What will $10 buy?

If it's Friday and you're in Richmond, it'll get you a trifecta of recreation, food and drink. Skiing is $5 every Friday at Cochran's Ski Area. A grilled cheese sandwich at the snack bar costs $4; a cup of hot chocolate is $1. If you're a little kid and you don't have $1, the drink is free, as I observed recently. The college student working behind the counter served the boy his cocoa and asked him to tell his parents that their account was out of money.

This act of kindness and respect for a child epitomizes the Cochran way. Affordability is also key.

"Our main mission is to keep skiing and ski racing affordable for anybody," Lindy Cochran Kelley said. "We're lowering our prices."

Cochran's is low-cost, low-key and low-sloped. Its hilly sweep and seasonal purity invite participation. (Unlike at mountain resorts, there's nowhere to shop or drink a craft cocktail here.) From the bottom of the hill at dusk, you can see the line of lights that illuminate the slope all the way to the top. They look like candles aglow on a gently tiered cake topped with white icing.

Kelley, 69, is the youngest of the four Cochran siblings whose parents, Mickey and Ginny, founded the neighborhood ski spot in 1961. (The ski area became a nonprofit in 1998.) The couple met as students at the University of Vermont when he gave her a ride to ski at Stowe. They married in 1949 and had four children in three and a half years.

Mickey, an engineer at GE, put in a rope tow on the hill behind the family's house, across the road from the Winooski River. The ski area remains at that site.

"My mom's big thing was: She didn't want any kids inside," Kelley said. "She wanted them outside, getting in the Vermont air." All four Cochran kids grew up to be Olympic Alpine ski racers.

Kelley was at Cochran's one afternoon last week, watching the action in a big orangey-red parka. Scores of people were skiing that day after a fresh snowfall, including families, school teams and kids in Cochran's Ski Club, which coaches ages 6 and up.

"We try to keep it fun," Kelley said. "We try to make sure there's no pressure on these kids. We're not very regimented."

Over the years, the hill has hosted (and produced) top-notch athletes, including Mikaela Shiffrin, who last week set a record for most World Cup wins by a woman. As a young teen skiing for Burke Mountain Academy, Shiffrin won races at Cochran's "by quite a bit," Kelley said. Ryan Cochran-Siegle, the 2022 Olympic super G silver medalist, grew up skiing at Cochran's. His mother, 1972 Olympic gold medalist Barbara Ann Cochran, is Kelley's sister.

But that level of sport is a distant world from the one inhabited by Gabriel Studdard, 4, of South Burlington. He skied nonstop the other day, riding uphill on the Mighty Mite cable tow with handles, then skiing down.

In a momentary breather at the bottom of the slope, Gabriel summed up his run: "It's fun. And it's kind of long."

His mother, Caitlin Studdard, snuggling her 6-week-old son against her chest, walked and talked with her toddler daughter at the foot of the hill. They warmed up at the firepit. For the sleeping baby, it was trip No. 2 to Cochran's: He had been there half his lifetime ago.

"I like that Gabriel can be independent here," Studdard said. "He loves skiing so much, and it's an easy way to let him do that. He's building his confidence."

Eddie Staples, an 18-year-old first-year at Norwich University, said the $10 midweek price "was definitely a drawing point for me." (Staples paid the adult price; kids' tickets cost $8 during the week, except on Fridays when the price is $5 for all.) He grew up in Bethel, skiing on the Pico team.

"It looks fun," Staples said, setting off on his first run to the sound of heavy metal in his earbuds. "There's space to mess around."

On the hill, a boy skiing over a small jump fell and landed in the snow. His friend stopped skiing and went to check on her buddy. The young boy picked himself up, walked uphill to the spot where he had crashed and skied down from there. He glided over to his father, who was on his skis at the bottom of the hill, and came to a stop.

"Did you see the air I got?" Kassel Johnson, 6, asked his dad, Erik Johnson. The kindergartner had brushed off the mishap and delighted in his descent.

Johnson, 39, is a mechanical engineer who lives in Huntington and grew up in Richmond. "This was my second home," he said, recalling skiing at Cochran's as a child with his twin brother, Karl.

"My parents didn't ski," Johnson said. "They dropped us off, and the Cochrans took over." He and Karl became Division I downhill racers who competed for Dartmouth College. Johnson brings his two sons to Cochran's as often as possible.

"You can watch from afar," he said. "Kids learn independence and the buddy system."

For Johnson, now a backcountry skier, Cochran's holds special meaning. "Nostalgia is definitely part of it," he said.

His 8-year-old son, Lachlan, gave a shout-out to the lasagna that's served at Cochran's Friday Night Lights community dinner, which offers a main course, side and dessert for $10.

"It's the best deal in the world," lodge manager Colin McPhillips said, noting that the snack bar is sometimes closed as the kitchen prepares the meal.

Last season, Cochran's lowered the price of a family season pass by $100, Kelley said, knocking it down to $295. Other prices have dropped, too. (Check the website for full details.) Folks have an option to buy a family pass for $590, a purchase that equates to two season passes: one for the buyer's family and one for a family in need.

Kelley attributes the drop in pricing to several factors, including Cochran's nonprofit status, its relatively low overhead and an annual season-ending fundraiser that brought in more than $100,000 last year. She also said her nephew Jimmy Cochran deserves a lot of credit for the operation's focus on affordability.

He's the 41-year-old general manager, a two-time Olympian who does everything from grilling hamburgers to fixing machinery to making snow. Jimmy's son, Oliver, is 2.5 years old. He started skiing last winter between his parents' legs, Kelley said.

Oliver Cochran sounds like the name of a future ski champ. But word on the hill is that Oliver might've been named for a tractor, one of his father's favorite things. (Oliver is an old farm equipment company.)

On the slope in Richmond, every type of skier is welcome: slow and sturdy, sleek and fast.

251 is a series of on-the-road stories that aims to visit all 251-plus towns and cities in Vermont. We'll be coming soon to a town near you.