Year 2, 1985-86
Tob and Joan deBoer spent the year in the
Netherlands and Michael Ogg took over the Presidency for that year, with Bob
Lubarsky as secretary.
Again major plans were made, trips announced,
the Ithaca Nordic Ski Festival was organized with the same events as the first
year, to be held at the Mount Pleasant location, and participation was
predicted to double. However, Tob must have taken the cold and snow with him; a
major rainstorm washed away the Ski Festival that year. The warm weather covered all of the Northeast
so it wasn’t just Ithaca.
As a note, the race would have been sponsored
by
The Bike Rack in Collegetown
Black Star Bicycles in East Hill Plaza
Harolds’ Army-Navy on the Ithaca Commons
Klein’s All Sport in Pyramid Mall
Nippenose in the Dewitt Mall
Tops of Meadow St.
UpFront in Center Ithaca
Only the Bike Rack and Tops survive
today. How many of these do you
remember? I don’t remember UpFront but
all the rest are familiar to me.
American Youth
Hostels
Another activity the club promoted was involvement
with the American Youth Hostels (AYH).
There was an Ithaca Chapter and Louise Adie helped organize ski tours
that would stay at Hostels in places like Stowe, Ottawa, La Anna in the Poconos,
Belleayre in the Catskills, Lake Placid, the Canadian Ski Marathon, and even
Norway. Trips were suitable to all
levels of skiers, with instructions available for beginners. There were also arrangements for 9 Ithaca
area people to stay at a YMCA for the Chatauqua Ski Marathon. There is no information about how many club
members actually went on any of these trips.
Tours
Weekly trips started out hiking in late
November and early December. Club members were pretty hardy back then, for
instance this posted trip called “Reconnaisance” led by Dave Blanpied on
December 1:
“Hike the ski trails connecting Yellow Barn and
Hammond Hill ski areas. About 8 miles,
some rather steep grades.”
And the next week “Reconnaisance Continued” also
led by Dave:
“Hike the ski trails connecting Hammond Hill and
Robinson Hollow ski areas. About 8 miles, some rather steep grades.”
Also, as an introduction to the tour list is
this paragraph:
“There will probably be three tours at each
scheduled skiing event: 1-3 miles for people who enjoy a leisurely outing; 6-8 miles
for those who prefer to stay out for 3-4 hours (bring your lunch); 12-20 miles
for the snow birds. All participants
should be able to snowplow because all tours have at least moderate down-hill
runs.”
I think they forgot to tell the ‘snow birds’
to bring their sleeping bags! I wonder
how one trip leader managed this.
On the other hand, one trip offered a pot of
hot beef stew on top of Yellow Barn, bring your own bowl and spoon. Stew reservations required. This was also led by Dave Blanpied.
Year 3 1986-87
Fall Meeting
At the fall meeting in 1986 about 30 members
gathered for dinner and a business meeting.
The new officer roster was voted in:
Tob deBoer President
Dave Blanpied Vice
President
Joan deBoer Secretary
Nick Vandam Treasurer
Gary James Coach
Louise Adie Promotions
Gary James discussed and demonstrated the new ski-skating techniques.
Tob and Joan presented slides of their Nordic winter
in Europe, including ski marathons in the Dolomites and the Alps. They also described ice-skating on the canals
and lakes in the Netherlands, culminating the 200 km “11-City-Tour” in the
province of Frisia.
The Elfstedentocht (Eleven Cities Tour)
is the biggest ice-skating tour in the world. Over fifteen thousand ice skaters
defy the ice encouraged by hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic fans. The
waterways between eleven Frisian cities form the 200
kilometer track of the Eleven Cities Tour. That’s why this sensational
ice-skating event can only take place during severe winters. The first Elfstedentocht took place in
1909 and has been held 15 times in total.
And now, the summer option
Maps
All members receive a set of ski maps, tho
they caution that many of the trails on the maps are not actually marked in the
field. And not all trails in the woods are on the maps. “The combined length of the trails shown on
the Yellow Barn/Hammond Hill/Robinson Hollow forests now amounts to as much as
70 km.“ I don’t have any maps of this
amazing trail system but this was back when Yellow Barn Rd was not plowed from
end to end and was part of any Yellow Barn Ski outing. Does anyone ski in the Robinson Hollow area?
Coaching clinics could not be held at
Willowood due to “the fire”. They now
depended on moonlight and snow.
Ithaca Nordic Ski
Festival
“Favored by brilliant sunshine and only
slightly hampered by low temperatures, the Festival was a definite success.”
