August 08, 2019 (Cottage Grove, Oregon) – More than 40 years ago, Alan Bair, founder of Pacific Yurts, first saw the traditional Mongolian round-tent structure that would change his life. And he has never looked back.

“I came across a National Geographic article about circular shelters that had been used by nomadic herdsmen for thousands of years,” said Bair. “I was inspired by their intrinsic beauty, as well as the practical engineering of the structure, which has one of the most efficient surface-to-volume ratios ever created. After reading the article, I knew I wanted one of my own.”

So he did what most people probably wouldn’t do – he built his own. Before the days of social media, word of Bair’s bold new project started to spread the old-fashioned way – by a thing called a newspaper.

“I lived in this yurt while working on Oregon reforestation projects in the mid-’70s. When a local news article featured the yurt, calls and letters began to trickle in from people asking for help building their own,” Bair explained. “Suddenly, I found myself in a niche market for simple, affordable structures.”

Yurts are incredible versatile structures, which can be very simple or as luxurious as the imagination allows. They are light, fairly easy to construct and require minimal impact on the environment as there is no cement foundation or anything that can’t be taken up and removed when required.

In 1978, Pacific Yurts was launched, with a customer base almost exclusively in the Bair’s home state of Oregon. The first product was a simple, rustic yurt that was easy to construct, had handmade skylights and was fashioned out of marine canvas. But the company focused on product innovation, and it wasn’t long before more modern yurts took over.

“Since our inception, we have focused solely on the design and production of modern yurts, so our first product was essentially a simple, rustic version of what we produce today,” said Bair. “Over the past four decades, we have upgraded and refined the materials and construction methods that are used, as well as developed new features/options that can be added to the product.”

For instance, in 1988 Pacific Yurts started making good use of a reflective insulation developed by NASA. Turns out, NASA has some pretty smart people there, and the material made the structures much warmer and more versatile for use in different climates. A year later, snow and wind kits were added, as well as central-column upgrades that added professionally engineered snow- and wind-load ratings to current structural codes. Other advancements included window awning frames, tropical cupolas and efficient Low-E thermal-glass windows.

As a result, yurts can be found in a wide range of locales. For instance, there is a Pacific Yurts structure at the American embassy in Mongolia. And in Texas, one customer placed a yurt 35 feet up wrapped around a huge cypress tree.

“The entire yurt and exterior deck are completely supported by the tree, and the only way to get to it is a suspension bridge spanning from the nearby hillside, where a bathhouse has been built,” Bair said. “The customer utilizes the yurt as a very unique ‘treehouse’ accommodation. We had to design a couple of custom features for this interesting installation, but it is beautiful and provides them with steady rental income.”

Another boon to business and the growth of yurts in general happened when the company had a yurt on display at the Oregon State Fair. In the summer of 1993, one person was particularly interested in the novel structure and its potential for backcountry-camping accommodation. He happened to work for a state’s parks department that was in the throes of a financial crisis and on the lookout for new revenue streams.

“One thing led to another, and Oregon State Parks Department ended up installing two small yurts at a coastal location as a pilot program. Based on the popularity of those yurts and tremendous word of mouth, additional yurts were added to the system,” Bair explained. “Oregon State Parks currently has close to 200 Pacific Yurts in its system, and many other state park systems have followed suit by added Pacific Yurts of their own.” Now yurts of all shapes and sizes can be found in campgrounds across North America.

When asked for a few favourite yurt-forward getaway spots in the U.S., Bair suggested Treebones Resort in Big Sur, Calif. with 17 comfortable yurt rentals overlooking the beautiful Pacific Ocean, as well as Stay Nantahala in Topton, N.C., which has four 30-foot-diameter luxury yurts. He also cites Savage River Lodge in Frostburg, Md., where there are eight 30-foot yurts installed along a wooded hillside, each equipped with radiant floor heating in addition to a gas fireplace, cozy furniture and luxurious bathroom. Every yurt has a private deck to enjoy the relaxing views.

Bair started the company with the idea of bringing people closer to nature, so it is no surprise the environmental stewardship is a big part of the Pacific Yurts philosophy. As Bair explained, yurts are quite environmentally friendly in terms of resource efficiency. But there are many other ways the company strives to meet its environmental targets, according to Bair.

“Utilizing lumber harvested from carefully managed sustainable forests and choosing the appropriate grade and length of each component minimizes waste in our production,” he explained. “We also recycle sawdust and small wood trim to local gardeners and crafters, and a large portion of the electricity used in our manufacturing facilities comes from renewable wind power.”

Today, Pacific Yurts’ customers take advantage of the company’s seamless ordering system that begins with a standard yurt model in a range of sizes from 12 to 30 feet in diameter before choosing from a number of advanced options for walls, windows, insulation, doors, roof, for snow and wind conditions, as well as dome and centre-ring alternatives.

The versatility and beauty of the yurt is something that allows for its continued growth in the future.

“Many people are drawn to yurts because they can provide the strength and security of a site-built cabin, while also retaining a close connection with nature [similar to what] you’d experience in a tent,” says Bair. “You can hear wind blowing through overhead trees or other soothing sounds of nature, but remain comfortable in an insulated structure with modern conveniences.”

Just the facts
Pacific Yurts, Inc.
77456 Hwy 99 South
Cottage Grove, OR 97424
541.942.9435 x103
www.yurts.com

August 07, 2019 (Duluth, Minn.) – Sixty of the best U16 cross country athletes from around the country gathered at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn., recently to push to their athletic limits and beyond.

“I was blown away by the level of training, skiing, enthusiasm, and professionalism that I witnessed at the National U16 Cross Country Camp in Duluth,” noted former U.S. Cross Country Team member and two-time Olympian Ida Sargent, who participated in the camp as part of the Retired Stars Mentorship Program.

“These kids showed up at each session and activity excited and ready to go,” she added. “The super sweaty pain faces at the top of the uphill time trial, the serious amount of road rash during the skate sprint simulation, the controlled pace during the distance workouts, and the very insightful and inquisitive questions which I was asked constantly throughout the week were all signs that these kids were taking risks, pushing the limits, and improving together.”

In addition to Sargent, athletes were led by a number of college, association, and U.S. Ski & Snowboard coaches through a variety of workouts at the camp.

August 05, 2019 (Minnesota) – The veteran technician waded his way through a rack of Fischer skis, carefully looking at the base structure and testing the camber – looking for that perfect pair of cross country skis. It was a routine for which he has become quite an expert since being thrown into the fray a few years ago.

In the past two decades, Minnesota native Matt Liebsch has risen from the ranks of Minnesota High School cross country ski racing to become one of Central Cross Country Skiing’s most recognized figures. He’s had success as an athlete, working his way up to World Cup and World Championships teams, he’s become a highly-regarded ski guru, a successful coach, and all while balancing his own family of five.

Ironically, Liebsch started his athletic career as a hockey player at Osseo High School outside Minneapolis. It wasn’t until his sophomore year, at age 17, that he switched to cross country skiing.

“My girlfriend, now my wife, was on the team,” he laughed. “I didn’t even know what skiing was. But from the first day of practice I was hooked. Four days later I was racing.”

And he’s never looked back. Cross-country skiing and his family – he and wife MaryBeth have three kids – are his passion.

After high school, he kept with his adopted sport, training with the University of Minnesota and Piotr Bednarski’s GO! Training program. “I really learned a lot in that period,” said Liebsch.

Along the way, he caught the eye of CXC Coach Bryan Fish, who brought him on board with the CXC Elite Team in 2006. Then things really started to accelerate.

Read the full story here.

August 02, 2019 – Central Cross Country Skiing (CXC) names Dan LaBlanc as youth director. The position serves as a central resource to grow and support the Central Region youth cross country skiing community.

LaBlanc will be responsible for the management of the award-winning Nordic Rocks for Schools program, coordination of partnerships between schools and clubs and assisting communities in supporting and starting new youth programs.

Dan brings an extensive career resume to CXC including over 30 years experience in business management including ownership of Kettle Moraine Adventure Company in Jefferson, Wis. He has experience as a coach or instructor in a wide range of youth sports, including cross country skiing with the Peak Nordic Ski Club in Delafield, Wis., alpine skiing, mountain biking and youth soccer.

LaBlanc has extensive certification as a Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) cross country instructor including level 3 and National Academy. He skied his first American Birkebeiner in 1981.

“I’ve been an avid skier for many years and for the past decade my focus has turned to teaching,” said LaBlanc. “Now, my greatest joy comes from helping people of all ages fall in love with skiing and the healthy lifestyle it brings. When I see the smile on a new skier’s face, or the joy a veteran has when they master a new skill, it warms my heart.”

August 01, 2019 (Lincoln, MA) – Olympic Gold Medalist Jessie Diggins, along with other Olympians and members of the SMST2 Elite Team will travel to Lincoln, MA for a three hour training session with members of the Eastern Mass Bill Koch (EMBK) league and the Cambridge Sport Union (CSU) junior cross country ski athletes on Monday, August 5. The training will include both roller skiing and dryland activities.

The EMBK and CSU are both Boston area clubs dedicated to introducing area youth to the joys of cross country skiing and racing. 50-70 youth are expected to attend.

“The Stratton Mountain School/T2 skiers are a remarkable bunch, not simply because of their domestic and international success skiing”, said Mark Doughty, event host, EMBK coach & Principal at Thoughtforms. “Their commitment to engage and inspire the next generation is a meaningful example of ‘giving back’ when you consider how much time they spend training and the five months each year they spend in Europe competing on the World Cup.”

Joining Diggins for the training session will be 2X Olympians Sophie Caldwell, and Simi Hamilton along with rising star and U.S. Ski Team member Julia Kern of Waltham, MA, and Kyle Bratrud, Ben Saxton, and Ian Torchia. All are members of the SMST2 Elite Team, an elite cross country ski team based out of Stratton Mountain, Vermont.

For the training session, the junior athletes will be split into two groups with the younger group doing more dryland and agility games and the older group spending more time on roller skis. The tentative schedule is as follows:
· 4p-4:45p: roller ski w/U14 EMBK kids
· 5-6p: 2 groups
– Group 1 dryland/games with EMBK
– Group 2 roller ski with CSU
· 6-7p: Q&A/autographs with EMBK/CSU

Groups will depart from a local residence at 5 Farrar Road, Lincoln, MA. There will be media opportunities for interviews, pictures and video. Quotes and images can be provided upon request.

July 31, 2019 (Mont-Tremblant, QC) – By the start of Tremblant’s next slide season, skiers and riders are sure to enjoy a number of on-mountain and pedestrian village upgrades, owing to yet another major investment.

$14.1 M On-Mountain & Pedestrian Village Investment
– $10.3 M on-mountain investment: Versant Soleil snowmaking upgrades, the acquisition of 2 grooming machines, Phase II of renovations on le Grand Manitou summit chalet, and the arrival of a new on-mountain mobile food truck;
– $3.8 M investment on Aquaclub la Source complex: Guests will live a refreshed experience featuring 4 new water slides, 35 interactive games, a renovated welcome area, change rooms and fitness centre.

Other Pedestrian Village Upgrades
– $2 M investment on lodging units and common areas at the Homewood Suites by Hilton hotel complex;
– Major renovations at La Forge Bistro-Bar & Grill featuring a reinvented central Bistro-Bar, new wine cellar and expansion of the Steakhouse patio so more visitors can enjoy resort festivities on Place Saint-Bernard;
– Expansion of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory to offer a wider range of products;
– New virtual reality games including car racing simulators, an award-winning educational adventure and two interactive experiences based on the Spider Man movie;
– New executive chef at the Fairmont Tremblant.

… and Must-Attend Events
– December: 24h Tremblant, Holiday Season Celebrations, New Year’s Eve Party;
– January: FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup, Elevation Tremblant;
– February: Festival Rando Alpine;
– March: School Break Activities;
– April: Caribou Cup, Easter Celebrations

For more information, visit here.

July 24, 2019 – Congratulations to University Laval Rouge et Or team coach Godefroy Bilodeau who recently completed his level 5 NCCP certification in cross country skiing. The first ever! Godefroy obtained his level 4 certification in 2012 when he was a coach with the Pierre Harvey National Training Centre and completed most remaining level 5 tasks in the following years.

Although previous NCCP level 4-5 tasks have stopped being credited since December 2016, Nordiq Canada and the Coaching Association of Canada gladly accepted to credit Godefroy with the only task he was missing among the 20 that are necessary for level 5 certification, following the successful completion of that task recently.

The Rouge et Or team can now brag that they have the highest certified coach in the country! Best of luck with your team this season.

July 23, 2019 – There is perhaps no more fitting honor to acknowledge Sverre Caldwell’s contribution to the US Skiing than to be recognized with an award that is named after his father. This award annually recognizes a single individual, or entity, which embodies the spirit, dedication, innovation and pride in our Nordic community that the founder of NENSA exhibited.

Sverre grew up in Putney while his father was crafting the Cross-Country Ski Book, coaching the US Ski Team, teaching at the Putney School and raising a family with his wife Hep. John describes his sons arrival to coaching, “Sver loved sports from day one,” and found challenge growing up as the middle brother of four exceptionally athletic siblings. “And so the question is, how did Sver survive in this atmosphere? I dunno, but Hep and I paid a lot of attention to all our kids and maybe it paid off.”

“Somehow, Sver was always the most organized, the most with-it, and the most accommodating! And it’s clear to me, at least, that he carried these characteristics over into his coaching.”

And did he ever – it would be nearly impossible to list the athletes and coaches Sverre Caldwell has influenced over forty years of coaching at the Stratton Mountain School – quite simply because he has directly mentored or worked with skiers from all corners of the United States. Rick Kapala, the Director of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Nordic Program describes Sverre and the Stratton Mountain School as the “Gold Standard,” that other programs measure their success against. Kapala goes on to say, “as I was beginning my coaching I would read John’s books cover to cover – and how was I supposed to compete with the Sverre who was literally in the book!” The professionalism of US coaching was effectively established on the shoulders of Sverre and the coaches of his generation. It was the friendly competition between programs like Sun Valley and Stratton that created the environment of greatness we see today in US Skiing.

