Springfield Ski Club members will vote to sell or close Ski Blandford on July 18.
Saturday, July 1, 2017, NewEnglandSkiIndustry.com
After three quarters of a century, the Springfield Ski Club's ownership of the Blandford ski area may be coming to an end.
According to the Westfield News, Springfield Ski Club's members will be meeting on July 18 to approve the sale of assets to the owners of Ski Butternut. If two thirds of the total membership do not specifically vote yes, the ski area will close.
Located west of Ski Blandford, Ski Butternut was opened by the Murdock family in 1963. Ski Butternut has a history of coming to the assistance of other regional ski areas, dating back to when Channing Murdock purchased the defunct Satan's Ridge ski area and reopened it as Ski Sundown. In 2011, Jeff Murdock's Stoney Management became involved with nearby Otis Ridge.
The Springfield Ski Club has been existence for some 80 years, making it the longest continuously operating ski club in the country. The Ski Blandford facility features three double chairlifts, a surface lift, snowmaking, night skiing, and 465 foot vertical drop.
The chairlifts range from 39 to 48 years old and were installed at a time in which the club had roughly 5,000 members. Membership fell to 1,426 in 2014-15. A board e-mail this spring declared this year's early season pass sales are "well below" normal and that "Blandford Ski Area is financially insolvent."
