Skip Beitzel

Some kids strive to get their driver”™s license on their 16^th birthday and hit the open road. Skip Beitzel had loftier pursuits.

On his 16^th birthday, he was flying through the wild blue yonder at 100 mph.

He was in a Cessna all by himself. It was the first time he got to go solo.

On his 17^th birthday, he got his private pilot”™s license.

Like father, like son for Beitzel, whose dad is a pilot; they take turns flying the family Beechcraft King Air, a twin-turboprop plane. Flying runs in the family; mom is a “pinch hitter,” someone familiar with flying the plane in case of an airborne emergency. And while it wasn”™t a prerequisite to marrying, Beitzel”™s wife, Michaela, is a pilot, obtaining her license just shortly into their marriage.

Beitzel is a self-effacing guy. Amazing, considering he”™s the owner of one of the pre-eminent ski shops in the nation ”“ SKI magazine has said so ”“ Hickory & Tweed on Main Street in Armonk.

Flying comes in handy for his other pursuit, skiing, of course. Beitzel was up on skis shortly after he could walk. A fundraiser for his alma mater, University of Vermont, Beitzel tries to make trips to the Burlington campus coincide so he can hit the slopes at nearby mountains.

And his other big sport is surfing. He”™s planning a trip down to Costa Rica with his three sons to ride the waves on the Pacific side of the country. He caught “the bug” for surfing as a youngster while on a trip to California with his dad. “Long boards rule!” was his reply as to choice of surfboards.

Beitzel says his dad, who learned to fly in the early 1960s, encouraged him, along with his brother and sister to fly. Beitzel was thumbing through Flying magazine when he was at Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua in the late ”™60s when he found a flying club for teens, and it was based in Westchester. The objective of Sky-Life Flying Club, Beitzel says, was “to solo on your 16^th birthday and get your private pilot”™s license on your 17^th birthday.”

He and the other members would attend ground school in Hartsdale and fly out of Westchester County Airport. There was also Sky-Life Camp, a summer haven for young flying enthusiasts nested in the Adirondacks near Great Sacandaga Lake. “The halcyon days of youth,” he recalls, straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. The airfield consisted of a grass strip and big, old barn atop of which was a makeshift control tower. The camp attendees slept in tents, went to ground school in a house on the property and flew Cessna 150s and 172s. During their free time they could sail or take part in other recreational pursuits.

 

Beitzel followed up with a multiengine rating and a commercial rating that would have enabled him to fly commercial flights if he so chose. During the summers he also surfed when he could at the New Jersey shore, near Ocean City. His other time was spent earning money with a part-time job at Hickory & Tweed, then owned by Jimmy Ross, who opened the business in 1961. After high school, Beitzel headed to the University of Vermont, working summers at the shop.

After graduating, Beitzel worked for the Young & Rubicam advertising agency on Madison Avenue in Manhattan as an account manager. Talking to Ross one day in 1985 about his job, “Jimmy said, ”˜Why don”™t you buy Hickory & Tweed and I”™ll move to Aspen?”™ I told Jimmy you”™re never going to sell.” Six months later Beitzel owned Hickory & Tweed and Ross was living in Colorado.

Outside the store, Beitzel has kept busy raising money for the University of Vermont and serving on the board of directors of the Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester in Mount Kisco for 10 years. This summer he takes over as president of the board, admitting he has a tough act to follow in Bonnie Trotta, who held the post some 15 years.

The Boys Club is where his three sons learned to swim. And while the two older ones have not expressed any interest in becoming pilots, there is still hope left for the youngest who enjoys being up in the cockpit.

Ever modest, Beitzel considers himself a lucky man on several counts; from his family to the store to being able to enjoy the pursuits he partakes in. Being part of the skiing industry, his business philosophy is: “I”™m a farmer, I look to the skies for my prosperity,” and for relaxation one might add.