Div I ski racer Tyler Cunningham, now the 4th generation member of the Cunningham family to run the North Creek NY based ski shop.

A common answer to that question is Lahout’s in Littleton NH which was founded by Herbert Lahout who came to the US from Lebanon as a teenager and in 1920 started by selling dry goods from a horse drawn wagon throughout the White Mountains.   After World War II. the store, then run by his son Joe, began selling ski gear and today there is the original store and  seven more Lahout’s  shops in the area where the business began.

However, it turns out now there is another shop with a claim to be the first.

As part of the recent research on the 90th anniversary of the first snow train to North Creek NY, local historians came up with records of The J.E. Cunningham General Store that opened in that Adirondack hamlet in 1918, two years before Lahout’s.

Today, more than 100 years later, both businesses  run by their founding families, still operate in their hometowns

PJ Cunningham, who was born  in Chestertown NY in 1871, was a New York Forest Ranger when he resettled his family in North Creek in 1908. He spent much of his time in the outdoors and became well know for his work building fire towers in the area.  In 1918, he bought the general store in town and named it after his oldest son.

When business slowed in the 1920’s, his younger son Butler dropped out of his engineering studies at Union College to come home to help run the store. While there was no formal ski area at the time in North Creek, there was winter sliding on the logging roads from the nearby Barton Garnet Mines on Gore Mountain. Between mining and logging, the slopes outside the village had been largely stripped and and winter sliding on the open land was a popular pass time.

If you needed skis,  Cunningham’s offered barrel staves rigged with boot toe straps mounted by a local harness shop.

Although primarily a mining and logging town, locals who visited the 1932 Olympic Games in Lake Placid saw the potential for winter recreation in their town 60 miles to the south. The North Creek Ski Bowl just outside the village was established in 1934.  At first there was a rope tow that, in 1947, was replaced by the first T-bar in New York State. Butler Cunningham in 1949 became President of the Gore Mountain Lift Corporation and, while still running the store in town, opened a ski hut on the hill between the lodge and the lift.

Over the next decade, his son Pat was building his reputation as a ski racer. He competed for Norwich University and, after college, while in the US Army in Europe. he  competed in the the iconic Hahnenkamm downhill race in Kitzbuhl Austria. He was training for a spot on the US ski team in the 1964 Winter Olympics when an elbow injury forced him out of competition. Pat came back to North Creek and subsequently joined the family business which was growing as New York opened its third state run ski center at Gore Mountain in town.

There were setbacks.  The original store in town burned down in 1968. At the time, the Cunninghams were also running the retail shop at Gore Mountain. They would eventually lose the concession bid at the ski area, but by then a new store had been built in town on the site of an old horse barn less than a mile from the original general store location. Over the years, the business expanded to other locations including Cunningham’s across the street from the Olympic Center in Lake Placid.

Butler Cunningham died in 1985 and Pat ran the the business until his death two years ago. By then, Tyler Cunningham, a former Burke Academy and St Lawrence University ski racer, had given up a career as a derivatives trader on Wall Street to return home to the family business.

Tyler is the forth generation of the Cunningham family to run the business. It is the same story in New Hampshire where Ron Lahout, grandson of business founder Herbert, has been joined by nephew Anthony and more recently daughter Phebe.

So who can claim to be Number One?

Is it Cunningham’s, founded in 1918?

Is it Lahout’s, doing business in the same location since 1920?

Both families have now been in business in their hometowns, in ski country, for more than a century. It seems that should be more than enough to share bragging rights.

Not as well-known as its neighbor, Zermatt, Saas Fee is a good bet for snow in April. Taking advantage of my granddaughter’s Spring vacation, we planned a week’s skiing on one of Europe’s largest glaciers. But make no mistake about it, there are no closeout bargains in Switzerland. A senior discount for the ski pass, is an unknown concept and food at the resort was expensive compared to other venues in the Alps.

But there are advantages to Switzerland. Getting off the plane in Geneva Airport, we hopped on the train to Visp and from there took the bus up to car free Saas Fee. On the way up we were treated to Heidi-like views of traditional Swiss mountain homes and alpine meadows. Arriving at the bus terminal at the entrance to Saas Fee, the owner of the apartment we booked, picked us up

with his electric cart and brought us and our luggage up to the apartment. Remnants of snow could be seen throughout the village, but there was plenty of snow on the mountain and we could ski all the way down to the village at 1,800 meters. Our apartment was advertised as “ski in – ski out,” and this was basically true, although this late in the season we did have to walk a bit as the snow in the village was disappearing on a daily basis.

The configuration of lifts in Saas Fee is unlike most other alpine ski resorts. Three cable cars, take skiers up to the mid-stations where you connect with a underground funicular, which goes all the way up to the top at 3,500 meters. There are only two chair lifts where you can ski the lift line. Most of the skiing is up on the glacier at this time of year and there are T–bars wherever you look. A caveat for senior folk:, access to the cable car lifts and the funicular involves climbing and/or descending stairs while carrying skis and poles. It’s doable, but requires a deep breath and a slow but steady pace.

The skiing at Saas Fee is huge. The off-piste possibilities are almost unlimited and all within the ski area itself. Nearly all the marked runs are classified as “red,” which means advanced intermediate skiers can ski basically everywhere. The skiing is not difficult and the alpine views are spectacular. The pistes were groomed on a daily basis and we enjoyed winter conditions above 2,900 meters, and spring conditions lower down. There are four mountain restaurants including a revolving restaurant at 3,500 with unforgettable views in all directions.

While we were there, we had the opportunity to watch the annual Allalin amateur ski race, which starts at the top and finishes in town. The race course is a downhill course with vertical drop of 1,700 meters. Hundreds of men and women compete; with the fastest young skiers completing the race in 4 minutes plus and the older racers in their 50’s and 60’s getting down in 10 – 12 minutes. On the day after the race, I skied the top half of the piste with my granddaughter, who was into her second week as a skier. The long gentle sloping course was great for both of us as we cruised, each at his/her own pace, from the top down to the restaurant at the mid-station.

We enjoyed the skiing that Switzerland has to offer; the Swiss alpine atmosphere, good skiing conditions even in mid-April, the convenience of the Swiss rail system, the friendly Swiss folks, and of course the fondue, but we closed out the season with no bargains.