BROWNSVILLE, Vermont — Change is in the air all around Ascutney Mountain Resort and with it comes new beginnings, new directions and new successes.

After a long and illustrious career of nearly 50 years in the ski industry, Ascutney’s long-time General Manager and patriarch John Plausteiner is retiring and passing the torch along to a new generation. Also retiring with him is his lovely bride of 50 years, Lucille, Ascutney’s Hotel Manager since 1993. We wish them well for a long and happy retirement.

Succeeding them in those two positions, Ascutney has been, indeed, quite lucky to secure the talents of Chet Dunican as the new head of Mountain Operations and Alan Goldstein as Hotel Manager. Other new key personnel are: Tom Mansfield, Controller; and Neil Whitney, Assistant Mountain Manager.

Chet comes to us after years of ownership of Mt. Abram Ski Area in Maine, as well as a member of the Board of Directors of Ski Maine. With his extensive background in engineering, snow-making technology and trail grooming, Chet is assembling his team and a great deal of work is already underway upgrading and fine-tuning all mountain operations. He has stated his primary focus is to be on increased snow-making, grooming and lift systems improvements throughout the mountain.

Equally lucky were we to add Alan to our team after he spent several years as Lodging Director at Mt. Snow and the Grand Summit Hotel, as well as being a member of the Vermont Visitors & Convention Bureau. He got his start in hotel management with the Marriot and Hilton companies in the late 1980s and he is committed to bringing to our resort the highest levels of customer service and hospitality.

Tom, after 25 years as a controller in various industries all the way to California and back, has finally returned to his home mountain, Ascutney, where he got his start skiing as a young boy.

Neil has over 25 years experience in the ski industry, many of those years as Lead Snowmaker and Groomer at Killington and at Mt. Snow, where he also received numerous awards for his grooming during the X-Games held there. It’s Neil’s goal to apply his knowledge and experience as a Groomer and Snowmaker so that he and his team will be able to offer the best skiing and riding experience Ascutney Mountain Resort has ever offered.

In addition to our new staff, Ascutney is proud to announce its new alliance with Orange Lake Resorts, an Orlando-based company and one of the largest vacation clubs in the world with over 110,000 members in 120 countries. Orange Lake has brought with them a total commitment to help our resort reach its fullest potential with many capital improvements including major renovations to our pools and Fitness Center, a new kids’ playground and new tennis courts.