Vermont Sports 2023 Jan. /Feb.

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VERMONT SPORTS

ON THE COVER:

Jessie Diggins of Stratton, Vt., on her way to her 14th World Cup podium -- a win -- on Dec. 18, 2022. Photo courtesy USSA.

PUBLISHER

Angelo Lynn - publisher@vtsports.com

EDITOR/CO-PUBLISHER

Lisa Lynn - editor@vtsports.com

DESIGN & PRODUCTION

Shawn Braley

MEDICAL ADVISORY BOARD

Dr. Nathan Endres, Dr. David Lisle, Dr. James Slauterbeck —University of Vermont Robert Larner College of Medicine; Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation; Jamie Sheahan, M.S., R.D.

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

David Goodman, Brian Mohr, Phyl Newbeck, Leath Tonino

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VERMONT SPORTS IS A PROUD MEMBER OF

5 The Start Committing to Cross-Country Nordic ski areas are persevering. But they need our help.

7 News

A New Backcountry Hut Grout Pond is the newest site in Vermont Huts’ growing network.

9 Health

The Most Powerful Fitness Tool? Coaches, trainers and athletes swear by this simple, but effective training secret that everyone can benefit from.

12 Feature

Ten Athletes of the Year

Our annual tribute to the athletes who call Vermont home and who are making their marks around the globe.

20 Feature

The State of Cross-Country

With a growing demand and diminishing snowfall, crosscountry ski areas are learning to adapt and, yes, even grow. Plus, a two-page director to Vermont’s Nordic ski areas.

27 Gear

Gear Up for Backcounty

Backcountry skis, bomb-proof jackets, 3-in-1 mitts and a backcountry app.

29 Featured Athlete

Skimo’s Olympic Hopeful

This UVM senior is forging her way in a new sport.

32 Calendar

Race & Event Guide

34 Endgame

The Snow Cave

No matter how old you are, a night in a snow cave is worth it.

The next generation of cross-country stars line up for the start of the Bogburn Classic, held at the Rikert Outdoor Center in early January.

Photo by Jamie Durrance

THE START COMMITTING TO CROSS-COUNTRY

TWO OF VERMONT’S GREATEST ASSETS? ITS CROSS-COUNTRY SKI AREAS AND CLUBS.

On any given winter day if you head to the Rikert Outdoor Center in Ripton, you are likely to see one of cross-country skiing’s most die-hard fans out on the trails. “Die-hard” is a good word for Bill McKibben, who at age 37 as an ‘average’ skier took a year to train alongside Olympic cross-country stars and wrote about the experience in his book, Long Distance: A Year of Living Strenuously It’s a book that Into the Wild author Jon Krakauer has called “a wonderful paen to winter.”

McKibben may be better known as the environmental activist who helped build the global 350.org movement to limit the carbon dioxide that contributes to global climate change to 350 parts per million. That’s the amount past which climate change, scientists estimated, might not be reversible. Well, the world hit 400 ppm in 2017 and as of Jan. 1, 2023 was at 419 ppm.

In an interview with our sister publication, VT Ski + Ride, McKibben acknowledged that one of the reasons he’s out skiing Rikert nearly every day there’s enough snow is that “Overall, we’re going to see shorter and warmer winters. That’s why I never take a snowstorm for granted. If it snows, I’m out there.”

As we write in this issue’s feature “The State of Cross Country,” snow was in short supply in the early part of this winter, forcing ski areas to become creative. Ski areas such as Rikert, which installed an $850,000 snowmaking system in 2013, were still open and hosting events. In early January, it looked as if the Bogburn Classic, an historic race that Bob Haydock has traditionally hosted on a homemade course in Pomfret, would have to be cancelled. Rikert stepped in and offered to host it. “We did so with a sigh of relief knowing the history and meaning of that race,” said Rikert Outdoor Center’s new director, Robert Drake. “We’ve been getting calls from around New England to host events.”

To watch skiers race the Bogburn on a 2K loop on man-made snow — young children, some dressed in tutus, teenage athletes in Lycra, and recreational skiers in it not necessarily to win it — drove home the role this sport plays in the lives of so many New Englanders.

While alpine skiers may have grumbled about the conditions — ice and

hardpack at downhill ski areas — these skiers were simply grateful to have any track to glide on.

Rikert, which operates under the auspices of Middlebury College, installed the snowmaking with support of benevolent alumni. In southern Vermont, Prospect Mountain — the training ground for Williams College — is also looking at a significant snowmaking project. Crafstbury Outdoor Center, a nonprofit, also has enough snowmaking to host events.

But for smaller cross-country ski areas, the fight against the weather has been an existential battle. Snowmaking costs money and cross-country areas often charge less than a quarter what alpine areas do for a lift ticket.

If we want these areas to survive, if we want to continue to see Vermont’s already-strong ski clubs turn out Olympic and World Cup talent such as the Caldwells or the Ogdens, we need to support them. While it may be easy to slip onto the trails without paying, it’s even easier to sign up for a season pass –especially as a season pass at one Ski Vermont-affiliated cross-country ski area provides a free day at each of nearly two dozen others.

Break out those XC skis. Buy a ticket or a season pass to your local crosscountry ski area (you’ll find a chart of most of them in this issue). It’s good for you. It’s good for the climate. It’s good for Vermont.

- Lisa Lynn

Climate activist Bill McKibben skis every day he can at Rikert Outdoor Center in Ripton.

NEW HUT AT GROUT POND

Located about 10 miles east of Arlington off the Kelly Stand, Grout Pond has been a best-kept secret for many paddlers and anglers. The 80-acre pond is in the Green Mountain National Forest in an area that prohibits motorized vehicles, mountain bikes and horses on the roughly 10 miles of trails surrounding the pond. It’s also just off the Catamount Trail. The pond itself has 12 campsites that can be reserved via Rereation.gov. And now it will also have a backcountry hut. The Vermont Huts Association opened its newest hut, the Grout Pond Hut, for reservations in early January. The hut is set up for year-round use with a propane stove to heat it and a propane-fueled stovetop for cooking. It comes complete with pots, pans and utensils (but no running water) and has bunks and mattress pads for up to 10 guests and a small solar system (which may not power much

in the winter). There’s an outhouse that’s shared with other campers. Rates start at $75 per night (regardless of group size) for summer weeknights and go up to $155

for weekend nights in the winter. It’s about a mile hike in from the parking area, but there’s little elevation gain so bring that kayak or canoe. Grout Pond

marks the 12th hut site in Vermont Huts Association growing network of backcountry refuges and can be booked at vermonthuts.org.

