November 07, 2012 – Here is the latest news from FIS, including an update on the 2016 Youth Olympic Games, announcement of a mascot contest for the Falun 2015 World Championships, a skiing history exhibition in Val di Fiemme, decisions from the recent FIS Council Meeting in Oberhofen, Switzerland, and a progress update about ski jumping in Romania.

Lillehammer 2016 Youth Olympic Games off to a flying start

The first visit of the International Olympic Committee’s Coordination for the second Winter Youth Olympic Games wrapped up on 26th October 2012 in Lillehammer (NOR).

Chaired by IOC member Angela Ruggiero, the Commission was impressed with the early progress made by the Lillehammer Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee since the city won the bid in December 2011 and the strong government and National Olympic Committee support pledged from the outset.

The shared vision of the three parties aims to engage as many young people as possible locally and abroad in the Games. It will also act as a catalyst for change in the development of youth sport nationwide before, during and long after the Games conclude.

During the meeting, the Coordination Commission visited all the venues that will be used to host the seven sports that currently make up the YOG Programme.

The majority of these venues were built for the 1994 Olympic Winter Games, thereby extending the legacies of those Games. One of the few venues to be built from scratch for the 2016 YOG will be the Youth Olympic Village, which will house the athletes and be the site of all the Culture and Education Programme activities.

Commission chair Ruggerio concluded: “We have full belief in Lillehammer to not only deliver a successful Games, but also leave a legacy for youth sport development long after the Games have terminated.”

Falun 2015 has launched mascot competition

How should the official mascot of the 2015 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun look like? The Swedish Organisers have recently rolled out a mascot competition inviting people from all age groups to design the official Falun 2015 mascot.

“The purpose of the mascot competition, apart from creating a buzz about the Championships, is to gather ideas from the general public to be able to create a popular symbol for Falun and the World Championships. The mascot has to work in a wide variety of settings – from printed materials to films and the homepage as well as cheerleading the crowds in the stadium”, said Kent Lövgren, Marketing Director of the 2015 Nordic World Ski Championships in Falun.

Anybody who is interested can enter his/her very best ideas by uploading a photograph or scan including a mascot name to www.beyondskiing2015.com/maskot. The competition will remain open until 15th December 2012.

During the autumn, the general public will be able to vote for the best of the approved proposals shown on the homepage. After that, a jury will be taking on the job of selecting the final mascot. The new mascot will then be introduced during the summer and autumn of 2013 and in 2014, in conjunction with the World Cup competitions that will also serve as World Championship test events.

It’s all about Skiing – “Ski History” exhibition officially opened in Val di Fiemme

In conjunction with the Forum Nordicum held in Val di Fiemme (ITA) on 16th October 2012, a “Ski Past” exhibition has officially been inaugurated in the presence of 100 participants at Le Gallerie space in Trento.

During the opening ceremony FIS President Gian Franco Kasper underlined the significance of “keeping memories alive and strong”.

Mountain equipment, historical objects and various items related to sport and winter activities such as boots, skis, poles and clothing are telling the story that has characterized the region of Trento over the past century. High-tech video installations, pictures, medals and trophies as well as a detailed time-line from the first Winter Olympic Games in 1924 in Chamonix (FRA) until the 2013 Nordic World Ski Championships in Val di Fiemme (ITA) are fully covering the exhibition space.

Decisions from the FIS Council Meeting in Oberhofen

The FIS Council traditionally held its Autumn Meeting at the FIS Office in Oberhofen (SUI) on Saturday 3rd November and dealt with a full agenda, including reports from Organising Committees for future FIS World Championships, the appointment of technical officials as well as proposals from the FIS Technical Committees with calendar updates and a number of rules.

Click HERE to see the main decisions of the FIS Council.

Final inspections before the season – Romania reaches a milestone in Ski Jumping

Among numerous inspections carried out before the season in the different FIS Olympic disciplines, FIS Ski Jumping Race Director Walter Hofer recently met with representatives of the Romanian Ski Association. The visit focusing on the new jumping hills was held in conjunction with the Romanian International Championships on 27th-28th October 2012 in Rasnov.

“Staging an international Ski Jumping competition in Romania might sound rather unusual and it actually is. But already a view on the facility Trambulină Valea Cărbunării in Rasnov has shown, that something was built here that is not mysterious, but the result of years of professional planning”, reported Walter Hofer.

On 19th-20th January 2013, four FIS Cup competitions (2 ladies, 2 men’s) will be held on the new HS 100 hill. The facility originally consisted of three jumping hills for children and young athletes and was completed by two more hills K64 (HS 71) and K 90 (HS 100) in October 2012.

