Rope Tow Rodeo: How I (Barely) Survived Cochran’s Wild Ride

Why it's essential that skiers preserve the culture of Cochran's and support this non-profit ski area.

I checked something off my skiing bucket list today—I survived the Cochran’s rope tow!

But we need to rewind a bit. A few years ago, I got to interview Vermont ski royalty—Barbara Cochran (aka BA)—for the Ski Moms Podcast. The interview was about her history and successes as a racer. She told me it all started in her backyard. Her dad and mom (Mickey and Ginny Cochran) opened up the ski area with a single rope tow back in 1961. The hill was behind the family home in Richmond, Vermont. BA is quite a storyteller, and I had always meant to get over there to ski (it’s only 45 minutes away).

I have dropped off my girls here before for ski races, but there was never enough parking for me to truly check out the area. Today, on a sunny, late-March afternoon, I found a space on my calendar and a space in the lot.

With all the ski racing success the family achieved (and they are still going—Ryan Cochran-Siegle is at this weekend’s World Cup races in Sun Valley), you’d think they might have leveraged it to land some swank partnerships and moved beyond the little hill where it all started. Well, think again. The rope tow and the Cochran culture are still going strong.

I’m not going to rehash the legend and legacy of the racers at Cochran's; instead, I want to tell you about the rope tow. This somewhat diabolical feat of engineering is a great symbol of everything that is hard and good about Vermont. Like Cochran’s, this device needs to be preserved at all costs.