Barkeater Trails Alliance brings you the Jackrabbit Rally 2025!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 39th anniversary of the Jackrabbit Ski Trail and the founding of the Adirondack Ski Touring Council (now called BETA!).
Dates!
January 25th, 2025 - March 20th, 2025 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. Bonus points if you seek out a location or section of trail new to you! Why? Outside of showing your love for BETA, what's your why? Maybe you could use a little motivation to get out during this seemingly endless freeze-thaw heartbreak. Maybe you need a nudge to ski that section of trail that has always been a mystery — or MAYBE your puffy coat leaves a trail of feathers in your wake. No matter your why, your Jackrabbit Rally 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 $35 Jackrabbit Rally donation by clicking the button below. This year, as part of your donation, you'll receive two limited edition NoSo patches designed by Dan Cash Design. Additional JRR swag will be distributed at select in-person events this winter as well. What's a NoSo patch? A NoSo patch is a flexible, durable, waterproof easy-to-apply patch meant to add flair or to repair your favorite outdoor gear. Simply stick it and then set it with heat (use a hair dryer or even that big beautiful sun). Help to keep gear out of the landfill! 2. ) Ski any day between now and March 20th. It’s not about speed or distance. One mile counts. 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 two of these 2"X2" NoSo patches. Design thanks to Dan Cash 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
|
|
|
|
|
|
