearing the story of how it started. Founded in 1984 the original idea for the trail came from Steve Bushey, Ben Rose, and Paul Jarris. As Rose explained the story, in 1982 the three were camping in the Vermont Mountains. There was a very large bottle of cheap wine involved, there was a concept to ski the length of Vermont, and there was a handshake. Thus was born the Catamount Trail Association.

Over the next two years Bushey worked on the project as part of his Master's thesis in geography. He secured the rights to ski across private land, arranged for sponsorship, and contacted host inns for free accommodations along the way. By January, 1984, Bushey was ready to leave in a month, but Rose was traveling in Nepal and Jarris was somewhere in Alaska. …