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Barkeater Trails Alliance brings you the Jackrabbit Rally 2023!
The Jackrabbit Rally is a choose-your-own-ski-adventure fundraising event with the goal of celebrating the long and storied history of Adirondack ski touring. This year we also mark the 37th anniversary of the Jackrabbit Ski Trail and the founding of the Adirondack Ski Touring Council (now called BETA!). Dates!
January 25, 2022 - March 20, 2022 Where should I ski? Any trail of your choosing. If you can participate here in the Adirondacks, great! If not, kick and glide wherever you're able. We're also offering several options for BETA-led group skis for skiers of varying skill-levels. The first of those will be Saturday January 28th 12 - 4pm. Read more information HERE. And register for that ski HERE. It's free to come along, but you must be a BETA member per our insurance policy. More dates TBA! Why? To support the mission of the Barkeater Trails Alliance (BETA). Your donation directly supports advocacy efforts, the building and maintenance of our trails and administrative services that keep our organizational wheels spinning. None of what we do would be possible without the grassroots support of trail-users like you. What if I'm not a skier? No problem. Enjoy the trails in any way that is meaningful to you. If you prefer to snowshoe/walk/run/dog walk, we're all for it. I'm in! Now what!? YES! We appreciate you. 1.) Make your $25 Jackrabbit Rally donation by clicking the button below. This year, as part of your donation, you'll receive a limited edition 11X17 print (pictured) designed by Nate Jeffery (@nate_jeffery_art). It. Is. Awesome. And Jackrabbit skiers are sure to recognize the location that inspired Nate's design! You'll also have the opportunity to add some merchandise to your Rally donation, to join BETA or to renew your annual membership at the same time. All merchandise will be shipped every two weeks beginning on Feb 10. 2. Ski any day between now and March 20th. It’s not about speed or distance. One mile counts. Putting on skis and drinking a beer on your tailgate counts, too. Ski the Jackrabbit Trail, ski out your backdoor - but wherever you go - "Ski! Ski! Ski!" like the Jackrabbit! 3. Share your adventure with the BETA community by tagging @betatrails in your social media and include the hashtag #jackrabbitrallyadk. If you don't partake in social media, well, kudos to you - tell your friends the old fashioned way. 4. Last, bask in that après glow and celebrate the fact that we have access to these magical places and spaces. What's all of this "Jackrabbit" talk?
The Jackrabbit Trail is named in honor of Herman “Jack Rabbit” Johannsen, who was a legendary skiing pioneer both in the Adirondacks and, later, in Canada. There he constructed the famous Maple Leaf Trail and helped to start the 100 mile, two-day Canadian Ski Marathon. While living and vacationing in Lake Placid between 1916 and 1928, Johannsen pioneered some of the original routes used by today’s trail. He was also famous for his one-day ascents of Marcy starting from Lake Placid—a round-trip of over 30 miles. “Jack Rabbit” died in 1987 in his native Norway at age 111, skiing nearly to the time of his death. "Some six decades and two Olympic games after Jackrabbit laid down his last parallel tracks out from the village of Lake Placid, a group of local skiers finally posed the crucial question: What if someone could blaze a permanent cross country ski trail through this great wilderness? Not a hut-to-hut, backcountry trail, but a path in the old Scandinavian style linking the towns of Keene, Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and Paul Smiths. A path people could use to ski a little or ski a lot, to visit folks along the way, or spend a day at one of the Nordic centers in the area. The kind of trail you don’t need a car to get to. Local skiers would love it, the population at large would gain a valuable resource and the burgeoning Nordic industry would get a shot in the arm." - John Piedmont, Cross Country Skier magazine, 2004 |
Everyone who registers for the Jackrabbit Rally receives this print as an 11x17! Thank you Nate Jeffery for this awesome design!
HERMAN “JACKRABBIT” SMITH-JOHANNSEN (1875-1987)
"You must feel the tug of your muscles as you near the top of a long grade, and know the joy of making your own track down an unbroken expanse of powder snow. This is skiing. This is adventure!"
- Jackrabbit Johannsen, circa 1946 |
TRAIL SPONSORS
These local businesses generously host the Jackrabbit Trail on their property
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