It was the spring of 1960, and Fred Pabst Jr. had record crowds and plenty of snow at Big Bromley. But the cantankerous ski area pioneer was far from pleased on a blissfully sunny Vermont afternoon.

“Chiselers!” Pabst railed to a reporter, who wrote up the tirade in the Globe on March 13. “These ticket connivers and deadbeats who spend so much of their time figuring out ways to cheat a ski area get under my skin. These same people wouldn’t think of stealing money from a bank. Or shoplifting from a store. But they will do most anything to cheat you at a ski area. Apparently they look upon it as a game. Some are cleverer than others. We don’t catch all of them.”