Almanack Contributor David Sommerstein

David Sommerstein is a North Country Public Radio reporter, farm and food blogger at The Dirt, and DJ host of The Beat Authority, airing the best grooves from all over the world every Friday, 3 to 5 pm.


Friday, February 13, 2015

Local Ski Hills: Goodnow Ski Area in Newcomb

newcomb ski hillIf you’re a skier below a certain age, you may not recognize the sound of an old T-bar lift. Even if you’ve used one before, until you get the hang of it, it’s easy to fall right on your butt. That’s what almost happened my first time in Newcomb. I hadn’t been on a T-bar since high school.

But the T-bar’s the only way to the top here at the Goodnow Ski Area. It’s about 200 vertical feet. There’s a wide main run, and a side woodsy run. And from the top, a beautiful pay-off – a view of the snowy High Peaks from the south. » Continue Reading.


Tuesday, May 20, 2014

David Sommerstein: Trains Carry Oil And Risk

Rail accident in Lac Megantic, Quebec in 2013 (Wikimedia photo)On a summer night last July, the charming French-Canadian town of Lac Megantic literally exploded. A tanker train carrying crude oil derailed and caught fire, incinerating much of the downtown and killing forty-seven people.

Other train explosions followed in Alabama and North Dakota. Now people are wondering if it could happen here in the Adirondacks.

Since the disaster in Lac Megantic—located 180 miles northeast of the Adirondack Park, in Quebec—officials in northern New York have taken notice that similar trains, up to a hundred tankers long and filled with eighty-five thousand barrels of oil, roar regularly through the Champlain Valley. Most of the oil is in tankers that federal regulators have deemed unsafe. » Continue Reading.



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