The new Grout Pond Hut with an accessible ramp sleeps up to 10 people and is heated.

REACTIVE LIGHTING for optimized burn times.

HYBRID CONCEPT for choosing your power source.

AIRFIT headband for minimal compression on the head.

FULL-TILT lamp bodies for various wearing options.

50:50 BURN-TIME-TO-BRIGHTNESS for reliable performance. THESE ARE THE PETZL DIFFERENCES WORTH JUSTIFYING.

THE MOST POWERFUL FITNESS TOOL?

GETTING ON A HEALTHY SLEEP SCHEDULE COULD MARK THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GOOD ATHLETE AND A GREAT ONE.

BY EMMA COTTON

There is a growing trend among today’s top athletes—the ones you look at and ask, where did she come from? How does he keep landing on the podium? At the end of the season, they’re still going when everyone else is burnt out. Turns out, these athletes get more of one thing than the average person, and it’s pretty simple: Sleep.

Sure, there are plenty of other factors. Mikaela Shiffrin is known to train longer hours and push herself harder than most other ski racers. But she also is known for napping. Mat Fraser, three-time CrossFit Games champion, has a rigorous training regimen, a balanced diet and preand post-workout rituals and actually focuses on sleep. LeBron James, known for getting 10 to 12 hours of sleep every night, goes to Versaclimber, spin and pilates classes in the off-season.

But when you get down to it, the most successful athletes are the ones that commit themselves to a healthy, well-rounded lifestyle. They literally eat, breathe—and sleep—their sport.

“Sleep is the number one recovery technique for body and mind,” says Mike Day, Shiffrin’s coach. Shiffrin has told the media: “I try to go to bed somewhere between 8:30 and 9 at night. Sleep is huge for me. It’s my best, main and favorite form of recovery...I need eight and a half to nine hours of sleep to feel my best.”

After placing second twice in the CrossFit Games, Fraser was ready to do anything to win gold. The main thing he changed? “The regular sleep schedule—not staying up until 2 a.m. watching Netflix,” he told Vermont Sports. Leading up to the 2016 Games, Fraser went to bed and woke up at the same time every day, whether he was training or on vacation. And the results paid off: Fraser won the Games by 200 points—the largest margin in history.

In 2017, he won by 216 points, beating his own record.

So can sleep really make the difference between a good athlete and an all-time champ?

“I certainly think it makes a difference in separating the great from the really good,” says Matt Gammons, a sports medicine specialist at Rutland Regional Medical Center and a consulting physician at Green Mountain Valley School in Waitsfield.

“The margin at elite levels is such a fine thing. And if you look at sleep through adolescence, sleep is an opportunity for players who have potential to fulfill that potential. Take Mikaela. Sleep can make the difference between first place and second place in a GS race for her." And for the kids Gammons sees at GMVS, not getting enough sleep could derail the opportunity they have to be the next Mikaela.

Recently, scientists have realized exactly how powerful sleep can be for our health—powerful enough that, in early October, 2017, researchers Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on circadian rhythms, which regulate sleep. Their discoveries explain, on a molecular level, how plants, animals and humans adapt their biological rhythm so that it’s synchronized with Earth's revolutions. More than ever, it is clear that our bodily functions are

naturally aligned with the patterns of day and night—and fighting these could create consequences for our health.

But for athletes—those of us who use our bodies rigorously on a daily basis—getting sleep is extra-important, and it isn’t always easy. There are a lot of unanswered questions about sleep, but scientists are beginning to nail down answers about the amount and quality of sleep that an athlete needs to perform at his or her best.

WHAT IS SLEEP?

Sleep is what you do at the end of the day, when you close your eyes and dream. But in reality, scientists are still fuzzy about sleep’s exact purpose—why and how we do it, and what exactly it does for our bodies.

The conclusions they have drawn include the following: Sleep reenergizes our bodies on a cellular level. An influx of cerebrospinal fluid washes into the brain during sleep, clearing away harmful waste proteins like a dishwasher—which explains why scientists recently linked chronic sleep deprivation to Alzheimer’s and dementia (both have been connected to a building up of plaque in the brain). Sleep supports emotional drive and promotes motivation, the ability to learn and remember, and even controls appetite and libido.

Sleep starts, ironically, when certain

regions of the brain become active. With a natural dose of melatonin, the hypothalamus and the parafacial zone in the brain prompt slow-wave sleep (SWS) and when the cells in those regions turn on, our consciousness shuts off.

After that, we enter rapid-eyemovement (REM) sleep. The first cycle usually occurs 70 to 90 minutes after we fall asleep, and the average sleeper experiences between three and five REM cycles per night. An entire cycle lasts between 90 and 110 minutes. During those cycles, our bodies regulate hormones that control our hunger (ghrelin), blood-glucose level (insulin) and the development of muscles and tissues (growth hormones).

So it might not be surprising that athletes—people who physically exert themselves, rely on precise movements and learn new skills on a daily basis— need to pay particularly close attention to their sleep habits.

Sleep provides several things that are important to athleticism, according to Michael Seteia, active emeritus professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine. “It's essential to providing a positive emotional state and high motivation,” he says.

Think about your training: it’s much more likely that we’ll be motivated to do that last rep, take that last run or push ourselves just a little bit harder, if we’ve had a full night’s sleep.

Between training, travel and life's demands, it can be tricky to focus on sleep. But according to researchers, it is worth it.

“Then there’s the somatic aspect,” Seteia says, “which is metabolism and glycogen synthesis and storage, and being able to efficiently fuel muscle cells that are required in intense athletic competition. In the past, we didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the role of sleep in metabolism. Now, of course, we understand that sleep plays a very critical role in metabolism, and with insufficiencies, metabolic function is less efficient than it should be or could be. That, in turn, will have an obvious effect on athletic performance, especially for endurance athletes.”

The last thing sleep does for us, he says, is improve cognition; it helps us with procedural learning, and it sharpens our hand-eye coordination and muscle memory.

In 2014, Cheri D. Mah, a researcher at Stanford, experimented with the idea that sleep improves cognition. Her subjects were Stanford's men’s basketball team. Eleven players wore wristbands that tracked their sleeping patterns. She found that, on average, the athletes slept 6.5 hours per night. For two weeks, they kept a regular sleep schedule while Mah monitored their performance on a 282foot sprint, free-throw drills and threepoint shooting. Then, the athletes were told to do everything they could to increase their sleep. The team average moved from 6.5 to nearly 8.5 hours of sleep per night.