Stratton and US Ski Team alum, Andrew Newell, was mentored by Sverre and now carries his own coaching torch with his start-up program, Nordic Team Solutions. “Sverre’s coaching style is perfect for young athletes… always upbeat and consistent in demeanor he always strikes a balance between pushing you incredibly hard while still keeping it fun. The perfect combination. He always understood the value of a cohesive team, and how we can all improve by pushing one another. He’s one of the easiest people to talk to, I think as athletes we’ve all strived to make him proud.”

The inclusive culture Caldwell developed during his forty years at the Stratton Mountain School (SMS) produced tens of Olympians and National Champions as well as inspiring the next generation of coaches and program leaders. Sverre always said he wouldn’t retire until we won an Olympic Gold medal – it might have taken a few years longer than he wanted – but that box was checked when Jesse Diggins (SMS T2) and Kikkan Randall (APU) struck gold in PyeongChang, South Korea. Of course there are many other statistics that a program needs to meet before the highest stage. For the past 24 years, the SMS program has boasted at least one Junior National Champion and at least one member of the US Junior World Championship Team per year. Attending SMS Bill Koch and Junior Camps is a rite of passage for many athletes from New England, New York and beyond – it often serves as a launching pad for these campers, either by inspiring them to train harder when they go home or deciding that the environment at Stratton is the perfect place to spend a few years in their training pursuits.

As Sverre moves aside from his position at the helm of the SMS Nordic Program, he leaves behind a legacy of one of the finest junior programs in the world. Caldwell is also responsible for creating and securing the funding needed to support the Stratton T2 Elite Team – the success of this program is undeniable with both US Ski Team athletes and coaches taking up residence during the summer months in Southern Vermont. Like his father Sverre has nurtured his own exceptional family including Sophie, who is respected as one of the top sprinters in the world along with twins, Isabel and Austin – Isabel currently teaches at the Burr & Burton Outdoor Program where she mentors youth in the classroom and coaches their ski team in the winter – Austin recently took the assistant coaching position at the University of Colorado after a tenure at the Bridger Ski Foundation. Perhaps Sverre’s best attribute is how he balances his passion for cross country skiing while being a loving father and husband – in the past few years he and his wife Lilly have traveled the world both recreationally and also to watch their children and current and former athletes compete on the international stage.

The world is simply a better place because of the mark the Sverre Caldwell has left on hundreds of exceptional human beings – luckily for US Skiing he continues to share his expertise and inspiration via local training groups (that include international stars), outreach to coaches and work on NENSA committees.

Matt Boobar, the current Nordic Program Director at SMS leaves us with this: “Sverre touched so many in skiing and beyond. While the performances on snow speak for themselves it was Sverre’s overall approach to each student athlete as an entire person that really speaks volumes. He fully embraced the part of SMS’s mission to help create and establish strong personal values. He proves that nice people do finish first! While Sverre is retired from his full-time responsibilities at Stratton Mountain School he will continue to promote and build nordic skiing at all levels. Sverre is clearly a deserving recipient of any award in Nordic skiing, even the one named after his dad!”

July 22, 2019 (Canmore, AB) – The Alberta World Cup Society (AWCS) just completed a successful pre-World Cup site visit by FIS (Fédération Internationale de Ski), accompanied by FIS Marketing AG and Double Black Diamond – the TV producer engaged by the Alberta World Cup Society.

“We are very pleased with the preparation from the Organizing Committee for the FIS Cross-Country World Cup Season Finale in Canmore and are looking forward to March 2020. The entire team around Greg Thompson did a great job and we feel very confident to see excellent competitions including the first ever mixed relay as well as great events around the competitions at the Canmore Nordic Center,” said Sandra Spitz, Event Coordinator Cross Country, FIS.

“Our Organizing and Competition Committees were well prepared to present our race plans to the FIS officials. The advance work done by our teams meant that we anticipated many of the FIS questions and I believe we’ve passed this test with flying colours,” commented Greg Thompson, Chairman Organizing Committee, AWCS.

The AWCS has been working on this world cup for the past three years and we are excited to look ahead to hosting yet another great set of FIS World Cup Cross-Country Ski races at the Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park. With the continued support of our community, businesses, volunteers, sponsors and the municipal, provincial and federal governments, we look forward to hosting a first-class event including numerous community activities.

The 2020 Season Finale will feature the first ever mixed relay race on Sunday, March 22, 2020. This ground-breaking event will be televised around the world and will feature 2-women and 2-men per nation racing in both classic and skating technique. It will make for exciting racing, great television and a most wonderful way to finish the 2019/20 Cross Country FIS World Cup season. The Crystal Globes trophies will be awarded at this event to recognize the Best Distance skier M/F, Best Overall skier M/F and Nations Cup for the season.

The AWCS has held Cross Country Skiing World Cup events at the world-class Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park since 2005. “We have an excellent track record of bringing World Cup Cross-Country Ski events to Canmore, having held 5 FIS World Cups and 2 Para-Nordic World Cups since the2005 Alberta Centennial World Cup. Our facilities continue to be among the best in the world and we appreciate the hard work done by the Canmore Nordic Centre Provincial Park staff working with our event team to achieve the highest international standard of hosting excellence,” said Norbert Meier, Events Chair, AWCS.

For more information visit here.

July 20, 2019 (Fayston, VT) – On August 3rd in Fayston, Vermont: NENSA, High Peaks Cyclery, and the Central Vermont Co-Op are happy to host the tenth addition of the App Gap Challenge, kicking off the High Peaks Cyclery Rollerski Series p/b SkiTrax.

Registration is limited to the first 300 registrants, attendees will experience a true XC mountain festival including live music. Beverages donated by Lawson’s Finest Liquids featuring the App Gap Saison as well as delicious BBQ and food provided by Mad River Glen. There couldn’t be a better reason to head to the gap.

Competitors will ski a pursuit format, starting with skate, and transitioning to classic mid course at the parking lot of Mad River Glen, before making the push to the top. Come and try and break the course record for $100 cash or challenge yourself to a spectacular ski up the eastern slope of the Green Mountains.

There will be Day of Race Registration at Mad River Glen from 8 to 8:30 as space permits. Online registration closes on August 1st at 5pm. Course inspection and transition set-up immediately following completed registration. 9:25am and 9:30am start.

The field size will be limited to the first 300 registrants. Running a safe event is our #1 goal. The event is permitted to close the westbound lane of traffic – competitors must respect this closure at all times. Helmets required. Further race day instructions will be made available to you after registration.

Spectators and fans are encouraged to join in the fun by parking in the Mad River Glen parking lot and enjoy on foot. Watch the races, have a saison, some great BBQ and listen to some sweet tunes provided by local favorite Sabouyouma.

Register today.

July 17, 2019 (France) – Led by Susan Dunklee, Clare Egan and US Coach Armin Auchentaller, this July meant one thing to the seven women on the US Biathlon Team: a three-week long European camp starting with 10 days in Correncon-en-Vercors, France followed by 10 days in Antholz.

Breakfast, Rollerski Out the Door
It is 7:30 am, just 72 hours after a 16 hour trip from the USA and everyone is eating fresh baguettes, yogurt, fruit, and cereal on long communal tables at Zecamp, the new training camp hotel run by retired French star Marie Dorin Habert and her husband Lois. The talk level is low; everyone is still a bit jet lagged, feeling a few aches and pains from the previous evening with two hours of strength training in the hotel gym. At 8:30, everyone heads out onto the rollerski track that starts at the front door, taking them 800 meters to the Espace Biathlon stadium, surrounded by open fields, forest and a golf course.

Way of Life
The routine is nothing new for most of this group. It is the training camp way of life: up early, eat, train for 2-3 hours, lunch, rest, massage, train again 1-2 hours, eat, dry firing, massage sleep, repeat and repeat again. This camp is transitional: most of the last 2 month’s focus had been on building aerobic base and accuracy shooting. Now real biathlon starts with combo (interval) training with roller skiing and shooting. US Coach Armin Auchentaller explained, “We started this camp with volume; a long hike up in the mountains and classic skiing after the long trip. Now we begin combo training with low intensity. Towards the end of this camp, the intensity will go up. We will have several high intensity skiing and shooting days plus a time trial.”

Drills and Pushups
After the hiking and classic roller skiing, the team broke out the skating skis for this first intensity session. After 30 minutes of warm-up skiing and zeroing. The coach outlined the training, posting a written version on the ground next to the rifle racks. Auchentaller’s style of coaching is very interactive and personal; always teaching and advising. Before starting the shooting drills, he tells the group. “I want you to shoot 20 shots, prone or standing. Before we start, I want you to tell me what you are going to focus on.” Polling the group, the answers come. “I want to keep my rifle tighter on my hip in standing…Steady cadence…Solid in prone before shooting.” Before the last five shots, he adds, “The person with the most misses does 20 pushups.” No sooner than the last shot is fired, the numbers fly, “20, 19, 18, 18, 17, 17…and 15;’ Susan Dunklee without hesitation is on the mat doing push-ups.”

Read more here.

July 16, 2019 (Park City, UT) – Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation (UOLF) announces the hiring of Luke Bodensteiner as the new General Manager of Soldier Hollow & Chief of Sport Development. This position combines both the role of the currently vacant GM of Soldier Hollow Nordic Center position along with a desired “reinvestment” effort toward UOLF’s ongoing sport development interests.

Bodensteiner will oversee all aspects of the daily operation of the Nordic venue in the Heber Valley – from public programming to sport offerings in Nordic skiing and biathlon. The Soldier Hollow Nordic Center was added to the UOLF’s operational oversight in 2016. Since joining the UOLF family of venues, Soldier Hollow has hosted the IBU Biathlon World Cup – the venue’s first Biathlon World Cup since 2001 – and has undergone an uptick in venue improvements thanks to the State of Utah’s support.

In addition to the General Manager role, Bodensteiner will also be taking on an equally important role of sport development for the UOLF.

Recognizing the importance of sport development for both the foundation and the state of Utah, UOLF created its first sport development initiative in 2007 to address desires for increased sport participation and improved quality of winter sport program offerings. A key goal for UOLF in 2007 was to significantly expand participation by Utahns of all ages and abilities in winter sport. With prudent investment by UOLF from 2007-2012, its sport programs have become four times busier today than just after the 2002 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games. That said, UOLF views a second phase effort is needed to further advance its sport programming and benefits derived from a well thought out next initiative. Utah has developed a very unique approach to venue uses that values world-class facilities, world-class sport programs and vibrant community uses of its venues. The organization, with Bodensteiner’s day-to-day leadership, will now further advance those sport development efforts.

Luke has a long history with Olympic winter sport in Utah, as an NCAA champion and Olympian at the University of Utah, a member of the Board of Trustees for the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Organizing Committee, a founder of the Soldier Hollow legacy venue, and a longtime member and most recent Chairman of the Board of the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, during which time he worked closely with CEO Colin Hilton to initiate the UOLF’s first phase sport development initiative.

“Utah’s winter sport athletes and stakeholder’s just got a second big investment toward their short and long-term goals,” said Colin Hilton, UOLF CEO & President. “I am super excited to see Luke bring his passion to our next step efforts, advancing a vibrant ‘Living Legacy’ of quality sport programs. We have shown the world that sport programs can be both pathways to develop active healthy lifestyles as well as be a progression for those that aspire to be the best they can be in winter sport. Luke will now work with our team and numerous winter sport stakeholders as we develop a next 10 year vision for how we refine those efforts.”

“Soldier Hollow Nordic Center is in a position of tremendous opportunity from both a public and sport perspective,” said Calum Clark, UOLF’s Chief Operating Officer. “Luke’s extensive history in Nordic sports, the Soldier Hollow Nordic Center and the wider Utah community puts him in the perfect position to leverage the momentum of past success and elevate the programs and services hosted at this historic Olympic and Paralympic venue.”

“I’m thrilled to be joining an organization that’s accomplishing so much in Olympic and Paralympic sport, and which has established such a unique and powerful legacy,” said Luke Bodensteiner. “I feel very fortunate to be joining the effort at a time when the UOLF is moving aggressively to establish a leading edge winter sport culture in Utah, for the benefit of our communities, our youth, and our state’s long-term ambitions in winter sport.”

Luke Bodensteiner joins the UOLF from his previous role as the Chief of Sport of U.S. Ski & Snowboard where he led the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Teams, the national training and education Center of Excellence in Park City, Utah, its sport science and medical programs, coach education and club development, athlete identification and development, athlete career and education programming, and club-level competition and ranking systems. Prior to joining U.S. Ski & Snowboard, Luke was a cross-country racer for the U.S. Ski Team, competing in the Olympics in 1992 and 1994.

To learn more about Utah’s Olympic Legacy, please visit here.

July 10, 2019 (China) – A total of 58 women and 69 men from 14 competing nations launched the FIS Roller Ski World Cup summer in style in Beijing (CHN), among them FIS Cross-Country World Cup winner and Norwegian superstar Johannes Hosfløt Klæbo (NOR).

Temperatures soared during the first event, a 1500m sprint in free technique, but Linn Sömskar (SWE) and Klæbo (NOR) remained cool to take their first victories. Anikken Gjerde Alnæs (NOR) and Moa Olsson (SWE) raced to second and third place on the women’s side and Ragnar Bragvin Andresen (NOR) and Aleksander Dyrberg Ek (NOR) took second and third on the men’s side.

