A couple of BKL skiers took advantage of early season snow in the Notch and a vacation day to get in a ski on Tuesday! With sunny skies and rising temperatures, we felt like we were in Colorado in mid-March! Above: Galen Kilburn (junior), Carly Trapeni, Virginia Cobb, Greta Kilburn, Coach Rosemary and Carolyn Siccama. Photo credit to Chris Trapeni. Also spotted along the trail were BKL’er Niko Cuneo, Coach Terence, Coach Adam, and a myriad of MNC Juniors.
Well, despite the beautiful fluffy snow falling outside right now, there was significantly less to work with last week. Luckily, Craftsbury came through yet again with a great 1.1k snowmaking loop that basically had it all…steep climb, moderate climb, twisting curves, and flat straightaways. We headed up there on Saturday and had our first ski on real tracks with good snow: and of course klister!
It was a small group but we had a really productive first ski, getting in some drills and laps of both no-pole and one-pole skiing. Everyone initially agreed the wax wasn’t perfect for kicking…but I held my ground and said that we needed to practice being okay with imperfect kick and striving to make the best of it as a way to learn and gain confidence. Aidan probably had it the worst as I threw him on a hardwax cover to make things as fast as I could…I think it was a good experience though!
Season off to a good start!
Pastry goodies from Sweet Simone’s on the car ride home! Photo by Aidan
With the snow on the ground and the season about to get underway for real, it’s time to announce our final schedule and signups for Race Trips and Camps! This year we’re going to have 2 mid-winter travel events with group options: a Race Trip to the first Eastern Cup in Fort Kent (December 15-17), and a Team Camp in Lake Placid (Jan 5-7).
Registration is open for these camps at 7:00pm tonight (Monday, 11/20). More information and registration for each can be found at their respective Events pages on the website calendar:
Finally…if you did not check out some of the opening FIS races this past weekend, they can all be seen in their entirety on Youtube. Both Gallivare and Beitostolen races are up. For those interested in distance racing all of the longer races are absolutely worth a watch, but for a quick fix of intense action be sure to watch both the women’s and men’s classic sprint finals from Beito. Big attacks in both races making for some good motivation 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eR44q28hak
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3O_LUUChL0
Tuesday: We will meet inside the Walker Building at the Range to get started. Most likely we will be on foot (wear your sneakers) and we will do some dryland ski drills and play lots of games. Dress in layers and bring a full water bottle.
Thursday: Wear your sneakers again and bring shorter classic poles that you can run with (the poles you used last year or the year before are probably about right). We’ll do some bounding and running with poles and play more games! Parents will attend the parent meeting which starts at 4:45 and we will all go until 5:30 on this day.
3-day Program Skiers: Tentative Plan: Saturday at Craftsbury, 10-11:30 on snow. Skate technique.
Present plans are to start Dec. 15. Watch this blogs for updates.
A big thank you to everyone who made the 2017 MNC Annual Meeting a success! From organizers and volunteers to potluck contributors and speakers, thanks so much. We had a great event with a run at Jim and JoAnn’s, a delicious potluck meal, presentations from MNC leaders and skiers, and a silent auction.
If you won a silent auction item, expect to either be contacted shortly or to receive your prize in the mail. Checks can be made to
MNC
PO Box 234
Underhill VT 05490
Kort doing a great job sharing all sorts of club info and goals! Looking forward to a busy and fun 17/18 season
Daylight savings hit us pretty hard this week when you take into account the lack of power that kept the Range in its tight grasp. The area right around the Range (read: my house) was out of power for over 6 days, and the Range fared even worse. A generator kept the lights in the Walker Building illuminated, but the lights on the trail were a no-go. That meant it was time to bust out the tiki torches we still had in the closet from last year’s Notch ski!
Luckily, we had a few more sessions during the daytime hours over the weekend, including a L4 bounding session at Honey Hollow with the St. Mikes team, and our first SKI of the year on Sunday at the Notch!
Hi-Viz bounding on the first day of hunting season
The gang atop a snowmaking pile at Smuggs
The bounding intervals were tough, and the higher up the road we went the more snow fell from the sky and graced the ground. Another good taste of burning iron and cold lungs from working hard in the chilly air! The ski we had on Sunday was also really productive as far as first-of-the-season skis on the Notch Road go. We did a bit of activation drills and then got in some specific strength V2ing up the entire Jeffersonville side of the road before having some fun practicing downhill skills and then adventuring over to the alpine trails at Smuggs to play on the snowmaking piles. Check out some footage below! Only one more week until Thanksgiving Camp and the snow guns are firing at Craftsbury!
Click through to check snow conditions at Tomasi Meadow in Underhill. Submitted by on-the-ground reports, as current as possible. Read More about “Snow Conditions”…
Our spring 2026 registration is open for Junior athletes! Click through to visit the info page, learn more, and register. Read More about “Spring”…
A piece sharing memories and photos of MNC’s dynamic and inspiring founder, Murray Banks, who passed in February 2026 Read More about “Tighten Your Boots: A Murray Banks Remembrance”…