In order to keep the COVID health screen and other relevant into front-and-center, we are going to post some video content here (instead of the homepage) for a bit. Enjoy two fun little clips from the past week!
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Great racing, great touring
If you could handle the cold temps this was quite the weekend to get out and ski. The Juniors and a handful of Masters racers headed up to Craftsbury for the Kendall Cup on Saturday, a race honoring the passing of legendary timer and New England ski figurehead Tom Kendall.
Once again it was a Vermont-only affair, but we’re blessed to have what might be the most competitive state in the country for Nordic skiers. It’s possible Minnesota or Alaska might argue with that, but when you’ve got a race field of talented and hardworking athletes like we saw on Saturday I bet the Green Mountain kids could tackle any kind of competition.
On Sunday we traded-in the skinny skis for wider boards, and swapped the kickwax for skins as a group of 9 MNC Juniors and coaches took off from Underhill at -6 Fahrenheit. We chased the sun uphill en route to the Nose on Mount Mansfield via the Teardrop trail. Despite the frigid morning air, the top of the mountain was windless, clear and sunny.
We took our time at the top to snack and change layers, and then scooted a bit down the Toll Road before ducking onto the Bruce Trail. After a steep and sunny descent we found ourselves at the intersection of the Overland trail. It was skins-on again for another uphill journey to Devil’s Dishpan where we were greeted with another sunny, at this point borderline WARM smooth descent down to Stevensville Road.
Approaching the nose, without a cloud in sight
Although there were a few instances of not knowing exaaaaactly where we were, this ski tour had to be one of the most memorable and impactful days I’ve been a part of with the club. The intent had been to simply turn around and go down what we had gone up…but it seemed like the spirit of adventure captured a lot of us, and the day was just too nice. Going up, over, around, and back was a real adventure on a day (and with a gang) that couldn’t have been better.
Hard to underestimate how important it is for a Nordic ski team to go out and have experiences together that AREN’T just Nordic ski training and racing…unfortunately COVID put a halt to a lot of those types of activities…there aren’t trips to pizza places, swimming holes, mini golf, or otherwise. But we learned, hopefully not too late this season, that there IS backcountry skiing!
Strava map from Taylor Carlson
If there’s any indication of the health of skiing in Vermont right now, beyond just the ticket sales and the race results and the club development…just take a drive through Chittenden County and look at the ski tracks and pole marks through every field, hill, and front lawn…it’s awesome to know that skiers in MNC and beyond are just simply getting out on the snow!
VT, or CO?
Not a nordic trail for this training day!
View for days
The skinning uphill at hour 3+ isn’t too bad with this weather and snow
Wax Recommendation: Kendall Cup
For those racing the Kendall Cup, be prepared for a cold day! With this in mind, the wax recommendation is somewhat basic. That being said, putting 2-3 cold layers of wax into your skis will serve you better than just a single cold layer! So there might be some additional time required.
The key is to have your bases HARDENED against dry friction and static friction. Multiple layers of a cold, hard wax ironed-in and then scraped/brushed will change the consistency of your base and give it a hard, shiny finish. On the final layer, be sure to brush many many times and, if possible, finish with a hard nylon brush scrubbed back-and-forth.
-First, clean your skis of any wax and brush them thoroughly with a metal brush
-Next, iron-in a layer of your coldest non-fluoro glide wax. Good options are:
-Next, if you have a cold, hard graphite such as Start Graphite or SkiGo Graphite, iron this in and scrape/brush. Graphite can be very helpful in cold snow, as this article discusses, but it is not a necessary component. Please do not stress if you are unable to do this step. Your bases being hardened with a few cold layers is still the most important factor. If you do not have graphite, during this step instead apply and scrape/brush a second run-through of your coldest glide-wax.
-Finally, the wax job is finished with your third layer of cold wax. On this layer, when you scrape and brush do so very thoroughly!
MNC will have a wax cabin rented at the lower parking lot. Look for the black upright MNC feather flag! Please do not linger around the wax cabin, enter the wax cabin without a mask (if you can help it, please do not enter at all), or gather in groups at all (including near the wax cabin). However, please feel free to stop by the wax cabin to check-in with Coach Adam about other helpful wax tips like a structure that may be applied to your skis.
Bolton (and Winter) comes BACK
If we all wanted to put 2020 in the rearview mirror, nothing has represented turning over a new snowflake quite like the weather and progress that has happened at Bolton in the past week alone since Jan 1!
Only a week ago, we were blogging about a crazy snowfarming effort in the warm rainy weather, without even having any MNC structured programming during the week.
A week later, the temps dropped and the snow finally arrived! With winter in the air, the snow extremely packable and groom-able, and the temps holding below freezing, this past weekend led to a real taste of great skiing. Here’s a picture worth a thousand words: thanks to Steve Crafts for capturing a moment of true Nordic bliss for both skier and groomer!
Be sure to keep on top of the latest Bolton conditions by following our snow report page. You can find this on the right-hand side of the MNC homepage, you can follow this page if you have Twitter, or you can just bookmark the link below!
If you’re interested in some memories from past Bolton excellence, check out the pages that current MNC coach, current MNC parent, and former Bolton Nordic director Liz Hollenbach sent along: Bolton/MNC BKL in 2010!
Bolton Snowfarming
With warm temps today, the already-rocky 1km loop at Bolton was taking a hit. Temps are getting cold again tonight, so it was the crucial window for “snowfarming”.
We may not be at Craftsbury levels yet, but this mission was a success! If anyone is curious what the MNC version of snowfarming looks like…
It begins with shoveling the snow from the sides of the trail right onto the main ski surface. Slightly-wet snowball snow makes for big clumps!
Next step involves taking the snowmobile, with the groomer detached, and packing the shoveled snow down with the tracks of the machine.
Repeat those first two steps again, and again, and again…until it gets dark and you need to turn on the trail lights!
Next, set the groomer blades just deep enough to level-out the packed snow, and make a few passes to get it ready for skiing!
It’s turning cold for the next few days, with intermittent chances for snow, so hopefully this freezes right up for a good base! Thanks to Mike and Emily for the shovel brigade!