The second day, the event featured the 200-metre super sprint in cooler and overcast conditions. However, right on time for the semi-finals, a strong rainstorm hit the field. Nevertheless, it was Klæbo and Sömskar who took the top spots again. Norway’s Jostein Olafsen and Julie Henriette Arnesen recorded the fastest time in qualifying.

The event at the famous Beijing Olympic Park, the first staging of a FIS Roller Ski World Cup in China, concluded with a 15 / 20 km Mass Start race on the third day. Sömskar made it three out of three by beating Anikken Gjerde Alnæs (NOR) and Alena Prochazkova (SVK) to the victory, while the men’s race had a very exciting sprint the finish resulting in the first Chinese winner with Qiang Wang, who shared the winning time with Ragnar Bragvin Andresen (NOR) and Victor Gustafsson (SWE), all finishing in exactly 51:28.5.

The first day of competition was watched by 9 million viewers on Beijing TV and reached a market share of 3%.

Ding Dong, Deputy Director of the Winter Sports Administrative Centre at the General Administration of Sport of China, called it a rare opportunity to organise such a high-level roller ski event at home. “It is important for us to run competitions combining professional events with public participation, so that the general public can enjoy the arena. This will encourage more people to develop an interest in roller skiing and winter sports,” said Dong.

FIS Secretary General Sarah Lewis was also on location to witness the event. She added: The first FIS Roller Ski World Cup in China has been a resounding success and another important milestone for building experience in preparing for the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. The organisation was first class and the interest in China is growing with each international event. The Chinese Ski Association are working very hard to develop their athletes too and this first victory and a number of strong placings in the races shows they are heading in the right direction”

July 09, 2019 (Wisconsin) – The Slumberland American Birkebeiner is North America’s largest cross-country ski race and the first American event to enter the world of Visma Ski Classics. The new Visma Ski Classics Challengers concept was launched earlier in April this year as a common platform in order to connect and promote long distance skiing events worldwide.

The Slumberland American Birkebeiner spans 50 kilometers from Cable to Hayward, Wisconsin USA. To date, over 250.000 skiers have finished Birkie ski events and approximately 40.000 spectators and skiers gather each February in the area for the Nordic sports festivities and in celebration of the determination and perseverance of the Birkebeiner warriors.

“We are extremely excited to join the family of races that make up the Challenger Series in Visma Ski Classics. The American Birkebeiner is North America’s largest ski race and one of the greatest finishes for a popular ski marathon. As skiers near the finish line, they make their way over the American Birkebeiner International Bridge and finish in the heart of Hayward, Wisconsin. Some of the best marathon racers from around the world will test themselves on the world renowned Birkie Trail as they fight for nearly $50,000 in prize money. We look forward to hosting the Visma Ski Classics Skiers and Challenger participants!” said Ben Popp, Executive Director, American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation.

“American Birkebeiner is one of the largest ski races in the world, and we are very proud to have them as a part of Visma Ski Classics. The idea behind the new Challengers concept is being able to create one world of long distance skiing. And having American events is of most importance, hopefully it will over time make more skiers traveling overseas in both directions to get new ski experiences, making the sport grow.” says CEO Visma Ski Classics David Nilsson.

EVENT INFORMATION

• Event date: February 22, 2020
• Place: Hayward, WI
• Country: USA
• Type of race: Cross Country Skiing Event
• Technique: Freestyle
• Race distance: 50km
• Registration fee (Euro): 125
• Number of active years: 46
• Number of participants: 10.600
• Website address: www.birkie.com
• Instagram url: http://instagram.com/americanbirkebeiner
• Facebook url: https://www.facebook.com/pages/American-Birkebeiner-Ski-Foundation/70518401172?ref=hl
• Twitter url: https://mobile.twitter.com/birkie
• Registration website: https://www.birkie.com/ski/events/birkie/#registration

To see more events of Visma Ski Classics Season X go to www.vismaskiclassics.com

July 06, 2019 – NENSA is thrilled to announce Pennie Rand as the 2019 recipient of the Chummy Broomhall Award.  This award honors Chummy, who was the Chisholm Ski Club leader for nearly 70 years, a two-time Olympian, and a builder of the race courses for Squaw Valley, Lake Placid and Black Mountain.  He embodied the spirit of being a volunteer as he was a man who gave his time to generations. NENSA proudly presents this annual award to honor the unsung heroes of ski racing.  

This year NENSA would like to honor Pennie Rand, of Richmond VT, for her limitless enthusiasm for our sport of cross country skiing, and her support to our NENSA programing and athletes, of every age.

Pennie infuses enthusiasm with everything she does – from founding and organizing five editions of the exciting Cochran’s Nordic Ski Cross, to making wild flower crowns for the winners of the annual App Gap Challenge rollerski race (and serving on the timing crew), to attending countless NENSA, EISA, and community events — LL Bean Adirondack pack on her back, camera in hand, and cheering as loudly as she can for each and every competitor!  

Eli Enman of Sleepy Hollow has this to say about Pennie: “When I think of Pennie and the Nordic Ski Cross, I just think of all her energy, and love of skiing come bubbling through.  She’s a great organizer, and she is awesome at pulling people in to volunteer to put on the most fun race possible.  It’s also worth noting that the ski cross race is a sort of cross discipline event, with both Nordic and Alpine parts.  This is reflected in her joy of all things skiing – with Pennie it’s all about getting outside on any type of equipment to enjoy winter.   In short, she makes skiing fun and it’s impossible not to get caught up in her enthusiasm for the sport.”

Pennie is a native Vermonter from Middlebury and was the Vermont Skimeister Champion in both 1980 and 1981. She is a certified Nordic instructor and has led ski tours to Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and Iceland.  She is an alum of the University of New Hampshire where she was on the Nordic Team. Fitting of her well-roundedness, her daughters, Karin and Annavitte have competed both as Alpine and Nordic skiers — and it’s fair to say their “best day” is skiing together as a family with dad, Matt, in the woods where there is a combination of covering some serious ground and catching powdery schusses along the way!

In the 1990s, Rand was executive director of the Catamount Trail Association. She is a freelance photographer and an Alpine ski coach and starter for Cochran’s Ski Club. In 2014 she served as director of operations at the Vermont Ski Museum in Stowe VT. Currently Pennie assists Molly Peters coaching the St. Michaels’s College ski team.

Pennie stared the Cochran’s Ski Cross seven years ago as an end of season event — the once local race, has now grown to become a regional phenomenon that draws a diverse field with top collegiate and club racers (including National and International Champions), juniors, masters and local legends of both XC and Alpine skiing.  This past April, registration was closed after 200 athletes signed up!  

While the Cochran’s event is a celebration of the season and the skiing community there is no doubt that skiing skills and racer mentality are being learned by all the competitors.  Many chose to wear costumes to disguise their intents – but it’s fair to say all the racers give it their all in search of bragging rights or just to push their personal boundaries!  And the woman behind this fun phenomenon is Pennie, who is right there in the thick of the action, making sure the event is top notch — starting the race all while while cheering for everyone (and laughing in her signature belly laugh)!  

Adam Terko of Mansfield Nordic on Nordic Cross 2019, “The hype was real! And the participation and engagement for this type of sport is a big box you can check on the list of ‘why New England is the strongest region in the country.’ It’s not just our awesome access to trails, clubs, competition, and resources. It’s local events like this where community members like Pennie have a vision and are willing to put it all together to make something like this happen…and the ski community that comes out to shred when it happens!”

Our hats are off to Pennie Rand for helping push the level of skiing forward, and NENSA thanks her for all she has done for our sport! 

Editors note: Pennie and Matt are currently in Iceland courting their mountain spirit – as it should be.

2019 Cochran’s Nordic Cross Video

Pictures and Results

Blog from Mansfield Nordic: Why Nordic Cross Matters

July 05, 2019 (Ottawa, ON) – On July 4, Canadian cross-country ski legend Beckie Scott, 44, Olympic champion and tireless advocate of clean sport, received the honour of Officer of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest awards.

The chair of the athletes’ committee on WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, she’s renowned for her ardent fight against doping. Scott won Olympic gold at the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City with a historic stunning performance to secure the first Olympic medal won by any North American athlete in cross-country skiing.

She initially won bronze but when the first and second place finishers were disqualified for using performance-enhancing drugs, Scott was awarded her gold medal two-and-a-half years after the competition. She won Team Sprint silver with Sarah Renner at the Torino Games in 2016.

Over the past year, she encountered criticism for her unwillingness to support WADA’s decision to bring Russia back into compliance after a doping scandal tainted the 2014 Sochi Olympics. As such she resigned from WADA’s Compliance Review Committee.

Scott has twice received the John Semmelink Memorial Award given to a Canadian skier “through sportsmanship, conduct, and ability, best represents Canada in international competition.” She has been inducted into the Alberta Sports (2005), Canada’s Sports (2007), Canadian Ski (2010) and Canadian Olympic (2012) Halls of Fame.

She has also dedicated much of her life to charitable efforts including working with organizations such as UNICEF and Right to Play as well as with First Nations youth.

Through her organization Spirit North, Scott reaches thousands of youth from 35 Indigenous communities in Alberta, British Columbia and Manitoba. The group’s goal is “…improving the health and well-being of Indigenous youth through the transformative power of cross-country skiing, sport and play.”

“Extending the Canada Day celebrations a little longer with the Order of Canada investiture ceremony today! All my love and all my thanks to this wonderful country – and to those who have shared this incredible journey #ohcanada,” tweeted Scott.

July 02, 2019 (Norway) – US star Jessie Diggins finished 5th in the women’s 50km Kanalrennet CL rollerski race on June 30 at the Sommarland Skifestival in Norway. Therese Johaug took the win while Norway’s Håvard Solås Taugbøl won the men’s 50km race with Great Britain’s Andrew Musgrave a notable 3rd. The day prior, on June 29, Diggins was 11th in the Prologue and had the fifth fastest time overall in the 1.4km Classic Sprint but did not advance to the final as a Lucky Loser as she was 5th in her semi final. Maiken Caspersen Falla (Nor) won the women’s sprint while Emil Iverson won the men’s race.

Kanalrennet Men here
Kanalrennet Women here
Kanalrennet Overall here.

Classic Sprint Men here
Classic Sprint Women here

Prologue Men here
Prologue Women here

June 29, 2019 (Baie-Saint-Paul, QC) – Legendary Canadian xc ski star, Alex Harvey, married his long-time girl friend Sophie Ringuet on June 22 in Baie-Saint-Paul, Charlevoix. Harvey retired in March at the Quebec City finals as thousands of fans witnessed a storybook ending to his stellar career as the Saint-Ferréol-des-Neiges took home two silver medals.

A three-time Olympian Harvey won five Nordic World Championships medals and 32 World Cup podiums during his career as the winningest Canadian cross-country skier. SkiTrax joins the ski community in wishing the newlyweds the very best on the road ahead.

June 28, 2019 – USA Nordic is pleased to announce that Blake Hughes has been hired to fulfill the Women’s National Team Director position. Hughes has worked his way through the coaching pipeline over the last ten years, leading him to this role.

USA Nordic executive director Bill Demong feels this new role suits Hughes well, “Blake brings great leadership ability and vision to the table. He also has experience coaching athletes at every level, so he understands what it takes along each step of the development process.”

Hughes found his passion for ski jumping at a young age, “When I was six years old I took my first jump on Park City’s 20 meter, I was hooked immediately.” He went on to compete in two Junior World Championships and had 29 Continental Cup starts before retiring from ski jumping in 2009, at the age of 22. He started coaching just 3 months after his retirement, balancing coaching duties with his education at the University of Utah. During this time, Hughes worked mainly with younger athletes, including two current national team athletes Jared Shumate and Stephen Schumann.

After graduating from the University of Utah, Hughes coached for USA Ski Jumping as a FIS Cup coach while also continuing his coaching duties at the club in Park City. He continued to balance duties with USA Nordic and the Park City Club until last year when he joined USA Nordic full time as the Junior National Team Head Coach.

Hughes praises fellow coaches Clint Jones, Alan Alborn, and Bine Norcic for helping him develop as a coach over the last 10 years, “I think this speaks volumes about USA Nordic and the pipeline that has developed for coaches and the ability to challenge and push coaches and be able to promote within the organization.”

When asked about his goals, Hughes mentions words such as structure, atmosphere, and pipeline. He aims to develop and foster a strong efficient pipeline from the club level all the way to the World Cup. “I am really excited to take this position and lead this team to the next level,” says Hughes.

Hughes’s mix of experience with younger athletes as well as elite older athletes gives him the ideal skillset to take on these goals. In his words, “I feel that this is inherently what I have been trained and groomed to be in the last few years of my involvement with the team and higher-level ski jumping.”

June 25, 2019 (Pinkham Notch, NH) – The New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) announced today that the New England Bill Koch League Festival will return to Great Glen Trails Outdoor Center on February 29 and March 1, 2020.

The festival is the marquee event of the Bill Koch League (BKL), the largest cross country ski program for children in the United States. Whether a child loves the adventure of cross country skiing, enjoys playing with friends on skis, or wants to grow up to be a ski racer, the New England BKL has something for them.

Great Glen Trails Outdoor Center is an avid supporter of youth ski programs, and has hosted its own BKL club for over a decade. Headed by Great Glen’s ski school director, Sue Wemyss, the club is active throughout the winter season, and has exposed hundreds of kids to the sport in a fun and instructional learning environment.

Once a year, skiers and clubs from all over New England and New York come together at the annual Festival for a weekend of fun and cross country skiing. The site rotates annually through the states of Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine. Great Glen Trails Outdoor Center and the Great Glen BKL club are pleased to be working with NENSA again on such a fun and inclusive event. The weekend will feature relay and individual races by age group, as well as a healthy mix of non-racing activities that all can enjoy.

Great Glen Trails Outdoor Center hosted the Festival in 2016 with the theme of “White Mountain Magic,” a celebration of the wonder of being out enjoying the natural world in winter. The theme of this year’s festival will be “Superheroes” which will be a celebration of the inherent superpowers that exist in all of us—skiers, coaches, and parents alike!

