In The News
Recent News
Plans for long-distance mountain bike route in VT take step forward with 1st piece of ‘Velomont’ trail
VT Digger | September, 2024
A new multiday mountain bike trail opened this summer in central Vermont — the culmination of almost a decade of work by myriad organizations and volunteers.
The ‘Heart of the Greens’ loop runs up to Chittenden Brook Hut in the Green Mountain National Forest as well as through downtown Rochester and Pittsfield. The adaptive trail comes in at just under 39 miles total with around 6,000 feet of vertical gain and loss — if you decide to ride (or hike) it in full.
Read the full story HERE
Partnership to rehab historic Goodell House
Cheryl Casey | September, 2024
The sole remaining structure on Little River State Park’s History Hike has a chance for new life and new purpose thanks to a proposed partnership between Vermont’s Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation and the Vermont Huts Association.
Read the full story HERE
Velomont Trail Will Let MTBers Traverse Vermont From Hut to Hut
Singletracks.com | March, 2024
“When the Velomont’s complete, it’s going to encompass a lot of trails that already exist in our chapters,” Bennette said. “But there’s {also} going to be a lot of new trail or areas that are sort of trail deserts right now…”
Two other organizations have partnered with VMBA and the Velomont Trail Collective. Vermont Huts Association is a non-profit seeking to broaden residents’ connection to the wilderness by providing an enriching outdoor experience.
Read the full story HERE
VHA on The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel | February, 2024
Watch the video HERE
VHA looks to bring more people outdoors
Alissa Frame | January, 2024
In 2020, VHA started a program called FOREST — “Fostering Outdoor Recreation, Education, Sustainability and Teamwork” — that aims to bring together people who otherwise might not have the chance to explore the backcountry or feel comfortable doing so.
Read the full story HERE
Master Planning Process - The Velomont
Mountain Times | October, 2023
“I think the opportunity to build a brand new experience all the way across the board is just exciting,” said Dayton Crites, a senior outdoor recreation planner for SE Group. “I think something like this isn’t just about trails outside their backyard, it’s something for businesses to be involved in.”
Read the full story here.
Accessible Mountain Bike Trails
WCAX | October, 2023
Mountain bikers rejoice! A statewide trail is one step closer to completion. Our Sophia Thomas spoke with its creators about a new, accessible branch and the future of the trail.
Watch the full story here.
Vermont's Velomont: Hut to Hut (Part 2)
Trails are Common Ground | July, 2023
Our flagship hut, the Chittenden Brook Hut, opened a few years ago. There was hiking and backcountry skiing out the door from that hut. But right now it’s super exciting that Velomont Trail is currently being built to get up to the Chittenden Brook Hut. So that’s gonna be really fun when that happens. You’ll be able to bike from the hut down into Rochester and create an adventure out of it…
Read the full story here.
Vermont's Velomont: Connecting Paths (Part 1)
Trails are Common Ground | May, 2023
Tucked throughout Vermont are a slew of mountain biking trails—from single track to biking paths, the state boasts hundreds of miles of terrain to explore. But with land ownership ranging from state to federal and private, trails can feel disconnected. All that is changing with the creation of The Velomont Trail: a hut-supported trail network designed to stretch over 480 miles with 30 huts dotting the way…
Read the full story here.
10 Easy-Access Backcountry Cabins in the U.S.
Outside Magazine | January, 2023
In the land of maple syrup and sharp white cheese, it’s easy to cozy up to a fireplace in a cabin in the woods any season. But you don’t have to have a family cabin passed down through the generations or spend a fortune on a five-star Airbnb to have an amazing backcountry experience. The Vermont Hut Association operates 11 backcountry dwellings, from yurts to a log cabin to modern wood-clad huts…
Read the full story here.
Inside the New Network of Trails & Backcountry Shelters
FieldMag| December 6, 2022
If snowshoeing or Nordic skiing out your back door into snowflakes floating among fragrant firs, or mountain biking hut-to-hut in the remote backcountry are on your list of dream vacations, it’s time to book a trip to Vermont. The Green Mountain State has a long history of outdoor recreation, but a new and expanding network of trailside huts that are opening throughout the state are increasing the options, and reservations are open now.…
Read the full story here.
The Green is Golden
FreeHub Magazine | March 2022
At 157 miles long and between 42 and 90 miles wide, the Green Mountain State is a special place where riders, conservationists, farmers, public land managers and private landowners are building a mountain biking utopia.