The players’ performance improved significantly. Free-throw shooting improved by 11.4 percent, three-point shooting shot up by 13.7 percent, and their 282-foot sprints were 0.7 seconds faster, on average. That’s the kind of improvement that might come with performance-enhancing drugs or decades of training.

THE IDEAL SLEEP SCHEDULE

If sleep can make that much of a difference, it may be even more important than athletes originally thought. So what kind of sleep schedule should an athlete have? The short answer: it varies. The amount of sleep an individual needs depends on age, amount of physical activity, stress level, diet, personal preference—the list goes on.

While it’s impossible to propose a sleep schedule that works for everyone, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine suggests that adults get a minimum of seven hours per night, and as many as nine hours. Adolescents, who rely on the growth hormone to regulate puberty, along with the growth of muscles and tissues, need more—about nine hours per night.

Though athletes exert themselves

more than the average sleeper, there is no evidence to suggest that athletes need more sleep than anyone else. Some people may naturally sleep longer, and some studies indicate that athletes are more likely to achieve a better, deeper quality of sleep, but LeBron James’ 12 nightly hours aren’t necessarily the key to athletic success.

“It’d be tempting to say, ‘Gee, if everybody gets 10 to 12 hours of sleep, they’re going to be like LeBron James, and obviously that’s not true,” Seteia says. “The fact is that LeBron James could be, intrinsically, a longer sleeper, and not everybody would be even capable of getting 10 to 12 hours.”

The key to a successful sleep schedule is the same for athletes as for anyone else: making it regular.

“An ideal sleep schedule is one that’s consistent,” says Gammons. “So if you go to bed around the same time and get up around the same time, these things, over time, tend to build better sleep patterns and make you more tolerant to interruptions in terms of being able to get yourself to sleep.”

IT’S EASY, RIGHT?

While sleeping might sound like the simple part of the eat-train-sleeprepeat cycle—less complicated than developing a balanced diet, and surely less strenuous than running drills—it’s surprisingly difficult to get enough of it.

For elite athletes, schedules shift both seasonally and daily, and getting a good, steady amount of sleep might be considered the hardest component of the sports lifestyle to achieve. Again, take Shiffrin: in the summer, she travels to New Zealand and Chile. In the fall, she’s off to Europe, and then the World Cup touring begins. Between jet lag and her training schedule, she has to work to make sleep a priority. The rest of us have it easier, though we still have to balance sleep with work, social lives, family time and some amount of training.

But that doesn’t mean that all hope is lost. “Consistency is important if it’s possible,” Gammons says, "but if you can’t have an exact pattern, you can have consistency in your rituals and planning in terms of how you sleep— turning off stimulation a half hour to 45 minutes before you want to go to sleep, not taking caffeine late in the day, those kinds of common-sense things."

A few habits will increase your chances of getting deep, restful sleep. If possible, avoid exercising in the hours before you fall asleep. Before bed, do something relaxing—take a bath, put on some calming music—forget your stressors, if you can. And by all means, avoid what Seteia calls the kiss of death: “If people are really having trouble sleeping, they shouldn’t remain in bed awake for extended periods,” he says. “It starts to potentially result in

How To Be Good In Bed

• CONSISTENCY, CONSISTENCY, CONSISTENCY

If there’s one thing that most scientists and doctors agree on, it’s that your sleep schedule should be consistent. Keeping an irregular sleep schedule will knock you off your natural circadian rhythms and make it more difficult to fall asleep and wake up. A 2015 study by The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism studied 447 adults and found that those who kept a regular sleep schedule were likely to have better cholesterol levels, smaller waist circumference, lower body mass index and less insulin resistance. “There’s no question about the fact that, if you’re trying to sleep at odds with your circadian rhythm, things are going to be seriously disrupted, and that, in turn, is going to impair performance,” says Michael Seteia, active emeritus professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine.

• PUT IN YOUR HOURS

While there’s no magic number that determines how much sleep you need, most adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep per night. (This number represents between three and five full cycles of REM sleep, each lasting about 90 minutes with non-REM sleep in between). Athletes should experiment to find the number of hours that feels right. When possible, get to bed at a decent hour, then, without setting an alarm, time how long you sleep. Do this several times, and you’ll start to understand your patterns. With work, family and social lives, training and other demands, it's difficult to make sleep a priority, but the rewards are high. Matt Gammons, sports medicine specialist at Rutland Re-

increasing insomnia, because you begin to associate the bed with wakefulness and frustration.”

For those who travel regularly, or who can’t seem to nail down a regular schedule, Gammons says it’s possible to make up for what he calls “acute sleep debt,” which accumulates over time, but it’s much easier to make up for a short-term lack of sleep.

“If you’re traveling for a couple of days,” he says, “it’s relatively easy to get back on track with a few nights of good sleep. What seems to be harder is the athlete who’s chronically sleep deprived. Just taking a nap isn’t going to make up for that. It really requires a lifestyle change that over a couple of weeks, will start to reset the system.”

But for adults who exercise regularly, avoiding chronic sleep deprivation and keeping to a consistently generous sleep schedule could be the key to a powerfully healthy lifestyle.

“Getting on a regular sleep schedule is nice from an athletic standpoint, but just from a life standpoint, sleep patterning is probably the second-most important thing we can do,” Gammons said. “You’d be surprised at how much exercise and sleeping well can moderate other things. If you were going to do three things for your health, exercising moderately most days of the week, not smoking, and getting good sleep—those are probably the most powerful things we have.”

gional Medical Center, says many doctors agree that sleep is one of the most powerful tools we have to stay healthy, and short-changing it can affect nearly every one of your major body systems.

• POWER NAPS—DO THEY WORK?

The short answer: yes. “Naps built into a regular schedule can be very beneficial, but you shouldn’t use them to make up for chronic sleep deprivation,” Gammons says. This could explain why companies like Ben & Jerry’s, Zappos, Uber and Google all host napping spaces in their headquarters. Naps can make up for the loss of alertness and motor ability that results from a sleepless night. A study published in the Journal of Sleep Research in 2009 found that even well-rested adults can improve reaction time, logical reasoning and symbol recognition with a nap. Even sleeping briefly—say, a 20-minute power nap—helps reinforce learning. And if you have the time, a 90-minute nap (during which you may experience a full REM cycle) can give you the same learning and cognition benefits as a full eight-hour sleep cycle.

