The Adirondacks’ Trailblazing Women of Skiing

Ski Pioneers Lois Perret and Frederica "Freddie" Anderson are the focus of an upcoming event at North Creek’s Tannery Pond Center.

The rope tow at North Creek Ski Bowl. Photos courtesy Schenectady Wintersports Club

Tannery Pond Center is hosting a series of informative events on the history and evolution of skiing in the Adirondacks to celebrate the 90th anniversary of North Creek's Snow Train. In 1934, the Snow Trains began bringing ski enthusiasts to the Gore Mountain area, and these events will shed light on its history and development into an Adirondack ski destination. 

On February 17, Jim Schaeffer, whose parents were instrumental in the founding of North Creek Ski Bowl and the Ski Train, will share a presentation on two of the area’s pioneering women of skiing in the Adirondack region, Frederica "Freddie" Anderson and Lois Perret (Schaefer), RN.

Lois Perret founded America’s first ski patrol right here in the Adirondacks.

Born in East Orange, NJ, Lois Perret had a lifelong passion for outdoor activities such as hiking, swimming, skating, and sail skating. As an adult, she moved to Schenectady, NY, where she discovered skiing in North Creek and joined the Schenectady Wintersports Club (SWC) as its secretary-treasurer.

The Clean Up Crew

Lois's experience as a nurse at St. Luke's Hospital in New York City gave her valuable skills in emergency care that she would later use to make a significant contribution to the Wintersports Club and ski areas throughout America.

In 1933, Lois established the first recognizable ski patrol in America at Gore Mountain. The ski patrol was composed of volunteers who prepared medical kits, sleds, and protocols to handle emergencies on the slopes. The ski patrol's motto was "Be careful and think while you ski."

Because this was the era of the Ski Trains, Lois set up the first aid station inside one of the train cars. She thought about the possible injuries they might experience, the equipment necessary to treat skiers, and how to transport hurt skiers to the train from the site of their injury on the slopes.

Ski sled

Small metal structures were installed on stilts above the snow along the ski mountain trails to store the toboggans used to transport injured skiers. Lois and her ski patrol, nicknamed the "Clean-Up Crew," swept the mountain at day’s end to ensure no one was left behind. The Clean-Up Crew often did this work skiing in the dark because skiers overestimated their abilities and underestimated the trail length. The Crew’s mission was to account for everyone on the Snow Train, and the trains were often delayed until every skier was tracked down.

Lois and her SWC First Aid Patrol were true pioneers in the sport. In fact, the Mt. Mansfield Ski Club in Vermont adopted several procedures that Lois's committee had pioneered. And, in 1938, when Charles Minot “Minnie” Dole agreed to organize what was to become the industry standard National Ski Patrol, he replicated many of Lois’s principles, including the Red Cross training and equipment protocols.

Lois married Vincent Schaefer in 1935. He was instrumental in establishing the North Creek Ski Bowl, NY State’s first ski area, and the Snow Train.

Freddie Anderson: Legendary ski instructor taught generations to ski in the Adirondack region for over 70 years

Freddie Anderson started skiing with her parents at the tender age of 3 on the gentle hills of Mohawk Golf Club in Niskayuna, NY. When she was 12, she rode the first Ski Train from Schenectady to North Creek. 

Young Freddie Anderson Learns to ski

After graduating from Smith College in 1942, Anderson returned home and began teaching skiing to her friends on a bumpy little hill at the Schenectady Municipal Golf Course. Her mentor was none other than the legendary Schenectady skier Dot Hoyt Nebel.

Over time, Anderson became a certified ski instructor and a member of what would become the Professional Ski Instructors of America organization. In 1950, at the age of 29, she established the Schenectady Ski School, which would become her home for a teaching career that would span almost five decades.

Although she taught part-time at “Big” Gore, the New York State area adjacent to the North Creek Ski Bowl that opened in 1964, Anderson is best known for her almost 50-year career at Maple Ski Ridge in Rotterdam, NY, just south of the Adirondacks’ Blue Line, that became the home base for the Schenectady Ski School. 

Starting in 1966, when Maple Ridge opened, Anderson’s program had as many as 2,200 students in a single season, ranging from adults to kids as young as four years old. Quick sidebar: all of our family and our friends' families took lessons at Maple Ridge in the 1970s, and I remember Freddie’s magnetic presence. She was a legend even then.

Freddie tearing it up on the slopes

By the time Freddie left Maple Ridge in 2014, she had taught skiing to generations of a multitude of families, including children, their children, and, in some cases, even their children's children. Anderson continued skiing until 2016 (she was 95 years old) and lived independently in Niskayuna until 2019. She passed away in 2022 at the age of 101.

“There was no one who had a more enduring impact; who was more important and influential in the growth of skiing locally over the years than Freddie,” long-time Schenectady Gazette ski columnist Bill Rice remarked. “She started skiing at a time of laced leather boots and wooden skis, but she always kept up with the times. As skiing evolved, so did she.” 

Freddie Anderson — Life-long skiier

Over her long career, Anderson received numerous accolades and recognition for her many accomplishments. She was awarded a lifetime honorary membership in PSIA, the national organization of ski instructors she helped organize in the 1960s, and in 2006, Ski Magazine named her one of “10 great instructors [in the country] to bring out your best.” In the announcement, Ski pointed out that “young instructors follow her downhill the way a royal court would follow their queen.”

To learn more about these legendary women and ski pioneers, plan to attend Jim Schaefer’s informative presentation on February 17 at 7 pm in North Creek at Tannery Pond Center. He will also host the same talk on February 20, at Wolf Hollow Brewery in West Glenville at 6 pm. Visit Tannery Pond Center’s website for more information about both events.

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