In 2014 NENSA began the tradition of honoring the most outstanding male and female Eastern Cup skiers with the Gallagher Award. As we build excitement for the new season, NENSA is pleased to announce that Ava Thurston (Mansfield Nordic) and Fin Bailey (Stratton Mountain School) are the 2022 Eastern Cup Champions. Their inspired efforts are a perfect way to celebrate Mike Gallagher’s legacy as an athlete, coach, and community leader.
Thurston matriculated to Dartmouth College this fall after one of the most storied Vermont High School careers in both cross country running and skiing — including numerous State titles in each sport. On the Eastern Cup circuit she was the top junior woman in six of the eight races, placing second to two different Canadians in the events she did not win. Thurston went on to Junior Nationals in Minnesota last March and swept all three individual events and anchored the New England U18 Team to victory. If you pull up the most current F.I.S. points list you will find Thurston is ranked 1st for her birth year (2004) in distance and 2nd in sprint — now, that is something that would make Mike Gallagher proud to see!
Adam Terko, Mansfield Nordic Ski Club Head Coach, describes Thurston, “Ava has a lot of strengths, both literally and figuratively. But her pure love of skiing (not just racing, but skiing itself) is what strikes me most. She’s motivated to be a better skier, not just a faster skier. Because of that motivation it’s hard to imagine something she won’t be able to do on a pair of skis or for the sport itself.”
Open to all BKL kids, free & no registration necessary.
Let’s get our muscles ready to ski, meet some friends and coaches and have a good time doing it! Coach Rosemary will lead grades 5-8 and Coach Liz will lead grades 1-4. We’ll play soccer, lots of games and do a little dry land ski training and hiking. Older kids will also do some running and bounding.
Parents encouraged to come & participate!
We need help corralling all the kids and you will get to meet some of the other kids and parents.
After daylight savings time ends on Nov. 6, we will end in the dark, so bring a headlamp and wear a light if you have one.
What to wear:
Wear sneakers and dress in layers that you can take off as you warm up. We will be running around a lot.
Where to find bad weather cancellations & other info:
Right here on the BKL blog. We won’t go out in a downpour but we probably will in a light rain.
Last year we started Fall Camp as a weekend trip to break up the long stint between the start of Fall programming and Thanksgiving Camp. This can be a tough time of year to stay motivated, with the weather getting colder and school starting to get busy.
Almost every college team seems to partake in a similar camp this time of year, and in this year’s case Middlebury was actually overlapping with us in Lake Placid…they arrived to jump on the rollerski loop just as we were leaving one day.
We had perfect weather this year, which is a nice bit of karma after battling snow, wind, hail, and fog in NH for the 2021 camp. Since we arrived around dinnertime, it was already dark for our first workout…initially I had put us down for a quick jaunt over to Henry’s Woods, a local simple trail network. But I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to run up to Cobble Hill which involves a wooded trail to the summit of an old ski area adjacent to the Northwoods School.
With headlamps dwindling on batteries we scrambled up to the open, rocky summit and looked down on the twinkling lights of Mirror Lake and the town below. Then we turned off the lights, laid down on our backs, and stared up in unified contentment at a ski dense with stars. It was a mad dash back to a late dinner at the condo, but very worth the cool experience.
Turning off the headlamps and looking down on town
The next morning we were excited to have local club NYSEF join us for some hard rollerski intervals on one of the towns two (!) rollerski tracks. The loops at the jumping complex are great for fast skating, which rewards good technique and momentum through sweeping corners and turns. The leaves were falling like snow, and the team put in repeat after repeat hammering around the circuit.
With some lunch and study time after that, we knew we only had enough daylight for one of the easier, shorter high peaks (4,000’+) mountains in the region. Luckily for us, the tourists had cleared out by the afternoon and we could hike up Cascade without any crowds or parking hassles. The summit was reached right as the light hit golden hour, making an open and rocky summit even more spectacular. We got down with light to spare, and dinner at a reasonable hour this night!
Runnin up to the summit
Enough tourists still up top to have them snag a photo of us
After making some tacos and following them up with chocolate-dipped apples for dessert, we went to bed in anticipation of a long ski to close out camp.
While there are a few fun roads around Lake Placid to rollerski on, I wanted something unique and special for this camp…since we ski a lot in Charlotte, I was wondering if it would be possible to string together a route that brought us from the Adirondacks right to the ferry, meaning we would literally “ski home” from camp.