• WIND DOWN

Athletes who travel from one time zone to the next are bound to experience a shift from their natural circadian rhythms, but there are still ways to get a restful night’s sleep. To start, practice a relaxing pre-bedtime ritual, conducted away from bright lights and noise. Separate yourself from triggers that cause excitement, anxiety and stress. If it’s possible to control, set the temperature in your room to between 60 and 67 degrees. Consider eyeshades, earplugs, white noise machines, humidifiers and fans. For these rituals to be most effective, begin practicing them before the travel begins, and keep them consistent.

HAILING FROM EVERY CORNER OF VERMONT, THESE 10 ATHLETES PUT THE WORLD ON NOTICE THIS YEAR.

Over the last 12 months, Vermont athletes hailing from Kirby to Killington, Richford to Landgrove, have taken center stage at events around the world. Of the 25 medals the U.S earned at the Olympics, four were won by Vermont-based athletes. Jessie Diggins earned two, Megan Nick and Ryan Cochran-Siegle both won one. Add in Lindsay Jacobellis (who grew up in Vermont but no longer calls it home) and that would make five. But Olympians were not the only ones who put one impressive performances. Here are the 10 athletes we are honoring for what they achieved over the past year and what lies ahead for them.

RYAN COCHRAN-SIEGLE, BURLINGTON

Say “Ryan Cochran-Siegle” and there may be just one race that comes to mind: the Vermonter’s silver medal-winning run in Super G at the Olympics in Beijing in February 2022.

That win — the only Olympic medal the U.S. Alpine Team secured — launched Cochran-Siegle into the international spotlight, earning him endorsements, media attention, hometown parades and front-row invitations to events such as the U.S. Open in tennis. It also ensured the Cochran family another generation of Olympic medalists (Ryan’s mother Barbara Ann Cochran, won Olympic gold in slalom 50 years earlier).

ATHLETES OF THE YEAR

But what that one win might have eclipsed was Cochran-Siegle’s long, steady rise in the ranks of ski racing. In 2022, Ryan Cochran-Siegle, now 30, made it into the top 10 in World Cup races seven times. Most recently, that included finishing fifth at the Bormio, Italy downhill on December 28, 2022, the same location where, in 2020, he’d won the Super G. That race marked a high in what has been a roller coaster of a career, with the lows marked by injuries.

In the 2020/21 season it seemed as if Cochran-Siegle was poised to finally fulfill the promise he seemed destined for. But once again, an injury – a wrenching crash in Kitzbuhel, Austria in January 2021 that left him with a broken neck — sidelined

him for the season. It was, he said at the time, the closest he had come to a career-ending injury. Instead, he rehabbed and worked on dialing in gear from his new sponsor, Head.

Even with an Olympic silver medal, R.C.S. is not complacent. “I still have my best skiing ahead of me. As a speed skier, the more I ski these tracks, the more comfortable I can get. If I can learn a little bit more each year, that will just help me in the future,” he said.

KAYLEIGH DAVENPORT, SUDBURY

For its 2023 annual meeting on January 31, the Vermont Horse Council lined up a stellar speaker: Sudbury native Kayleigh Davenport. Davenport isn’t an Olympian, or even an equestrian

who has walls covered in blue ribbons. But what she accomplished in 2022 set her apart as both a rider and an athlete.

In August, Davenport finished the Mongol Derby, a 1,000-km (621.37 miles) grueling trek through northern Mongolia designed to mimic the horse messenger system established by Genghis Khan. To even be invited is an honor and requires an extensive resume. Thousands apply each year from around globe, striving for a chance to compete on a route established 800 years ago in 1224.

The race course changes every year and is kept secret until the last minute. It can take riders through mountain passes, open valleys, river crossings, wetlands, floodplains, arid dunes,

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Richmond's Ryan Cochran-Siegle flew to the head of the U.S. Ski Team in 2022 and is poised to keep flying in 2023. Photo courtesy USSA.

ATHLETES OF THE YEAR

rolling hills, and of course, the famed Mongolian steppe. Riders pick their horses at each leg from herds of semiwild horses Mongol tribes care for.

Riders must carry all their materials and supplies (although meals are provided at checkpoints) and may not weigh in at more than 187 lbs., including their backpack (with camping supplies) and a saddlebag that could hold just 11 lbs. “When you’re out in the field, it’s just kind of you and your horse,” said Davenport.

Some restrictions are made to keep the race close to what the initial Mongolian riders had to contend with, but much of it is done with horse safety in mind. “If you’re on a horse and you don’t really have a say in how fast you’re going to be going, you can’t be barreling through a field and fall in a marmot hole, which happened a lot,” she said.

It’s grueling for the rider too. Of the 47 who started only 33 finished. Davenport, riding with another American, tied for 14th. Davenport worked with a fitness coach to prepare. While she is not sure she’d do it again, the experience was life-changing for her. “I loved it. It was amazing,” she continued. “I keep seeing people saying, “Oh, you made it back in one piece,” and I respond: I am wholer than I have ever been.”

PASCAL DEPPISCH, DANVILLE

While 24 Vermonters competed in the winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022, six headed to Orlando, Fla. for the Special Olympics. Held once every four years, the event drew more than 5,500 athletes from around the world.

Matthew Benn, 28, from Beebe Plain, Vt. won a silver medal in the Level 4 9-hole individual golf competition.

Julie Bruner, 26, from Hyde Park won silver in the 25-yard freestyle swim. And Pascal Deppisch, an 18-year-old runner from Danville, took home a gold in the 1500-meter race with a time of 4:33:94. To put that in perspective, that’s just about 34 seconds off Elle Purrier-St. Pierre’s record-setting Olympic Trials time for that distance. Deppisch also took two more medals: bronzes in the 3,000 meter and in the 5,000 meter. For anyone who followed his high school progress, it might not have been a surprise. Deppisch was fifth at the D4 Vermont State Track

and Field Championship, running the 3,000 meter event in a time of 10:20.88. Deppisch has been running with his school team since he was 13. As

a profile on RunVermont noted: “When Pascal first joined the team, his 5K time was just shy of 30 minutes. By the end of his second season in 2019, Pascal

improved his time to 22 minutes. When the pandemic hit, Pascal decided he’d take the time to become an elite runner. He set his eyes on completing a 100K race that he registered for in the summer of 2020. It was, unfortunately, cancelled due to Covid-19. Determined to meet his goal, Pascal continued training, competing in multiple virtual 5Ks throughout the spring and summer of 2020. His incredible commitment resulted in qualification for a virtual Nationals 5K race, where he finished in 5th place with a time of 15:57. On Saturday, July 18, 2020, Pascal completed his own 100K route.”

