SARANAC LAKE — Area kids are invited to ski with the U.S. Alpine Team, including members of the 2010 Olympic Team, Friday, from 4-6 p.m., at Mount Pisgah in Saranac Lake. Team members are in the area this weekend to compete in the U.S. Alpine Championships Saturday through Monday at Whiteface Mountain.
The special Lift Mt. Pisgah fundraising event will feature an hour and a half of skiing with the Olympic athletes, including two-time World Cup giant slalom title winner and 2006 Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah) and Jimmy Cochran (Keene, N.H.). Olympic super G bronze medalist Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid), who grew up skiing at Whiteface, will be on hand to sign autographs, but will miss skiing due to recent shoulder surgery.
"These little hills are really what our sport is all about," said Cochran, a two-time Olympian whose family runs a similar small ski area outside of Burlington, Vt and will be on hand Friday. "There's nothing like the energy you get of ripping around with your friends after school. I wish more communities had cool places like Mt. Pisgah. They're such an incredible community resource."
Mt. Pisgah is currently open Tuesday through Thursday from 4:30-7:30 p.m., and will be open Friday for the event. Tickets are $15 and includes skiing with the Team, a U.S. Ski Team sticker pack and an opportunity to meet the athletes.
"Small local areas like Mt. Pisgah play an important role in introducing young boys and girls to our sports," said U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association President and CEO Bill Marolt. "Each of the 17 athletes who won 21 medals in Vancouver had their start at a local area."
All proceeds from the event will go directly towards the Friends of Mount Pisgah effort to replace the antiquated T-Bar currently serving the village-owned facility.
In 1989 the group collected $35,000 for piping to put in snow-making, and in 1999, volunteers raised half a million dollars and built the current ski lodge after a wall on the old lodge caved in.
There will also be a cocktail party with some athletes for the same cause on Sunday, from 4:30-6 p.m., at the Fireside Steakhouse, 2653 Main St., Lake Placid, for $50 per person.
For more information, call 891-0970.
