This season, we are excited to announce that the former Mt. Mansfield BKL group will merge into MNC, broadening the BKL offerings of the club and simplifying the Nordic options in our area.

As a result, a “Friday Foxes” program, which will primarily take place at Underhill Central School, will be added to our program menu in addition to the current Penguin, Jackrabbit and BK Race groups offered on by MNC on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Range.

The Friday Fox program is an introductory program for elementary- and middle school-aged skiers looking to learn the sport, have fun in an amazing setting and engage in the fundamentals of skiing. Many of the same leaders and volunteers that have been a part of the long-standing Friday tradition in Underhill will continue to be a part of the Friday Foxes group.

As a part of MNC, the Friday Foxes program registration will run through Mansfield Nordic’s online, PayPal-enabled sign-up system. All Friday Foxes participants will pay the same price as previous years for this program and will benefit from being part of the larger MNC club infrastructure.

Additional program details:

We are going to be skiing at Underhill Central School Fridays from 3:30-4:45 (later as the days grow longer).  As you know, our long time hosts, Donna and Bob Hamill, are moving toward retirement and as such need to reduce their commitments.  Our Friday ski program required a great deal of Donna’s time.  We wish Bob and Donna lots of fun with their kids and grand children!!

Below are a few important points to be aware of:

• We will ski primarily on UCS property and some immediately adjoining land
• We hope to offer a couple of “off-site” days that will include sites like The Range, Mills River Side Park and Casey’s Hill
• We will NOT be renting equipment this year.  The Hammil Training Center Committee will be selling the current stock of rental skis Oct 26 3:00-5:00 and Oct 30 4:00-5:00 if stock remains.  You may also seek-out rentals through NENSA www.nensa.net or The Alpine Shop.   Check for used equipment on our ‘Gear Swap’ page (tab on top of home page) at www.mansfieldnordic.org  . You can purchase at The Ski Rack, The Alpine Shop or at ski swaps.  
• Roy Dunphey will be coordinating Friday volunteers.  He will e-mail all of you at a later date. Volunteers will be needed for:
  • Leading children to their appropriate ski “groups”
  • Helping kids, especially our youngest skiers, if they need to get inside to warm-up
  • Hot Cocoa preparation and clean-up
  • Management of the indoor space at UCS.  The room location is TBD, but we will have access to a warm classroom to use in the fashion that we used the Hammil’s back porch.
  • Clean-up of that room at the end of skiing
  • Tidying of boy’s and girl’s bathrooms

• This is going to be a GREAT year, but we cannot succeed without volunteers – please help out!!
•  Sign up will be online through the  MNC website and will very closely resemble the program we have run at the Hamill’s for many years.