# Suicide Six Ski Area to change its name **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 29, 2022, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-six-ski-area-to-change-its-name/967115 "2022-06-29T14:44:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-six-ski-area-to-change-its-name/967115/1 "2022-06-29T14:44:49Z")
I always thought “Suicide Six” was a weird name for a ski area. It’s in Pomfret, Vermont, and is the closest ski area to Talbot House, a place that used to be owned by MIT and was available for getaways. You could see the slopes through Talbot House’s dining room windows. I’ve been there several times. It’s a small but fun ski slope, the only one I’ve skied down in a rainstorm. They’ve decided that their name is insensitive, and have announced that they’re changing it. They don’t say what they’re changing it to, but presumably it will be more exciting than its original name, _Hill 6_. For now, they still use “Suicide6” as the name of their website. As the article notes, other areas have been switching away from insensitive names. “Squaw Valley” in California last year announced it would be known as _Palisades Tahoe_. In Canada, “Pocahontas Cabins” are going to be _Miette Mountain Cabins_. > **[Vermont ski resort to change 'insensitive' name | CNN](http://www.cnn.com/travel/article/suicide-six-ski-resort-vermont-name-change/index.html)** > > A popular Vermont ski resort originally known as Suicide Six has announced that it will change its "insensitive" name in the weeks to come. [https://www.suicide6.com/](https://www.suicide6.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-six-ski-area-to-change-its-name/967115/2 "2022-06-29T14:53:28Z")
Yeah, it’s always been a fairly awkward name. It’s a cool little ski area, and it’s on the Indy Pass so maybe I’ll get back there this year. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-six-ski-area-to-change-its-name/967115/3 "2022-06-29T14:58:46Z")
Any idea on the origin of the “Suicide” name? The idea of especially steep or dangerous slopes in the hills of VT seems sorta silly to this Western former skier, so that’s probably not it. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-six-ski-area-to-change-its-name/967115/4 "2022-06-29T15:19:26Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The idea of especially steep or dangerous slopes in the hills of VT seems sorta silly to this Western former skier, so that’s probably not it. It’s probably exactly this. There are plenty of steep runs in the east, especially when then are sheets of ice. SS isn’t a particularly big ski area, but it’s relatively steep and fanciful names are pretty common. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-six-ski-area-to-change-its-name/967115/5 "2022-06-29T15:24:28Z")
They should change it to Suicide Squad. They can get some of that Hollywood money for the renaming, too. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-six-ski-area-to-change-its-name/967115/6 "2022-06-29T15:32:16Z")
I wonder if the ‘Fresh Kills’ landfill name will ever be changed, not that landfills really need to worry about PR all that much, I imagine. But having that be the name of a landfill in the NYC area always seemed too hilariously on-the-nose. Like if the New Jersey Pine Barrens were named the ‘Buried Mob Victim Barrens’. According to Wikipedia, “The name comes from the landfill’s location along the banks of the Fresh Kills estuary in western Staten Island”. OK, so where does the estuary’s name come from? "from the Middle Dutch word kille, meaning “riverbed” or “water channel”. ‘Fresh’, I guess, because it’s a freshwater estuary. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > Any idea on the origin of the “Suicide” name? According to the CNN article linked in the OP: > [Wallace ‘Bunny’] Bertram, who died in 1981, dubbed the area “Suicide Six,” which he thought was more catchy than the existing name “Hill 6.” ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-six-ski-area-to-change-its-name/967115/7 "2022-06-29T15:33:30Z")
There are many locations in New York State that use the word “kills” or “kill”, given its Dutch heritage. The Catskill Mountains, Peekskill, Fishkill, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-six-ski-area-to-change-its-name/967115/8 "2022-06-29T15:39:20Z")
I think it’s silly that they change their name, but that’s not a hill I’m willing to die on. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-six-ski-area-to-change-its-name/967115/9 "2022-06-29T15:44:35Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > There are many locations in New York State that use the word “kills” or “kill”, given its Dutch heritage. The Catskill Mountains, Peekskill, Fishkill, etc. Interesting. I was not aware or had ever considered that fact, though word and name origins interest me. When it’s one compound word the ‘kill’ part does not stand out as much, especially when the prefix word ends in an ‘s’, like ‘Catskill’-- I think ‘Cat-skill’. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-six-ski-area-to-change-its-name/967115/10 "2022-06-30T00:36:14Z")
