Creating a Commercial Ski Center

Dan Forbush

Last updated March 1, 2024 10:55am

Ride Up - Slide Down

A History of Skiing at Gore Mountain
Chapter 2

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

By December of 1932, plans were in place to build a bob sled/toboggan run. Construction began at the ridge of the Ski Bowl nearest the village and the path that ran down into Tannery Pond - also known as Mill Pond. In an effort to increase facilities for all winter sports, the American Legion constructed a skating rink on the North Creek Baseball Field. It was later enlarged and electric lights and benches were placed around it.

EDITOR'S NOTE: It would be good to describe where these facilities actually were, which may be difficult given the construction of the bypass. We should include a more detailed description of the impact of the bypass. I see a number of references to a "ridge" that this narrative lower down says

Without really intending to do so, the foundation of a winter sports area had been put in place. It wasn't until The Lake Placid Olympics, however, that area ski enthusiasts began to realize what a prime location we had.

By February of that same year, a group of young men from North Creek attended the Olympics in Lake Placid. This group consisted of Howard and Guy Alexander, Kenneth Bennett, Dr. Harrison Braley, Butler Cunningham, Lee Hewitt and Art Prescott. A number of high school students and teachers -- Margaret Collins Cunningham among them -- went as well, led by Wilson Hasseltine.

There was another group, The Mohawk Valley Hiking Club, from Schenectady, which also attended The Olympics. Leading this group was Vincent Schaefer, founder of the club and William Gluesing, "lecturer par excellence" of the House of Magic at General Electric.

The involvement of members of The Schenectady Wintersports Club, especially Vincent, Carl and Paul Schaefer, Bill Gluesing, Dr. Guy Suits and Dr. Irving Langmuir, was critical to the development of skiing in North Creek.

C.R. Barton and Barton Mines were also very important partners as some of the trails were on their property. Of course, in this day and age, there would be all kinds of concern and legal paperwork guaranteeing that the company would not be responsible for any injuries on their property and any physical or monetary loss, but back then, it was just one good neighbor, allowing the rest of the community to take advantage of their prime location and enjoy the landscape.

The two groups did not meet at The Lake Placid Olympics, but they were soon to join forces in making North Creek a commercial ski center and the "St. Moritz of America."

The 1932 Olympics did not include downhill skiing, but it did feature a cross-country event as well as ski joring in which a horse is harnessed to a sled with ropes attached, and the skiers hold on to the ropes and are pulled behind the horse and sled. Bob-sledding, ski jumping and skating were among the other featured winter events.

Excited at the prospect of a winter sports area and realizing the possibilities that the many log roads on Gore Mountain afforded them, the collective group of young men returned to their hometown, determined to make North Creek a ski and winter sports center.

They quickly formed The North Creek Ski Club and under the sponsorship of The American Legion, which was headed by Kenneth Bennett, began to clear old logging roads for trails.

Pete Gay, an intermediate to expert trail, was the first to be cut. It was 23,000 feet long with a 20 minute walk from where one left their car parked at Barton Mines. It took between 30 to 40 minutes to ride down with the trail finishing on Route 28 at George Gregory's property between North Creek and North River.

Those first runs were made with the aforementioned toe straps, hunting boots and old Northland skis. Ski poles varied with a six foot sapling being the most frequently used. This makeshift ski pole was held to the side and dug in to the ground to slow down a too-speedy descent. Occasionally some deluded soul would think that straddling the stick as they descended was the most efficient course of action. That was, until they hit a rock and decided that position was not the best - unless, of course, they intended to sing lead soprano in the girl's choir the following week.

Those earliest trails were only five to six feet wide with no tracks for the skis, but by March 16, 1933, The North Creek News Enterprise (NCNE) was pleased to announced that "Legionnaires have now completed a ski trail from the top of Gore Mountain giving a four mile run with a drop of approximately 2,000 feet...with numerous hairpin turns and sharp drops which will provide all the thrills of noted Swiss Trails...

NCNE further reported on April 20, 1933, that The North Creek Ski Club established a committee to work on the ski trails and had raised a surprising $175 for this work! The committee was composed of Kenneth Bennett, Chairman; Butler Cunningham, Treasurer; Warren T. Ratcliff, Secretary; and Howard Alexander, George Gregory, Charles Sullivan, Downing Braley and Dr. Harrison Braley as its members.

Plans were made during the summer of 1933 to work on two new trails. They were the Straight Brook Trail and the Roaring Brook Trail. Roaring Brook was a 24,600 feet long intermediate trail, a 25 minute walk from the parking lot with a finish at the open slopes of the Ski Bowl. With a 30 to 40 minute ride down, it fast became a favorite.