It wasn’t always this way. While mountain biking got an early start in Vermont, and a statewide advocacy organization—the Vermont Mountain Bike Association (VMBA)—was formed around 1997, riders weren’t very keen to organize. Back then, many locals tried to keep their trails secret…
Read the full story here.
WDEV Travels With Charlie
Travels With Charlie | June 7, 2022
Vermont Huts on the Radio! WDEV hosted us on the Travels with Charlie radio show this past June. It was great to be in the studio and talk to Charlie Papillo about VHA, the FOREST Program, and more.…
Listen to the interview here.
Vermont's New Trail Hub
Vermont Sports | March 3, 2020
It’s 11 a.m. on a Thursday in February and a group of nearly 20 teenage boys is roaming the streets of downtown Randolph, Vermont. They move en masse toward an old building that has a 3D sculpture of a skier on one side.
They swing open the door of The Trail Hub. Inside, to one side of the rehabbed 1850s post-and-beam building is a bike stand where Robin Crandall and Robbie Leeson are at work, getting ready to open their new bike shop, The Gear House, on March 1….
Read the full story here.
From the archives (2016 – 2019)
Ski to Your Cabin in the Woods
VT Ski and Ride Magazine | January 29, 2019
When you ski into one of these Vermont cabins, you can enjoy backcountry powder by day and curl up by the fire at night.
When we arrived at the pull-off for Chittenden Brook Campground off Route 73 in Rochester, the lot was…
Read the full story here.
Cabin Fever in Vermont’s Backcountry
Happy Vermont | December 26, 2018
RJ Thompson wants more people to enjoy the outdoors.
An avid backcountry skier, mountain biker and hiker, Thompson knows just how much Vermont has to offer. Now he wants to help make it easier to enjoy those kinds of outdoor activities by creating a Vermont backcountry hut system of four-season cabins across the state…
Read the full story here.
7 Cabins in Vermont Where You Can Stay Cozy This Winter
The Dyrt | December 17, 2018
Vermont, my beloved home state, has a cold season that can last from October to April. In the dead of winter, it has gotten down to 50 degrees below zero. It can snow for days on end, the sun never catching a break from the clouds that keep its pitiful, but welcome, winter warmth locked away…
Read the full story here.
The Backcountry Payoff
VT Ski and Ride Magazine | November 8, 2018
On September 28, 2018, the Vermont Huts Association installed its first backcountry hut just east of the Gap, at Chittenden Brook Campground. The hut, designed by the Yestermorrow School in Warren, sleeps 10 in bunks. It has solar power and is heated with a propane stove. The kitchen is fully stocked with pots and pans and a propane stovetop…
Read the full story here.
A hut above: New facility provides unique hiking experience
Rutland Herald | November 3, 2018
If skiing uphill two miles to a rustic lodge in the Green Mountains sounds like a good time to you, you’ll want to reserve a stay in Vermont’s newest backcountry hut. Chittenden Brook Hut, located in the Chittenden Brook Campground area of the Green Mountain National Forest…
Read the full story here.
A new shelter expands tourism options in Green Mountain National Forest
Addison County Independent | October 11, 2018
On Sept. 28, the Chittenden Brook Campground in Brandon saw something unusual: a large, construction-size crane wielding one of two halves of a pre-fabricated building in the middle of the Green Mountain National Forest…
Read the full story here.
Chittenden’s South Pond cabin to be rebuilt
Mountain Times | October 10, 2018
On Thursday, Oct. 5, Executive Director RJ Thompson announced at the organization’s birthday bash at Outdoor Gear Exchange in Burlington that it plans to rebuild the South Pond cabin in Chittenden. The structure burned down on Jan. 16, 2018, in a blaze that the state police suspect was arson. The cabin sat on 2,700 acres of land purchased by the Trust for Public Land…
Read the full story here.
VERMONT PLANS THE EAST COAST’S FIRST PURPOSE-BUILT, HUT-SUPPORTED MOUNTAIN BIKE ROUTE
REI | July 9, 2018
The planned route includes 40 miles of existing trails, 10 miles of road connections and 80 miles of singletrack built in the next 10 years. When completed, the trail will be 70 percent singletrack. And the Vermont Huts Association, a nonprofit launched in 2016 to develop a statewide network of backcountry shelters, plans a dozen shelters on the Velomont…
Read the full story here.
