Paul Smiths: Cruising the VIC

Saturday: band rehearsal in Sea Girt, NJ. After a productive session with my most excellent bandmates, I loaded the Fortunate Son and returned north. Driving at Warp Factor 4, I made it to Saranac Lake by 9:30 PM.

When I finally arrived home, I was fried. For most of my life, I’ve reckoned drive times north starting from Morris County NJ. I could tell you when I’d arrive in Lake Placid, or Craftsbury, or Woodford, within 10 minutes’ accuracy. Departing Ocean County is a whole other ball of wax.

Sunday morning, drinking coffee, bleary eyed and listening to WFMU with a cat in my lap, I considered my options. Gym? Ski? Chill?

Despite having been bad about hitting the weight room recently, I opted for Paul Smiths Visitor Interpretive Center (VIC). I loaded up my gear, picked up a cup of coffee at Nori’s (as if I needed another) and drove north.

Race, race, race. At Mount van Hoevenberg, the Empire State Winter Games were happening. At the VIC, today was the final day of a race weekend for collegiate skiers.

After what’s seemed an eternity of gloomy skies, it was a bright, bluebird day as I clipped in to my skate skis. Four women from Hamilton College cruised past me, warming down after their race. I wanted to check out the race course, so I took what I call La Direttissima — the fastest route to the race trails. Skating the Loggers Loop counterclockwise, I turned left on to Skidder, a wild roller coaster of a trail that leads to the race stadium, 3 km from the lodge.

On the high point of Skidder, I stopped to take a photo of Whiteface and chat with a couple from New Haven CT. “Is that Mount Marcy?” they asked. No, it’s Whiteface. You’d have to get up higher to see Mt Marcy, 25 miles south.

Collaborating with USA Nordic, US Biathlon, and renowned trail designer John Morton, Paul Smiths College developed 5 km of FIS-homologated trails in 2020. With an eight-station shooting range, Paul Smiths was the only college in the country to have a biathlon range at the time.

In the stadium, athletes from Clarkson College, Hamilton, McGill, Smith, Wellesley, and elsewhere, as well as the hometown Paul Smiths Bobcats were chilling post race. Skiers were relaxing in the sun after throwing down a hard effort.

“Do you guys wanna be world famous?” I called out to a gaggle of Bobcats perched on a boulder next to the biathlon backstop. “I’m the token nordic correspondent for NYSkiBlog!” They shouted approval, and I got out my camera, uh, phone.

A stark contrast to the looming, ultramodern, near brutalist style lodge at Mount van Hoevenberg, the VIC’s race stadium is a down home affair. Accessed by a narrow dirt road, a canvas-sided tent serves as the race lodge. There are Port-o-potties for… you know. The parking lot is a fraction of the size of that at van Ho. But the sunlight is just as strong, and the trails are cool. The V-boards and directional signs for the race were still up. After pausing to grok the vibe in the stadium, I set out to ski the race loop.

The International Ski Federation has specific parameters for laying out race courses. With the gentler terrain around the VIC, the trails are more rolling than Mount van Hoevenberg’s World Cup trails. At the VIC, the climbs are mostly longer, with more gradual slopes. Van Hoevenberg’s World Cup trails are at then upper end of the FIS difficulty range. The VIC’s comp trails are easier, but they’re by no means a pushover.

Leaving the stadium, I went out the Draper Lussi trail. A crankin’ right turn, then a swooping downhill. The race course bypassed Draper Lussi’s grunt climb, heading out Woods and Waters. With four sets of classic tracks, this had been a two-way section of the race loop.

After a few hundred meters, I turned on to the Kingsley Smith trail. Skating up a long, undulating climb, the V-boards cut off the last 500 meters. I made the U-turn to a plunging, flowing 720-meter descent. You still have to focus, but unlike the monster drops at van Ho, I could actually relax and recover here.

A couple more kilometers, and I dropped on to Woods and Waters before turning on to the final section of Draper Lussi, headed into the stadium. I looped back out, passing the race course turn to ski the whole Kingsley Smith loop. I wanted to imprint the loop on my brain the way van Ho’s trails are.

I returned to the stadium, and made my way back to the Loggers Loop and the main lodge. In this direction Skidder is hard enough to utilize in races.

With silviculture a major part of the college’s academic offerings, the woods here have a different gestalt than the legacy trails at Mount van Hoevenberg. I can’t quite put my finger on it: have these woods been logged as part of the course work, giving a different variety of flora? Different terrain? Who knows, but skiing here is quite soothing.

Paul Smiths gets more snow, including lake effect snow, than Lake Placid. So far this winter, however, there haven’t been huge snowstorms. Despite a shockingly low base, the VIC’s trails were in great shape. Come git some.