JESSE DIGGINS, STRATTON

On December 18, 2022, in Davos, Switzerland Jesse Diggins skied her way into the history books. Coming into the finish of the 20 km freestyle World Cup race, her contact lenses froze in her

Kayleigh Davenport riding semi-wild horse during the 2022 Mongol Derby. Courtesy photo.

Pascal Deppisch training for the Special Olympics, where he won gold. Photo courtesy Special Olympics.

eyes. She’d been so fixated on the race she had forgotten to blink and she nearly crashed. She stayed upright and sped on to her 14th World Cup win, putting her ahead of her former teammate Kikkan Randall as the winningest U.S. cross-country ski racer in history.

It was Diggins’ third World Cup podium in the month of December 2022, alone. The win set her in second place overall in World Cup points rankings. In 2020/21, Diggins won the overall World Cup – the first American to do so. In 2021/22 she placed second. In 2022, Diggins also took home two more Olympic medals —all while recovering from food poisoning. She earned an Olympic silver in the 30 km freestyle mass start and a bronze in the freestyle sprint final. She added these to the gold she earned with Kikkan Randall at the team sprint in PyeongChang in 2018.

To cap off 2022, in May she married her long-time sweetheart, Wade Polawaski, a former hockey player who now works in finance in Boston

“The thing I am best at is suffering,” Jessie Diggins has said over and over. During the summers she spends training near her home at Stratton, she finds ways to push herself into that pain cave, doing things she calls

“Big Stupid” adventures. In July, she covered 34 miles while running and hiking the Pemigewasset loop in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. It took her just 9 hours, 37 minutes.

This March, for the first time, the longest World Cup event—the women’s 30 km mass start race in Oslo —is being extended to 50 km, to match the men’s

MAC FOREHAND, WINHALL

If there’s one thing that changed Mac Forehand’s life early on it was this: most winter weekends his parents drove from their home in Southport, Ct. to ski at Stratton. Pretty soon, the family moved to Vermont. Enrolled at Stratton Mountain School and honing his skills at Mount Snow’s Carinthia Parks, Forehand was on his way to becoming one of the top freekski competitors in the world, In 2019, at age 17, he amassed enough points to win the overall World Cup crystal globe for slopestyle freeskiing. Then came a series of injuries and Covid-19 shut things down.

distance. “To be totally frank, I think it’s total crap that women never got to race this iconic distance,” Diggins told NBC Sports in December. “I’ve raced 50 km multiple times and I was fine. I didn’t need an ambulance at the finish line like they used to think they needed for women at the end of ski races. So, turns out we’re OK.”

Forehand competed in Beijing, earning 11th in big air and 20th in slopestyle. But over the course of the year, he was consistent enough to finish third overall in the World Cup slopestyle standings, with a silver medal at Silvaplana, Italy and several 4th places throughout the season. Now 21 and spending most of his time training in Park City, Forehand is gearing up to get back on the podium for 2023. Sponsored by Red Bull, Faction

been a crowd-pleaser at events such as

Skis, Spyder and others, Forehand has

Mac Forehand going big at a Red Bull event, The Nines, in Crans Montana, Switzerland in April 2022 and at the January 2022 X Games, where he earned silver in big air. Photo by The Nines/Red Bull Content Pull; below courtesy USSA/Mark Clavin

Jesse Diggins had a lot to grin about after her record-breaking 14th World Cup win. Photo courtesy USSA.

ATHLETES OF THE YEAR

the made-for-video The Nines. He won silver in big air at the X-Games and earned Best Trick at the World Cup in Copper Mountain, Colo. in December 2022. He still makes appearances at Mount Snow and Stratton and he still calls Vermont home.

BEN OGDEN, LANDGROVE

In 2018, Ben Ogden was part of the first U.S. cross country ski relay team to ever medal at the World Junior Championships. He was just 18 at the time. In four years, Ogden has leaped to the top of the U.S. Ski Team. He finished 12th at the Beijing Olympics in the freestyle sprint race – the best showing ever by an American male. A graduate student in mechanical engineering at University of Vermont, he also won the 2022 NCAAs. And as of early January, he was 13th in the grueling Tour de Ski, the highest ranking ever for an American male. It’s been quite a year for the 22-year-old who grew up in the tiny town of Landgrove, Vt. (population: 154) skiing at the Wild Wings XC center with his sisters, Katherine (also on the U.S. Ski Team) and Charlotte with their father John as an early coach.

MEGAN NICK, SHELBURNE

On February 14 2022, as the TV cameras rolled at the Beijing Olympic complex, Megan Nick launched a back full, double-full to become the first American to win an individual Olympic medal in aerials since 1998—a bronze. Not bad for a gymnast from Shelburne, Vt. who became interested in aerial skiing after choosing to attend a free aerial skiing camp in Lake Placid as her high school “Graduation Challenge” project. Nick, now 26, won two World Cup events in 2021 and then, after Beijing, took the top spot at the U.S. Nationals in March, 2022. Later that spring, she was the commencement speaker at her high school, Champlain Valley Union. Nick was a perfect choice to inspire a new generation— and not just as an athlete. She earned her degree in economics from the University of Utah and is pursuing a masters degree in environmental policy and management —all while competing at the World Cup.

ELLE PURRIER-ST. PIERRE, RICHFORD

Last fall, it was hard to miss her: there was New Balance athlete Elle Purrier St. Pierre on a billboard in New York City’s Times Square, looking larger

After winning an Olympic bronze in aerials, Megan Nick returned home to Shelburne to give the commencement address at her high school. Photo by

than life in more ways than one.

Ever since 2020 when she broke Mary Decker’s 37-year record for the indoor American mile, Elle PurrierSt. Pierre has been a name to watch in international running. In 2021, she set the national two-mile indoor record and had fastest qualifying time ever for the 1500 meters in the Olympic Trials. She made it to the finals, finishing 10th in that distance at the Tokyo Games.

After the Olympics, Purrier-St. Pierre took a short rest, settling back into life as a Vermont dairy farmer with her husband Jamie St. Pierre in Franklin County. The Richford native was back at it in 2022. At New York’s Millrose Games she again won the Wanamaker Mile, running a 4:19:30—a few seconds over her record-setting 4:16:85 of 2020.

