Happy Holidays and great news heading into 2021! We are able to re-start our programming under new
VT Guidance issued as part of section 9.1. If you have not done so yet, I encourage you to read that guidance so we all understand the steps and factors at play as we move toward in-person training with groups.
What this means in a nutshell is that we can resume training in groups of up to 25, provided we follow guidance of masks and distancing, along with pretty stringent training structures: we still can’t be hanging out in the parking lot, gathering trailside to chat and congregate, and forgetting our masks at home.
There is also a requirement that each of us fill out a health-screening form the days we attend practice. Think of this as “making your reservation” to come to training that day. This form is linked below: my suggestion is to bookmark it!
Now the part we’ve been waiting for: What will training look like? When do we start? I’ll keep this in more direct bullet-point form, with links and notes.
WHEN (GENERAL)
Training will resume officially on January 1st, 2020. The club is taking this next week to roll-out additional information because our club is not just a Junior group: there are a lot of moving parts and we want to be absolutely sure we have all the boxes checked with coaches, forms, locations, etc.
WHEN (SPECIFIC)
We will use a quick form to try and get a handle on schedules and class times for all Juniors.
Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 4-6pm are typically the “MNC Days” for athletes also doing high school skiing, and Bolton (see below) has confirmed that this timeframe can be set aside for the club when the area is open.
While groups of up to 25 are allowed, we will aim to have smaller groups when possible for a better coach:athlete ratio as well as safety. Much like summer training, I will go through the schedules and signups and put together an initial outline which each skier/family can review. With many of our athletes doing the 1-day/wk program, this may be as simple as dividing this group up between a Tuesday and Thursday group.
Even if you may only be skiing with MNC one day per week, please indicate any available times you have for morning or afternoon sessions in case we need to change plans, locations, or schedules in this wild world of current events!
WHERE
This is always tricky because we have a lot of Juniors coming from a lot of different towns. Bolton was always the intended “home” this winter, even before COVID derailed things. Thanks to the Range shutting out all civilians, we were already making these preparations early-on.
You can sign up for your Bolton season pass
here. The updates? We have our new (to us) snowmobile and groomer up on-site and have already used it a few times before this rain. You can check conditions updates on the Twitter page
here, and this page is also a feed right on the MNC homepage.
Bolton is still not officially “open”, and they say they will not open until they get a lot more snow. They did give MNC permission to train on the trails whenever we want (for free!) until they open, which is excellent. This means we can have night skiing any time we want! These are all great resources and flexibilities to have in this crazy year.
Sleepy Hollow is functioning with a time-slot reservation system for teams, so please stay tuned to the Junior Doc as we try to coordinate snowmaking access as needed.
SIGNUPS
The club paused signups after the initial shutdown back in November. That
registration page is now back open and I am talking with the MNC finance crew on the best step toward pro-rating the missed time this winter.
I will send another email when any adjustments have been made to pricing and how to use possible credit going forward for those that already signed up at the original pricing! Even if you don’t sign up for the program officially yet, please go ahead and fill out the scheduling form so the process of setting up weekly training can begin! Thanks-
-Adam
One final note on group training in general. Skiing as a group is a risk much greater than skiing alone or with a partner. Although WE may all be psyched to get together, the trails we ski on are all public places that others use as well. If I were an older skier and/or a skier with an underlying health condition, I would be quite frustrated (not to mention quite afraid) of my enjoyable outdoor experience becoming a health risk from a large group of young skiers whizzing by and skiing close.
Part of the difficulty of this virus is that it can’t be seen, and in Vermont we’ve had low cases compared to the rest of the country. This makes it easy to let caution slip, but keeping everyone healthy is built on both TRUST and RESPECT even if you yourself may not be in as much danger from COVID. Let’s always remember that when we’re out sharing the trails.
