Before there was the Academy. Before the podiums, Olympians, and state-of-the-art facilities there were a few wild souls with saws, skis, and a vision.
It was 1934 in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire. Snow blanketed Mount Tecumseh, untouched and unmarked. A small group of local skiers, dreamers really, looked up at that mountain and saw possibility. They didn’t wait for permission. They didn’t have lifts, snowcats, or even a clear plan. They strapped on wooden skis, threw axes over their shoulders, and began cutting trails by hand.
They called themselves the Black and Blue Trail Smashers, partly because the runs were narrow and raw, and partly because by day’s end, they were usually covered in bruises.
But they kept climbing.
They kept cutting.
And they kept skiing.
The Birth of a Culture
Those early trail smashers weren’t chasing medals. They were chasing something bigger: freedom, adventure, and the joy of skiing where no one had skied before. Every swing of the axe and every turn on long wooden skis laid the foundation for what would become a legacy. The mountain was their classroom, and the snow was their teacher. They learned courage in the cold. Patience in the climb. Joy in the fall. That spirit — raw, daring, unbreakable — is still the beating heart of WVABBTS today.
Tom Corcoran and a New Vision
Fast forward to the 1960s. The seeds the Trail Smashers had planted decades earlier began to grow under the leadership of Tom Corcoran, a two-time Olympian and visionary founder of Waterville Valley Resort. Tom’s dream was to create a mountain community that blended world-class skiing with family, education, and the timeless joy of the outdoors. A place where passion met purpose.
His belief in the Black and Blue Trail Smashers’ mission brought resources, structure, and vision to match the group’s raw enthusiasm. With Corcoran’s leadership, Waterville Valley became a hub for athletes, coaches, and families dedicated to excellence on and off the slopes. And then came the moment that changed American ski racing forever.
In 1969, Waterville Valley made history by hosting the first men’s FIS Alpine World Cup race ever held in the United States. The event put this small New Hampshire valley on the international map, established the mountain as a cornerstone of American ski racing, and set a new standard for excellence that continues to define us today.
From Trail Smashers to Trailblazers
With the world now watching, the spirit of the Trail Smashers only grew stronger. The club continued to nurture skiers who combined tenacity with technical mastery. It soon became clear that young athletes needed a place to pursue their dreams year-round without sacrificing academics.
That vision gave rise to Waterville Valley Academy in 1972. The Academy became the next evolution of the Black and Blue Trail Smashers, a winter and full-time snow sports academy where athletes could train, compete, and study at the highest level. It was a natural progression: the same grit that drove a handful of skiers to cut trails by hand now would fuel the growth of Olympians, national team members, and exceptional young leaders.
Same Spirit, New Era
Today, WVABBTS stands as a world-class snow sports academy and club that develops athletes for life. The Academy’s core values — Growth, Respect, Integrity, and Teamwork (GRIT) — are a direct descendant of the resilience the original Trail Smashers embodied on Mount Tecumseh. The axes may be gone, replaced by precision skis, airbags, and world-class training venues, but the mindset hasn’t changed. We’re still climbing, still pushing, still believing that excellence is built one turn, one fall, and one comeback at a time.
The Legacy Continues
The Black and Blue Trail Smashers didn’t just build trails. They built a legacy of courage and community. Tom Corcoran’s vision gave that legacy a home and generations of athletes have carried it forward.
At WVABBTS, every athlete who lines up at the top of a course and every student balancing academics and training carries that same DNA that started with a handful of wild dreamers in the woods. From axe swings to Alpine and Freestyle excellence, we’ve come a long way. But we’ll never forget who we are, where we started, or the bruised and beautiful journey that got us here. Because at the end of the day, we’re all still Trail Smashers just with sharper edges and bigger dreams.
