WHITEFACE TURNS 50 - Adirondack Sports & Fitness

12 Adirondack Sports & Fitness
WHITEFACE TURNS 50 CONT. FROM PG 1
after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. After
World War II, work resumed on Marble
Mountain (a shoulder of Whiteface),
near the Whiteface Mountain Veterans
Memorial Highway, which attracted
throngs of visitors in non-snow months
to view one of America’s most spectacular
panoramas from the summit.
Once completed, the ski center had
problems from the start. Its January 1949
opening was postponed due to lack of snow
and canceled again by rain in December.
The Marble Mountain ski center fi nally
began full-time operation in 1951 with
fi ve rope tows and a 3,350-foot T-bar lift.
Transportation by Sno-Cat or truck cost
$1.15 per ride, rope tow rides were $1.50 per
day, and the T-bar was $4 for 20 rides. Due
to the unchallenging terrain and primitive
operations, Lake Placid remained an afterthought
destination to skiers and Marble
Mountain was eventually abandoned.
In 1957, Gov. Harriman, an avid skier
who had built Sun Valley in the 1930s,
signed a law authorizing development
of the present Whiteface Mountain Ski
Center. It opened in 1958 with two chair
lifts and a vertical drop of 3,216 feet, the
longest in the East.
“I patrolled at Marble Mountain,”
remembers 70-year-old Jim Hoyt of Lake
Placid. “I moved to the new Whiteface
Mountain Ski Center weeks before it
opened to help prepare for safe skiing
and I have patrolled there ever since,” said
Jim. He was named “King of Winter” and
received a lifetime achievement award
at the 50th anniversary celebration on
January 25, 2008. A trail to be called
“Hoyt’s High” will be named in his honor
with Whiteface’s expansion onto Lookout
Mountain for the 2008-09 season.
By the time the 1980 Winter Olympic
Games were held in Lake Placid, there
PHOTOS COURTESY OF ORDA/WHITEFACE
was a big mountain and downhill skiing
was king. The 3,009-meter course for the
men’s downhill races was considered one
of the best in world-class skiing competition.
“Since then, Whiteface has hosted a
wide variety of state, national and international
events including World Cup alpine
and freestyle skiing and snowboarding,”
said Sandy Caligiore, spokesman for the
Olympic Regional Development Authority.
“The people of Lake Placid and
Wilmington and all the leaders who
worked so long and hard to bring big
mountain skiing to the region are justifi
ably proud of Whiteface Mountain and
being the winter sports capital of the
world,” Sandy said.
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And all the beauty that surrounds us
Free Cross-country Ski & Snow-
shoe Trails. Free Ice Skating Rink
If alpine skiing had been an Olympic
sport, it is doubtful Lake Placid would
have hosted the 1932 Games. And if not
for Whiteface, Lake Placid would not have
hosted the 1980 Games and the current
sports scene would not be what it is today.
Happy anniversary Whiteface! Who
knows, there may be another celebration
in 2009 to honor the 60th anniversary of
Whiteface at Marble Mountain.
Ron Farra (rfarra@nycap.rr.com) lives in
Saratoga Springs and enjoys snowshoeing,
skiing, hiking, biking and kayaking. He is
the co-author of Winter Trails New York:
The Cross-Country Ski & Snowshoe Trails
with his wife, Johanna.
with Warming Hut. Free Sledding Hill.
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1-866-GO INLET www.inletny.com