The Tow Pros

WANT TO PUT UP A TOW IN YOUR BACKYARD? HERE’S WHO TO CALL. BY KATY SAVAGE

When Mike Orlando bought property in Danby with a large hill and 30 acres three years ago, he had a plan. “I knew right away it would be great to snowboard,” he said. Orlando, who rides at Killington Resort, spent three years cutting trees and building about 25 hiking and snowboarding trails as well as a zipline on his property. He uses it as a place to camp with his son and 6-year-old daughter. “I pretty much have a mini resort at my house,” he said.

Orlando lives full time in Toms River, New Jersey where he owns a cell phone company. He comes to Vermont about twice a month and snowboards every chance he gets. “I would live in the woods if I could, so for me, it’s fun,” he notes. After hiking the trails in the winter, two years ago, he had a better idea — he installed a 600-foot rope tow with lights for night riding. “We ride with headlamps,” he said. “It’s sick.”

Orlando’s rope tow was installed by Towpro Lifts LLC, owned by Will Mayo and Kyle Roy of New Hampshire and Maine. The cost of a 300-foot rope tow starts at about $7,000. Towpro has a variety of rope tows, starting with the Backyard 2.0, a small portable one that runs on 240V single phase power or a 5kw generator. It can carry three to five people uphill at once.

Vermont has more Towpro systems than any other state. “We have about 20 rope tows in the Greens now, and more being installed this year,” Mayo said. All are privately owned.

“The people of Vermont are awesome and they recognize the need to be outside and in nature,” Mayo said. “They appreciate being able to use their own land and Vermont is full of hills.” Vermont’s landowner liability laws also protect landowners who open their land for public access, as long as they don’t charge a fee.

Darkside Snowboards in Killington just got a Towpro for free after winning a giveaway through Bomb Hole Podcast. Mayo installed the 150-foot rope tow at Darkside’s Darkpark in October. “We picked the winner out of a hat,” Mayo said. “We couldn’t have picked a better group.”

Mayo customized Darkside’s tow to be able to carry three people at once. Darkside will turn it on for events throughout the winter.

“We’ll be able to host bigger events and hopefully we’ll get more people to come out because there really isn’t anywhere to ride at night,” said Tucker Zink, the general manager at Darkside. Darkpark is open for free 4-10 p.m. every night as long as there’s natural snow.

“There’s not much to do at night if you’re a kid in Killington,” Zink said. “It gives them something to do.”

Mayo’s company started as a way for him to get up a hill faster without having to use snowmobiles. It gained popularity through the pandemic-fueled desire to be outside and stay at home. He said Vermont is the ideal place for his systems. “It gets snow, it’s got hills and there are people who have wonderful, beautiful properties with lots of land and some disposable income to spend on this kind of thing,” Mayo said.