THE LIFE
A
R
towering lights for night skiing, convinced
the governor to build an access road to the
rugged mountainside, and opened up shop.
He lived here, too. Raised his kids in a
house he built on the mountainside, letting
them run and ski through the surrounding
woods, coming home only when it got dark
or they got hungry. But after thirty years,
Ralph was ready for a change, so in 1997 he
sold the resort.
He kept the house, though, and when his
kids grew up, some of them stayed too. They
moved down the street. They kept skiing,
sent their kids to school at the bot tom of the
mountain, and watched the resort change
hands over the course of t went y years. They
always talked about what they would do
with the place if the family still owned it.
So in April 2017, after Bolton’s owners had
knocked on Ralph’s office in Burlington
and asked if he wanted to buy the mountain
back, he said yes. He knew he’d have the kids’
help this time around.
RUNNING A RESORT is more than just run-
ning a ski slope. There’s the hotel, ski rental,
lift mechanics, ski school. “They’re like fif-
teen different businesses, and they each take
a vast amount of knowledge of that particu-
lar department and industry,” says Evan.
Thankfully there are a lot of DesLauri-
erses. Evan used to work at a restaurant in
town. He nearly started one himself. So it
made sense for him to take over food and
beverage. Lindsay spends a lot of her day
on the phone. She’s no-nonsense, as direct
as her father. Both want to get things done
and done right. Before this, she worked for
a nonprofit. She ran the organization state-
wide. “When we first started, I didn’t want
to work at the mountain,” she says. “I was
going to keep my job.” But then the mountain
ALPH DESLAURIERS’S WINDOW
looks out over the parking lot and
dumpsters. He saved the good
views—the changing leaves and
snow-covered mountains—for his
guests. This time of year, there’s
rarely time to look out his window
anyway. He has to get the ski slopes ready for
winter. It’s late October and snow is already
fa lling at Bolton Va lley Resor t, in Bolton Va l-
ley, Vermont. Ralph, eighty-three, and his
children, Lindsay, Evan, and Adam, have a
lot of work to do.
It’s only the second winter the DesLauri-
erses have owned Bolton. This time around,
at least. Ralph started the resort with his
father in 1966. Neither was a big skier, but
ski resorts were booming in New England,
and the business looked fun. He had ski trails
cleared on the mountain with chainsaws and
D-9 tractors, put in the three chairlifts and
A / Evan
DesLauriers
stacks firewood,
used for wood-
fired pizzas
and tavern heat,
behind the lodge.
B / To expand off-
season activities,
Bolton snagged the
town skate park's
enormous wooden
bowl when the park
shut down.
C / Lindsay and
Ralph constantly
keep tabs on the
various projects
and check in
on employees,
including Scott
Barup (left), the
water operator
for drinking and
wastewater.
D / Henry
DesLauriers helps
out at the pizza
oven. Making
pizza night a year-
round activity
was one of the
first things the
DesLaurierses
changed to liven
up the mountain.
E / A mountain
resort is a good
mix of working
outside with your
hands and the
more mundane
aspects of run-
ning a business.
Sometimes both
happen at once.
