Blog | Mansfield Nordic Club

BKL Info December 2-8 and Sub Groups

By Liz Hollenbach on 2 December, 2024 in BKL Training Schedule

Find your child’s Sub-group & coach info here: BKL Sub-Groups

Please make note of your child’s coach’s contact info. Let coaches know if your child will be late or absent. If it is last minute, please text Coach Liz (802-922-1843).

*Remember that groups are not static and we may switch kids if we find they would benefit from being in a different group.

This week we have our virtual parents meeting and the first day of practice for everyone, except Penguins. The new snow over the past few days has allowed Coach Peter to work on grooming at Tomasi Meadow in Underhill Center. We’re going to jump at this chance to ski.

*Practice Location Update – MNC has just learned that The Range, our home base for skiing, might not be open for this ski season. We have our fingers crossed that we can work with the National Guard to make something work starting in January. We will not be at The Range for December. We are working on several other options. This will impact some families with children in multiple programs and those that do the Masters program in the evening. Afternoon Masters Group will be at the BKL location. Read All the Details Here

Tuesday, December 3 at 7pm – Virtual Parents Meeting on Tuesday. Check your email for a meeting link.

Thursday, December 5 – First day of practice for JackRabbits, Arctic Foxes, Racers and Devos

Location: Tomasi Meadow, Underhill Center
Parking: The Tomasi lot on Mountain Rd was expanded this summer and we should all be able to squeeze in.
Time: 3:45pm-5:00pm (we’ll end 15 minutes earlier than usual, but bring a good head lamp!)
Details: Classic Skiing (Choose your skis depending on what you have- waxable classic skis, classic rock skis or no-wax classic skis)
Reminder: There is no inside space at Tomasi or bathrooms (go before heading over).

Saturday, December 7 – Racers and Devos Practice at Sleepy Hollow. Let’s skate ski. We’ll meet at 10am ready to ski on the trail outside the lodge and finish up about 11:30. You can watch the Sleepy Hollow conditions and web cam here.

Pro tips to help you get equipment ready for ski practice:

Practice putting on ski pole straps – Bring your poles inside, put on the gloves or mittens you plan to wear to skiing. Test that ski pole straps are secure. They should be loose enough to slide hand through easily over mittens/gloves, but snug enough so if you let go of the pole grip, it stays close to your hand. Make sure kids know how to put on their own poles and practice putting on poles in the living room.
Practice putting on your skis. Bring your skis into the living room. Put on your ski boots ski boots and set skis right down on the carpet. Practice opening the bindings and putting boots into the bindings.
Label all equipment, so kids and coaches can find the name easily (skis and poles especially). It doesn’t have to be anything fancy- masking tape and sharpie work great.

RANGE UPDATES 12/2/24

By Adam Terko on 2 December, 2024 in BKL Jackrabbits, BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog, Uncategorized

Mansfield Nordic
Range Update and Practice Locations
December 2, 2024

Last week the National Guard announced to Mansfield Nordic Club, Ethan Allen Biathlon Club and local High School coaches that there would be no one allowed to ski at the range in 2025. They later updated this announcement further to inform all groups no outside groups were going to be allowed at the facility after December 9th. This was quite a surprise, because as of August we thought the situation going forward was clear and not impacting our programs.

The Walker Building is scheduled for deconstruction starting December 9th. There is also site work and trail widening that will happen this winter. These projects are part of a larger plan that includes some new buildings and trail upgrades. While we are excited to benefit from infrastructure improvements in the future, it is disappointing to learn of this exclusion from the National Guard right before many groups and teams begin their winter seasons.

MNC’s head coaches and Board of Directors are working together with Ethan Allen Biathlon Club to advocate for use of the Range starting in January 2025.

These immediate changes are challenging for MNC because many members are involved with more than one of our groups: BKL, Juniors, and Masters. We understand that these changes in our program location will be tricky for some MNC skiers.

We have made alternate practice location plans for December and will be reassessing options for January based on any new agreement we are able to make with the National Guard.

December Tuesday/Thursday Practice

BKL – Practice will be in the Jericho/Underhill area. Mills Riverside Park/ Tomasi Meadow

Juniors – Tuesday and Thursday practices will be at Sleepy Hollow. Practices on other days of the week will be at Sleepy Hollow or other locations depending on snow conditions.

Masters – Afternoon Master coaches will hold practice at the same location as BKL practice. Afternoon masters have an option to swap to evening masters, and vice versa. Evening masters will be at Sleepy Hollow.