All events were held at the Dusenberry
Sportsman’s Club, access on Midline Rd or Yellow Barn Rd. Race information warns: “Facilities at Dusenberry are limited. There
are separate outhouses for men and women, but no dressing rooms or running
water.” Still beats the Hammond Hilton!
The Festival was co-run with the Finger Lakes
Biathlon, Inc and featured a Biathlon, a Biathlon Try-It, Citizens Nordic Race
and an ESG qualifying race. Sponsors
were Black Star (main sponsor), The Antlers, Rosetti’s restaurant, Kleins
Sporting Goods, Rosebud Restaurant, McDonalds, Cornell orchards, and the P&C. The electronic clock was lent by the Finger
Lakes Runners Club, the bullhorn by the Finger Lakes Cycling Club.
There were over
160 entries total and 30 names were listed as volunteers.
Here are the
results not counting the Biathlon:
I remember this
race very well. I dogged Joan for most
of the race, it was hard to pass on the narrow trails and I was working hard just
to keep up. Finally I blew her off on a
downhill, as she was very conservative with her speed. Not me.
So much for the usual advice ‘you won’t win the race on the downhills’. As a prize I won a Rossignol shoulder bag
which I used for skiing and for travelling for many years until it finally fell
apart. Best thing I ever won and always reminded me of this race. I also came away with great respect for Joan,
who was at least 20 years my senior. I
vowed to be as good a skier as she when I hit 50. Now that I am beyond that, I think I succeeded. Joan is still in good shape and I still look
to her for inspiration.
Tours
This year the
newsletters included trip reports. Here are
excerpts:
Nov 16 Three muddy mountain bikers completed somewhat
less than the 16 miles from Hammond Hill to Robinson Hollow.
Nov 23 Six hearty brush clearers rerouted small
sections of the yellow and blue trails at Hammond Hill.
Nov 30 Six bikers took on Connecticut Hill, icy
roads, swollen streams and all.
Dec 7 Armed with red, green, blue and yellow trail markers,
hammers, nails, maps and a DEC permit to mark trails on Hammond Hill, five club
member went to work. Trails were marked with
painted Ball jar lids and colored tape.
(Note that these are not the same trails as we know them today.)
Dec 14 Three skiers in Robinson Hollow managed to
find enough snow to do an 8-mile loop, only removing skis once.
Dec 21 Four club members skied an unscheduled 8
miles on Hammond Hill.
Jan 31 Nine club members met for a beginner/intermediate
tour on parts of the Dusenberry course in Yellow Barn Forest. A few enthusiasts brought lunch and did an
extension of the tour.
Feb 1 Sixteen club members, led by Dave Blanpied. “enjoyed 8 miles of Extra Blue skiing in
Yellow Barn Forest, starting with the North Loop, then down Signal Tower Rd,
down a very steep grade near Dusenberry (snowy hats indicated a few head plants
were made) up puff, puff Yellow Barn Rd and back to the cars parked at the head
of Tehan Rd.” A loop that is no longer possible, after someone build a house on
YB Rd.
Feb 8 Three clubs (doesn’t say which 3, but the
Adirondack Club is a good possibility) met and skied at the “beautifully
engineered and scenic trails” at Highland Forest. Led by Rob Reavill.
Feb 14 Four skiers braved 8 degree weather for what
was intended to be a short tour on the blue and red trails at HH, but after
finding a trail blocked off, they ended up bushwacking to the intersection of
Midline and Irish Settlement Roads, and then returned to their cars. (See note above about trails.) The leader of
this tour was posted to be Lucy Gagliardo, but Lucy doesn't remember this adventure so it's more likely that (husband) Nick
Vandam led this trip and was responsible for the actual route taken. Anyone remember this?
Feb
15 Conn Hill tour canceled because of
extreme cold. This must have been the
day I skied with Dave Blanpied at Conn Hill. It
was very cold and windy, no one else came.
Dave worried about frostbite and we covered our cheeks and noses with
Chapstick.
Feb 22 A dozen beginning and intermediate skiers did
the blue and red loops at HH in warm, waxless
weather. Led by Carol Bayles (however,
I have no memory of this endeavor. I
didn’t even own waxless skies back then).
Feb 28 Light rain but plenty of snow in Arnot maple
forest. Seven skiers, only one was a
club member, the others were former Peace Corps volunteers having a reunion.
March 1 Lots of snow everywhere and a lots of rain,
too but three members skied at Connecticut hill, doing a loop past the cemetery
and the former rangers cabin. Led by
Dave Blanpied.
March 15 Same 3 skiers did a grand tour of HH and
Robinson Hollow, with creeks to cross and bare spots to walk over, a
magnificent ending to a great season.
Overall, Dave Blanpied led a great many trips in
these early years. There are several
informal trails named after him at HH.
