Ski Sundown

Per New England Ski History, the idea for what became Ski Sundown reportedly dated back to 1960, conceived by engineer Russell Smith, who purchased land in the Satan's Kingdom area from retired minister of music Lyman B. Bunnell in the summer of 1962; by 1963 Smith had been joined by Frank Linnell and Harold Law Jr., and the group's land was transferred to Satan's Kingdom Inc. in August 1963. The area, originally named Satan's Ridge, opened January 11, 1964, with a Mueller double chairlift and a rope tow, after the slope proved too steep for a planned T-Bar — the T-Bar was abandoned for that reason, not weather, though a separate mid-December snowstorm delayed the chairlift's own construction and the opening date; the Hartford Courant called the new area "a little bit of Vermont in your backyard." Following the 1967-68 season United Bank & Trust foreclosed on Satan's Ridge; owner Russell Smith told the Courant it failed because "it needed both money and management. We never got enough capital." The area sat idle for the 1968-69 season before being sold by Law, Smith, and Linnell to Channing Murdock of nearby Butternut Basin and his brother Robert Murdock in mid-1969; in September 1969 it was incorporated as Ski Sundown, Inc., "shedding its satanic name," with the Murdocks investing over $100,000 including $45,000 in snowmaking. The Berkshire Edge's January 8, 2024 profile of Ski Butternut independently identifies this Channing Murdock as "a former employee of Mount Snow in Vt., and former manager of Mohawk Mountain in Cornwall, Conn.," who founded Butternut Basin in 1962 before, "a few years" later, acquiring defunct Satan's Ridge and reopening it as Ski Sundown. Following a successful 1976-77 season with revenue up 40%, Ski Sundown installed the state's first triple chairlift — a Borvig lift replacing the T-Bar, next to the original double — as part of a $250,000 expansion for the 1977-78 season. Circa 1978, Murdock transferred ownership to general manager Rick Carter, who had been made a part owner around 1973-74; after owning the area "for nearly quarter of century" (the source's own exact phrasing), Carter sold it to general manager Robert Switzgable in 2002, explaining in a press release that the small business, given its unique characteristics, was better run by an individual owner than sold on the open market. "Half a decade later, Ski Sundown nearly took over the operations of Powder Ridge," per New England Ski History. Satan's Ridge co-founder Harold Law Jr. died May 12, 2013, at age 82, and the expert trail "Satan's Stairway" — evoking the original name — was added for the 2014-15 season with snowmaking and lighting.