news article
A new era of snowshoe ministry at Skye Farm
March 13, 2025 / By Hannah Lasher, Skye Farm Camp & Retreat Center Assistant Director / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Getting people outside and connected to Creation during summer camp can be as simple as stepping out the door. Doing the same during a snowy Adirondack winter, however, requires a bit more gear. And now, thanks to the generosity of Burnt Hills UMC, Skye Farm Camp & Retreat Center once again has snowshoes for retreat guests to use to get outside and explore during the winter months.
Each fall, Burnt Hills UMC holds their Winter Sports Equipment & Ski Sale, an annual fundraiser and opportunity for community members to responsibly recycle used equipment. It’s an impressive operation, and the volunteers that make it happen are experts in sourcing and organizing the gear featured in the sale. This past October, the church held back a special collection of 25 pairs of new and used snowshoes to donate to Skye Farm.
Thanks to Burnt Hills UMC’s generosity, and the coordination of members Linda Noonan (long-time camp nurse at Skye Farm) and Greg Adams, Skye Farm has been able to start to bring back snowshoeing at winter retreats with modern equipment in a variety of sizes for kids and adults. The snowshoes got the most use so far this year during the Upper New 
York Young Adult Council’s winter retreat in February. Young adults from around the conference were able to spend time in fellowship and reflection, exploring Skye Farm’s trails and grounds.
Winter adventures with snowshoes have made meaningful memories for many in the Skye Farm community, and it’s a part of the culture of the camp that the staff are eager to revive. In the 1980s, Skye Farm led a series of winter camps for youth and adults that included snowshoe hikes in the High Peaks, winter camping and survival skill training, worship, and in later years, cross-country skiing to places like the old Santanoni Great Camp. Back in those days, Skye Farm winter campers mostly used wooden snowshoes laced with rawhide made by the Havlick Snowshoe Company in Gloversville, NY. With a larger footprint, a teardrop shape, and without the metal teeth of modern aluminum-framed 
snowshoes, they were great for deep snow and for glissading (doing a controlled slide down a steep snowy trail.) Winter camp leaders Harold Shippey and Joan Butler both fondly remember using the snowshoes in this way, almost like a snowboard or sled, sliding down the well-traveled trails from the summits of Cascade & Porter mountains.
Skye Farm still has several sets of these classic snowshoes, now upgraded to being meaningful decorations for the retreat lodges. The well-worn wood and now-brittle rawhide evoke memories like building mound houses in the snow, encountering a particularly nosy fisher cat in a snowy lean-to, eating birthday cake on top of a mountain, and learning, laughing, and worshiping together in the snow. With the new snowshoes from Burnt Hills, the possibility of future winter camps has opened back up for Skye Farm, with new memories just waiting to be made.