Equinox Mountain

Last updated
Equinox Mountain
First Wind Farm on Little Equinox Mountain.jpg
Little Equinox Mountain in 1985
Highest point
Elevation 3840+ ft (1170+ m) [1]
Prominence 3,040 ft (930 m) [1]
Listing New England Fifty Finest New England 100 Highest
Coordinates 43°09′58″N73°07′03″W / 43.165988°N 73.117574°W / 43.165988; -73.117574 [1]
Geography
Location Bennington County, Vermont, U.S.
Parent range Taconic Range
Topo map USGS Manchester
Climbing
Easiest route road

Equinox Mountain is the highest peak of the Taconic Range and the second-highest point in southern Vermont, after Stratton Mountain. It rises nearly 3,000 feet (914 meters) above its eastern footings in Manchester, giving Equinox the third-greatest topographic prominence among the state's mountains (after Mansfield and Killington). A summit observation building is reached via a privately operated toll road, which passes near various towers used for broadcast and other purposes.

Contents

Geography

Equinox Mountain historical post card Equinox Mountain, Manchester, Vt (NYPL b12647398-74405).tiff
Equinox Mountain historical post card

The summit is part of a massif, or extended ridgeline described by state forest rangers as "a mountainous, un-roaded area dominated by Mt. Equinox, Red Mountain, Mother Myrick and Bear Mountain." [2] Separately, a land trust described much of this same area as the "Equinox Highlands." [3] Yet only parts of these uplands are formally conserved either as public property or privately operated land trusts. [4]

Equinox Mountain's immediate eastern flanks are incised by Skinner Hollow and Cook Hollow; its western flanks by Mears Hollow, Corbett Hollow and Hamilton Hollow. [5] Among these small and mostly very steep valleys, all but Hamilton Hollow are undeveloped, although a trail skirts Cook Hollow. [6] The eastern slopes drain toward the Batten Kill River. The western slopes drain toward the Green River, a Batten Kill tributary that forms the 10-mile, dead-end mountain valley occupied by Sandgate, Vermont and headed by Mother Myrick Mountain.

Historical and present development

WTG turbines on Little Equinox in 1985 First Turbines on Little Equinox Mountain.jpg
WTG turbines on Little Equinox in 1985

During the 1860s a Manchester group built a 4-mile road leading south from near the height of Beartown Gap Road nearly to Equinox's summit. As of a 1949 report, this former road, which reached only to Lookout Rock, had "long fallen into disuse but its route is readily discernable." [7]

Using a route on a separate part of the mountain, the current 5.2-mile toll road leads north to the summit and was completed in 1947 by Joseph George Davidson, a retired Union Carbide Corp. executive, who also built a summit hotel there (opened 1950). Davidson had acquired about 7,000 acres mostly on Equinox's western slopes, with tentative plans to develop a commercial ski area centered on upper Hamilton Hollow. [8] [9] But as of his death in 1969, Davidson had completed transfer of all his Equinox property to an especially austere Catholic monastic order called the Carthusians, and  paid for building their Charterhouse of the Transfiguration monastery (opened 1970) in the upper hollow at an elevation of 2,100 feet. [10]

The summit hotel closed in the 1990s [11] and soon became derelict. It was demolished in 2011 to make way for a "viewing center" operated by the monastery, [12] which obtained 2019 gross receipts of $327,502 from its toll road and related gift shop, according to a tax filing. [13] [7]

Prospective developments on the eastern slopes of Equinox included a 1930s federal work agency's unsuccessful proposal to cut ski trails. Development possibilities on a larger scale emerged with the 1962 sale  of Manchester's Equinox House hotel and its adjoining 1,500 acres of  mountainside, after which a succession of corporate owners repeatedly made ambitious proposals for a commercial ski area there. But a 1974 bankruptcy pushed all such ideas into abeyance and Equinox House stood empty during the subsequent decade. [14] [15] (See also Equinox House Historic District.)

Radio station WEQX's tower is located on the mountain, hence the callsign of the station. A small, abandoned Cold War-era NORAD radar station can be seen near the summit. The site is now used for two-way communications by the Vermont State Police, [16] and for the other radio station to transmit from the mountain, Vermont Public Radio's WVTQ. [17] At least one of these tower site operators had paid rent to the monastery.