Watch: Interview with RETN
RETN | June 2018
Join “Vermont Independent” publisher Rob Williams for a conversation with Vermont Huts Association executive director RJ Thompson about VHA’s vision for a collaborative Vermont-wide huts and trails network….
NETWORK OF ALL-SEASON TRAIL CABINS PLANNED FOR VERMONT
Here and Now (NPR) | February 9, 2018
Vermont is known for its backcountry skiing, hiking and mountain biking. Now, a nonprofit organization wants to make it easier to enjoy those activities by creating a trailside network of all-season cabins…
Read or listen to the full story here.
VERMONT HUTS ASSOCIATION HOPES TO CREATE STATEWIDE NETWORK OF TRAILSIDE CABINS
Vermont Public Radio | January 29, 2018
Imagine if you could hike, mountain bike or backcountry ski from one end of Vermont to the other — and stay in heated cabins along the trail. That’s the vision of the Vermont Huts Association, a new nonprofit that wants to make the outdoors more easily accessible.
Read or listen to the full story here.
CABIN FEVER
Stowe Guide & Magazine | December 5th, 2017
Our executive director has logged countless miles on Vermont’s trail networks, and he recently chatted about his experiences with Stowe Guide & Magazine. Check out the article and learn how long days and nights in the forest led to another adventure – working with others to create a year-round hut network in the Green Mountain State…
Read the full article here.
EPISODE 50 – DECEMBER 2017: MAGIC UTAH COFFEE HUTS EPIC AMERICAN ROOSTER PATROL
The Wintry Mix | December 2nd, 2017
An update from the students of Yestermorrow Design/Build School on progress being made on Our First Hut.
Listen to the full episode here.
(If you just want to hear our story, skip to 21:00)
VERMONT’S NEW BACKCOUNTRY: GLADES, HUTS AND ADVENTURES
Vermont Ski + Ride Magazine | December 1st, 2017
The Chittenden area may also become home to the first new hut in the Vermont Huts Association system. This past October, Vermont Huts executive director RJ Thompson made the announcement with a bang, hosting 170 people in a standing-room-only party at Outdoor Gear Exchange in Burlington—the biggest event the local outdoors store has ever seen…
Read the full article here.
VERMONT’S BACKCOUNTRY EXPANDS
Vermont Sports Magazine | November 13th, 2017
On October 19th, the Vermont Huts Association held its season launch party. They did it with a bang—hosting 170 people with a standing-room-only party at the biggest event Outdoor Gear Exchange ever seen and formally announcing the first hut in the system.
Read the full article here.
EPISODE 49 – NOVEMBER 2017: BLIZZARD BOYD HOGBACK SEX COLLEGE BOSTON HITCHHIKE RASTA PIRATE
The Wintry Mix | November 5th, 2017
Behold the third round of the new format. Gettin’ wild. Behold the latest and greatest from the Vermont Huts Association Launch Party, hosted October 19th at Outdoor Gear Exchange.
Listen to the full podcast here.
BACKCOUNTRY!
Times Argus | October 28th, 2017
Keep your ear to the ground, or snow, among backcountry skiing enthusiasts and you’ll hear news of growing momentum with new backcountry zones, the unveiling of a new Vermont backcountry hut system, and growing grassroots support in communities around the state from the Northeast Kingdom to Rochester and the Dutch Hill area of southern Vermont.
Read the full article here.
VERMONT HUTS ASSOCIATION LAUNCHES STATWIDE SYSTEM OF TRAILSIDE CABINS
Seven Days | October 13th, 2017
If there’s anything better than a day in the backcountry, it’s two — or three, or more, and a network of cabins in which skiers, snowshoers, mountain bikers and hikers can hunker down for the night before tackling another section of trail. The Alps have such a system, as do the Rockies, the Sierra Nevada and the Presidential Range of New Hampshire.
Read the full article here.
EPISODE 47 – SEPTEMBER 2017: NEW FORMAT WTF!?!
The Wintry Mix | September 10th, 2017
Change is here. Can you handle it? This is the first episode of the new format. The deadline for submissions for the October episode will be Oct 5. Send your audio to alex @ wintrymixcast.com to get in the Mix. Listen to this episode and/or 46 before you submit audio so you know how this works. The rules are limited/non-existent.
Listen to the full episode here.