On October 6, 1934, at the fourth regular meeting of The Adirondack Mountain Club Committee at Lake Placid, it was conceded "that Gore Mountain Ski Trails are the best that have been developed in the Adirondacks up to the present time."

Vincent Schaefer, a General Electric scientist known for his work in cloud seeding, who later directed the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center at The University at Albany, was a lifelong hiker in the Adirondacks. Attending the 1932 Winter Olympics inspired him to generate the first downhill sking at Gore.

Schaefer later wrote...

Several members of The North Creek American Legion decided to clear some ski trails on Gore Mountain and its satellite peaks. I saw an account of their plan in our local Union Star Newspaper and immediately made contact with Ken (Judge) Bennett, the head of The North Creek Group, and volunteered to have a group of skiers from our hiking club...help them in clearing the trails. These were graded lumber roads which were all over the mountain.

We were invited to meet them and to be the first to ski the Pete Gay Trail, which had been brushed and had a good base of snow. Accordingly, Bill Gluesing and I and several of our friends went to North Creek on Saturday, camped in the snow along the North River Road and met the group on Sunday morning. We drove to Barton Mines, the drivers continuing to meet us at the lower end of the trail where we had camped.

We had a marvelous downhill run, finding that the old roads, while being somewhat narrow, had a grade that permitted very enjoyable skiing. On the way down we made plans to join them the following week to brush out the Rabbit Pond Trail on the northeast side of the mountain.

The following week, I got a larger group to join us and we spent all Sunday working on clearing the old road.

At lunch, I made the suggestion that we form a loosely held group called The Gore Mountain Ski Club, to consist of the active trail workers of the North Creek Ski Club and the Schenectady Wintersports Club, which we had recently formed.

Everyone was in agreement. However, for some reason - perhaps the name - the North Creek Ski Club seemed to disappear and The Gore Mountain Club was adopted by the local people as their organization."

Bill Gluesing is credited with coining the phrase, "Ride Up - Slide Down." In the early days of skiing, before ski tows or lifts, one had to climb to the top of the trail in order to ski down.

Gluesing was struck by the good fortune of Gore Mountain skiers who could use the road to the top of the mountain that served Barton Mines. This certainly contributed greatly to the immediate success of skiing there, and it was through the generosity of C. R. Barton, President of Barton Mines that access to the trails was made available and Gore Mountain eventually became the ski center it is today.

Schaefer, in continuing his account, stated...

"The trails were an immediate success. As many as 200 to 300 people skied them on Sundays, although "The North Creek News Enterprise reported that... "To date, no person has yet succeeded in making a continuous (non-stop) run over the course from the mines to the village."

The new trails were inviting not only to visiting skiers, but to locals as well. Mabel and Jay Goodspeed were caretakers at this time of The Guest House at Barton Mines. Their sons, Sterling and Rudolph, would climb to the starting point of the trails and ski, when snow conditions permitted, down the trails to attend school in North Creek.

Just south of the village of North Creek at the base of Gore Mountain, there was a beautiful, natural bowl. It was purchased in 1934 by Reverend J. F. McMahon, pastor of St. James Roman Catholic Church for $2,500. Father McMahon made the purchase because the Town of Johnsburg very much wanted the property for skiing and a park, but did not have the money at the moment. Father McMahon kept the property until 1935 when he "sold" it to the town for the staggering price of a dollar. Father was very interested in the development of skiing and according to The Ski Bulletin of December 29, 1939, the day before the christening of the Garnet Trail, took an active interest in the welfare of the skiers as well as the trails themselves. The bulletin read as follows:

"Skiers will have an opportunity to receive a special blessing after the regular mass on Sunday, December 31st ... The Reverend J. F. McMahon will come to the door of the church and bless skiers and their equipment."

The McMahon Bowl, formerly known as "over the ridge" was variously called The North Creek Ski Bowl, "Little Gore" and now Ski Bowl Park. On November 11, 1936, NCNE reported that the town appropriated $1,082 and the Federal Government added $3,435.10 and that there were "... 22 men employed on a work relief project clearing 5 acres of ski tows or open slopes."

I can recall night skiing in 1934 on Howard West's pasty just off Ordway Lane, also known in the '30's as Cowturd Avenue. Avenue. The Route 28 Bypass destroyed the beautiful ridge that formed one side of the ski bowl and separated it from the village. It also cut into the side of the hill and Harold's pasture. But in 1934, it was a good ride down, if a long hike up!

EDITOR'S NOTE: I suggest we go into more depth on what must have been a major construction project that substantially changed the town. I've seen very little as to what the state actually did in 1964 when it built the Gore Mountain Ski Area.

