Two prominent leaders in the cross country ski industry, Howie Wemyss and Al Jenks retired within the last year at Great Glen Trails and Windblown Cross Country in New Hampshire, respectively and they were recognized at the Ski New Hamphire organization’s recent annual meeting.
Howie Wemyss of Great Glen Trails
Ski NH’s Merrill Award was presented in 2021 to Howie Wemyss, who began his long tenure in New Hampshire’s travel and tourism industry when he became the general manager of the Mt. Washington Auto Road in 1988. However, it wasn’t until 1995 that Wemyss also became a leader in the ski industry as the general manager of the newly developed Great Glen Trails Outdoor Center, which has received recognition as one of the most successful XC ski area operations in North America.
Great Glen is a ski area that employs snowmaking to help present some innovative programming that has impacted the industry. The ski area has 45 km of trails used year-round with incredible views of the Presidential Mountains. Wemyss also ensured that the 2018-built Glen House Hotel, which sits on the Auto Road/Great Glen Trails property, incorporated technology that makes it nearly energy self-sufficient and carbon neutral. A host of other efficiency efforts implemented throughout the properties under Wemyss’ direction won them NH Energy Week’s 2021 Small Business Energy Champion of the Year.
According to a recent Tom Eastman story in the Conway Daily Sun, Wemyss has been in the area for nearly 40 years and is a trustee of the Mt. Washington Observatory. As the general manager of the Mt. Washington Auto Road since 1988, Wemyss introduced the track-equipped SnowCoach Tours that bring passengers up the road in the winter. He has been the general manager of the Great Glen Trails Outdoor Center since 1995 where the Nordic Meisters weekly race series was initiated and Bill Koch Ski League events are run for kids. He also served a number of terms as a board member and officer of the Cross Country Ski Areas Association.
The Al Merrill Award was established at SkiNH in memory of Al Merrill to recognize an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to cross country skiing in the state of New Hampshire. Al Merrill was an Olympic and United States Ski Association leader, and in New Hampshire he was Dartmouth College's cross country ski coach and Director of Outdoor Affairs for nearly 30 years. Past recipients of the Merrill Award include Thom Perkins, Chuck Broomhall, Cory Schwartz, Cami Thompson-Cardinelli, Len Johnson, Jim Wellinghurst, and John & Nancy Schlosser.
Al Jenks of Windblown Cross Country Skiing
Also recognized by SkiNH was Al Jenks, who founded and operated Windblown Cross Country Skiing in New Ipswich, NH. He retired and closed the ski area in March of 2020 after 48 years in business. Jenks, who received Ski NH’s Merrill Award in 2009 was recognized for bringing skiing to thousands of cross country skiers in the Monadnock region nearly five decades and for his diligent work to create an unmatched ski experience for his guests. Jenks was an early experimenter with snowmaking on cross country ski area trails.
In 1963, while in high school Jenks borrowed money from his grandfather to purchase a 400-acre lot from two neighbors in Ipswich. After attending college and serving in the military, Jenks returned to open Windblown in 1972.
He commented that “his area was one of the last remaining “mom and pop cross country ski areas” due to changing climate and tough economics for running a XC ski area.” The climate change issue is a tough reality for XC ski areas and Jenks referenced having to install more and more culverts on his land to drain the water runoff to protect his trails from being destroyed. The low snow levels and shortened winter season in southern New Hampshire also cut into his operation.
Jenks’ kindness and generosity were among the qualities that set him apart, and he was known in the industry for working with other XC ski centers in the state in a spirit of “friendly competition”.