From the ski area: > As the story goes, several Vermont families set up the first rope tow in the US using the engine from a Model T back in 1935. Wallace “Bunny” Bertram took over the operation a couple years later and moved and upgraded that rope tow to another nearby mountain that was labeled “Hill 6” on their map. Bertram once joked that to ski down the nearby Hill No. 6 would be suicide, and that’s how the name Suicide Six got its start. > _“Our resort team embraces the increasing awareness surrounding mental health and shares the growing concerns about the insensitive nature of the historical name. The feelings that the word “suicide” evokes can have a significant impact on many in our community.”_ The first paragraph is someone else summarizing the naming story. The second paragraph is from the ski area. Apparently there wasn’t public pressure to change the name, but the owners decided that the name no longer was the image they wanted to present to the world. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-six-ski-area-to-change-its-name/967115/11 "2022-07-13T20:42:08Z")
Cool choice, but it’ll take me a bit to get used to it. > **[Our New Name](https://www.saskadenasix.com/the-mountain/our-new-name)** > > The Name Has Changed. The Mountain You Love Hasn't. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2022, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-six-ski-area-to-change-its-name/967115/12 "2022-07-14T01:25:27Z")
> [@solost](#): > > I wonder if the ‘Fresh Kills’ landfill name will ever be changed, not that landfills really need to worry about PR all that much, I imagine. But having that be the name of a landfill in the NYC area always seemed too hilariously on-the-nose I thought for sure you were going to mention that this was the burial site for at least a thousand people who died on Sept. 11, 2001, whose remains were unidentifiable (some have since been identified). ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2022, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-six-ski-area-to-change-its-name/967115/13 "2022-07-14T01:44:38Z")
> [@Turek](#): > > I think it’s silly that they change their name, but that’s not a hill I’m willing to die on. /highfive You’re just not a do-it-yourself kind of person, are you? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2022, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-six-ski-area-to-change-its-name/967115/14 "2022-09-15T13:33:02Z")
In other New England ski area name change news, Shawnee Peak is reverting back to its original name of Pleasant Mountain. The name change to Shawnee happened when it was purchased by a ski area in PA with Shawnee in the name. > **[Shawnee Peak changes name back to Pleasant Mountain](https://wgme.com/news/local/shawnee-peak-changes-name-pleasant-mountain-skiing-snowboarding)** > > BRIDGTON (WGME) -- The Shawnee Peak ski area has announced that it will be returning to its original name, ---
**Author:** ![michael31](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@michael31](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/michael31)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2022, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-six-ski-area-to-change-its-name/967115/15 "2022-12-15T08:03:57Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I always thought “Suicide Six” was a weird name for a ski area. It’s in Pomfret, Vermont, and is the closest ski area to Talbot House, a place that used to be owned by MIT and was available for getaways. You could see the slopes through Talbot House’s dining room windows. I’ve been there several times. It’s a small but fun ski slope, the only one I’ve skied down in a rainstorm. > > They’ve decided that their name is insensitive, and have announced that they’re changing it. They don’t say what they’re changing it to, but presumably it will be more exciting than its original name, _Hill 6_. For now, they still use “Suicide6” as the name of their website. > > As the article notes, other areas have been switching away from insensitive names. “Squaw Valley” in California last year announced it would be known as _Palisades Tahoe_. In Canada, “Pocahontas Cabins” are going to be _Miette Mountain Cabins_. Yes, there are many ski areas with names that many people find offensive, insensitive or even hateful. I don’t necessarily agree with this change, but I think it is understandable. I am not sure that I personally would want to ski down “Suicide Six” and I guess the guy who designed the mountain thought of it as the “Suicide Six”. I think it’s understandable for them to want to name the mountain something else. The problem is that I always liked the names of the mountains at the ski resort where I grew up. Mountain names like Camel Hump, Pout Pig Hill or Dupree Hill were always good to me. Oh well.