On Wednesday of last week I took my Subaru out for a little joyride, and spend a few hours just driving the backroads north and west of Elizabethtown with Google Maps and a notepad riding shotgun. It was an amazing fall day for that drive, and I worried that the unfriendly Sunday forecast would turn what I thought could be an amazing ski into a total slog…
But I was proved oh so wrong! What we experienced on Sunday was one of the top rollerskis of all time in my book, and the team seemed to agree. With scenic backroads and almost zero traffic at all, the group skied from Elizabethtown right at the base of the mountains, all the way to the Essex ferry. Skis were clipped back on once the ferry docked, and everyone skied all the way back to the Linseisen house in Shelburne where we were treated to an awesome food spread to cap off the camp. Pictures and videos from the ski don’t do it justice, but here is a map of the route, and a group photo near the lake looking back at the ADKs where we started from.
Of course, you know it wouldn’t be an MNC camp or trip without some video content as well…here’s a short collection of clips I put together on Instagram, which I then transferred to Youtube to view here. Looking forward to our next team adventure!
Does my child’s equipment from last year still fit? What do they need for the program? Below is a quick guide.
What does my Child Need for Equipment?
It depends on which program you are planning to register them for. (You can find Program Descriptions HERE.)
Penguins 1-Day: Pre-K to 1st Grade:
Equipment needed: No-wax classic skis, boots, and poles. THESE ARE ALL AVAILABLE TO RENT THROUGH THE CLUB at our Ski Swap (October 23), or if you miss that, through the MNC REGISTRATION PAGE with pick-up at Adam’s house in Bolton.
Jack Rabbits2-Day : Grades 1-4
Equipment needed: Classic no-wax or waxable skis, classic length poles, skate skis, skate length poles and combi boots.
Arctic Foxes2-Day : Grades 5-8
Equipment needed: Classic no-wax or waxable skis, classic length poles, skate skis, skate length poles and combi boots.
Racing Team 3-Day: Grades 5-8
Equipment needed: Classic waxable skis, classic length poles, skate skis, skate length poles and combi boots.
How Do I Know If My Child’s Equipment Still Fits?
When my kids were BKL age, I found that skis would last 1-2 years, and then they would be too short. I found that my kids usually needed larger boots and longer poles every year. Kids grow and they will have a better ski experience if they are using equipment that fits them correctly. Here is how to know:
Boots:
Have your child put on a ski sock (a heavy, synthetic or wool hiking type of sock) to try on boots. They should fit like a sneaker. A little room to grow is good- it’s October now and we’ll be skiing into March! Nordic Ski boots are usually sized in EU sizes.
Skis:
Ideally, you fit skis by weight of the skier. Skis are measured and sized in centimeters. HERE is a chart by Fischer that will give you a good idea of what length of ski your child should be skiing on. Look for the Junior Nordic chart. Skate skis should be 5-10 cm. shorter than classic skis and are also sized by weight. There are usually a couple of different length options for a specified skier weight. If your skier is a beginner, go for the shorter option. If your skier is more advanced go for the longer option.
Poles:
Classic: Standing in shoes on a floor you want classic poles to reach all the way up to the top of the shoulder or just under it. Once in ski boots on skis & snow, those poles will reach just under the arm pit. The exception is young beginners. It’s OK for them to have poles that are shorter- sometimes it’s just easier for them to learn if there is less pole there.
Skate: In shoes on a floor, skate poles should reach up to the skier’s upper lip or nose. Once on snow, they will be at upper or lower lip level.
Err on the longer side with poles if you are getting them in October or November! I’ve seen many kids outgrow their poles by mid-February!
The winter is fast approaching, and our friends at EnjoyWinter have a lot to offer that can set you up right for the season.
Use the code MNC2223 at checkout for 30% OFF your order! What’s more, with each order using that code, MNC receives 10% of the purchase price to spend on wax and tools for the upcoming season…that may not sound like much, but last year this promotion helped us provide klister and kickwax for many of our training sessions. We love being able to provide wax at training sessions (especially klister days), rather than asking our members to purchase their own out-of-pocket.
So…if you need some cool new gear for the winter, check out EnjoyWinter.com and use the coupon code MNC2223 at checkout!
Some notes on brands and products from EnjoyWinter, including brands you may not have heard of:
Bliz glasses…goes without saying these are some of the most popular ones on the market!
Swenor rollerskis…our preferred brand of rollerskis, and we particularly prefer aluminum models for their light weight and durability
Start wax…the klisters and hardwaxes are great in particular, and the “Oslo” kickwaxes are a must-have for New England skiing
STC poles…a brand the specializes in lower-cost poles and a great entry option for stiff poles at lower prices than Swix or OneWay
4KAAD poles…see above!
Spine boots…much like STC poles, this is a smaller company and a great option for lower-cost boots than more familiar brands
