Jenkins Mountain

A Backcountry Skiing Blast in the Adirondacks

By Pete Nelson

Challenge yourself with exhilarating open woods skiing and help the Adirondack Park at the same time.

Are you an avid backcountry skier? Do you enjoy skinning up and descending deep Adirondack powder through beautiful forest? Then have I got a deal for you: the Jenkins Mountain Open Woods Ski Zone at Paul Smith’s College Visitor Interpretive Center, north of Saranac Lake. Designed by legendary backcountry skier and Adirondack Powder Ski Association founder, Ron Konowitz, the Jenkins Open Woods Ski Zone features three different marked trails that descend hundreds of vertical feet through a hardwood forest. Accessed via a skin track, the trails are laid out in a sweater weave, with steeps, ridges and gullies. 

These are not beginner trails: if you want to ski them you should be an advanced backcountry skier and know how to be safe and in control across a variety of terrain. But if you fit the bill, the Jenkins Open Woods Ski Zone provides all the pleasures and thrills of backcountry skiing on a formal trail system that has been carefully crafted and maintained for safety and fun. Bring a helmet, but there’s no need for an avalanche probe, beacon or shovel. 

“It has been an honor to build and maintain these Open Woods Backcountry Ski Trails on Jenkins Mountain for the Paul Smiths College VIC,” Ron said. “The most satisfying part has been seeing the smiling faces and hearing the positive comments and ‘thanks’ from the many students and visitors enjoying these ski trails.” As of mid-December, Ron has already prepared the trails and opened the zone. Paul Smith’s VIC is located in an area of the Adirondacks that gets above-average snowfall and the season is off to the best start for snow cover in years. With three different descending trails adding up to more than a mile of skiing, a full day of activity awaits.

One of the advantages of planning a visit to Jenkins is that it is part of the VIC, which offers a full array of winter activities for visitors. The VIC has more than 25 miles of groomed and ungroomed trails for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing, rental gear, a central lodge and a variety of events throughout the year. At the VIC, backcountry skiing can be part of an all-inclusive winter adventure. 

There is another unique feature to the Jenkins Mountain experience. When you ski in the Open Woods Ski Zone, you are helping advance protection of the Adirondack Park. The ski zone is monitored both for its recreational value and its effect on the ecology of the surrounding forest using a strategy known as Visitor User Management. VUM is not new, but it is mostly new to the Adirondacks. Because it is highly adaptive and measures visitor experiences as well as biological and physical conditions, VUM has been recommended by the NYS DEC as the best management approach to protect both the Adirondack and Catskill forest preserves. However, the state has relatively little experience with it. 

The Jenkins VUM project is intended to demonstrate its use and provide valuable data to the DEC to help them implement VUM successfully. When you ski Jenkins you will see signs with QR codes that allow you to take a short survey, provide information to the team that manages Jenkins and, ultimately, assist in protecting the Adirondacks. So not only will you have a great time, but you will help make the park a better place.

The Visitor Interpretive Center is located at 8023 NY Route 30 in Paul Smiths, 13 miles northwest of Saranac Lake. The Jenkins Mountain Open Woods Ski Zone is located about two miles from the parking area and can be accessed by skis or snowshoes along a groomed trail. Users of the Ski Zone should have helmets and split boards, telemark or alpine touring skis and full climbing skins. Snowshoes or Nordic skis are not allowed. All visitors must have a trail pass and sign a release of liability form, which can be obtained at the lodge, open daily from 9am-5pm near the parking area. The backcountry ski trails at Jenkins are not patrolled. 

For more info: paulsmithsvic.org/jms-ski-zone. Remember: safety first! And have a blast.

Pete Nelson (tearofclouds@gmail.com) is board chair of Adirondack Wilderness Advocates, which is dedicated to protecting and expanding the Adirondack Park’s wildest places. Pete has served on the DEC High Peaks Advisory Group and many other state and regional committees, and he’s a trustee of the Adirondack History Museum.