Over a four-decade career that began in the 1970’s Cary Adgate demonstrated athleticism, dedication and achievement at the highest levels of his sport as both an amateur and professional ski racer. This was in spite of growing up in the relative flatlands of Michigan.

As a child he virtually lived on a ski hill as his parents owned and operated Thunder Mountain near Boyne Falls. Even today Cary lives within a few miles of the old family ski area. However, when he started to race seriously in high school he was introduced to the disciplined coaching of Martin Burger who was part of the highly respected ski school at Boyne Mountain. Under his guidance and with the considerable encouragement of his parents, Cary became a top school boy racer and after winning National Junior Championship honors in 1971, he earned his way to a scholarship and place on Bill Marolt’s University of Colorado Ski Team. In 1972 Cary helped the Buffalos to the NCAA title and the following year, as a skier for the US Ski Team won the overall Can Am title.

From then until his retirement from the ski team following the 1980 Olympic Games, Cary Adgate would claim six US National championships, compete at two FIS World Championship and two Olympic Games. Although he never won a medal at World Cup or Olympic competition, he earned 5 top five placements and 14 top ten placements and for several years raced in the top seed in slalom and giant slalom. A chronic lower back injury finally forced his retirement in 1980.

A year later he found he was able to compete again and turned professional joining bob Beattie’s World Pro Racing Tour. He made history by winning his first two races as a rookie – the only skier to do so. He was named Rookie of the Year. During his nine-year pro career he won 25 races and was the top US Professional Skier in 1984.

In the 1990’s he settled in Boyne, Michigan to start a family and a business career. However, skiing was never far from his life as he became a skiing ambassador at Boyne Mountain and appeared in several Warren Miller films. He also returned to competitive ski racing and in 2005 was named by SKI magazine Master Skier of the Year. He says that in his position at Boyne and through his racing he is in a position to encourage older people to discover the new skiing techniques and to enjoy the slopes once again.

He has done promotional work to raise thousands of dollars for the U.S. Ski Team and also promoted the “Jimmy Heuga Express” to raise money for M.S. At Boyne Highlands he developed the concept of the “Ski Racing Summit” an off season event to help promote and advance the development of ski racing.