On Feb. 27, at the World Athletic Indoor Games in Belgrade, Serbia, Purrier-St. Pierre showed her signature strong kick in the last lap of the 3,000-meter race to earn her first international medal, a silver, behind Ethiopian Lemlen Hailu.

But in July 2022 at the World Outdoor Athletic Championships, St. Pierre didn’t even make it to the finals, placing 11th in the 1,500 semi-finals. As reporters from around the world grilled her post-race, she smiled enigmatically saying “I’m not really feeling myself these days.” In September, she

announced that she and her husband are expecting a baby this March.

In the past, pregnancy has limited some runners’ sponsorship

opportunities. Not for Purrier-St. Pierre. With a bump visibly showing she did a photo shoot for the New Balance “Run Your Way” ad campaign.

“This message really speaks to me,” she wrote on Instagram. “I never felt like I was your stereotypical runner, and it took me years in the sport before I really felt like I was part of the community… I’ve always relied on the baseline strength I built growing up on the farm to translate over on the track. Not your typical story. Through all the comments (‘It’s funny seeing you line up next to all those long-legged girls;’ ‘Your kinda buff for a runner’) I’ve just kept running.” She then added: “I’ll admit seeing this picture of me and my little baby bump up there on the screen in the middle of Times Square and numerous other places is a bit emotional. This small-town farm girl with a baby in her belly up on the big screen for everyone to see…. I’m just one runner among millions of others who are all doing it their own unique way. None of us being more or less of a runner than the other. Thank you @NewBalance for this amazing message.”

HANNAH SOAR, KILLINGTON

If you skied Killington last spring, you might have caught Hannah Soar doing what she loves best: bashing the big spring bumps, blonde ponytail flying behind her, keeping rhythm to a Grateful Dead beat that often plays in head. A

Elle Purrier-St. Pierre had a secret reason to smile for much of 2022: a baby is due in March. Photo courtesy New Balance

Ben Ogden during one of the first stages of the 2022 Tour de Ski. A year later, he is ranked among the top 10 on the World Cup Photo courtesy USSA

Killington's Hannah Soar keeping a beat to her own drumset while competing in moguls on the World Cup. Photo courtesy USSA

four-time medalist at World Cup mogul events, Soar first qualified for the U.S. Moguls team as a junior in high school. In the first half of 2022, Soar didn’t score a World Cup podium but had a string of 7th-place finishes, including in Beijing. The 2022/23 season started out with a concussion which sidelined Soar from the first World Cup races but also let her head home to Killington to recover and rest up over the holidays.

MORIAH WILSON, KIRBY

In just first months of 2022, Moriah Wilson emerged as what Velo News called “the winningest woman in the American off-road scene.” In saying so, the national bike racing authority

ATHLETES OF THE YEAR

was lumping together gravel riding, mountain biking and cyclocross and putting the unknown Vermonter at the top of the heap. And with good reason; Wilson, a former Burke Mountain Academy ski racer and Dartmouth College grad was turning heads in all three disciplines. In October 2021, she was not only the top woman, but passed many of the world’s top elite male racers to finish 12th overall at the 103-mile Big Sugar gravel race in Bentonville, Arkansas. In March 2022, she averaged 19.2 mph for five hours to finish the grueling Mid South gravel race in Oklahoma in second place. Then came the 80 km cross-country mountain bike race, the Fuego, at California’s Sea

Otter Classic. That was the first in the new Life Time Grand Prix series which promised a $25,000 overall purse. At Sea Otter, Wilson found herself leading a pack of elite mountain bike racers, including Vermonter and former Olympian Lea Davison, who finished fourth. Haley Smith, who went on to win the Life Time Grand Prix, was sixth. Wilson was just getting started. She had just announced plans to leave her job working for Specialized and pursue racing full-time. She’d been in talks with Davison about training together. She’d lined up sponsors such as TheFeed, Skratch Labs and the Meteor Café. And she was talking with her family about moving back to Vermont and perhaps

opening a cycling-focused coffee shop near Kingdom Trails. All that came to an end on May 11 when Wilson was shot in Texas what was, allegedly a fit of jealousy, by Kaitlin Armstrong, after Wilson returned from a swim with Armstrong’s partner, bike racer Colin Strickland. This May 13, the Vermont cycling community will honor Wilson’s memory with a 25 or 50-mile ride. The proceeds will support Kingdom Kids, a local organization that provides children with opportunities to enjoy outdoor recreation and funds scholarships for children to ski (downhill and cross country), snowboard and mountain bike.

Moriah Wilson excelled at climbing, no matter whether she was on a mountain, road or gravel bike. Photo courtesy of the Wilson family.

THE STATE OF CROSSCOUNTRY

BY LISA LYNN

At a holiday party in Stowe in December, a group of people were gathered toasting the things they were most grateful for. Outside, the branches hung heavy with snow and the fields were (at last!) layered with a duvet of white powdery snow finally thick enough to cover the scrubble of corn stalks.

The party-goers toasted the usual: family and friends, good fortune, great jobs. Then Sam von Trapp raised a glass and said “One word: Snow.” The son of Johannes von Trapp who founded the country’s first cross-country ski center then elaborated: “Without snow, we can’t operate. We have snowmaking but it’s expensive. We need our winters.”

When the Trapp Family Lodge opened in 1968, winters were different. In 1970, during January Burlington saw the recorded the coldest average monthly temperature since 1900 when record keeping began: —just 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. In January 2022, the average temperature

was nearly 25 degrees warmer.

During the 1970s and ‘80s, the Trapp Family Lodge inspired other trail systems. Tony Clark created an extensive network in Goshen around his Blueberry Hill Inn and in 1978, Clark hosted the 60K American Ski

Marathon. Nearly 1,000 skiers boarded 22 buses at the Otter Valley High School on Route 7 in Brandon to head for Lincoln and the start of the pointto-point race. There was enough snow back then to ski all the way back to the high school, with aid station stops

at the Blueberry Hill Inn. “You could never do that now,” said Clark in an interview with this magazine a year ago, before he passed away in March of 2022. “There’s just not enough snow.”

According to a study by Climate Central, Burlington is now the fastest warming city in the country, with the average temperature in 2021 a whopping seven degrees warmer than it was in 1970. That could spell doom and gloom for cross-country skiing.

