We had a great time up in Craftsbury last week during vacation! We previewed the BKL Festival courses, then went for a classic tour in excellent powder conditions. After lunch we took over the lower soccer field, did some team sprint relay races and then played a lot of sharks & minnows and everyone’s it tag. Beautiful weather, great conditions made for a very fun day!
Out for a tour on Ruthie’s Run.
Lots of kids and parents ready for some fun on skis!
It is going to be a little colder than the weekend and we are supposed to get some fresh snow in the afternoon into the evening.
It will be OLYMPIC GAMES DAY for Penguins! Other groups will be doing some classic touring by a majority vote (in the tradition of town meeting!)
WAX: If you skied at the Festival, please clean the wax off your skis. I am not sure if we will be on klister or hardwax but it is definitely going to be colder, so you don’t want that warm sticky wax on your skis!
Thursday, 3/08: Skate at the Range
It’s BKL OLYMPIC GAMES DAY! We will put everyone on a team and do some fun and not-so-traditional Olympic events!
Weekend Racers:
We are finished with our weekend practices for the season.
Although States is in full swing, with many MNC athletes racing fast and helping their HS teams compete against the rest of Vermont, we have in general a bit of breathing room between the end of Eastern Cup season and the start of the “postseason” (JNs, Easterns, U16s, etc).
The Juniors have been mixing it up a bit. It has been a really stressful winter of chasing snow, travelling all over New England (and the country) and racing hard. What have we been doing to keep it fresh?
Laser tag and arcade day at Spare Time
Before the final Eastern Cup we got some nerves out by competing for laser glory and points at the arcade. Not a bad way to spend a few hours when the weather is gloomy and you just can’t ski another lap around Sprint Loop at the Range..!
Niko and Jonah enter virtual reality to race each other
Not even a team’s worth of tickets could get us the best prizes
Did we get a few looks in the lift line? Possibly. But once everyone saw us absolutely tearing up the slopes on our skinny skis I think we probably will see some new faces at Mansfield Nordic next winter!
Rye and Geo with that hybrid nordie/piner style
Elsa, Paige, and Emma atop the big mountain in Richmond
Lo-Fi Stowe-Fi 2
Ok, maybe this is still just a regular ski day…but with actual fresh snow and cold temps, it was really nice to visit Trapps over the weekend and get in a long easy tour. We ran into a big group of fellow Nordic athletes, including Katharine Ogden and a few other Ford Sayre coaches/friends out for an AT ski, skinning up the Nordic trails after they emerged in Stowe coming off Mansfield. It reminded us of the big tour we took a few years ago when we started in Underhill and ended up…well, on the other side of Mansfield. Thank goodness for mapping apps on our smartphones I guess!
Anyway, it has now become tradition to take some video on the most beautiful Trapps day of each year in order to create the “LoFi Stowe-Fi” edit. This is the video you should be watching in July when the heat and humidity hit their peak!
You can help support Emma and Niko on their journey to Junior Nationals with the page below!
This is a big trip, and an expensive one, too. These two athletes have started a fundraising page to help collect support, and the MNC community can jump-in:
This is a family event! Parents are encouraged to ski with us as we will have all different abilities and speeds and only a few coaches. If you have never been to Craftsbury, you are in for a treat! Impeccable grooming and beautiful trails at an incredibly affordable price make the drive well worth it. Craftsbury Outdoor Center Website
Getting There: In google maps or your map ap, enter: Craftsbury Outdoor Center, Craftsbury Common, VT
Meeting Time: 10:00 outside the Activities Center.
Kick Wax: If you need kick wax, come early (9:30-9:45) and find me in the wax room.
Ending Time: It’s a little fluid. we will ski from 10- about 12, have lunch, change to skate skis and then and play some games and do some relays, probably ending about 2 or 2:30. You are welcome to stay as long as you want!
Technique: We will classic in the morning and change to skate in the afternoon.
Lunch: Bring lunch! They do sell hot drinks and snacks but they are not selling lunches at the Activities Center.
Tickets: Everyone who skis needs a pass or membership. Purchase them online HERE . It’s very affordable at $5 for kids and $10 for adults.
We had a great time up in Craftsbury last week during vacation! We previewed the BKL Festival courses, then went for a classic tour in excellent powder conditions. After lunch we took over the lower soccer field, did some team sprint relay races and then played a lot of sharks & minnows and everyone’s it tag. Beautiful weather, great conditions made for a very fun day!