For further information on the Festival Click Here. Registration will open in the fall. Any questions about festival details can be directed to <#>lisa@mt-washington.com or <#>Tom@nensa.net.

About Great Glen Trails Outdoor Center
Great Glen Trails Outdoor Center, opened in 1994, is one of New Hampshire’s premier Nordic ski areas, with 45 kilometers of trails for skiing, snowshoeing and fatbiking. During the summer months, the Outdoor Center focuses on human-powered outdoor activities including kayaking, biking, hiking and trail running. Great Glen Trails Outdoor Center is the sister-company of the family-owned Mount Washington Summit Road Company, formed in 1859, and which completed the road to the summit of Mount Washington in 1861. The Mt. Washington Carriage Road, now called the Mt. Washington Auto Road, has the long-held distinction of being America’s oldest man-made attraction.

Mt. Washington Auto Road & Great Glen Trails
1 Mt. Washington Auto Road, Gorham, NH 03851
603-466-3988 | info@mt-washington.com

June 23, 2019 (Bend, Ore.) – The Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation announced today it will name its new facility after Bill Healy, the legendary community leader and ski enthusiast who founded Mt. Bachelor ski resort in 1958.

This announcement follows a pledge of $750,000 from the Healy Foundation in support of MBSEF’s A Place to Soar capital campaign to construct its new permanent home site and training center at 2765 NW Lolo Drive, in Bend. When complete, The Bill Healy Training Center will be a hub for hundreds of Central Oregon youth pursuing personal growth through winter sports.

The pledged contribution from the Healy Foundation brings MBSEF within $1 million of its $4 million campaign goal to build its first permanent home. Construction of the new 9,700-square-foot facility is expected to begin later this year. “We are grateful to the Healy Foundation for this incredible gift,” says MBSEF Executive Director John Schiemer. “For a true pioneer, a visionary who helped inspire regional passion for winter sports, naming our new center after Bill Healy is a fitting way to honor his work and legacy.”

Bill Healy was born in Portland and moved to Bend in 1950 to run his family’s furniture store. He served in the 10th Mountain Division of the United States Army in WWII and saw combat at age 21 in Italy’s northwest Apennine Mountains. After moving to Bend, he became active in the Skyliners Ski Club, which ultimately integrated into what is now known as Mount Bachelor Sports Education Foundation, or MBSEF. Bill and a few other avid skiers began pursuing the dream of opening a ski resort on Mt. Bachelor. In 1958, Bill raised $75,000 to start Mount Bachelor, Inc., and the rest is history. Today, Mt. Bachelor is a world class ski resort, offering 4,318 acres of lift-accessible terrain for people seeking the joy and adventure of mountain sports.

“The Healy Foundation is very proud to support the future evolution of MBSEF while honoring the legacy of my father. I know Bill Healy is smiling!” says Cameron Healy, Board President, The Healy Foundation.

“I think Bill would be so pleased to know the vision he had over 60 years ago just continues to grow,” says longtime MBSEF Coach and friend of the Healy family Frank Cammack. “He would be proud to be part of a facility that will enrich the lives of regional youth through winter sports.”

To learn more about A Place to Soar capital campaign, visit www.mbsef.org.

About MBSEF
The Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation is a nonprofit organization that creates opportunities for junior athletes to achieve their individual athletic, academic, and personal goals through competitive snow sports. It promotes and supports amateur alpine, cross-country, snowboard and cycling training.

June 22, 2019 (Lake Placid NY) – NENSA is very pleased to announce that High Peaks Cyclery, in Lake Placid NY, is joining our NENSA family of sponsors, as both the new named sponsor of our 2019 Rollerski Race Series, and, as a NENSA Contributing Sponsor.

Check out our complete schedule for the NENSA High Peaks Cyclery Rollerski Series presented by SkiTrax below ~ the AppGap Challenge is set for August 3rd. Free 10th year commemorative t-shirts to the first 100 to register! Don’t delay – register today on SkiReg.

2019 NENSA High Peaks Cyclery Rollerski Series p/b SkiTrax
August 3 – The App Gap Challenge Rollerski Race in Waitsfield VT
September 14-15 – Lake Placid Double Day and Climb to the Castle Rollerski weekend
October 12 – Jericho Free Fall Rollerski Race, Jericho VT
October 27 – The Maine Event: Agility Sprint Festival
November 2 – Trapp Invitational Rollerski Race

June 21, 2019 (Canmore, AB) – The Alpine Insurance Alberta World Cup Academy is proud to announce our new team for the 2019-20 season. Comprised of two formal training groups, one in Calgary and one in Canmore, the 2019-20 team is the most diverse group of athletes to date.

Led by six national team members, Emily Nishikawa, Dahria Beatty, Elizabeth Elliott, Benita Peiffer, Matthew Strum (biathlon), and Nathaniel Mah (nordic combined) and numerous medalists from last year’s Canadian Nationals, this also is one of the deepest. “There is a lot to be excited about going forward” says Chris Jeffries, High Performance Program Director. “Last year saw a great group of U20 athletes join our university program in Calgary, which bodes well for the future. This year we have had a few very successful U25 athletes, Maya MacIsaac-Jones, Sadie White and Annika Richardson, join our Canmore program, skiers to keep an eye on for the World Cup Finals in Canmore, March 2020.”

“We have seen a lot of changes in our programming over the last few years, and this year’s team more than ever signals the positive direction these changes are taking us,” explains Greg Manktelow, Vice President of the Alberta World Cup Society. “Our athlete group is diverse and extremely talented, making it very exciting and motivating for all of us as we look ahead to not only this winter, but our athlete dream goals of representing their country at the 2022 and 2026 Olympics. We feel like we have taken some major steps towards creating a more sustainable program for our athletes, sponsors and partners. We know the work is just beginning, but we are building excitement of where we are going, and it makes it a lot easier to find new and innovative ways to help our Canadian skiers and athletes dream big.”

Last year saw the biggest changes at the Academy to date with the arrival of the inaugural group of University athletes in Calgary. This new direction was a major step forward, providing athletes the flexibility and support needed to pursue post-secondary studies and their sport goals concurrently. “Last year we took a major leap of faith opening the doors in Calgary in August for the first time. The education/sport path has been a major gap in our Canadian system for a long time, one that we are excited to help close”, explains Jeffries. “We saw successes both in the classroom and on the race course. The smiles on the faces of our athletes last year highlighted the balanced approach we strived to achieve.”

Joining the Academy staff for this year will be coaches Anneke Winegarden and Julia Ystgaard. Anneke is in her 2^nd year of a master’s program in the Human Performance Laboratory at the University of Calgary and worked with the team last year. Julia is from Norway and is doing a year in the Kinesiology department at the University of Calgary as part of her studies in Oslo.

Training for the 2019-20 season is well under-way in Canmore for those local athletes. The core university group will be arriving back in the Bow Valley for a training camp August 23 to the 31 before starting classes at the beginning of September. The racing season kicks off November 30^th for the team at the Sovereign Lake ski club near Vernon, BC.

Team List

Women
– Dahria Beatty (Sr National Ski Team) – Whitehorse Nordic Ski Club
– Emily Nishikawa (Sr National Ski Team) – Whitehorse Nordic Ski Club
– Elizabeth Elliott (Jr. National Ski Team) – Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club
– Benita Peiffer (Jr. National Ski Team and Sr Biathlon Development Team) – Whistler Nordic Ski Club
– Laurence Dumais – Fondeurs-Laurentides
– Beth Granstrom (B.C. Ski Team) – Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club
– Hannah Jirousek (Yukon Ski Team) – Whitehorse Ski Club
– Paige Latta – Sovereign Lake Nordic
– Maya MacIsaac-Jones – Rocky Mountain Racers
– Annika Richardson – Hollyburn Ski Club and Lappe Nordic
– Amanda Thomson (Yukon Ski Team) – Whitehorse Ski Club
– Sadie White – Big Thunder Ski Club

Men
– Nicolas Bennett (NWT Ski Team) – Yellowknife Ski Club
– Mathieu Bilodeau (2016 Olympic Racewalker)
– Nate Gerwing – Rocky Mountain Racers
– Michael MacIsaac-Jones – Rocky Mountain Racers
– Nathaniel Mah (National Nordic Combined Team) – Altius Nordic Ski Club
– Thomas Manktelow – Canmore Nordic Ski Club
– Nicholas Randall (Ontario Ski Team) – Big Thunder Ski Club
– Matt Strum (Sr National Biathlon Development Team) – Canmore Nordic Ski Club

June 19, 2019 (Bridger Canyon, Montana) – Crosscut Mountain Sports Center is pleased to announce Jennifer Beaston Hedrick as its new Executive Director. “Jen is a dedicated leader with a passion for ensuring everyone has access to the outdoors,” said Crosscut’s board chair, Eric Love. “She has the ideal combination of commitment and experience to lead Crosscut into a new era of growth.”

Located 17 miles north of Bozeman in Bridger Canyon, Crosscut Mountain Sports Center’s mission is to provide year-round sports training, recreation, and education opportunities for all ages and abilities.

Beaston Hedrick has most recently served as the Executive Director of Eagle Mount, a deeply respected non-profit organization that provides therapeutic recreation opportunities for people living with disabilities, including winter programming at Crosscut. “Eagle Mount’s participants, along with all members of the Bozeman community, will benefit from the development of an accessible, mountain sports center,” said Beaston Hedrick. “Crosscut is creating a lasting legacy not only for Bozeman, but for everyone that enjoys the magic of Montana.”

Over the past few years, Crosscut has advanced quickly from its inception to the acquisition of 533 acres, reuniting the former Bohart and Crosscut Ranches. Building on this momentum, Crosscut is planning a $22 million expansion which will include a sustainably built lodge, a new biathlon facility, and connection to the adjacent non-profit downhill ski area, Bridger Bowl.

“Crosscut is a destination where everyone can experience the serenity, thrills, camaraderie, and healing power of nature regardless of economic situation or physical ability. From novice skiers to Olympic athletes, and from bird watchers to a family of mountain bikers, Crosscut is building a place where we can all go to enjoy our incredible backyard” said Eric Love, “and Jen is just the right person to lead Crosscut toward that future.”

Prior to leading Eagle Mount, Beaston Hedrick had a successful career in non-profit and entrepreneurial leadership. She served as the Country Director of the U.S. Peace Corps in Rwanda, the Chief Operating Officer of the human rights non-profit Tostan, and worked at Microsoft and Citibank. A graduate of the University of Colorado, she holds an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

June 18, 2019 (Colordao Springs, Colo.) — U.S. Paralympics, a division of the United States Olympic Committee, today announced the five Para Nordic skiers named to the national team and two skiers named to the development team for the 2019-20 season. All seven athletes represented Team USA at the Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.

“We are thrilled to be moving into the 2019-20 season with a strong contingent of returning athletes,” said Eileen Carey, director of U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing. “We are adding rookie Ruslan Reiter to our ranks, marking the first standing athlete to make a national team standard in the recent past. We hope he represents the beginning of a new wave of standing and visually impaired skiers to add to the successes of our sit ski program.”

The team is led by Paralympic gold medalists Oksana Masters (Louisville, Kentucky), Kendall Gretsch (Downers Grove, Illinois) and Dan Cnossen (Topeka, Kansas). At the 2019 World Para Nordic Skiing Championships, Masters won five world titles (middle-distance biathlon, middle-distance cross-country, cross-country sprint, biathlon sprint and long-distance cross-country) and garnered six total medals in Prince George, British Columbia.

returned home as the 2019 world champion in the women’s sitting class of individual biathlon and additionally secured podium finishes in each of her events, claiming four silvers and one bronze.

Cnossen, a retired Navy SEAL, won a pair of medals at the world championships, racing to silver in the men’s sitting class of the middle-distance cross-country and cross-country sprint races. Pike secured the first world championships medal of his career – the bronze medal in the biathlon sprint – at the 2019 world championships.

Ruslan Reiter (Manchester, Maine) has been elevated to the national C team and marks the first standing athlete to make a national team in recent history.

The 2019-20 world cup season kicks off in December and will feature three stops, while the 2020 World Para Nordic Skiing Championships will be held in Ostersund, Sweden in March 2020.

2019-20 U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing National Team
*Denotes U.S. Paralympian in Nordic skiing
# Denotes retired U.S. Military

A Team
*Dan Cnossen (Topeka, Kan./Navy) – sitting
*Kendall Gretsch (Downers Grove, Ill.) – sitting
*Oksana Masters (Louisville, Ky.) – sitting

B Team
*Aaron Pike (Park Rapids, Minn.) – sitting

C Team
*Ruslan Reiter (Manchester, Maine) – standing

2019-20 U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing Development Team
*Grace Miller (Palmer, Alaska) – standing
*Joy Rondeau (Granby, Colo.) – sitting

June 17, 2019 (Toronto, ON) – SkiTrax, the official magazine of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association and Nordiq Canada since 1995, is pleased to announce that Chris Frado, the former President and Executive Director of the Cross Country Ski Areas Association (CCSAA), is the company’s new Marketing Director.

Frado was recruited back to the Nordic ski industry following her retirement from CCSAA in 2016 after leading that association for 30 successful years.

Prior to her long career with CCSAA, Frado was a Nordic Patroller for a dozen years with the National Ski Patrol earning the rank of Senior Patroller in the 80s and designated as #007. She was also one of the early PSIA certified Nordic ski instructors and worked on marketing endeavors to help establish the importance of training and certification for ski professionals.

While running the ski shop at her local Nordic Center, Frado represented the ski area at CCSAA meetings. It wouldn’t be until a decade later that she would be hired to head the association for the next three decades.