Yet despite the weather, Vermont’s roughly two-dozen cross-country ski areas are, for the most part, not only operating but looking for ways to grow.

Just ask Justin Beckwith. As the Competitive Program Director for the New England Nordic Ski Areas Association, he spends much of his winters traveling to and from ski areas around New England. “Yeah, we’re in our third year of La Nina so it’s warmer and wetter. But by Jeezum, I think we were saying the same thing about 15 or 20 years ago,” he says. “And how

FACED WITH DIMINISHING SNOWS AND GROWING DEMAND FOR THE SPORT, VERMONT’S CROSS-COUNTRY SKI AREAS ARE AT A TURNING POINT. AND THAT’S FOSTERING INNOVATION.

The popular Bogburn Classic was moved to Rikert Outdoor Center in early January. The Ripton area had sufficient snowmaking to host the annual race usually held in Pomfret. Photo by Jamie Durrance

are the ski areas faring? They’re doing better than ever. They’re learning to adapt, react and make better use of weather windows. In Vermont, we’re not just talking about snowmaking but ‘snow farming’ and ‘snow saving.’”

FARMING SNOW

To watch the two hundred or so competitors in the 2023 Bogburn race, skittle around a 2K track of man-made snow at Rikert Outdoor Center, it’s hard not to see Beckwith’s point. The race, a classic that’s usually run on Bob Haydock’s home course on in Pomfret, was moved to Rikert the first week in January. The reason: lack of snow.

Gradually, snowmaking and “snow farming” have become a fact of life at cross-country ski areas. According to a 2022 national survey by the Ski Industries of America, nearly a third of Nordic ski areas that responded already have some snow-making capacity. A quarter of them were

planning to install some snowmaking in the next 12 months. Nearly half of trail areas with existing snowmaking were planning to expand that capacity.

“The past few years have forced areas that have been thinking about

this for some time to move forward with snowmaking,” notes Beckwith. But it’s not that easy. According to the research presented by Reese Brown, the executive director of the national Cross Country Ski Areas Association, “Those

areas that currently have snowmaking have spent, on average, upwards of $200,000 to install their systems. “

In 2013, Rikert (which is affiliated with Middlebury College) spent $850,0000 on a snowmaking system that can cover 5 kilometers of trail in 200 hours, using 250 gallons of water per minute. By comparison, an alpine resort such as Killington can pump more than 10,000 gallons per minute.

In southern Vermont, Prospect, where the Williams College team trains, is in the process of trying to raise $1 million for an expansion project that will include snowmaking with buried and above-ground piping, generators and snowmaking guns, as well as adding new trails and widening existing ones.

“We’re seeing some really state of the art snowmaking happening now around our region,” notes Beckwith. The most extensive snowmaking system in North America was recently installed at Mt. Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid in preparation for the World University Games. In 2020, the area put in a 3.5-million-gallon reservoir and enough snow guns so that it can get a 5 km loop race ready and meeting international standards for competition in just 3 to 4 days.

In New Hampshire, the Holderness School is building “the Ferrari of snowmaking,” as Beckwith calls it. The prep school is putting in a 3-milliongallon reservoir pond that will help provide snowmaking on 2.5 kilometers of a 5 km homologated Nordic track, complete with lighting for night skiing.

Snowmaking, simply put, costs money and requires water sources. But in Vermont, Yankee ingenuity also comes into play. In 2018, Craftsbury Outdoor Center partnered with the University of Vermont to create a snow storage system, inspired in some ways by the old Vermont ice houses and mimicking projects that have been underway in Europe.

The researchers piled snow into two empty ponds with different depths at the end of the season, installing thermal sensors to ensure the ground would insulate and keep the snow cold. They then covered the piles with wood chips, 20 to 30 cm deep, compressed them with excavators and put a reflective covering over it. By using machine-made snow which has lower water content, they found they could save enough snow to open for skiing in November.

At Sleepy Hollow in Richmond, owner Eli Enman resorted to creating

A lone skier explores the classic trails at the Woodstock Nordic Center, a favorite on the Hollenbach's tour of 23 Vermont's cross-country ski areas. Photo courtesy Woodstock Inn and Resort Nordic Center.

Moretown's Ava Thurston shows her winning form at an event at Prospect Mountain. Thurston went on to win the Junior Nationals and is headed to the Worlds this winter. Photo by Justin Beckwith

his own snowmaking system using plastic pipes. He’s also created his own electric grooming machine.

As for the smaller ski areas that don’t have the support of alumni or other wealthy donors? “We saw a lot people snowfarming the old fashioned way: taking a tractor and pushing mounds of snow across a field to pile it up and lay down a track,” says Jake Hollenbach who in 2021/22 skied most of Vermont’s cross-country ski areas.

But not all of Vermont’s small ski areas have been able to survive. The Strafford Nordic Center announced last fall that it would not open for the 202223 season

THE STATE OF CROSS-COUNTRY

It is hard to think of Vermont without thinking of cross-country ski areas. .

Vermont is home to the first crosscountry ski area: the Trapp Family Lodge trails. Putney is home to Olympian and Olympic coach John Caldwell who wrote the seminal book, “The CrossCountry Ski Book.” Vermont is home to his offspring such as son Sverre Caldwell who built the cross-country T2 team into what it is, and to Zach Caldwell, owner of West Hill Shop and one of the most sought-after ski techs in the world. It is home to Olympic medalist Bill Koch, who lent his name to the popular youth training program, and also now to his son, William. It is home to John Ogden of Landgrove who taught his kids to ski at Wild Wings in Peru. Those kids went on to ski for the U.S. Team and Ben Ogden is now the top male on the team and ranked among the top 10 in the World Cup standings.

It is also home to Ava Thurston, who won the 2022 Junior National Championship. Stratton the adopted home of the winningest U.S. crosscountry ski racer ever, Jessie Diggins.

“I believe the U.S. is now ranked the third best cross-country team in the world,” says Beckwith. “And the East is the strongest region and Vermont is the strongest state—which is pretty wild.”

Some of that strength can be attributed to Vermont’s wealth of local ski areas and the clubs that have formed around them. These range from larger powerhouses such as the Craftsbury Outdoor Center and Trapp Family Lodge in northern Vermont, to suburban favorites such as Burlington’s Catamount Outdoor Center and Rikert, and to Wild Wings and Prospect, in the southern parts of the state.