Upon his return, FIS Ski Jumping Race Director Walter Hofer concluded on the positive trends: “Six years ago we did some sort of an appraisal and saw a precarious situation. Just like in some other countries as well, the only possibility for a young Romanian athlete to train was to travel abroad. Since then an amazing development took place at an accelerated pace. In the open national championships (including Bulgaria and Hungary) at the end of October, the fruit of this labour could be seen and Romania is now on its way to establish itself on the international field. One athlete (Dana Haralambie) could even already achieve the personal qualification standard for the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.”

As a result of a cooperation between the Austrian industrial company OMV and the Romanian Ski Association started in 2007, the construction of the first Ski Jumping centre in Romania and South-Eastern Europe could be launched in 2009 in the city of Rasnov. With the sponsorship of OMV, project leader and Ski Jumping expert Paul Ganzenhuber and former ski jumper Christian Moser (both AUT) have been the driving forces in this development. The goal of the project “OMV Move & Jump” was to give Romanian ski jumpers the chance to score among the top ten of the world within the next ten years.

October 12, 2012 – Join the celebrations for the 10th Anniversary of the Vermont Ski Museum as the festivities go Nordic! Sunday, October 14, a panel of speakers will highlight the past, present and future of cross country ski areas, technology, coaching, and youth development. Sunday, October 21 will see the Paul Robbins Ski Journalism Award presented to Linda Adams and Sporty Bell.

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October 14 – Nordic Ski Evolution/Revolution
Salute the New Cool of Nordic Skiing: Rally with Today’s Superstars and Past Heroes

Visit the newly redesigned long term exhibits on the Museum’s second floor, including Nordic Ski Evolution/Revolution.

The afternoon will consist of three panels that highlight the past, present and future of cross country ski areas, technology, coaching, and youth development. Panels begin at 1 with cross country ski areas, 2:30-3:45 will be technique and coaching, and 3:45-5pm will be equipment. A cash bar with buffet dinner will follow. At 7:30, the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum Nordic Hall of Fame Inductees will be available for questions and answers.

Panelists include Johannes von Trapp, Tony Clark, Joe Pete Wilson, Charlie Yerrick,

Judy Geer and Dick Dreissigacker (Craftsbury), Mike Hussey (Rikert), Jere Linehan (Strafford), Charlie Yerrick (Trapp), Bob Gray, John Tidd (EPSTI/PSIA), Janice Fleetwood Bean (EPSTI/PSIA), Bob Gray, John Tidd (EPSTI/PSIA), Janice Fleetwood Bean (EPSTI/PSIA), Carol Van Dyke (Bill Koch League/Stowe Nordic Outing Club), Justin Beckwith (Green Mountain Valley School), Pepa Miloucheva (Director of Competitive Skiing at Craftsbury), Zack Caldwell, Graham Lonetto (Edgewise), Tim Reynolds (Craftsbury), Trina Hosmer, Peter Graves, Jan Reynolds, Murray Banks and more….

Tickets are $15 for dinner, $5 for any of the panel discussions and includes admission to the Museum

Thank you to our sponsors Stowe Nordic Outing Club, The Cushman Design Group, Dave and Trina Hosmer, Ole’s Cross Country Ski Area.

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October 21 – Paul Robbins Journalism Award

The Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum cordially invites you to the Induction Ceremony and Dinner in celebration of

– Charles Minot Dole (1899-1976)
– D. Trowbridge Elliman
– Leslie Thompson Hall
– Tiger Shaw

Paul Robbins Ski Journalism Award presented to Linda Adams and Sporty Bell

Trapp Family Lodge Event Tent

– 4:30pm – Welcome reception
– 5:00-6:00pm – Induction Ceremony
– 6:30pm – Buffet dinner and music by Hall of Fame member Larry Damon and his band Z-Jaz

For complete biographical information, click HERE.

Tickets $60 members, $85 non-members

To purchase tickets, click HERE. For more details, click HERE.

For more information, contact Meredith Scott, Director/Curator, mscott@vtssm.com, 802.253.9911.

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Support the Museum
– Buy a raffle ticket.
– Renew or become a member.
– Make a donation.

More than $35,000 has been raised towards our $50,000 goal. Help us complete the 10th anniversary campaign.