Entrance station for the toll road leading to the summit 2022-10-01 13 28 52 Sign and toll house at the entrance to Sky Line Drive in Sunderland, Bennington County, Vermont.jpg
Entrance station for the toll road leading to the summit

Automobile races

"The Mount Equinox Annual Hillclimb" on the toll road began in 1950, when the winner was William F. Milliken Jr. [18] [19] During the 1960s, a still-standing course record was set at "just over four minutes" and participants have exceeded 100 miles per hour on stretches of the course. Entries for this hillclimbing race since 1973 have been limited to "vintage racing cars." In that year, the Vintage Sports Car Club of America took over sponsorship of the event from the Sports Car Club of America. [20] The 5.2-mile (8.7 km) course gains nearly 3,000 feet. In comparison, the 7.4-mile (11.9 km) Mount Washington Hillclimb Auto Race in New Hampshire gains 4,656 feet. [21]

Wind farming

Second wind farm on Little Equinox (1990-94) US Windpower Turbine at Equinox site.jpg
Second wind farm on Little Equinox (1990–94)

Adjacent to the larger Equinox Mountains is Little Equinox, where two wind farms have previously operated. One wind turbine was installed in 1981 and three more in 1982, making Little Equinox Mountain the site of one of the first wind farms in the United States. These turbines, an early-generation design by WTG Systems of Buffalo, New York, were mounted on 80-foot (24 m) truss towers and had a nominal peak output of 350 kW. The turbines, however, were plagued with mechanical issues, and by the mid-1980s all four were out of service, standing idle on the mountain from 1985 through 1989.

Green Mountain Power began operating the site in 1988, erecting a wind measurement tower and removing the four old turbines. It installed two U.S. Windpower 100 kW turbines in 1990, which ran for four years making electricity. Green Mountain Power removed its turbines and measurement tower in 1994. The company now owns the Searsburg Wind Farm in Searsburg, Vermont.

Endless Energy Corporation, a wind farm development company based in Maine, has expressed interest in the site for a modern wind farm. They have conducted wind measurements as well as environmental studies of Little Equinox Mountain. To build a wind farm in Vermont, the developer needs to go through the Public Service Board's Section 248 application process. [22]

Summit panorama

2019-09-21 14 13 57 360-degree stitched panorama from the Saint Bruno Scenic Viewing Center on the summit of Equinox Mountain in Manchester, Bennington County, Vermont.jpg
360-degree stitched panorama from the top of Mount Equinox

See also

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Alander Mountain is a 2,241-foot-tall (683 m) part of the south Taconic Mountains in southwest Massachusetts and adjacent to New York. The summit is grassy and covered with scrub oak and shrubs; the sides of the mountain are heavily forested. Several trails traverse Alander Mountain, most notably is the 15.7 mi (25.3 km) South Taconic Trail, which passes just beneath the summit.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Equinox Mountain, Vermont". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2012-12-19.
  2. ↑ "Rupert State Forest | Department of Forests - Parks and Recreation". fpr.vermont.gov. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  3. ↑ "Equinox Highlands Natural Area". The Nature Conservancy. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  4. ↑ please see "public lands" overlay maps via CalTopo.
  5. ↑ please see USGS & other maps via CalTopo etc.
  6. ↑ "Blue Trail" https://www.equinoxpreservationtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/ept-trail-map-guide.pdf
  7. 1 2 New Sky Line Drive Taps Choice Vermont Vistas: Summit of Mt. Equinox Reached by Toll Road Much Attention Trail to Summit First Link Everett M. Smith, The Christian Science Monitor, 09 Aug 1949: 7.
  8. ↑ "One of Davidson’s few mistakes – the construction of a building he once intended to use as a ski lodge ... contained central rooms, kitchen facilities, and many suites under its twelve gables ... designed for transient skiers." -- See "CarthusianUSA "Early Times, The Sixties"
  9. ↑ "If sufficient patronage develops, another 40 rooms will be added." E.F. Crane, New York Times, June 11, 1950, page 263
  10. ↑ "Early Times: The Sixties". CHARTERHOUSE OF THE TRANSFIGURATION. 2022-08-07. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  11. ↑ CAVEVARI, BRANDON (2 April 2011). "Monks plan visitors center on top of Mount Equinox". Bennington Banner. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  12. ↑ equinoxmountain.com. "Mount Equinox - The Saint Bruno Scenic Viewing Center". www.equinoxmountain.com.
  13. ↑ Roberts, Andrea Suozzo, Ken Schwencke, Mike Tigas, Sisi Wei, Alec Glassford, Brandon (2013-05-09). "CARTHUSIAN FOUNDATION IN AMERICA INCORPORATED - Form Form 990-T for period ending Dec 2019 - Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica. Retrieved 2023-05-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ↑ "Mt. Equinox Ski Area, Vermont - New England's Cancelled Ski Areas". www.newenglandskihistory.com. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  15. ↑ Darnton, Nina (1986-02-23). "IN VERMONT, RESTORED GLORY". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  16. ↑ "Site / Frequency / Market Search Results". fjallfoss.fcc.gov. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  17. ↑ Inc., Cavell, Mertz & Associates. "FCCInfo Results". www.fccinfo.com.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ↑ New York Times, July 6, 1969, Page S7.
  19. ↑ "Mount Equinox Annual Hillclimb". MotorsportReg.com. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  20. ↑ Article, Manchester Historical Society
  21. ↑ "Climb to Clouds" web page 2007
  22. ↑ "Wind Forum". Town of Manchester. Retrieved 2009-07-08.

Further reading

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