FRESH DIRT: 10+ NEW TRAILS FOR MOUNTAIN BIKING
Vermont Sports Magazine | August 1st, 2017
Perhaps the most exciting: the Rochester Area Sports Trails Alliance announced that it earned a $1,500 grant from the Vermont Huts Association toward creating a connector trail that will link the Green Mountain Trails in Pittsfield to the Rochester area trails.
Read the full article here.
WORK BEGINS ON VALLEY TRAIL CONNECTING ROCHESTER, PITTSFIELD
The Herald | July 27th, 2017
RJ Thompson of the Vermont Huts Association announced that RASTA and the GMNF will also receive the VHA’s first Trail Collaboration Grant for $1,500 for trail work between Rochester and Pittsfield.
Read the full article here.
NONPROFITS WORKING TOGETHER TO CREATE STATEWIDE TRAIL NETWORK
Vermont Huts Association | July 18th, 2017
The Rochester/Randolph Area Sports Trail Alliance (RASTA) and Green Mountain Trails (GMT) are partnering up on an initiative to connect their respective networks.
Read the full press release here.
EAT, SLEEP, SKI
Sarah Galbraith | February 11th, 2017
Sarah Galbraith takes a tour up to the newly-opened Bryant Camp with RJ Thompson, Executive Director, to talk about Vermont Huts Association, the Bryant Camp, and where the organization is heading next.
More from Times Argus.
ENHANCING VERMONT’S BACKCOUNTRY ADVENTURES WITH A HUT SYSTEM
Traven Leyshon | October 18th, 2016
RJ Thompson, Executive Director of the Vermont Huts Association talks about their mission: “to enhance the backcountry experience in Vermont by connecting the year-round recreation community with the evolving network of hut, cabin, yurt and lodge operators. RJ explains that skiers, mountain bikers, and hikers have created many terrific trails and glades.
More from Equal Time Radio.
VOTING OUTDOORS: VERMONT GOVERNOR’S RACE MIMICS NATIONAL TREND
Alex Kaufman | October 16th, 2016
Raising awareness is so 2010. Climate, public lands, and attracting outdoorsy businesses seem to be the three key pillars of the recent surge in outdoor activism aiming to influence the state and national political landscape. Listen to the full audio below.
More from Wintry Mix.
NEW ORGANIZATION HOPES TO SPARK HUT-TO-HUT SKIING IN VERMONT
Mike Polhamus | October 12th, 2016
Two Vermont men are seeking partnerships and funding for a venture they hope will permit hut-to-hut backcountry excursions across the state. They’ve started a nonprofit called the Vermont Huts Association, and they say the hut system they’re trying to create will prove a boon to the economy and a valuable amenity for cyclists and backcountry skiers.
Full Article on VT Digger.
VERMONT’S HIDDEN HUTS
Evan Johnson | October 11th, 2016
Set high in the Green Mountains or tucked into the forest, simple huts are being renovated as backcountry outposts for any season. When volunteers with the Rochester Areas Sports Trail Alliance (RASTA) began developing glades in the Braintree Mountain Forest near Randolph in 2014, they came across a cabin in the woods. The Bell Gates Cabin—an overnight spot for loggers in the 1970s—was in disrepair. Dead leaves and trash covered the floors and ratty screens hung in the windows.
Full Article on Vermont Sports.
BACKCOUNTRY HUT SYSTEM IN VERMONT?
Peter Conti | October 3rd, 2016
Americans are always emulating European ski culture, from telemarking to the infamous neon onesies (they’ll make a comeback, I swear). But the best thing by far is the culture of alpine hut traverses that made it’s way from the Alps to western North America. There are already well established hut traverses in the San Juans of Colorado, in Sun Valley Idaho, and the Canadian Rockies, but nothing in the Northeast.
Full Article on GuideHire.
VERMONT HUTS ASSOCIATION: NEW NONPROFIT SEEKS TO DEVELOP HUT SYSTEM IN GREEN MOUNTAINS
Benjamin Whitney | September 30, 2016
The idea to connect existing huts, yurts, cabins and lodges around Vermont to promote multi-day backcountry trips isn’t a novel one. But while other U.S. mountain ranges boast such hut-to-hut systems, discussions in Vermont have remained at the meeting table—until now. On August 22, the Vermont Huts Association (VHA) gained its nonprofit status, marking the official launch of a campaign to coordinate stakeholders in an effort to revamp four-season backcountry recreation opportunities in the Green Mountain State.
Full Article on Backcountry Magazine.