Raffle tickets:
1. One-night stay in Hotel Jay Studio for four people, lift tickets and water park use included.
2. Two, four-day, adult, non-holiday, lift tickets to Stowe Mountain Resort with a guided tour by Historian Brian Lindner.
3. Scott Mega Dozer powder skis (185cm) with Marker Griffon bindings.
4. Burton set up: Custom Board, Cartel Bindings and Hail Boots (can be exchanged at the Burton Flagship Store for sizing regardless of men’s or women’s).
5. Two-night stay at the Trapp Family Lodge with trail use included.

Click here to buy tickets. $25 each or 5 for $100. You can pick the item you want to win.

Membership: Click the box for more details. 100% of membership income supports our exhibits and programs.

Donations: Click here for our 10th anniversary budget. We are almost there!

See the new exhibit One Track Mind: A Celebration of Snowboarding from Burton’s Archives.

More on the 10th Anniversary Celebrations and the museum HERE.

April 24, 2012 – On this week’s edition of Talkin’ with the Gravy-Train, we pick up where we left off last week during Peter Graves’s interview with former US and Canadian XC Ski Team Head Coach, Marty Hall. Hall delves deeper into the North American success this year and looks at the next wave of talent and what it means for the future of the sport on this continent. Hall coached the US Team when Bill Koch won his Olympic silver medal at the Games in Innesbruck, Austria, and was also at the helm of the Canadian Team during Pierre Harvey’s heyday – check out his report cards in his column Hallmarks in the final issue issue of SkiTrax this season.

Marty Hall part 2 – for part 1 click here.

September 13, 2011 (Toblach, Italy) – One of the most interesting stages of next FIS Tour de Ski will be the one in Toblach/Dobbiaco ITA. During three days, six races will be carried out in this relatively small village in Pustertal. In my article I will use the German name Toblach (there is also Italian version Dobbiaco).

As Toblach has become a frequent organizer in the FIS Tour de Ski it may be interesting for you to know how Toblach organized their first World Cup Competition. We have to go back to season 1987/88 and (as always) the winter was warm in Middle Europe. And perhaps some of you remember that the relay race Dec. 19 in Davos was cancelled due to the fact that the Swiss TV did not want to cover the competition, as the snow situation was very poor. As you had seen before, the men and the ladies competed sometimes at different resorts the same weekend.

The weekend Jan 15-16 was scheduled for Klingenthal DDR for women and Strbske Pleso TCH for men. It was still warm and we had to make changes of the program in Ski jumping as well as in Nordic Combined. The snow situation in Klingenthal did not allow any World Cup competition taking place and no substitute resort could be found in DDR. As always FISI (the Italian Ski Federation), was interested to take it over. The secretary general of FISI Angelo Vergani informed me that Cogne or Toblach were candidates to host the competition and he recommended Toblach. I remembered that I had met a person from Toblach, Herbert Santer, at the men’s Mass-start race in Kastelruth three weeks earlier. He asked me what he should do so that Toblach could become the organizer of a World Cup race in the future. Who could know at that time that the future was within three weeks?

I called Franco Nones, the representative of Italy and asked him to check the possibilities.

The answer was positive and after having involved our decision makers Gian Franco Kasper FIS General Secretary, Odd Martinsen Cross-Country Committee and Stig Roland Bergqvist World Cup Committee, we decided that Toblach would organize its first World Cup event.

This was the paper work, now to reality – how to organize a World Cup race in Toblach?

The OC of Toblach consisted of persons with experiences from the popular cross-country race Cortina-Toblach and from a number of Alpen Cup competitions. You must also be aware of the reality at that time. The weekend January 15-16 was the last competition before the opening of the Olympic Winter Games in Calgary/Canmore 1988, which started February 14. That meant that one month was reserved for preparations before the games.

The key persons were Herbert Santer as Chief OC, Elvira Bachmann as competition secretary and Karl Walder as Chief of track. The TD was Madeleine Vion FRA. With excitement we waited for the teams but which nations would come? SOV and FIN did not come and NOR came with a B-team.

The preparations were underway and I remember that we had troubles with how to improve an uphill.

However at the end we had fantastic competitions with many engaged spectators and a new organizer was born. At last I want to mention one thing that happened during the team captains meeting that never will happen again. The technical delegate suddenly asked is it okay that we will start at 09.30? One captain said that is more convenient to start at 10.00. And that was confirmed by Madeleine Vion the Technical delegate without any control. Such things could occur as late as 1988.

Simone Greiner Petter DDR won before the Swedes Anna Lena Fritzon and Marie Helen Westin. In the relay SWE, DDR and NOR were the three best.

For me personally I got a close friendship through the years with the Family Santer with the parents Herbert and Live and the three daughters Natalie, Saskia and Stephanie.

Thank you Toblach and good luck for the future.