A second toboggan slide was constructed by the ski club in 1936 and was probably one of the fastest in New York State at the time. It was constructed so that the toboggan was placed on a

hinged platform until the rider could get aboard. At the signal, Hold Fast, the platform would tip and the toboggan would shoot down a sheer drop of 85 feet at a speed of probably 60 miles per hour. This slide went from the top of the ridge right into the Ski Bowl. In 1937, Bill Lackey ran the slide and added a mechanical tow. Both the toboggan slide and the open slopes were illuminated at night.

By December 29, 1937, NCNE was able to report that "a good ski jump has been built near the town, which although it is not the largest in the world, will provide fans with a good bit of excitement, with the hazards removed to a point where the less experienced skiers may participate." Of course, any winter sports arena would not be complete without skating, and consideration was given to those who loved this winter pastime as well.

Skating had always been done on the Mill Pond, the Stewarts Pond and Sommerville Pond, located down by the sawmills near the railroad tracks. We locals would skate at night, burning old rubber tires to keep warm. The sky above would be black with smoke and the air acrid with the scent of burning rubber, but the night temperatures would dip so low it was colder than a mother-in-law's kiss, and a pile of burning tires could generate quite a bit of light and heat! You couldn't see the smoke in the night sky above and we managed to overlook the smell for the sake of swooshing across the frozen pond.

On the Mill Pond, we played a game we called "Pom Pom Pool Away." One skater would be at one end of the pond and the rest would cluster at the other end. The secret of the game was to be the last one caught. The lone skater would holler out, "Pom Pom! Pool away. Try to get away!" and as the group skated past, he or she would try to tag as many as possible to join in his or her efforts. This game of tag went on until the last skater was left alone to elude all the others. We thought it great fun and I have no doubt that if the youngsters today put away their iPhones and iPads, even they would find the charm of skating under a night sky, ducking and dodging their friends' attempts to catch them as they whooshed across the ice.

By 1940, of course, the skating rink would move to the pond across from the school, Stewarts Pond, near what is now the Gooose Pond Inn. It was maintained by Jack McCardle and illuminated at night.

By 1937, then, the North Creek Ski Center and Winter Sports Area was in its fledgling stages, but well on its way.

MORE FROM VINCE SCHAEFER

Vince Schaefer adds more on this period in Chapter 11 of Serendipity and Science, pages 274 to 276.

Early in the 1930s I read about the Snow Train running the day ends out of Boston. They would take skiers to parts of the White Mountains for the day and then return them to Boston by evening.

I wrote to Fred Grant, Passenger Agent of the Boston and Maine Railroad, to determine whether he would be interested in running a similar train from the Schenectady area into the Green Mountains of Vermont, His reply was to the affirmative, so I formed a Snow Train Committee in the Mohawk Valley Hiking Club and recruited others from the outdoor oriented clubs in Schenectady.

We circulated petitions and were able to show Fred Grant that there was a substantial group of winter sports enthusiasts in Schenectady, and it should be worth his effort to arrange for us to journey to Vermont.

We decided to go to Wilmington, Vermont, where a number of us had been cross-country skiing. The branch line of the B&M took off of the main line just beyond the Hoosac tunnel. Since the B&M did not have a line in Schenectady, we planned to board the train in Scotia. Thus, in the winter of 1931, all was in readiness for our first train. The date was set, my committees were ready but- there was no snow! This meant postponing the trip to the next weekend and notifying everyone by postcard of the new plans. You guessed it- there was no snow the second week! This meant another batch of postcards. These were the days before computer labels!

And so it went, week after week, until we abandoned our plans for the winter!

Meanwhile, however, we had developed a substantial following and, as a result, it was decided to form a new club to concentrate on winter sports activities. This was done and in 1932, the Schenectady Wintersports Club was organized. I was elected President, an office I held for several years.

As the winter of 1934 approached, we decided to try to operate snow trains again. This time we planned to utilize the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. The previous fall of 1933, I flew with Dr. Irving Langmuir in his open seat Waco airplane to areas within an hour or so to schenectady. We explored the hills of the Catskills within range of the railroad and found good-looking terrain around Mount Utsayantha near Schenevus. When the time camonsie decisions, Mr. Fred Gelhooley, Passenger Agent for the D&H, proposed thas we consider North Creek in the The first Snow Train from Schenectady to North Creek on March 4, 1934.

Since I know the North Creek area very well, I enthusiastically endorsed this plan and made firm plans to go there. I formed many committees, the largest being the First Aid Committee.
Since I had heard of the casualties that accompanied the Boston Snow Trains, I proposed having skiers trained in First Aid techniques, equipped with toboggans, splints, bandages and other similar gear, and a doctor ready for any emergency.

