Vershire Ski

by The Van

thanks to Sam (and Liam) for grooming late Fri night!

On Saturday the 21st, we made the trek over to Vershire, VT to ski on Sam Rossier's trails.  When we arrived we were treated with a lovely network of trails stretching through The Mountain School's woods and near perfect weather.  We skied for an hour and a half before heading inside for homemade muffins and coffee kindly supplied by Sam's mom.

New Year's Day

by The Van

This New Years Day (yes, almost 4 weeks ago) we loaded up the van bright and early at 8:30 AM.  Although the ride up was quiet, it was apparent that everyone was secretly bursting with excitement for the day of skiing ahead.  Our original plan was to classic ski, but once we arrived in a cloud of fog, we opted to avoid klister and skate instead.  We started off with an hour of easy skiing on the race course.  Then, it was decided it was time to take a lunch break.  We headed into the lodge to enjoy the warmth and good food.  Inside we enjoyed our sandwiches and snacks but quickly headed back outside to ski again.  The J2 girls went with Scottie to work on V2 techniques, the J1 girls went together and worked on strength, and Noah went with Dan to practice skating slower.  By the time we all got back to the van, the fog had lifted.  We loaded up the van and headed to Champlain Chocolate, which was closed, so we headed back home where lots of dryland training was waiting.

Valley Cup at Ole's

by The Van


Today everyone showed up bright and early at the van ready for the Valley Vup race.  After a few snores here and there, we woke to the wintery wonderland at Ole's.  The J1s went first and skied 10k.  This was our first distance race with less than 3 laps.  The snow was the smoothest we've seen this winter, and V2 was the way to go for most of the race.  After the J1s went, the J2s were next.  Ford Sayre was well-represented at the awards ceremony.

Many thanks to Gene, Justin, Jennifer, and the Ole's crew for welcoming us and putting on a great race!

Congrats to Paddy!

Paddy is competing this week at the Youth Olympic Games in Seefeld, Austria.  He raced a strong 10k classic on Tuesday, finishing 16th, and placed 5th!!!! in today's freestyle sprint.

Post-race photos are shamelessly stolen from the Stratton Mountain School blog (thanks Sverre!) - check the SMS blog for more great photos, updates, and race reports.

Sisters Heidi and Lucy (also FS alums) are there to cheer Paddy on

Tim's helping the team (and promises stories when he returns to his JNT coaching role)

the Lymies in FS BKL sent their own video cheer to Paddy after practice today

And Now...

... back to dryland... (most of us) in our finest fall colors!  the 1/2" of snow on the hill looks nice, doesn't it?

Eastern Cup Openers

by the crew in the van

This weekend was the first Eastern Cup and most of the older racers went for the all the races.  Not only was it the first races of year for most, it was the first groomed skiing for more than half of our racing team.  We were not alone.  Very few skiers from New England had spent much time on snow, which there was not much of anywhere.  With the hard work of the Craftsubury race organizers, a1.4 kilometer loop of manmade snow was maintained for our enjoyment.  The fist day was a sprint of 1.4km with all age groups and genders mixed into one medley of fast moving skis and bodies.  Our results ranged from mid 50’s finishs to mid 100’s.  With these results we were seeded for the afternoon prologue which was a 3km classic race.  We returned to our homestead in Glover, VT and proceded to make a lovely burrito dinner followed by brownies and ice cream.  The final day of racing was a 4.2km race for the J2’s and Women, and a 8.4km race for the Men’s field.  With lots of alums and friends in the field our day was filled with racing, cheering, and catching up with friends.  Despite the chilling weather that assailed us throughout the weekend we handled our temperature well with layers and big puffy jackets.  Dennis even helped us discover a warm room for volunteers that the girls used to regain feeling in their toes after the final races.  Overall, the weekend was a good start to the racing season.  It was full of good racing, some homework time, and most importantly, delicious cookies and brownies.

Thanks to Janet for all of these great Saturday photos!  (click on any photo to see a larger version)

Déjà Vu

It's December, the week leading up to the first Eastern Cup races, and we are skiing in the fields of Lyme - with Astri coaching!

Many thanks to Karl and Charlotte for the beautiful venue, and to Astri for joining us!

Skiing in Plainfield

by Alexi

Today was my first day classic skiing on snow this year…. and in my whole entire life.  While seeing the other skiers whizzing by me gracefully was often frustrating, I feel as if I progressed a lot during the hour we skied at Plainfield.  My first lap was messy and I felt that I was getting nowhere.  Used to skate skiing, my legs kept moving into skate position.  But as I circled that small soccer field over and over again, I could feel myself getting more comfortable to the classic motion.  Natalie and Scottie taught me great tips on weight-transfer and watching the other skiers really helped me.  The little lesson Dennis gave me about relaxing my upper body benefited me.  After today's experience in the van and on snow (finally!), I am so excited to get back out.  Cross your fingers (and toes) for snow!

Sunday 12.4.11 OD

by Noah

Last Sunday (12/4) all the JNT skiers (except Sam M who was in SWEDEN) along with the coaches (including Natalie!) met at River Rd in Orford for the weekly OD.

We classic rollerskied south on River Rd on flat and rolling pavement at an easy L1 pace while working in some specific strength along the way.  The J1 boys (George, Sam R, Noah, Spencer) and Natalie turned left onto North Thetford Rd first and headed toward the intersection at Rt 10 near Post Pond.  Once we got there we looped back to meet the J1 girls and J2s to end the rollerski together at Post Pond.

While Sarah L and Emily rollerskied back the way we came, everybody else (expect for Liza and Alexi who had to go back to Scottie's to get their running shoes - coach error!) changed into running shoes and grabbed poles to ski walk/stride up through the Lyme hills to the top of Pinnacle.  We all finally regrouped to summit Pinnacle on a beautiful, clear New England day.  After dashing down Pinnacle, the J2s jogged back to Scottie's for a waxing tutorial.


Overall, despite some confusing logistics, the team had a good time while getting a quality 2.5 hrs of L1!!  Hopefully this OD was the last one on foot this season!

Fall Testing

We completed our fall testing today, having split it across two Friday practices due to the daylight issue.

Our uphill run records don't fall often, but Noah did it!!  He ran it in 10:27, 2 seconds faster than Dylan's and John T's record.  Almost every skier ran a PR.

In today's strength portion, George raised his own sit-up record and Emily raised her own push-up record.  Both set PRs across the board, as did Tucker.  Helen and Noah each had a PR in one of the strength tests.

The first-timers all did great, and now have benchmarks to build on over the coming years.

Bring on the snow!