Masters will be responsible for paying for their own skiing at Sleepy Hollow. Sleepy Hollow has offered a discounted pass at $100 for a two day week option here (also see button below). Pass holders can use this pass for Tuesday and Thursday sessions, or for another day that week if they cannot make a scheduled practice, for up to 2x days total per week. This is not a reciprocal pass, and will not be able to be redeemed at other ski areas. If Masters skiers already have a regular Sleepy Hollow Pass, there is no need for this additional pass.

MNC Masters: Sleepy Hollow 2x/Wk Pass

Range Access Pass Holders– There will not be a Range Access option in December 2024, and we are not sure if there will be a Range Access Pass option in January 2025.

Refunds for Programs and Range Access will be considered after January 1, 2025. More info will be posted once available on the MNC website and in the weekly e blast.

Communicating with the National Guard

While there may be a lot of understandable frustration about this situation, particularly the lack of communication from the National Guard at Camp Johnson (where all facilities and resource access is managed), please hold your calls and emails until we reach any potential agreements for January 2025 onward.

There is certainly a deep well of community support and input that groups like MNC, EABC, MMU Nordic, and other can compile in sharing our frustrations with Guard leadership. But for the time being we are looking to approach this with an eye toward pragmatism and collaboration.

We hope to know more in advance of the new year.

How to pay for stonegrinding and parka embroidery

By Adam Terko on 21 November, 2024 in BKL Race Blog, Junior Blog, Masters Blog, Uncategorized

If you got your skis stoneground, or if you ordered an MNC parka (either a BKL parka or our new Maloja option) you can pay for both the grind(s) and embroidery at the link below!

Stonegrinding and embroidery: Fall ’24

Our stonegrinding batch was large enough to qualify for a 25% discount, so we only pay $75/pair as opposed to $100. Thanks to everyone who delivered skis to be worked on! Please contact Adam for ski pickup.

Embroidery (front and back) on all of our new jackets comes to $27/each. Thanks to Pumpkin Harbor Designs in Cambridge for this work…we have done embroidery here for years and highly recommend them!

We have several Maloja jackets available for purchase, with MNC logos and all! If you are interested in a women’s size Small or Medium “Basegela” jacket or a men’s size XS, Medium, or Large “Pikuj” jacket please reach out to Adam!

Maloja Marzola jackets!

First ski of the season!

By Adam Terko on 18 November, 2024 in Junior Blog

There are articles all over the place discussing the proper “procedure” for the first day on snow. Lots of no-pole skiing…make sure to not get carried away and go to fast…incorporate drills for technique…BORING!

Our first day of skiing this year took place at the base of Stowe. Snowmaking crews had managed to put together a nice patch at the base area, with a ribbon of white a ways up one of the trails. With skate skis on it was myself, Mia, Astrid, James, and Jorgen who did a little slogging about 10 minutes up the climb. We looked back to see that the other two skiers that day, Jonah and Lorenzo, hadn’t made it past the first chairlift post: they had immediately pulled out an avalanche shovel and begun construction of a jump.

There they stayed, hard at work creating a booter to give them the first 360s of the season. And we didn’t linger on the uphill much longer either. Our first day on skis was primarily spent catching air, flinging snow, and sliding around on stomachs.

It was a lot of fun. As Jonah put it, “This is probably one of the best ways to get used to skis again. Lots of movement, challenging terrain, and skill development.” (or something like that).

I think it’s great that we can embrace snow for what it is sometimes, such as a few hundred meters of lumpy, crusty, icy crud. We are happy to let loose a bit and eschew the traditional dull, ritualistic grind of skiing kilometers in a line without our poles under coach scrutiny. And we just may be better, more fulfilled skiers for it!

QCB Masters Kickoff

By Adam Terko on 18 November, 2024 in Masters Blog

Our Masters got together on Saturday for a fun and friendly kickoff at Queen City Brewery/Pizza 44! This is a fun yearly event that brings lots of people together and gets us excited for the winter ahead.

Kort introducing the event to our gathered Masters group

It was great to have lots of delicious pizza and some good company! While there isn’t quite snow yet, we are definitely crossing our fingers for a cold and productive winter. We’re also excited to welcome Sara Falconer as our Masters head coach this year…not only is Sara not a Doctor of Physical Therapy, she’s also ready to help put together lots of great programs and ski sessions!

Our “Masters Mini Camp” is taking place on Sunday, December 15th at Craftsbury. Join us for skiing in the morning, video review and lunch, discussions on technique and training, and more skiing in the afternoon. This event is available to all our Masters and is not an additional cost or fee! You can RSVP for the Masters Mini Camp below:

RSVP for Masters Mini Camp Dec 15th

Thanks to everybody who came out to dinner and drinks, and thanks to QCB/Pizza 44 for hosting us!