On March 14, 1934, the first New York Snow Train made up at the Schenectady Station and headed for North Creek. At the last minute, a second engine was hooked on since the turnout was much greater than had been anticipated. Upon arrival at the "Crick," the villagers and surrounding mountaineers had a fleet of trucks at the station. As each truck was loaded, it took off and headed for the Barton Mines, located near the top of Gore Mountain. Reaching that spot, everyone clamped on their skis and headed for the several mountain trails that had been established by the North Creek Ski Club Members, with our cooperation.

The Pete Gay and Rabbit Pond runs were available at that time. These were old wood roads established many years earlier by loggers. The overgrown trails had been cleared of brush and while rather narrow, had grades that were not unduly steep. As a result, everyone had a fantastic time. Trucks located at the base of the two trails were ready to take the skiers up the mountain for a second, and even third, run during the day. Thus it was that Bill Gluesing's saying, "Ride up- Slide down," became the popular slogan for North Creek.

At the end of the day, members of the First Aid Committee, headed by Miss Lois Per-ret, a registered nurse, "swept the trails" making sure that there were no injuries or laggards on the trail to delay train departure. As we left for home, I checked for casualties and found - none! The most serious was a sprained wrist! Thus was born the first Ski Patrol in the United States.

Those witnessing the State-run Gore Mountain Ski Center, with its access road, miles of wide machine-groomed trails, lifts ranging from T-bars to gondola, and a massive snowmaking network, and which often accommodates 5,000-7,000 skiers on a weekend, will find it hard to believe the primitive nature of the early days. But I dare say- we had more fun!

Here's more from Vince, pages 270 to 271:

When I first became acquainted with the village of North Creek in the Twenties and Thir-ties, it was a small, sleepy town that, after the hunting season ended, seemed to go into
hibernation.

I developed a strong attachment to the village as I got to know a few of the townspeople, and especially after my future wife talked a local widow into boarding her for a period in the wintertime, when she skied on the local slopes in a natural bowl at the base of Gore Mountain. The second year my sister Gertrude joined Lois and a tradition began. This was short lived however, since the advent of the 1934 snow train shifted the winter time life pattern of many in the village, resulting in ambitious plans for the future. Since it was not apparent that any help could be obtained from the State Government, the plans for additional trails and similar developments depend on the local populace.

At about that time, Bill Gluesing and I decided to help the planning for the future. I approached the local leaders headed by K. (Judge) Bennett and told them that I thought that Bill Gluesing would be willing to give a popular talk on skiing potential for North Creek. Bill was a super salesman and was in charge of "The House of Magic Show" put on all over that world by the General Electric Company. He agreed to put on his show, along with his magic tricks, at the North Creek high school. At the same time our plan was that he would end the show with his "Ride Up- Slide Down" suggestions. (The House of Magic was seen by more than 13 million people by 1951 and more than 2.5 million saw it at the New York's World Fair. You can view a segments online by visiting http://www.youtube.com, and searching for "House of Magic".)

Our strategy worked, and a huge crowd of local townspeople and others from the surrounding communities showed up, and were delighted with his presentation. As part of our plan, he proposed that a trail-clearing crew from the Schenectady Wintersports Club would join members of the North Creek Ski Club on the following weekend to establish the Rabbit Pond Run.

This joint work crew assembled on the following Saturday and made great progress in clearing the trail for the new run. During the lunch break, I proposed that a new organization be formed to be called the "Gore Mountain Ski Club," that would have joint membership of North Creek and Schenectady skiers. This was done and a fine cooperative group constituted the initial membership. Unfortunately, the club was such a success that the North Creek Ski Club was virtually swallowed up by the new entity, and in a year ceased to exist. Unfortunately, too, the start of the running of Snow Trains from New York City brought into the community such a strange new group of skiers with different attitudes and principles, that the Schenectady cooperative activities tapered off, and within a year or so, the New York City group dominated the scene.

Then came World War II, and since so many of the Schenectady group were professional scientists and engineers, they were forced to work overtime and to abandon many of their recreational activities. After about 1938 the entire pattern had changed and the snow train and other cooperative activities tapered off and then ceased to exist. After the war the surge of prosperity provided many skiers with their own cars and the need for Snow Trains went into an eclipse and, despite sporadic attempts to revive the concept, such plans never materialized.

The "new look" at the Gore Mountain Ski Center under ORDA (Olympic Regional Development Authority) will change many things at North Creek. Whether for the better or worse, only time will tell!