Cochran’s Ski Area holds annual end-of-season race
April 9, 2025 | By Saylor Flannery | Community News Service 
Skiers at Cochran’s Ski Area on March 29, there for the Thank God for Snowmaking race. Photo by Saylor Flannery
Olympian Ryan Cochran-Siegle returns to Vermont every year to race with young skiers on the slopes of his family’s Richmond ski area. On March 29, just days from competing in an alpine skiing World Cup race, he was there at Cochran’s Ski Area for the annual Thank God for Snowmaking competition.
Usually the race is hosted under a blue sky and beaming sun, but this year attendees were treated to a fresh 5 inches of heavy snow the night before.
“Springtime in Vermont, you never know what the weather’s gonna give you,” said Cochran-Siegle, a 2022 silver medalist, adding, “Almost feel like the powder days kind of bring more of a spirit.”
Cochran’s Ski Area, about 10 minutes off Interstate 89, has been bringing young people out on the snow for decades. The small mountain features seven trails, accessed by a T-bar and rope tow, and since 1998 has been home to one of the few nonprofit ski areas in New England.
For all but one of the last 16 years, the hill has hosted Thank God For Snowmaking, a spirited end-of-season race that brings out skiers from across New England, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey — and World Cup athletes from the Cochran family like Cochran-Siegel and Robby Kelly.
The race shows off the ski area’s snow-making infrastructure and capacity to extend the ski season. On top of that, “It’s just one of those fun races that brings everyone out,” said Cochran-Siegle.
The snowfall this year made the conditions trickier than usual. Still, attendees seemed to carry a positive mood and excitement for the extra push of winter.
Volunteering at the pancake grill that Saturday was Christina Young, a Cochran’s Ski Area alumna who has been involved for close to 40 years. She said her kids were too little to be racing that day — instead, they were helping build a jump on the hill’s largest trail named “I-89.”
Why volunteer when her kids aren’t even racing? “It’s just like our atmosphere here,” Young said. “Yeah, it’s family friendly. My kids can play in the mountains. My kids can ski in the mountains and race, get all their training in, right? Why not? Where else can you get pancakes?”
And as one Vermont racer, Ian MacKenzie, said at one point that day, “These are the best pancakes I think I have ever had.”
Young had worked the pancake grill the weekend before for the ski area’s annual three-day Rope-a-Thon. In that event, people take as many laps on the rope-tow as possible, she said, some people going up it 300 times over the three days.
The event helped Cochran’s Ski Area raise around $160,000, said Cochran-Siegle.
That money helps the ski area keep the T-bar running — and keep locals on the mountain.
“As a Vermonter too, you recognize the resources we have with the outdoors and the connection to the mountains,” Cochran-Siegle said. “I think for a lot of families like that, the financial barrier limits them so much … We want to take that down and, you know, make it so that if you grow up here, you’re able to experience what other people come here for.”
Multi-time national champion Steve Lathrop, director of the junior alpine program at West Mountain Racing in the Adirondacks, raced on the U.S. World Cup team with Barbara and Bobby Cochran, two children of the ski area founders, Mickey and Ginny.
He said the race has a special charm that keeps him coming back — as does the ski area itself.
“It’s a fun race, and everybody has a good time,” he said. “It’s very unique, as you tell the experience here, it’s like a mini museum.”
Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship