Viking, A History

Stanton and Lee Allaben were extremely active in the cross country skiing community and helped shape the early days of commercial cross country ski areas. Besides establishing Viking, Stan & Lee led ski tours through the backcountry of Southern Vermont and helped establish a 40 km public trail system in the Green Mountain National Forest in the Peru-Weston area. Both Stan and Lee were early certified EPSTI (Eastern Professional Ski Touring Instructors) instructors. Lee became one of the first EPSTI nordic examiners while Stan went the management route. When EPSTI merged with PSIA, Stan was on the group's Eastern board for many years while Lee helped write and (modeled for) the first manual for nordic ski lessons. Stan served 4 years as president of National Ski Touring Operator's Association where he was instrumental in establishing a rapport with the US Forestry Service on behalf of ski area operators. An ardent conservationist, Stan was also director of the Vermont Sierra Club in the early 1970's. Both Allaben brothers also were founding members of Vermont Ski Touring Operators Association. 

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A ski race underway in the early '70s

Viking's warming hut (back then a barn) as featured in a ski club calendar

When Stan, and his twin brother Lee, founded Viking Ski Touring Centre in the winter of 1970 it was as an outgrowth of their cross country ski retail and catalog business, the Nordic Trader. The trails were a draw to get people to buy equipment. The few trails they had were free, given colors for names, and a coffee can was put out for donations. Given that it was the early ‘70’s they didn’t get much money out of that can, but did get a few joints and some good paperback books. Over time, the trail system grew and Viking became the first nordic ski area to charge for daily trail passes.

Over the next decade, several ideas were tried – a trail to neighboring Weston, inn to inn skiing, and many community races. Nordic skiing was flourishing in the USA: Southern Vermont native Bill Koch won a silver medal in the 1976 Winter Olympics, in Boston the blizzard of ’77 made cross country skiing the fastest way to get around for almost a week. Winter sports really hit their stride, and the Allaben brothers pushed Viking to the forefront of the blossoming industry.

Nearing the end of the 1980’s, the Allabens decided to focus year-round on their construction business, and put Viking up for sale. It was bought by one time, ABC account executive Irving Gross as a retirement adventure. Irving, was a downhill skier but had never been cross country skiing before and admitted to not knowing much about running a small business, but he listened to his managers, added many improvements like the big deck and purchased our first big groomer. Irv also opened the 4 bedroom Viking Guest House where he hosted skiers, fed them  a huge breakfast and sent them out for a great day on the trails. He kept Viking running for the next two decades, in no small part due to the expertise of Malcolm and Dana McNair, Viking’s perpetual managers. It is the McNairs that have found a way to keep Viking going despite low snow, a fall off in cross country popularity throughout the 90’s, and the constant changeovers of the land owners from whom Viking borrows access during the ski season (to whom we are eternally grateful for the trail access).

Malcolm has been involved in the cross country business almost from the beginning.  As one of one of the youngest persons to become a certified instructor with Rocky Mountain Nordic, he started his career teaching skiing in Breckenridge Colorado before coming to Viking  in 1974.  Dana was raised in ski retail and began her career at Viking in the ski shop back in 1980. From lessons to rentals to trail maintenance and grooming, the McNairs have been swapping hats and keeping Viking alive and well. Frequent visitors will be well acquainted with Malcolm’s easy-going attitude and expert advice, and Dana’s sense of humor and delicious vegetarian chili. The true face of Viking belongs to the McNairs.

A fresh new sun deck at Viking, 1990

By the late 1990’s Irving decided it was time to retire - for real this time, and Viking was again put up for sale. Beth and Peter Foley had been vacationing at various cross country centers for years and always spent the drive home talking about how, “if we owned the center….” Viking, with it’s great location, gorgeous trails, and experienced management team seemed like the perfect place to slowly put some cross country dreams into place.

Peter was raised in the deep snow belt of central New York state and took up cross country skiing after Bill Koch’s dramatic 1976 Olympic medal. His wife Beth has been cross country skiing since she was a little girl growing up in the Philadelphia area. In 2000, the Foley’s bought Viking and started adding their own brand to the business.

In recent years, under the management of the McNairs and the ownership of the Foley’s, Viking has concentrated on trail work to increase the number of kilometers that can open on low snow, created special programs for kids, secured and conserved land to maintain the trail network, and upgraded the old Farmhouse into a year round vacation spot. In 2005 the Foley’s acquired 60 acres of woods near the southern end of Roundabout and Boynton Run, and in 2018 another 40 acres next door. The area has some great topography and natural overlooks and offers a lot of choices to Viking. We’re not sure what we are going to do with the land yet, but you can be sure you’ll be seeing it put to good use soon.

This winter, Viking is celebrating its 50th anniversary amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Some things have changed to keep everyone safe, but Viking still offers the same fun, relaxed, atmosphere it had with Stan and Lee Allaben (though with fewer coffee cans full of joints but way more excellent cookies).
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We’d love to hear your stories about Viking. If you have a memory of skiing at Viking or pictures you’d like to share please e-mail it to Peter at peter@vikingnordic.com