Categories: Sports

The first thing I learned about skiing with Harold McAfee is that when the lift gets to the top, you had better be ready to go.



By the time I had adjusted my goggles, he was halfway down the hill.

Now I concede that I might not have been quick off the mark. But my expectation was to be quicker than a skier who is 94. Then again, before last week I had never skied with a 94-year-old.

Harold McAfee is a fine skier. Head up to West Mountain just about any morning during the ski season. Chances are he’ll be there when the lifts open. He has had 28 days on the hill so far this winter. Last season, with the overall bad conditions, he still managed 30 times on the slopes. The year before, it was about 80 days.

And this is not poke-along, stop-and-go sliding. Harold is a top-to-bottom cruiser as likely as not to make a run without taking a break. In other words, he is the real deal on the hill. He just happens to be 94.

The Detroit native grew up in Queens, where he was an ice skater. When World War II came, he signed for the Army’s 10th Mountain Division; he thought they had a hockey team. Three years later , Staff Sgt. McAfee was discharged from the Army, having seen combat duty as a rifle squad leader in the famed battle for Mt. Belvedere in Italy. Almost 1,000 U.S. troops were killed in that assault; another 3,500, including former U.S. senator and presidential nominee Bob Dole, were wounded. That was 1945. When the 10th Mountain Division WW II vets from our region meet later this winter for their annual luncheon, McAfee expects he will be one of six who attends.

After the war, McAfee married and settled in New York City, where he worked for the for what became the U.S. Postal Service. With his wife, there were regular winter weekend trips to Bromley Mountain and longer vacations to Stowe and Stratton. He retired 27 years ago, and he and his wife moved to Queensbury, where they had spent many summer vacations.

Nearby, West Mountain was the logical place to ski. Mc-Afee lives four miles from the slopes — “a six minute drive” each way. His wife stopped skiing at age 82 after a collision with a snowboarder. That was 10 years ago. Harold is still going.

Does he ski other areas? “Why would I go anyplace else?” he asks after several laps on first tracks conditions last week. “They are doing a great job with the area. It doesn’t make sense for me to travel farther.”

And what about the days he doesn’t ski? “When I stopped playing hockey,” he said, “I took up ice dancing. I still love to skate.”

McAfee also loves tennis and golf. Last year, he played more than 90 rounds at the Hiland Park Country Club in Queensbury. His goal every day out there is to shoot his age, which he has done many times.

On the hill, he is hard to miss. There is a group of local retirees who ski West regularly in the morning, and McAfee is usually right along with them. It is the 10th Mountain Division ID that sets him apart. He wears the patch on his jacket and decals on both his helmet and skis. Since he was 19, when he joined the unit in 1943, there are not many others with these marking on the slopes today.

These days, McAfee sticks primarily to groomed trails. But he’s not afraid of pitch, and will ski just about anywhere the lifts take him. “I’ll also ski new snow,” he admits “but I don’t like it when the surface is hard, or chopped up.”

Fussy?

Not so, he replies: “At my age, I don’t have anything to prove. “

Empire State Games

next Thursday , with opening ceremonies at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid. More than 2,000 competitors are expected for 31 events being held throughout the North Country. For a schedule and results, check The 37th edition of the Empire State Winter Games will get underway, with opening ceremonies at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid. More than 2,000 competitors are expected for 31 events being held throughout the North Country. For a schedule and results, check www.empirestatewintergames.com

West Competes for World Luge Title

Union College sophomore Tucker West tries to become only the second American male ever to win the World Luge Singles championship in races Sunday at Innsbruck, Austria. West, from Ridgefield, Conn., has two World Cup wins this season, and currently stands fifth in the overall World Cup singles standings.

Snow Bonanza

While the East continues with below average snowfall, 13 ski areas in the Western United States have piled up more than 300 inches of snow this winter. The leader so far, with 460 inches, of snow is Mt. Rose, outside Reno, Nev.