Harris Hill Ski Jumping

The Genius, Genesis and Enduring Legacy of Fred Harris

The majestic hill before you was originally built in 1921, on a leap of faith by Fred Harris. Harris, an avid outdoorsman with boundless energy and enthusiasm, was a visionary. While a student at Dartmouth College a decade earlier, he founded the Dartmouth Outing Club (in 1909, the first such organization of its kind in the country) to share his passion for outdoor life and to promote robust physical activity. Returning to his native Brattleboro after college, Harris decided to build the ski jumping hill and wooden trestle tower, funding its construction with $2000 from his own pocket.

The first Harris Hill Ski Jumping Tournament was held in February 1922. Host to the National Championship, the event drew over 3,000 spectators. The proceeds more than paid for the hill. Harris founded the Brattleboro Outing Club to own and operate the ski jump, organize Brattleboro’s Winter Carnival; and as is central to the club’s mission to this day; “to encourage, develop, and promote outdoor family life and good fellowship.”

In its heyday in the 1950’s(?), the Harris Hill Ski Jump drew over 20,000 spectators to witness renowned jumpers from all over the world compete on this historic hill, carved into an inconspicuous slope rising out of a cornfield. Since the genesis of Harris’ idea, the Brattleboro Outing Club has taken its shape, cued by the contours of the local landscape. From skiing the slopes and valleys of the Vermont countryside in winter; to paddling her rivers that flow from the mountainsides in spring; to tennis on courts sculpted from the rich clay of her alluvial outflow in summer; to hiking through her forests in annual autumnal radiance; the BOC has offered outdoor programs that serve community, in concert with the natural rhythms of Vermont’s seasons for the better part of the last century.

Through winters, both thick and thin, Outing Club volunteers would stomp on ski and shovel snow to prep the hill for tournaments. From 1922-2004, the BOC maintained stewardship of the Jump. A few hardscrabble years when winter was barren and World War II raged, caused the Harris Hill Jump to be cancelled. Then, as the millennium turned, a changing world and circumstance threatened the fate of Harris Hill.

This hill, having fallen into disrepair and lain dormant through a few hard winters (2006-2008), was rebuilt on the pride and purpose of a community committed to its heritage-- under the aegis of a newly formed Harris Hill Ski Jump Inc.

Still Harris’s legacy endures. Today, the Brattleboro Outing Club continues to sustain Fred Harris’s majestic vision; dedicated to its original mission and dependent upon volunteers who are passionate about playing outdoors. Club volunteers support the Ski Jump; groom ski trails at its BOC Ski Hut facility, teach schoolchildren to embrace winter no matter what the weather; organize tennis mixers at its rustic Cedar Street clubhouse; and introduce folks to the rhythmic sweep of the oar at its Row-BOC dock on the West River.

Like this hill before you, rebuilt on a vision and a leap of faith, the Brattleboro Outing Club continues to connect the community and the Vermont countryside to its natural heritage by bringing its people outside to discover active pursuits, in sync with the seasons, for the well-being and sustainable benefit of all.