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Fred Pabst Biography
Fred Pabst
Fred Pabst
Born:1898
Died:March 1, 1977
New England Areas:Mt. Aeolus, VT, Bromley, VT, Huckins Hill, NH, Intervale, NH, Stowe, VT
Heir to the famed Pabst Brewing Company, Frederick Pabst Jr. developed his skiing skills prior to the invention of rope tows by being pulled by sleighs and automobiles as a child. He attended the University of Wisconsin and Harvard Business School and would go on to start the Milwaukee Ski Club.

About ten years after forming the ski club, Pabst formed the earliest large scale ski corporation, Ski Tows, Inc. as Ski Tows, Ltd. in Quebec when he opened a small ski area on Hill 70 in St. Sauveur, Quebec, circa 1935. That ski area is now known as Edelweiss Valley.

Shortly after starting his Canadian areas, Pabst started Huckins Hill, NH and Intervale, NH. Huckins Hill would close in the early 1940s, while Intervale would eventually be sold.

In March 1937, Mt. Aeolus, VT was opened with a 2,500 foot long J-Bar.

The 13-lift chain reportedly lost $25,000 in the 1937-38 ski season (the equivalent of $375,000 in 2010).

Overall, the company operated 25 different lifts at one point in the late 1930s.

In 1942, citing a lack of snow, the Mt. Aelous, VT, J-Bar was moved to his Bromley, VT development, which would become Big Bromley.

Pabst handed over operational control of Rib Mountain, WI (today's Granite Peak ski area) to the local Chamber of Commerce in 1942. He would later remove his lift in 1947.

Slowed by heart problems in his later years of ownership at Bromley, Pabst stepped down as President of the ski area in 1971.

Fred Pabst died of a heart attack on March 1, 1977 at the age of 78.

Fred Pabst Related Resources on NewEnglandSkiHistory.com:
  • Mt. Aeolus
  • Bromley
  • Ski Tows, Inc.


  • Fred Pabst External Links:


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