A long time devotee of the sport dog agility, Frado spends her evenings and weekends training and competing on obstacle courses with her German Shepherd dogs, Bingo and Toko and a handful of her friends’ “borrowed” dogs (pictured here after a win with Portuguese Water dog, Echo). Frado lives in southwestern New Hampshire with her companion Loy Wentworth where she’s planting an evergreen forest.

Frado will leverage her knowledge and expertise of cross-country skiing, resorts and ski areas along with her respect for the dedicated professionals in the industry in her new role at SkiTrax Magazine that encompasses advertising sales, marketing and the promotion of both print and digital.

“I’m so excited to professionally reconnect with my ski colleagues and particularly delighted to represent such a renowned and proven publication as SkiTrax,” said Frado. “I get to talk with some of the finest people on this planet about an industry staple with a great reputation. For me, it just doesn’t get any better.”

SkiTrax editor/publisher Benjamin Sadavoy, is equally stoked commenting, “We’re delighted to bring Chris Frado on board where her skills are known and valued. Her background is unparalleled and her personality is ideally suited to represent our sport’s publications. We have enjoyed a superb relationship over the years and look forward to expanding it into new realms as part of the SkiTrax team for years to come.”

For more information contact Chris Frado – SkiTrax <chris@skitrax.com>; or mobile 603-313-9998. Or contact Benjamin Sadavoy <benjamin@skitrax.com> or call 416-977-2100.

June 07, 2019 (Stratton, Vermont) – Sverre Caldwell has positively touched the lives of hundreds of cross-country skiers over almost four decades as a Nordic ski coach. This spring he is retiring from his position as Nordic Director at the Stratton Mountain School in Stratton, Vermont.

Well-known throughout the US skiing community, Sverre is a member of the legendary “Caldwell Clan”, the son of John and Hep, brother of Tim, Peter and Jennifer, father of Sophie, Isabel and Austin. He and his wife Lilly live in Peru, Vermont.

Born in 1955, Sverre was put on cross-country skis by his father, “just as soon as he could walk.” He and his siblings attended the Putney School where both John and Hep taught, and like his brothers, Sverre competed in skiing’s four events: slalom, giant slalom, jumping and cross-country. He went on to race cross-country skiing for Dartmouth College and graduated in 1977.

After Dartmouth, Caldwell returned to the Putney School to teach math and coach skiing with his father. According to John, he told his son, “You coach alpine; I’m too old for that, and I’ll keep coaching cross-country.” Sverre’s coaching responsibilities also included jumping and soccer. As his father emphasized, “He was a good alpine skier!”

In 1980, Sverre took on the leadership of the fledgling Nordic program at Stratton Mountain School, a ski academy initially focused on the development of alpine skiers. He has been at Stratton every since, developing the cross-country ski program into one of the country’s very best, including adding the SMS T2 Team, an elite training group of full-time cross-country ski competitors dedicated to excelling in international competition and providing inspiration to the local community. During his many years at Stratton, Sverre has also been a classroom teacher and Headmaster of the school. All three of his children attended and raced for SMS, as did his wife Lilly in the early years of SMS.

This year, the SMS Nordic Team and the elite SMS T2 Team were recognized as the “Cross Country Club of the Year” by U.S. Ski and Snowboard for the fourth time in six years. Sverre himself has been recognized as the USSA Coach of the Year in 2001, 2003, and 2009. He was a 1988 U.S. Olympic Ski Team Coach, a three-time Junior World Team Coach, and has been a U.S. Ski Team Regional Coach. Under his guidance, SMS has placed 15 cross-country skiers on U. S. Olympic Teams. Over the past 24 consecutive years, Caldwell’s program has placed at least one athlete on the World Junior Team and garnered at least one Junior National Championship each year. Of the twenty athletes nominated for the 2019-2020 U.S. Nordic Ski Team, five are from the Stratton program.

Though the modest Caldwell will attribute the success of his early skiers to being gifted with exceptional athletes, the consistency and ever improving achievements of the Stratton Nordic athletes show an exceptional coach who has hit the nail on the head with his philosophies and actions.

One of Stratton’s best-known stars, Andy Newell, developed under the watchful eye of coach Caldwell. Newell came into the program as an eighth grader. During his high school years at SMS he placed in the top eight at the World Junior Championships for three years in a row in the sprint races. Upon graduating he was offered a spot on the U.S. Ski Team,, and his stellar career continued to bloom. When asked what he liked most about the Stratton program, Newell answered, “Sverre pushed us to train hard and a lot but it was always done with just the right amount of moderation with the goal of long term success and patience in mind. Train smart. Throughout the high school years we also learned why we were training the way we were. why it was important to build in base L1 training, why we do L3 intervals, how to listen to the body, and how to prepare for races.”

For his part, Andy continued to return to Stratton after graduating to train with and inspire the up and coming skiers. This practice of SMS alums continuing to be involved with the nordic program is one that Sverre has nurtured, and has become a cornerstone of the relationship between the Stratton Elite team and the SMS younger skiers. It is summed up in one of the missions for the Stratton Elite Team: local inspiration, and it has unquestionably raised the level of achievement by Stratton skiers to new heights and record achievements.

When a program has a number of talented, highly competitive athletes, the competitiveness between them can create a difficult atmosphere, as they strive to achieve the top result. Sverre recognized and prioritized the creation of a supportive, positive team atmosphere.

As Caldwell pointed out, “ . . . if you look at the big picture and you have a group with high goals it isn’t too hard to convince them that they will all be better if they work together. Our goals tend to be a combination of international excellence and personal improvement. There is no doubt that working together and learning from each other will help towards attaining these goals.”

Clearly, Sverre has accumulated a tremendous wealth of knowledge about cross country skiing, training skiers and building teams. His strengths and attributes go far beyond this knowledge. It is his friendly spirit and his positive, encouraging support that one feels when in his midst. In addition to coaching the Stratton athletes, Sverre has led summer camps for decades for Bill Koch League skiers, (aged 13 and under), and for developing high school skiers from teams and programs throughout the Northeast. He has welcomed each of the hundreds of kids who have come for part of a week to learn, train and very importantly, have fun with their cross country skiing peers.

Sverre’s warmth and sunny disposition have brightened times on the snow for many of us beyond his SMS team members. We thank him for all his contributions to U.S. skiing and wish he and his family all the best as he moves into a new stage of life.

Sverre took a group of SMS skiers to Norway in 2018. They were invited to forerun the World cup race in Lillehammer [P] SMS

June 06, 2019 (Canmore, AB) —A young group of Paralympic and Olympic veterans will carry the torch for a new generation of cross-country skiers who will make up the National Ski Team in 2019-2020, Nordiq Canada recently announced.

Poised to make their mark on the international stage at all levels of the sport, the determined crop of cross-country skiers will be focused on building towards the 2022 and 2026 Games.

A high-powered group of eight Paralympic medallists, including two guides, will be counted on to contribute to Canada’s medal haul over the next year on the Para Senior Ski Team. Canada’s flag bearers at the 2018 Paralympic Games, Brian McKeever (Canmore, Alta.) and Mark Arendz (Hartsville, P.E.I.) will lead the charge in Para-Nordic racing. They will be joined by a foursome of new stars who have emerged in the sport that includes: Collin Cameron (Sudbury, Ont.); Natalie Wilkie (Salmon Arm, B.C.); Emily Young (Vancouver); and Brittany Hudak (Prince Albert, Sask.).

A three-time Paralympic medallist, Cameron captured his first World Championship title last year. Wilkie, who backed up winning a set of Paralympic medals in 2018 with a silver at last year’s World Championships, will team up with two veterans of the Para Senior Ski Team in Young and Hudak. Both have consistently climbed onto the international podium over the last five years. Derek Zaplotinksy (Smokey Lake, Alta.) will compete on the Para Senior Ski Team for the first time in 2019-20. Zaplotinsky rattled off three, fifth-place finishes at the 2019 World Championships.

Graham Nishikawa (Whitehorse) and Russell Kennedy (Canmore, Alta.) will both continue to share guiding duties for Brian McKeever.

Nordiq Canada also announced five Para-Nordic athletes to its Development and Prospect team including: Jesse Bachinsky (Kenora, Ont.); Kyle Barber (Lively, Ont.); Ethan Hess (Pemberton, B.C.); Cindy Ouellet (Quebec City); and Lyne Marie Bilodeau (Magog, Que.).

“This talented group of Para-nordic skiers are an experienced group of athletes who have two clear goals in mind: win medals and continue developing the next generation of athletes,” said Shane Pearsall, chief executive officer, Nordiq Canada. “Depth is critical to mounting a podium attack, and we have a nice blend of veterans and NextGen athletes driven to put the maple leaf on the international podium.”

Thirteen athletes represent a new beginning for the National Ski Team which will be composed of eight senior development athletes and five junior development skiers. The creation of one National Ski Team will direct more resources and learning opportunities towards the junior level athletes.

Two Olympians from Whitehorse will be counted on to provide leadership to the new-look Senior Ski Team. Emily Nishikawa and Dahria Beatty, who both also represented Canada in PyeongChang, will lead the group of athletes into a new era for the squad.

Russell Kennedy, who competed at the Olympics before helping to guide Brian McKeever at the Paralympic Games in 2018, will also include World Cup races on his schedule while training and competing with the para squad.

Kennedy posted a career-best 12th-place sprint finish on the World Cup last year, while Beatty has a top-15 World Cup sprint finish of her own in her career. A two-time Olympian, Nishikawa had one of her most consistent seasons of her career last year.

The trio will be counted on to lead six other senior development athletes including: Julien Locke (Nelson, B.C.); Katherine Stewart-Jones (Chelsea, Que.); Graham Ritchie (Parry Sound, Ont.); Antoine Cyr (Gatineau, Que.); Sam Hendry (Canmore, Alta.); and Julien Smith (Thunder Bay, Ont.). Remi Drolet (Rossland, B.C.); along with Elizabeth Elliot (Revelstoke, B.C.); Benita Peiffer (Whistler, B.C); Anne-Marie Petitclerc (Mont Saint-Anne, Que.); and Anna Pryce (Calgary) represent the five junior development athletes who will look to gain valuable experience on the national team.

“This group is ready to step up and carry the torch for a new era of cross-country skiers in Canada,” added Pearsall. “They are equally as fierce and determined to deliver medal winning performances as their heroes before them. We are going to work with our sport and funding partners to deliver this dynamic group of athletes the tools they require to succeed on the road to 2022 and beyond.”

The National Ski Team will gather in Canmore for its first of five training camps between June 25 and July 9. Additional training camps for a select group of athletes will be held in Norway and Mt. Tremblant, Que. in August, as well as Thunder Bay, Ont. in September. The entire National Ski Team will reconnect in Canmore October 23 until November 16.

June 05, 2019 (Bend, OR) – Fitness, technique, and speed are key attributes to becoming a world-class cross country skier. But culture, laughter, and fun are what make a great team! Fortunately, all those attributes came together May 18-31, as the U.S. Cross Country Team hosted its first on-snow camp of the season in Bend, Ore., at the Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center.

“The camp had an increased level of excitement and humor with the addition of some new athletes,” noted U.S. Ski & Snowboard Head Cross Country Coach Chris Grover.

This year’s team features a number of new faces, especially on the development team, with six new athletes, and a new coach, Bernie Nelson, who joined U.S. Ski & Snowboard as the development team coach last month. “Bend camp was our first athletic project with Bernie Nelson officially part of our coaching team,” Grover said, “and she impressed her colleagues with her enthusiasm, knowledge, and work ethic; she is already an amazing addition to our staff.”

“It’s been so much fun getting to know our new development team and seeing how the team culture molds itself each year,” said 2018 Olympic Gold Medalist Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.), who posted a number of off-the-cuff interviews with her new teammates on Instagram. “The atmosphere and team spirit have been incredible and I think this will be a really fun year!”

Zak Ketterson (Marquette, Mich.), a two-time NCAA All-American at Northern Michigan University, is one of the new faces on the team this year, and he came away from the Bend camp with a greater understanding of what it takes to achieve success at the next level of his career.

“This camp has been an amazing experience for me,” said Ketterson. “It is the first time that I have had the opportunity to train alongside veteran U.S. Ski Team athletes…and it has been very motivating to learn from the other skiers here. These types of camps will make me a better skier in the future.

“Last summer, I trained almost entirely alone,” Ketterson continued. “When you train by yourself, it is difficult to know your strengths and weaknesses because you only have yourself as a benchmark. Now that I have been able to train with so many top athletes, I realize that there are areas that I need to improve. This is super exciting for me because it gives me ideas for what to work on in my future training.”

Much like Ketterson, eight-time U.S. Champion Caitlin Patterson (Craftsbury, Vt.), a new member on the B Team this season, also learned to pump up the intensity being around her new teammates.

“One thing I’ll take away (from the camp) is the concept of really bringing the focus and intensity to key workouts, such as intervals and strength,” she said. “Most of my fellow U.S. Ski Team teammates do a great job of bringing the intensity to the hard sessions, and it’s something I’d like to emulate more in the future.”

While the athletes brought the intensity, Mt. Bachelor served up excellent snow and trail conditions, thanks to 350 inches of snowfall this season. “Mt. Bachelor provided great grooming of nearly 40 km of trails daily and we had excellent snow coverage,” Grover said. “We feel like we accomplished almost all of our athletic, technical and team culture goals for the camp. Each athlete brought a lot of professionalism, focus, and enthusiasm to the daily training.”

Following the first camp of the season, a number of athletes return to their home base for the month of June to continue preparations for the 19-20 season. “I’ll head back east to Stratton (Vermont) for a solid block of training with my SMST2 teammates,” Diggins said. “Then at the end of June, I’ll join the women of the Norwegian National Team for one of their team camps.”

