New York is a bit of an underdog in the world of skiing; under appreciated, by some, for lower snowfall totals than our neighbor to the east, Vermont.
It may be for this reason that our neighbor to the north, the Province of Ontario Canada, holds a special place in the hearts of the New York skiers who publish the New York Ski Blog. Known affectionately to us as “The Hinterlands,” Ontario is blessed with snowfall and cold temperatures, but short on vertical drop.
The Raymond Brook Ski Trail is one of the oldest ski trails at Gore Mountain. Today it’s on state land, but it is still important part of the trail network around North Creek, NY.
The Raymond Brook Trail has been through several phases of use. In the “ride and slide” days, it was a major route. The ski from the top of Gore down to the river was long. The need to “sweep” Raymond Brook was one factor behind the creation of New York’s First Ski Patrol at Gore.
At some point in time the Raymond Brook Trail went unmaintained and it stayed that way for many years. When I first learned of the route, I didn’t know it by name.
“When I was a boy, we made skis out of barrel staves. We didn’t know we were supposed to use poles,” George Remington recounted.
George, my grandfather, grew up on Racquette Lake, where his parents were caretakers for a great camp. Some historians posit that Racquette Lake got its name because a retreating Tory brigade abandoned their snowshoes (“racquette” in French) on their flight to Canada during the Revolution. It’s a paradox that Grandpa was figuring out skis in a place named for a huge pile of abandoned snowshoes.
My grandfather would have been on skis in the early 1920s, about the same time that the first ski races were held in Lake Placid. Originally a summer resort, the town began promoting winter sports around 1905. One account suggests that winter vacationers back then had to be taught how to have fun on the snow.
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