As Mount Peter celebrates its 90th anniversary, stories from the people who helped shape its history remind us that the mountain’s true magic lies not only on its slopes, but in the friendships, laughter, and moments of chance that define it.
One such story begins in the summer of 1973, when a young New York City accountant named Cal Wallace came to Mount Peter not to ski, but to try hang-gliding. A misstep into a gopher hole led to a sprained ankle. A stop at the bar to nurse his pride (and the pain) led to a chance meeting with Don Sampson, who, along with his wife Gail, had made Mount Peter their life’s work. That conversation changed Cal’s life, launching a five-decade friendship and career in the ski industry.
“Don invited me to an instructor clinic,” Cal recalls. “From there I became a part-time instructor, a ski patroller, and eventually a full-time employee. I learned everything I could about skiing—and about people.”
Cal remembers Mount Peter as a family spot where “the people are what make it special.” He saw the mountain grow from a few slopes divided by saplings into a snow-covered playground with ever-expanding snowmaking capabilities. “The improvements in snowmaking changed everything,” he says. “It made our seasons longer and more reliable, and it kept Mount Peter alive through unpredictable winters.”
Cal still recalls many memories of the mountain with a smile. There was the night Gail rode a children’s tricycle through the closed bar, sending everyone into fits of laughter. Or the day a runaway chicken from a nearby farm walked into the parking lot and was scooped up by Don and jokingly offered “for the day’s soup.” When disaster struck and a fire destroyed a pumphouse and maintenance building, the community rallied. “Volunteers, ski instructors, even folks from nearby ski areas came together,” Cal recalls. “We rebuilt and reopened in two days.”
This winter, Cal will return with his family to celebrate Mount Peter’s 90th anniversary, a full-circle moment for a man whose story began with a stumble and led to a lifelong passion.
For Cal and countless others, Mount Peter is so much more than a ski mountain. It is where generations have learned, laughed, and found a second home on its slopes, and where generations to come will do the same.
Written by – Bonnie Wright, Sales Manager at Mount Peter