For Novie McCabe (Winthrop, Wash.), Kendall Kramer (Fairbanks, Alaska), Johnny Hagenbuch (Ketchum, Idaho) and Noel Keefe (Steamboat Springs, Colo.), they are off to Park City, Utah, June 16-19, for U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s annual #OneTeam Rookie Camp. The U.S. Cross Country Team will also host additional camps throughout the summer, including Norway, New Zealand, Park City and Lake Placid, N.Y. In addition, many club camps will also include U.S. Cross Country Ski Team athletes over the summer, offering additional opportunities for athletes to prep for the 2019-20 season, but most importantly, the opportunity to push and learn from each other.

“The one thing I will take away from (Bend) camp is that it is important for the best skiers in the country to get together once in a while to share ideas and learn from one another,” Ketterson said. “I have been very pleased with the openness and friendliness of both the coaches and athletes at this camp. Every skier has his strengths and weaknesses, but between every skier on the U.S. Ski Team we all have things we can learn from one another.”

June 04, 2019 – Olympic gold medalist Kikkan Randall had just finished a 20-year cross country ski racing career and would be diving into retirement at just 36-years-old. Navigating the transition from elite-level competition to everyday life can be both challenging and daunting for athletes; fortunately, the Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business Next Step program helps athletes bridge that gap and make transition a bit smoother.

Dartmouth’s Next Step program is a general management certificate program specifically designed to support, educate and empower athletes and veterans alike in their transition beyond the world of competition and service. A two-week collaborative learning experience, Next Step brings elite athletes and military veterans together to help them identify, amplify, and strengthen their leadership, organizational, communication, strategic, problem-solving, team-building, and operational skills and aptitudes.

In the program, athletes learn the basics of business curricula and how to effectively apply their valuable, relevant skills, and experiences to the business world as they begin the next step of their careers. The four former U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes who  participated in the program this spring – including Randall, Keaton McCargo (moguls), Foreste Peterson (alpine), and Kaylin Richardson (alpine) – walked away with the ability build on and translate their athletic experiences to the business world in ways that successfully accelerates their progress towards a rewarding, meaningful business career.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Director of Athlete Career & Education (ACE) Julie Glusker, often champions the notion of “whole athlete development”, advocating to broaden the scope of athlete development and support beyond just athletic ability. Tuck’s Next Step program is just one example of this concept in practice.

“We are thrilled to have had four of our U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes from alpine, cross country, and freestyle attend the Tuck Next Step program this past April,” noted Glusker. “We received really positive feedback from each of our participants about the relevance and purpose of Next Step; the program and curriculum was geared around learning current business practices, identifying and utilizing experience and aptitudes intrinsic to athletes, and honing and fostering networking skills. Our athletes loved the academic learning and social development aspects of Next Step – and even enjoyed the daily morning group workouts.”

Peterson, a former U.S. Ski & Snowboard alpine athlete, who went on to become a high-achieving student-athlete at Dartmouth College and now skis for the independent “Team X” in Park City, Utah, understands the importance of building knowledge and a network that will help her transition to the next stage in her life when she’s ready to make that leap.

“Next Step was an eye-opening, exhausting, yet a totally inspiring and rewarding experience,” said Peterson, who continues to compete at the NorAM level, but has also had FIS Ski World Cup starts in during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. “The days were long and jam-packed but there was not one lecture, workshop, presentation, group activity, or social event that I didn’t take something away from or find valuable. The program instilled an unprecedented confidence in me that I attribute not just to the new tools and skill sets I acquired, but to feeling an overwhelming sense of community amongst all of the transitioning athletes and military personnel in the program. The connections made and relationships forged across multiple networks were a huge asset in and of itself.”

Additionally, program participants found the program material relevant and transferable. Freestyle alumna McCargo reports that the curriculum was “extremely transferable to many areas of life even if you don’t intend to work in business or get an MBA.” She even noted that she’d love to encourage former teammates, and even some of her former coaches, to participate in the program, adding that “any transitioning athlete should take part in this program. The information and experience are of extremely high importance.”

Both the network and the self-discovery are two of the biggest takeaways for McCargo and Peterson. “The community at Tuck and the diverse group of people in my cohort really made my time there. Everyone was so friendly and committed to helping each other,” reflected McCargo. “Transitioning, whether it be from sport, the military, or from one career path to the next is hard; it is nice to know that there are others like you and that you have support.”

For many elite-level athletes, fear and stress are common emotions they encounter when considering making the leap to the unknown. They will be leaving behind something they’ve known and lived for such a large part of their lives. Peterson felt that the future was always a source of tension, but that “there was a self-discovery component incorporated into the program that I found to be particularly powerful.” Throughout the program, Peterson could feel her tension lifting. “I can honestly say that I not only have a newfound clarity for what I want that ‘next step’ of my life to look like, but I feel genuinely excited and eager to take the necessary actions to navigate what lies ahead and make my vision a reality.”

Peterson, a former U.S. Ski & Snowboard alpine athlete, who went on to become a high-achieving student-athlete at Dartmouth College and now skis for the independent “Team X” in Park City, Utah, understands the importance of building knowledge and a network that will help her transition to the next stage in her life when she’s ready to make that leap.

“Next Step was an eye-opening, exhausting, yet a totally inspiring and rewarding experience,” said Peterson, who continues to compete at the NorAM level, but has also had FIS Ski World Cup starts in during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. “The days were long and jam-packed but there was not one lecture, workshop, presentation, group activity, or social event that I didn’t take something away from or find valuable. The program instilled an unprecedented confidence in me that I attribute not just to the new tools and skill sets I acquired, but to feeling an overwhelming sense of community amongst all of the transitioning athletes and military personnel in the program. The connections made and relationships forged across multiple networks were a huge asset in and of itself.”

Additionally, program participants found the program material relevant and transferable. Freestyle alumna McCargo reports that the curriculum was “extremely transferable to many areas of life even if you don’t intend to work in business or get an MBA.” She even noted that she’d love to encourage former teammates, and even some of her former coaches, to participate in the program, adding that “any transitioning athlete should take part in this program. The information and experience are of extremely high importance.”

Both the network and the self-discovery are two of the biggest takeaways for McCargo and Peterson. “The community at Tuck and the diverse group of people in my cohort really made my time there. Everyone was so friendly and committed to helping each other,” reflected McCargo. “Transitioning, whether it be from sport, the military, or from one career path to the next is hard; it is nice to know that there are others like you and that you have support.”

For many elite-level athletes, fear and stress are common emotions they encounter when considering making the leap to the unknown. They will be leaving behind something they’ve known and lived for such a large part of their lives. Peterson felt that the future was always a source of tension, but that “there was a self-discovery component incorporated into the program that I found to be particularly powerful.” Throughout the program, Peterson could feel her tension lifting. “I can honestly say that I not only have a newfound clarity for what I want that ‘next step’ of my life to look like, but I feel genuinely excited and eager to take the necessary actions to navigate what lies ahead and make my vision a reality.”

Randall was impressed with the curriculum and the teaching staff’s ability to present such an impressive volume of relevant content that would apply directly to new careers. Along with that, her peers were inspiring. “All of my fellow students were dedicated, bright and inspiring people,” Randall noted. “While we had common experiences and struggles, everyone brought something unique to the program. I learned as much from my classmates as I did from the professors and guest speakers.”

Glusker hopes this program will become a “meaningful tradition and strong heritage for our athletes as they navigate the possibilities of transition beyond sport,” and encourages athletes – both current and  former – to seek out opportunities that will aid them in creating valuable life skills and creating meaningful connections.

June 03, 2019 – Cross Country Ski Ontario is pleased to announce Kieran Jones of Nakkertok Nordic as the recipient of the Heinz Niederhauser Outstanding Coaching Award. Kieran’s passion for coaching is demonstrated through his dedication and commitment to athletes of all abilities.

“Kieran is human embodiment of the quote ‘a good coach can change the [race], a great coach can change a life’. Kieran has had an indescribable impact on the lives of his athletes. Kieran has worked with athletes across the whole development spectrum. He promises every athlete he’d do what he could to help them achieve their goals; and in the process, he’d guided many to realize that cross-country skiing and cross-country ski racing is a large part of their life and something, no matter what the results sheet looked like at the end of the day, that they would continue.” Heinz would approve!

May 30, 2019 – Former U.S skier and Olympian Garrott Kuzzy has devoted the last few years of his life building Lumi Experiences, an XC Ski travel company that aims to run unforgettable winter trips around Europe, while simultaneously helping support the US Nordic ski community. Based out of Middlebury, Vermont, “Lumi”, the Finnish word for snow, has run seven winter trips over the past two winters, giving guests a VIP experience at World Cups and European ski destinations alike while raising $16,800 for NNF.

The company has partnered with the National Nordic Foundation, and donates a portion of their profits from each annual NNF trip to the foundation and their initiatives. With the goal being to assist in developing the next generation of U.S junior Nordic skiers, the company has already contributed $16,800 in donations since 2018. A total of $500 – $800 from each NNF trip participant is donated directly to the Foundation while the rest goes back into the company.

Kuzzy commented on the partnership, saying that, “The idea behind it was simply to share the European ski experience that junior racers have with NNF supporters, giving the supporters the opportunity to compete themselves in a Worldloppet, plus cheer on the US Ski Team at a World Cup.”

Kuzzy, a Minneapolis, MN-native, raced professionally for over five years after graduating from Middlebury College where he also competed on their XC ski team. With a career highlight 9th-place result in the Skate Sprint at the 2008 Canmore World Cup, Kuzzy was also one of three U.S XC Team skiers to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and holds a wealth of knowledge of the inner workings of the sport. He retired in 2011 and moved to Innsbruck, Austria in 2016 after his wife, Catherine Collins, accepted a position with an Austrian company.

He launched Lumi Experiences in 2016 between semesters at grad school while he pursued a Masters Business degree. After his retired from racing, Kuzzy cut his teeth in the travel adventure world as a guide for VBT Bicycling and Walking Vacations developing cycling and walking tours in German-speaking countries and at US National Parks. He left VBT to work as Nordic Director at GMVS in 2015.

Since then, the company has shared the beauty of skiing in the alps with U.S travelers, and has run some truly unique trips over the last couple of years for NNF supporters.

“The advantage to this partnership is that NNF can help get the word out to their supporters and, as an Austrian local, I can help deliver an excellent experience,” explained Kuzzy.

In the first year, NNF guests were given a tour of the US Team’s new wax truck with Matt Whitcomb, checked out the World Cup races, and got to meet and watch U.S skiers compete among other activities. A similar experience was run this past season at the Nordic World Championships in Seefeld, Austria, as NNF guests were led around by 2x Olympian Holly Brooks.

The company has already laid out numerous trips for the 2020 season, including the Best of Bavaria trip which will run in partnership with the NNF. Guests will get an inside look at the 2020 Oberstdorf World Cup races, along with the opportunity to explore over 200 km of ski trails in Austria, and to participate in the König Ludwig Lauf Worldloppet event in Oberammergau.

The company has also partnered with the Loppet Foundation (organizers for the Minneapolis World Cup, amongst many other things) for the Dresden to the Dolomites trip set to run in January of 2020. Donations will be made to the organization in a similar way as with the NNF.

Full list of trips and destinations can be found here.

May 27, 2019 (Lake Placid, New York) – US Ski Team World Cup Coach, Matt Whitcomb, will lead a US Ski & Ski and Snowboard L100 course at the Olympic Jumping Complex on June 29 starting at 9am. This is a fantastic opportunity for all skiers to learn technique cues and get fired up for the upcoming training season.

May 26, 2019 (Steamboat Springs, CO) – The Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club (SSWSC) announced today that David Stewart, the Nordic Skiing Head Coach of the University of Denver, will be joining the SSWSC as its new Athletic Director effective June 1, 2019.

“Dave has a fantastic reputation in the collegiate and nordic skiing circles. While at DU, he was intently focused on the team’s long-term sustainability and good reputation. It is no accident that SSWSC alumni are well-represented there,” said Associate Executive Director Jon Nolting, who formerly held the SSWSC’s Athletic Director Position before a change in leadership last fall. “Dave’s athletic knowledge combined with his business acumen made him an ideal fit for the role.”

Stewart was the nordic skiing head coach for 12 years at DU. In that time he led his teams to six NCAA titles, 2 individual titles, and he coached 21 NCAA All-Americans. Stewart was named the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association’s Nordic Coach of the Year six times.

Stewart was an NCAA cross country skier himself during his college years at the University of Vermont, with several years of pro ski racing for the Subaru Factory Team, and he represented the U.S. in World Cup competition in 2005 before starting with DU in 2006. During his time as Head Coach, Stewart earned his MBA from the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver in 2012, and used his business prowess to help manage the team and its alumni, donors and sponsors.

“The Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club has a stellar reputation and a long legacy of success. As a coach at DU I have enjoyed building the environment my athletes need to succeed,” Stewart said. “At the SSWSC I hope to help lay the groundwork that allows coaches to do their best work and create a motivating, positive atmosphere for all athletes. I also hope to bring a long-term perspective, both in terms of individual athlete development and for the continued health of the club.”

“The community is gaining an upstanding citizen who will work with the SSWSC to provide incredible opportunities to hundreds of athletes each year,” said Executive Director Sarah Floyd. “We hope the Stewart family will not only have a lasting impact on our athletes, but also, in return, will enjoy the benefits that the Steamboat community offers when raising an active sports-oriented family.”

Stewart and his wife Haley fell in love with Steamboat years ago, and express excitement at moving to the community with their two year old son. “No place in the world offers better opportunities for snow sports than Steamboat,” Stewart said.

To date, the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club offers youth development programming to approximately 1,000 athletes each year and claims 95 Olympians and 165 Olympic Appearances, more than any other town in North America.

