A History of Skiing at Gore Mountain
Chapter 8

By Dr. Dan O'Keeffe and Mary C. Moro
As Told to Toni Anderson-Somme

To increase the number of local skiers eligible in those early days to be on the ski patrol, Wilson Hasseltine and Butler Cunningham, who had graduated from Otto Schneibs' ski school, joined Arnold Alexander and Francois Bertrand to give free skiing lessons to local ski club members. Their skills had been perfected under the stringent tutelage of Coach Schneibs.

Otto Schneibs was the coach at Dartmouth College during the 1930's and was world famous. His Dartmouth Team won many ski championships in the United States. According to Dartmouth's records..."Otto Schneibs took over as coach of the ski team and built that team into unquestioned national champions for most of the 1930s. Skiers like David Bradley'38, Dick Durrance '39, Eddie "the Snapper" Wells '39, the Chivers brothers, and Harold Hillman '40 became nationally known.

Arnold Alexander, a "Cricker" skied on the Dartmouth Team under Coach Schneibs and as Gore Mountain's reputation and ski center grew, Otto took note of its development and decided to become part of its history. Not only did he become the main ski school instructor but he took a turn at being North Creek High School's ski coach as well. That first team was comprised of members Bill Burto, George Hall, Murray Toole, Ray Donahue, myself, Jim Lindsay and Howdie Waldron. Clearly the mountain was drawing the cream of the crop to its slopes.

One of the single most telling memories of my younger days was following behind the instructor, who never took to the open slopes. Schneibs preferred the more daunting challenge of dodging trees and would always head toward the more difficult courses, forcing those skiing with him to christie behind him, "eyes wide shut," hoping that this run wouldn't be their last.

The trees presented no real challenge for Otto, but the rest of us always uttered a prayer as we followed some distance behind.

The Ski Patrol decided it needed an emblem or insignia to be worn by its members, making them readily and easily identifiable. It was a great method of generating income and wearing such a patch on one's arm made it abundantly clear that one was a skier at the increasingly popular Gore Mountain Ski Resort. A contest was created and those wishing to participate were asked to create a design for the patch and to write an essay extoling the virtues of Gore Mountain Skiing. The first-prize winner would win the staggering sum of two dollars prize money, which, in those days, was a great return for a day's work, plus membership in the club. Second and third prizes were membership only. Norma Sabattis won the essay and William Sullivan designed the winning insignia which can be seen on the following page. 

The Gore Mountain Ski Club's first responsibility was to cut and maintain the trails. They were helped in this task by the Forest Rangers of the New York State Conservation Department, who mowed the trails on state land. They swung scythes for mile after mile of the downhill trails, to say nothing of the many miles of cross-country trails. In the winter, the trails were "tuned up" after the weekends by workers wearing snowshoes. They filled in the sitz marks - those hollows created in the snow when a skier fell backwards - and "bathtubs" - body-sized craters caused by skiers falling on the trails, knowing that if the snow wasn't smoothed out, the trails would be dangerously uneven and full of sunken areas that could cause harm to unsuspecting skiers. They were joined by locals and visitors in this task, anxious to keep the trails in pristine condition. One such group included Arnold Alexander, L.G. Rausch - the textile designer, Ken Swain, Ken Bennett, Doris Burto, George Gregory, Lillian James, C.R. Barton, Margaret Cunningham, and Jim O'Keeffe.