We were just notified by the Range that due to the storm they have lost power, so we will have no lights (especially for Masters) this evening. We still plan to have practice, but bring your headlamps.
Skiing on THURSDAY 12/11/14
A mix of natural and manmade snow should provide us some nice skiing on Thursday. We are all looking forward to our first day on snow at the range. BK and Masters will skate ski. Make sure the travel wax is scraped off your skis and bring drinking water.
Please use caution on the roads getting to the range.
Co-op Photos and Recap
Thanks to Gary Solow for getting some excellent photos from our time-trial last weekend!
Last Saturday we hosted the first Central VT Nordic Co-op event of the winter: classic sprints at Breadloaf! Thanks to Mike Hussey and his crew at the ski center, the athletes had a ~600m loop of manmade snow that allowed us to put on an informal event. Athletes in attendance came from Middlebury College, Woodstock HS, GMVS, Middlebury HS, and Mansfield Nordic Club. Overall we had approximately 40 participants on a day that was a bit soggy. In spite of the non-stop wet snow falling, the conditions were actually very good with athletes either using klister (Rex OI + Swix Silver), or else using “zeroes”.
The goal of the Co-op events is to augment the Eastern Cup / High School race calendar with informal races that promote learning and gaining experience in a setting that is low stress, but still features competitive skiers. Many high school athletes never (or rarely) get to ski in the head-to-head sprint heats, so our Co-op event guaranteed that every participant would get to ski at least 2 heats. By the end of the day, most of the athletes actually skied 3 heats in addition to their qualifier. The Co-op events are coordinated by the coaches themselves (Justin Beckwith at GMVS, Cam Mackugler at Frost Mtn, Nick Mahood at Woodstock and Tim Weston at MNC). We are proud of the fact that these events are nearly always free. The only fee associated with our sprint race over the weekend was the nominal trail fee at Breadloaf.
MNC athletes did great although I was mostly busy organizing and timing. Below are some pictures of our MNC crew, and Gary Solow has another 70-80 photos available at this address:
Will Solow leads a pack of skiers including Kai Richter
Henry and Bill Harmeyer followed by Forrest Hamilton on the descent
Ben Carnahan on the 180* turn
Ethan John rounding the hairpin turn
RANGE SHUT DOWN TODAY
12/9/14 12:02 – Range Control has decided to shut down the facility for the afternoon so we will not be able to have ski practice today. Currently there is a mix of rain and snow falling at the range. In the long run this storm should gives us a nice base of snow to ski on – hopefully by Thursday.
BK – Please get outside on your own or with friends and get some physical exercise today!
Masters – If the roads are still in good shape for safe travel – lets ski the Notch Road at 6 PM. Go to the side closest to you and we can meet at the top. Please use your judgment about safer travel if the roads turn icy.
DUE TO THE LIKELIHOOD OF A MIXED PRECIP STORM TOMORROW – there is the possibility the Range Control will shut down the access road to the ski trails. At the moment there are piles of man-made snow that will be pushed out and groomed to make a 500 m skiable surface only if the storm starts out as snow and not rain. So please check the blog before heading to the range on Tuesday. We will post an update as soon as we hear from the head groomer and Range Control. Hopefully before noon. As always please use your own judgment regarding the safety of travel to ski practices. Keep your fingers crossed for all snow!
* * * * * *
Very good skiing at Craftsbury yesterday. No rain and about 4 inches of new snow!
TUESDAY – 12/9/14 –
Both BK and Masters – bring skate skis and shoes you can do some dry-land training in. It looks like we will have an out and back section of the trail to ski on as long as the temps stay below freezing. Snowmaking is underway. Don’t forget to bring your own water and be sure to check in the Walker Building for lost and found items.
THURSDAY – 12/11/14 –
Both BK and Masters – Plan on a similar format to Tuesday. As soon as we are sure of adequate snow coverage we will shoot for a 50/50 split with classic and skate techniques. So please keep checking the blog for updates incase we change the format for the day.
SATURDAY – 12/13/14 –
Both BK and Masters – weekend classic ski. Place and time TBD. Most likely Craftsbury but we are looking into alternatives.
LOOKING AHEAD
12/20-21/2014 SAT/SUN: EASTERN CUP AND BK RACES
Registration at http://www.fmneasterncup.com/
Schedule at https://www.nensa.net/page.php?id=6825
The MNC Juniors will be racing here along with a lot of top New England skiers – very fun to see! There will also be races for Masters and BK.
Saturday Interval Start
- 8:00 am Bib pick-up/Registration opens
- 8:00 am Course open for review
- 10:00 am U16 Boy’s 5k Classic
- 10:45 am Women’s/U16 Girl’s 5k Classic
- 11:00 am U16 Boy’s Podium
- 12:15 pm Men’s 10k Classic
- 12:30 pm Women’s/U16 Girl’s Podium
- 1:45 pm Men’s Podium (or as soon as results are ready)
Sunday Mass Start (no DOR registration except for Bill Koch race)
- 8:00 am Bib pick-up opens
- 8:00 am Course open for review
- *PLEASE NOTE: The course from the start line to the 1st bridge will be closed briefly for each race start.
9:00 am Bill Koch Freestyle Race – wave starts based on age and participant numbers – Lollipop, 1/2 & 3/4 1k, 5/6 & 7/8 2k. - 10:00 am U16 Girl’s 5k Freestyle
- 10:30 am Bill Koch Awards in the Barn
- 10:30 am U16 Boy’s 5k Freestyle
- 11:00 am Women’s 10k Freestyle
- 11:15 am U16 Girl’s and Boy’s Podium
- 12:00 pm Men’s 15k Freestyle
- 12:00 pm Women’s Podium
- 1:00 pm Men’s Podium
Skate technique footage
Excellent skate technique video compiled by US Ski Team coach Matt Whitcomb, including slow-mo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvVxg3mevzo