May 25, 2019 – Two-time Olympic champion Laura Dahlmeier from Germany recently announced her retirement at the age of 25. After winning at every level of biathlon from the IBU YJWCH to the IBU World Championships and the  Olympic Winter Games, she said she no longer has the motivation to compete at the top level and quietly stepped away from the sport. Known as a gritty competitor, Dahlmeier was undoubtedly the female star of her generation who, at her best was brilliant on the shooting range and devastatingly fast on the tracks – read more here and here.

May 24, 2019 (Canmore, Alta.) – As part of its succession planning for long-time employee and current director of events, Dave Dyer, Nordiq Canada is welcoming Jeff Ellis to the Canadian ski community as the organization’s new events coordinator, effective September 1, 2019.

Originally from Orangeville, Ont., Ellis has recently moved back to Canada with his wife – Olympic champion Kikkan Randall of the United States – and young family following a six-year stint with FIS in a marketing and communications role.

“I am very excited to be joining the Nordiq Canada team. Having recently moved back to Canada, I’ve been wanting to find my place within the ski community,” said Ellis, a former Canadian cross-country ski athlete who will begin his transition into the role this summer by joining Dyer at the FIS meetings in June. “During my six years at the International Ski Federation (FIS), I gained a lot of valuable experience regarding event organization, promotion, snow preparation, and course layout, among others. Perhaps most importantly, it’s given me the connections within the international ski community to be able to collaborate on, making sure Canada is providing affordable, sustainable, elite level events for our athletes and their fans.”

Ellis’ role will require the coordination and calendaring of cross-country ski racing events at all levels in accordance to the long-term athlete development model, “A Sport for Life,” to ensure the optimal development of Canadian skiers. Ellis, alongside Dyer, will oversee Nordiq Canada’s annual events calendar, which includes important domestic and international events such as the Canadian Championships, the NorAm Race Series and our World Cup and WPNS initiatives.

“I’m delighted that Jeff will be joining our team. He’s had the opportunity to work with many Canadian and FIS officials over the years and brings with him a wealth of technical and social media skills to our program,” said Dyer. “Jeff is well-respected on the international circuit and will be an asset to our North American event initiatives in the years to come.”

Nordiq Canada’s events team is responsible for liaising with Canadian race organizing committees, for both Olympic and Paralympic streams, to ensure they are implementing the latest in FIS and International Paralympic Committee competition standards and rules, as well as helping develop the current and future crop of technical delegates – among other administrative duties.

In the 2019-20 season, Canada will host a World Cup event in Quebec City, March 14-15 and the World Cup Finals at the Canmore Nordic Centre , March 20-22. The Canadian Ski Championships will be held at the Sovereign Lake Nordic Ski Club near Vernon, B.C., March 26 – April 2.

Nordiq Canada is the governing body of para-nordic and cross-country skiing in Canada, which is the nation’s optimal sport and recreational activity with more than one million Canadians participating annually. Its 60,000 members include athletes, coaches, officials and skiers of all ages and abilities. With the support of its valued corporate partners – Haywood Securities Inc., AltaGas, Swix and Lanctôt Sports– along with the Government of Canada, Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee, Own the Podium and B2Ten, Nordiq Canada develops Olympic, Paralympic and world champions. For more information on Nordiq Canada, please visit us at <http://www.nordiqcanada.ca>www.nordiqcanada.ca.

May 22, 2019 – In this edition of Talkin’ With the Gravey Train, our host Peter Graves invited elite women’s Nordic Combined athlete Tara Geraghty-Moats into the studio for a delightful and insightful half-hour conversation about her amazing past season’s results, and her plans for the coming season. Geraghty-Moats won 10 of 10 COC Nordic Combined events for women and took the overall points crown.

Geraghty-Moats, 26, who calls West Fairlee, Vermont home, talks about her already remarkable career, in biathlon, cross-country skiing and ski jumping and what she finds so captivating about being a pioneer for women’s Nordic Combined. The skier, who was largely home-schooled brings a keen insight and intelligence, into the behind-the-scene stories of their journey from complete inclusion into the international arena, and she draws logical parellels from the women’s ski jumper’s journey to Olympic inclusion at Sochi 2014.

She also speaks about the FIS role in promoting women’s combined, the expansion of the Continental Cup to 12 races next season, the move towards a full-fledged World Cup season, and their inclusion at the upcoming 2021 FIS World Nordic Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany. Find out what she says about the possible Winter Olympic inclusion for Bejing at the next Games.

“I really enjoyed talking with Tara, who has already had an amazing career,” said Peter Graves, “I found her deeply candid and very articulate in summing up where women’s Nordic Combined is at the moment. She is keenly aware, too, of the vital role she now play’s as a mentor to young women coming up through the ranks, she is aware there’s much work still to be done to advance the sport and grow the numbers, but she is keeping her eyes on the prize, and one just has the feeling she’s bound for something truly special.”

Interview with Tara Geraghty-Moats

May 21, 2019 – Is it possible that slopes will soon be groomed 100% emission-free? At INTERALPIN 2019 in Innsbruck, the international leading trade fair for Alpine technologies, PistenBully is celebrating its 50th birthday – and in doing so, gives the industry an answer. With the study of the first electrically driven snow groomer, the PistenBully 100 E, this answer is a clear “Yes!”.

May 14, 2019 (Salt Lake City, Utah) – Tom Kelly, a native of Madison, Wisconsin, has had a nearly life-long love of Nordic skiing: its athletes, its personalities, its rich history and its culture. And he was, for more than 30 years a key player in the USSA-USST public relations, media and communications franchise, for which for years he served as Vice President of Communication for the organization.

For much of our lives he has been one of my closest friends. And so it was recently, that the ski world gathered in Salt Lake City to see Kelly and the Class of 2018 receive their prestigious lifetime honor.

Kelly, 67, was inducted into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame, in early April, along with other ski and snowboarding legends including Bode Miller, Don Henderson, Tom Sims, Hilary Engisch-Klein, Kristen Ulmer and Andrew Weibrecht… representing the class of 2018. For everyone who attended it was a night of joy and celebration.

Tom Kelly was bitten by the Olympic bug, back on a winter’s day of February 1960, when sidelined with measles, he watched with rapt attention, the 1960 Olympic Winter Games on a black and white TV, from Squaw Valley, California. He recalls being especially mesmerized by New Hampshire’s Penny Pitou silver medal winning skiing performances, “I was captivated,” he said.

Kelly, who grew up in a non-skiing family, cut his journalistic teeth during studies at the University of Wisconsin, getting a job with Madison’s well-regarded Wisconsin State Journal and later the Capital Times, all the while serving as sports editor for the Monona Community Herald. He served as a photographer and reporter, where he developed his inherent eye for photography into even sharper focus. While in Madison, he started stringing for the fledgling SKI RACING magazine initially covering the U.S. Ski Team jumpers during their off-season training on the plastic ski jumps of the Black Hawk ski jumps in Middleton, Wisconsin and Nordic Junior Nationals at Ishpeming, Mich.

Shortly thereafter, our paths first crossed. First by a chance phone call I made to him, looking for ski jumping pictures while I was the PR Director for the Telemark Lodge, in Cable, Wisconsin, while working for skiing’s innovator and impresario, Tony Wise.

Then, a few month’s later I resigned my Telemark position to move to Minneapolis and take on the reins of PR Director for the cross-country ski importing firm of NorTur, Inc. Tony Wise, wisely hired the energetic Kelly to assume my role at the resort. That was in the fall of 1977.

It was the beginning of a deep and lifelong friendship. We shared many mutual interests, a love of the Nordic sport, and of both hard work and having fun. It was also during the early Telemark days, that Tom would meet his future wife, Carole Duh.

Tony Wise, was a fast-talking, brilliant innovator, clad with a Harvard MBA, the kind of personality the Nordic sport in the US had never encountered. His massive credits including the American Birkebeiner, the first-ever FIS World Cup in cross-country, the creation of the World Loppet League. He was a brilliant and creative thinker.

Well into my own work in the ski business and soon heading to the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, to  help commentate, Kelly and I had an idea to get into the Nordic skiing travel business. Each of us invested $500 dollars to help the concept get off the ground and to cover the start-up legal fees. With the cash and the stroke of our lawyers’ pen World Wide Nordic was born.

Our plan was to take folks to Worldloppet races around the globe with guided tours, well traveled guides and to share the region’s top cultural experiences – a night at Munchen’s legendary Hofbrau Haus was always at the top of the list! As was the candle-lit carriage trips, where the sleigh driver, unbeknownst to us, was plying our customers with obstler or grappa depending on the country. Yet we never heard one person complain. The long and short was we saw the world, made life-long contacts, but made little profit as we wanted to make the trips affordable.

In 1986, Kelly was ready for a change and signed on to work for the USSA and in 1988 he would step into a leadership role as it’s Public Relations Director in Colorado Springs. This proved a springboard to later moving to Park City and ultimately becoming the VP-Communications for both the USSA and the U.S. Ski Team. During much of that period, Kelly became the wise choice to head the FIS PR and Mass Media Committee, and he was widely credited with helping to modernize and establish the group as a global sports media and marketing standard.

Tom was a world traveler, who was in the finish area for 75 Olympic medal wins by U.S. athletes and helped report those performances around the globe. He served as U.S. Ski Team spokesperson for breaking news, penning thousands of press releases, including columns and had an encyclopedic knowledge of the sport of skiing. His career was one of exceptionalism, passion and longevity.

Kelly is not one to let moss grow under his fast-moving feet, and soon after retiring from the team last summer, he quickly founded Tom Kelly Communication LLC, a PR consulting firm, that counts a number of NGB’s among his many clients. Safe to say, he’s keeping busy.

Of his experience with both the USSA and USST, Kelly, thought for a moment and said, “I never had any interest in doing anything else, it was the most perfect career anyone could have.”

For that, we all are indeed fortunate and blessed.

May 10, 2019 – FIS signed an agreement with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), delegating adjudicatory powers for the determination of anti-doping rule violations and the resulting sanctions to the new CAS Anti-Doping Division yesterday.

President Gian Franco Kasper and Secretary General Sarah Lewis for FIS signed the agreements during the SportAccord convention in Gold Coast (AUS) in concert with John Coates AC, President of the International Council of Arbitration for Sport and Matthieu Reeb, Secretary General of CAS.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has a full-time permanent Anti-Doping Division (ADD) acting as an independent first instance for international cases. The CAS ADD was implemented successfully at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games after its introduction for Rio 2016, notably to consolidate the proceedings of the IOC and IF and avoid two separate first instance procedures. The Court of Arbitration for Sport Anti-Doping Division will therefore replace the role of an International Federation Anti-Doping Panel.

The role of the newly-established CAS ADD will fulfil the decision of the FIS Congress 2018 to refer cases to an Independent Doping Panel to comply with the principle of the separation of powers.

The CAS Anti-Doping Division has been established at the request of the Olympic Summit and follows the success of the separate CAS Ad Hoc Anti-Doping Divisions at recent Olympic Games,  Mr Coates said. We are pleased that the International Olympic Federations are following the lead of the IOC. 

FIS is the first winter IF to delegate this authority to the CAS Anti-Doping Division.

Justice Patrick Smith, Chairman of the FIS Doping Panel stated: “The transition of authority for the adjudication of doping cases to the CAS Anti-Doping Division is a welcome step in FIS’ governance role to ensure a fair juridical process for all parties”.

May 07, 2019 (Park City, Utah) – U.S. Ski & Snowboard has announced its U.S. Ski Team cross country nominations for the 2019-20 season. Nominations include those active athletes who qualified based on published selection criteria in the prior season.

Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.) and Simi Hamilton (Aspen Colo.) will lead an experienced team of athletes heading into the 2019-20 season, which includes the return of FIS Cross Country World Cup to the U.S. for the first time in 19 years on March 17 in Minneapolis, Minn. North American World Cup events will also include Quebec City, Canada, March 14-15, and for the second consecutive season, the World Cup Finals will also be held on North American soil in Canmore, Alberta, Canada, March 20-22.

The 2019-20 team also includes largest D-Team the U.S. has fielded in many years with nine athletes, including all four members of the gold-medal winning 2019 FIS Junior World Ski Championships men’s relay team: Luke Jager (Anchorage, Alaska), Ben Ogden (Landgrove, Vt), Johnny Hagenbuch (Ketchum, Idaho), and Gus Schumacher (Anchorage, Alaska).

Athletes nominated to the team open the season with the first on-snow training camp May 18-31 in Bend, Ore., and Mt Bachelor ski area.

Each athlete accepting the nomination to U.S. Ski Team receives world-class program support, along with access to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Center of Excellence, as well as athletic benefits including an elite coaching, sport science, sports medicine, and high performance staff, and education opportunities.

An official U.S. Cross Country Ski Team announcement will be made in the fall.

2019-20 Cross Country Nominations

A TEAM
Men
Erik Bjornsen (Winthrop, Wash.; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Center; 7/14/91)
Simi Hamilton (Aspen, Colo.; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team; 5/14/87)

Women
Sadie Bjornsen (Winthrop, Wash.; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Center; 11/21/89)
Rosie Brennan (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Center; 12/21/98
Sophie Caldwell (Peru, Vt.; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team; 3/22/90)
Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team; 8/26/91)

B TEAM
Men
Kevin Bolger (Minocqua, Wisc.; Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation; 4/11/93)
Scott Patterson (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Center; 1/28/92)

Women
Julia Kern (Waltham, Mass.; Stratton Mountain School Elite Team; 9/12/97)
Caitlin Patterson (Anchorage, Alaska; Craftsbury Nordic; 1/30/90)
Hailey Swirbul (Aspen, Colo.; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Center; 7/10/98)

D TEAM
Men
Johnny Hagenbuch (Ketchum, Idaho; Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation; 10/1/2001)
Luke Jager (Anchorage, Alaska; APU/University of Utah; 1/17/00)
Noel Keeffe (Steamboat Springs, Colo.; SSWSC/University of Utah; 8/24/99)
Zak Ketterson (Bloomington, Minn.; NMU; 4/2/97)
Ben Ogden (Landgrove, Vt.; Stratton Mountain School/University of Vermont; 2/13/00)
Gus Schumacher (Anchorage, Alaska; Alaska Winter Stars; 7/25/00)

Women
Hannah Halvorsen (Truckee, Calif.; Alaska Pacific University Nordic Center; 2/19/98)
Novie McCabe (Winthrop, Wash.; MVNT; 12/15/01)
Kendall Kramer (Fairbanks, Alaska; NSCF-FXC; 6/25/02)

May 04, 2019 – Cross Country Ski Ontario is seeking nominations for the Heinz Niederhauser Outstanding Coaching Award. Click here for more information. The award will be presented at the XCSO AGM on June 2nd in Ottawa.

