1975
SKI Magazine 1st Place Environmental Award. Butternut was designated as an "ENVIRONMENTAL SHOWCASE" for the industry. Butternut won the coveted Environmental Award for Excellence in Overall Development and Design of a ski area for keeping the entire area in harmony with the environment. The award was given to Channing Murdock by Ed Hughes of SKI Magazine. Butternut was cited as displaying excellence in its examples of sensitive environmental planning for the ski area. Butternut found itself in great company beating out Vail, Sun Valley, Copper Mountain and Snowbird who all received recognition for special phases of their designs. This honor was judged by a panel of well known architects, planners and forest managers. The areas well-designed trails were carefully cut and are maintained with a clean, trim look. Through a vigorous re-grassing program, erosion has been stopped. There has been major emphasis on replanting, using trees to tie in area buildings with the landscape, and to break up the look of structural steel. Tasteful architecture of the base lodge and lift terminals blends wholesomely with the natural surroundings. The unloading ramp on the beginners chairlift is walled with stone, becoming part of the landscape. Butternut's beauty is most apparent in the non-winter months, a period when ski areas typically unmask their scars. As one of SKI's judges put it. "Snow has a tendency to cover up a hell of a lot of mistakes."
1975 - Chair #3 Overbrook Triple Chairlift Installed. The new lift serves slopes with over a 750 foot vertical drop and stretches 3500 feet in length. The new triple chairlift can carry 1800 people per hour. The Thiokol Triple Chair (known as the Rolls Royce of lifts at the time) opened to the public in December. A Sikorsky helicopter lifted the 40 foot tall, 5000lb towers into position where the Butternut crew quickly bolted the towers into poured concrete bases. The Thiokol chairlift cost $185,000 to purchase. The total construction costs including earth clearing, engineering, electrical and hill prep exceeded $400,000.
Senator Ted Kennedy and his family skiing at Butternut Basin Winter 1975
1976
Five new state-of-the-art Headco Snow Cannons were added to the snowmaking arsenal along with new grooming equipment.
1977
Chair #5 Scooter Double Chairlift Installed.
SKIwee program introduced by SKI Magazine. Ski Butternut was one of the first areas to adopt this revolutionary teaching methodology for children. At Butternut pizzas are for skiing - and eating. The pizza shape was the image that instructors wanted young students to visualize. They asked them to form a pizza shape with their skis instead of asking for a basic wedge shape that is much less visual to youngsters.
1978
Big February snowstorm dumped more than 4 feet of snow on the mountain.
April - 1st year of the LMS (Lift Maintenance Seminar). Where industry GM's and their important lift service mechanics join together with the NSAA, The Mass. Tramway Authority and Mass. Ski Areas Association to "enhance safety through shared knowledge." Members will attend seminars on such significant issues as proper design and maintenance of lifts, lift construction and repair techniques. Select sessions coverer many topics on things as minute as choosing the right: nuts & bolts, splicing and caring for wire ropes, concrete, bearings, lubrication and welding techniques. The LMS was the brain trust of both David Kenney (Code Enforcement Officer for the Mass. Recreational Tramway Board) and Channing Murdock (Butternut's owner and President of NSAA).
1979
Award Winning Upper Lodge is finished. The lodge offers spectacular views of the ski area. The lodge was designed by NY Architect Lo-Yi Chan of Prentice, Chan & Ohlhausen and features passive solar heating. Mr. Chan was a frequent skier at the mountain.
