Restored Hope For The Future Of Skiing.
Follow on Instagram @hooeymountain and visit home page for more images of vintage toy skiers in the mountains.
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I recently read a heart warming article in the New York Times about a community coming together to save an independent #ski area and the nearby town. It was in such stark contrast to the many articles I’ve read about the greed associated with the overcrowded multi pass resorts. It truly warmed my heart and made my day. If you missed it, take a moment today and read the article. You will feel so much hope for the future of #skiing and more importantly, mankind. You might even want to move to Vermont.
It reminded me of the the small club where I learned to ski. It was mostly run by volunteers and a few paid teenagers to work the T-bar. Below is the text from my post I wrote about this in July 2020 on Instagram.
I grew up skiing at a small hill in Upstate New York called Cazenovia Ski Club. In 1941 it become the first private ski club in the United State to own their own hill. It sounds fancy but trust me, it was not. The club remains active and has changed little since I learned to ski there in the 70s. It still has a rope tow, a T-bar, a classic A-frame style warming hut, an outhouse, and hot water for making your own hot cocoa. They have since added snow-making. I have so many fond memories of that place, including crazy hat day, woods skiing, making jumps with my friends, grilled hotdogs on the deck, the St Bernard dog who hung around the base area, summer clam bakes, warming up by the potbellied stove and sunbathing on a space blanket.
But the thing that left one of the biggest imprints on my mind was that out of this tiny ski hill came a World Cup skier and member of the 1980 US Olympic team, Viki Fleckenstein. We named a run after her. Can’t help but think about her as we head into another Olympics (OK not winter Olympics, but you have got to support all these athletes) She recently returned to the club for a visit. I wished I could have been there to thank her for inspiring me as a kid. A girl can dream.
It’s a good reminder of the importance of small feeder mountains where the passion for skiing is born for many. As we all know these small mountains struggle to survive as they become more dependent on snow-making or try and compete with the multi pass mountain resort experience.
My family recently gathered there to celebrate my dad’s life. He gave all of his children and grandchildren the #lovetoski gene. It was great to see not much had changed. It makes me so happy to know this club still exists in pretty much it’s original state raising the next generation of little #rippers.
Follow on Instagram @hooeymountain and visit home page for more images of vintage toy skiers in the mountains.
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