May 03, 2019 (Park City, Utah) – U.S. Ski & Snowboard announces today that Bernie Nelson joins the U.S. Cross Country Team coaching staff as D-Team/Development coach. Nelson, the former program director and head coach at the Bend Endurance Academy in Bend, Ore., brings a wealth of coaching knowledge and strong connections with a number of current D-Team athletes to the team.

“We are extremely excited to have Bernie join our U.S. Ski Team staff,” said U.S. Cross Country Head Coach Chris Grover. “Bernie is a highly-respected member of our coaching community and has a reputation for hard work, know-how, and is someone we’ve admired for some time. She brings the right combination of experience, work ethic, and personality to the position.”

“It is, without doubt, an exciting time to be a part of the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team and I’m feeling really grateful for this opportunity,” Nelson said. “As a nation, we are an absolute force and are certainly establishing ourselves in cross-country.”

Nelson, who has worked with several of this year’s D-Team athletes, replaces Bryan Fish, who transitioned to his new role as the Cross Country Sport Development Manager this past season, and Gus Kaeding, last season’s D-Team coach, who is transitioning to full-time Sports Science this season. She will hit the ground running when the team opens its first on-snow training camp May 18-31 in Bend, Ore., and Mt. Bachelor ski area.

“I’m really looking forward to working with this team, collaborating with their club coaches and working together to achieve our goals,” Nelson said. “It’s also exciting for me to be joining a talented, professional staff that I know will push my own development and provide opportunities for new growth and perspective in coaching.”

Nelson will be coaching the largest D-Team the U.S. has fielded in many years with nine athletes, including all four members of the gold-medal winning 2019 FIS Junior World Ski Championships men’s relay team.
“I’ve worked with several of this year’s D-Team athletes at past World Junior/U23 Championships and worked with others at Junior Nationals and regional camps,” she said. “Each generation is proving our depth. The momentum from our clubs is impressive and the bar our current U.S. Ski Team athletes have set is nothing short of inspiring.”

Prior to her position at the Bend Endurance Academy, Nelson was the Elite Team Head Coach at the Bridger Ski Foundation in Bozeman, Mont. She has coached and worked as a technician on numerous international competition trips, including three of the last four World Junior/U23 World Championships.

May 01, 2019 – Legendary Nordic ski coach, Sverre Caldwell, is retiring at the end of the school year according to the Stratton Mountain School Facebook page reports The Bennington Banner. Caldwell, 64, who led teams in the Olympics and founded the SMS T2 Elite Team, has been recognized as the USSA Coach of the Year in 2001, 2003 and 2009.

SMS Nordic has placed 15 cross-country skiers on the U.S. Olympic team and has been named Cross Country Club of the Year for four of the last six years. “I decided to do this a couple of years ago,” Caldwell told The Bennington Banner. “I want to spend more time with my wife and travel more. I will stay involved, because I love coaching, but I want to do it on my own terms.” Inducted into the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum in 2013 Caldwell and his wife have three children Sophie, Isabel and Austin. – read more here.

April 30, 2019 – TechnoAlpin is the world’s leading manufacturer of snow making technology providing ideal competition conditions and an essential support for events’ organisers. The South-Tyrolean company has been the official supplier of several World Para Snow Sports Championships in recent years. Since the season 2018/19, the cooperation has been extended to the entire Para alpine skiing, Para Nordic skiing and Para snowboard World Cup season.

This year, the company has already supported three World Championships: the Para Alpine Worlds in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, and Sella Nevea, Italy, in January; the Para Nordic Worlds in Prince George, Canada, in February; and the Para Snowboard Worlds in Pyha, Finland, in March.

“We are very pleased to officially announce this partnership with TechnoAlpin. We have counted with their support in World Championships since 2017 and we value the investment and contribution of TechnoAlpin to our sports,” Dimitrije Lazarovski, Head of World Para Snow Sports, said.

“For us it is very important to have TechnoAlpin as a partner on board providing perfect conditions to athletes and organisers. We look forward to continuously developing our collaboration.”

Erich Gummerer, Managing Director of TechnoAlpin, said:

“TechnoAlpin has always set itself the goal of guaranteeing snow of the highest quality for every winter sports enthusiast worldwide. That’s why we are proud to continue our partnership with World Para Snow Sports and to support Para sports with our expertise.”

Lillehammer, Norway, will host the next World Championships in 2021. It will be the first time the same city organises the Para Alpine Skiing, Para Nordic Skiing and Para Snowboard Worlds.

–

April 28, 2019 (Hanover, NH) – The Dartmouth ski team gathered last week at its end-of-year banquet to reflect on its fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championship in March and hand out the team awards for each discipline while naming the team captains for the 2019-20 season.

The Martha Rockwell Award, given to the top female skiers — alpine and Nordic — went to senior Alexa Dlouhy and junior Stephanie Currie (who shared the alpine honor), and sophomore Katharine Ogden. On the men’s side, the award is named the Norwegian Trophy, which was bestowed upon senior Callan Deline for Nordic skiing, while junior Tanguy Nef and sophomore Drew Duffy shared the alpine honor.

The complete list of awards bestowed at the banquet are listed below.

Martha Rockwell Award — Given in honor of Martha Rockwell, Dartmouth’s women cross country coach from 1979-1987, to the cross country and alpine woman who, in the estimation of the coaches, has performed the best throughout the season.
Alpine: Alexa Dlouhy and Stephanie Currie
Cross Country: Katharine Ogden

Norwegian Trophy — Given to the Dartmouth team by former Dartmouth skiers Per Coucheron ’68, Hans Preben Mehren ’68 and Erik Sunde ’69, this award is bestowed annually to the alpine and cross country man who in the estimation of the coaches has performed the best throughout the season.
Alpine: Tanguy Nef, Drew Duffy
Cross Country: Callan Deline

Earl Jette Award — Given annually in each discipline to the skiers who, in the opinion of the coaches, have made the most significant improvement during the course of the season.
Men’s Alpine: Jimmy Krupka
Men’s Cross Country: Koby Gordon
Women’s Alpine: Ellie Curtis
Women’s Cross Country: Leah Brams

Pam Merrill Award — Selected by the coaches of the two female disciplines and awarded to the most outstanding cross country and alpine first-year woman.
Alpine: Tricia Mangan
Cross Country: Molly Gellert

Cooke Award — Originally the First Year Skimeister Award, this award was established in 1956 in memory of Donald J. Cooke ’57, a former ski team manager who passed away in 1955. Since 1974, the Skimeister title is no longer competed for, so the award is now presented annually by the coaches to the most outstanding cross country and alpine first-year man.
Alpine: Jimmy Krupka
Cross Country: Luc Golin

Torin Tucker Award — Formerly the Development Team Award, the Torin Tucker Award is given annually to honor the memory of Torin Tucker ’15 and to recognize someone whose energy and commitment generates excitement amongst the team and motivates everyone to continue to improve.
Mikaela O’Brien and Fedor Myagkov

The Maggie Cup — Established in 2007 on the retirement of Maggie Sullivan to recognize her years of dedicated service as the ski team’s administrative assistant. The award will be given periodically by the ski team coaches to honor a ski team supporter whose dedication, generosity of spirit, contribution of time and talent, and love of the sport, exemplify the values and tradition of the Dartmouth ski team.
Spencer Brown, Dartmouth’s Holekamp Family Director of Strength & Conditioning

Spirit of Skiing Award — Established in 1991 and is given annually to the female alpine or cross country skier who in the estimation of her teammates has contributed to the excellence of the Dartmouth ski team, embodying a passion for the sport and motivating her teammates to reach for new heights. The trophy and antique pewter bowl were donated in 1996 by the grandmother of Laura Turner ’98.
Tricia Mangan and Lydia Blanchet

Schniebs-McCrillis Award — Originally given to Dartmouth’s best four-event skier in the college championships in honor of Otto Schniebs and John McCrillis. Due to increased specialization the Skimeister title is no longer awarded. Since 1974, with the endorsement of John McCrillis, this award has been presented annually to the alpine or cross country man who in the estimation of his teammates best embodies Otto Schniebs’ maxim that “Skiing is a Way of Life.”
Adam Glueck

Class of 1978 Inspirational Award — Given annually to the upperclass woman who, in the estimation of her teammates, has unselfishly given the most to the women’s ski team in terms of her dedication to the team and her promotion of team spirit and sportsmanship, while maintaining a healthy balance between intercollegiate skiing and a broader Dartmouth experience.
Emily Hyde

Gebhardt Award — Established in memory of Robert Gebhardt a member of Dartmouth’s 1958 NCAA Championship Team, who was killed in a boating accident in 1968. It is given annually to the man who in the opinion of his teammates and coaches has demonstrated outstanding sportsmanship, loyalty to Dartmouth and the team, and hard work both in skiing and academics.
Kipling Weisel

Captains for 2019-20
Women’s Alpine: Claire Thomas
Women’s Cross Country: Leah Brams and Lauren Jortberg
Men’s Alpine: Drew Duffy
Men’s Cross Country: None

April 26, 2019 (Vancouver, B.C.) –Alex Harvey wrapped up a stellar cross-country ski career that saw him represent Canada at three Olympic Winter Games, win five World Championship medals, including two gold, and 32 World Cup podiums when he crossed the finish line at the World Cup Finals in Quebec City last month.

In recognition of his remarkable career and outstanding leadership on and off the snow, the Canadian Snowsports Association has named Harvey as the recipient of the 2019 John Semmelink Memorial Award, which is awarded to the Canadian snow sport athlete who best represents Canada in international sport through integrity, conduct and ability.

The St-Ferréol-les-Neiges, Que. resident has been one of the leaders Canada’s National Ski Team over the last decade, and one of the leading faces in Canada’s Olympic sport community. The 30-year-old has always found time to work with the next generation of skiers, playing an important role in mentoring younger athletes as Nordiq Canada looks to develop the next generation of champions.

Recognized around the world for demonstrating professionalism and respect for competing under the rules of fair sport, Harvey has been a model for achieving excellence in his athletic and personal life while balancing his pursuit of the international podium with chasing a degree in Law.

Throughout his career Harvey been one of Canada’s most candid voices, speaking openly about the highs and lows of high-performance sport, and on clean sport. His conduct and achievements have garnered respect around the world by fans, commentators and most notably his competitors.

Putting a fairytale ending to his memorable career, Harvey posted back-to-back silver medals in his final two World Cup races, delighting the hometown crowd by rocking the famed Plains of Abraham in Quebec City with an emotional farewell in front of more than and 40,000 boisterous Canadian cross-country ski fans.

The John Semmelink award is considered the most prestigious award in Canadian snow sports. Named in honour of John Semmelink, who lost his life in a training accident while competing in Garmisch, Germany, the award was first presented in 1962. Alex Harvey’s father, Pierre Harvey, was named winner of the Semmelink award in 1985, 1987 and 1988.

The athlete representatives of the six Olympic and Paralympic disciplines of the Canadian Snowsports Association may name a candidate for consideration, with a Selection Committee naming the winner.

The 2019 John Semmelink Memorial Award will be presented this autumn as part of the Induction Ceremonies for the Canadian Skiing Hall of Fame.

April 19, 2019 (London, England) – Legendary Canadian Olypmic gold medalist, Becky Scott, was recently honoured with the PCC Service to Anti-Doping Award during the 2019 Partners for Clean Competition conference in London, England.

The conference run by the nonprofit organization aims to recognize individuals that demonstrate outstanding integrity of sport and public health. Scott has dedicated her post-athletic career advocating the anti-doping movement and clean competition.

She has served on the board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and is currently the Chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Athlete Committee., Scott resigned from the WADA Compliance Review board in 2018 after it recommended that the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) be reinstated.

In addition to her 10km Pursuit gold at the 2012 Salt Lake City Olympics, her career highlights also include a silver medal in the Team Sprint with Sarah Renner at the 2006 Games in Turin and finishing second overall in the FIS World Cup standings in 2006 season.

Scott is an Officer of the Order of Canada, and was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame, and the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.

Read more about #PCC2019 here

@PCCantidoping

April 17, 2019 (Innsbruck, AUT) – The Winter World Masters Games are the world’s greatest winter sports event for 30+ year olds. In January 2020 more than 3,000 sports enthusiasts will gather in Tirol in order to compete in 12 sports according to the Olympic values of performance, friendship and respect. Experience the spirit and register here.

Spectacular settings, a genuinely warm welcome, cultural highlights and state-of-the-art facilities are the remaining ingredients which will make this a truly unique festival of winter sports. From ambitious athletes to passionate amateurs, everyone is welcome to take part in the Winter World Masters Games. If you’re old enough to compete then we look forward to hearing from you. The minimum age varies de-pending on your sport. There is no maximum age limit. True to its mottos “sport for everyone” and “sport for life”, the International Masters Games Association (IMGA) – which is recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – aims to encourage people of all ages to be active and do sport.

Volunteers will also have the chance to experience this winter sports festival at first hand. For information about volunteer jobs and how to apply, simply visit the website here.