It’s also due to New England’s regional clubs, of which 58 participate in the NENSA events. “Right now, just about every spot in every club is filled,” says Beckwith. “It’s not just kids, either. Even the masters’ programs are filling up.”

Some of the growth came during the pandemic when cross-country skiing boomed, and Vermont saw an influx of new residents. “During the pandemic, we had 150 new year-round residences in Warren alone. We even had a Fed Ex pilot from Tennessee move here so now we have these kids from Tennessee with Southern drawls learning to ski cross-country in the Mad River Valley,” Beckwith says with a laugh.

Nationally, cross-country skiing has seen growth over the last few years —but also a recent lull. In 2018, the peak was 5,104,000 visits nationally according

to the SIA Snow Sports Participation Report. That number only dropped to 4.7 and 4.4 million in 2020 and 2021.

Getting new people into the sport has been a goal of organizations across the country. NENSA’s Nordic Rocks program helps children in grades kindergarten through 6th grade get out with five ski lessons, held with teachers during the school day. Funded by the Share Winter Foundation and Killington World Cup Foundation, NENSA added 7 new schools to Nordic Rocks (for a total of 30) this season and also purchased Madshus skis with Lost Nation R&D snowboot bindings that adjust to fit any boot size.

Improved equipment across the board has also made it easier for new people to access the sport: waxless skis, universal binding systems, boots that can work for classic or skate skiing. “I remember as a kid nearly always having cold hands or cold feet,” says Jake

BIG DEALS : Compared with the cost of alpine day tickets, which have soared to nearly $200 this season, cross-country day passes average less than $30. For the 2022/23 season, the Indy Pass began working with CCSAA to include a number of cross-country ski areas in its alpine Indy Pass and offered an XC-only pass for $69 ($29 for kids) that guarantees two days per ski area. Vermont ski areas on the Indy pass include the Catamount Outdoor Center, Jay Peak, Rikert Outdoor Center and the Woodstock Nordic Center.

Hollenbach, who sells XC gear at Skirack in Burlington. “That never happens to my kid now.”

SKI “LEIKE” FUN

Over the winter of 2021, Hollenbach and his wife Helen and son Johannes, age 3, set out on a mission to ski the 23 Vermont ski areas that offer reciprocal privileges on season’s pass. The Hollenbachs had a family season pass at Sleepy Hollow ($395 for 2022/23), which allowed the three of them to ski a day at each of the other Ski Vermont-affiliated ski areas for free or for a discounted ticket. It’s a program that few people take advantage of. Compared with the cost of alpine day tickets, which have soared to nearly $200 this season, cross-country day passes average less than $30. For Jake, who grew up skiing at Rikert and has won such events as the Stowe Derby

"We may have to get used to imperfect snow," says coach Justin Beckwith who took his Bill Koch League charges to ski at Mad River Glen's base area when the snow was sparse.

Photo by Brian Morh/EmberPhoto

Helen, Johannes and Jake Hollenbach at their home ski area, Sleepy Hollow. P hoto by Simeon Pol/Skirack

GREEN INNOVATIONS

When it comes to finding ways to reduce their carbon footprints, Vermont’s ski areas have been working hard. Two examples, one big, one small:

Craftsbury Outdoor Center has led the way in sustainability . For more than 10 years the Center has tracked its CO2 emissions and measured its carbon footprint. Solar panels (both trackers and fixed roof arrays) produce more than 60 percent of the 240,000 kWh the Center uses annually. Heat pumps and ovens have replaced most propane-fueled units. A 20,000-gallon insulated water tank uses copper heat exchange coils and acts like a giant thermal energy storage battery that heats a number of the buildings. Wood boilers also supplement that. Even the snowmaking system sends heat back to the buildings, using a heat recovery system. Much of the food served at the Center is grown locally and then food waste is composted. Electric vehicle charging stations await guests, as well.

Other ski areas are following suit in different ways. Perhaps one of the most innovative recent efforts is by Sleepy Hollow, owned by the Enman family. The Enmans have been on the sustainable path for years offering a discount to owners of hybrid automobiles in the early day and in 2009

installed an 8kW solar system AllEarth Renewables AllSun Trackers. Hot water solar panels were installed in 2012 to produce about half of their hot water needs. A grid-tied 23.7 kW fixed panel array went online in 2012 and more panels were installed for a total of 32 kW that produces 100% of the electric needs at the Sleepy Hollow Inn, the family’s three homes, and the area’s snowmaking system.

The snowmaking system now covers 1.5 kilometers with an all-electric design for air compressors and water pumps, and the HKD snowgun. The furnace room at the inn has wooden racks which

is used to dry 10 loads of laundry each week.

The business also composts and recycles, uses local foods, and produces maple syrup on the site. The family’s four Toyota Priuses have studded snow tires to help negotiate the challenging half-mile driveway to the inn.

Perhaps the most innovative project has been Eli Enman’s creation of an electric groomer. Enman adapted a 2015 Smart Fortwo electric vehicle by installing Mattracks on the back and Snocobra skis on the front wheels. He claims that he can groom 10 to 15 kilometers of trails on one battery charge with the machine. —Roger Lohr

as warming fires out on the trails at Timber Creek, the “I Spy” trail at Sleepy Hollow and the Viking Nordic Center’s treasure hunt for hidden snowflakes and Viking helmets. Find five and you can punch your ticket for a free cookie.

“There were also a number of places, like Craftsbury, where they’d made these rollers and other features that kids could ski through – sort of like mini pump tracks or terrain parks,” Hollenbach recalls.

Ski-to destinations such as the Slayton Pasture Cabin at the Trapp Family Lodge that promise a warm cup of soup provide additional incentives. During the pandemic, the So-Full food truck became a fixture at Rikert, serving cocoa with whipped cream and candy canes as well as waffles and fried chicken.

down on skinny skis. It was the bomb.”

Increasingly, cross-country ski areas are building mini terrain parks or hosting events such as Cochran’s annual skinny-ski Skier Cross which challenges racers (usually in costume) to ski a crazy course of uphills and downhills and slalom – all on skinny skis or Stratton’s NENSA Terrain Challenge. The venerable Stowe Derby (which started in 1945) was built on the premise of a race on terrain that was both downhill, uphill and flat, beginning near the top of the alpine ski area and traditionally ending 13 miles later in town.

and the Lake Placid Ski Marathon (as well as the bike races, the Vermont 50 and Burlington Criterium), it was a different way to view Vermont’s cross-country scene. His wife Helen is also an accomplished ski racer.

“What makes a ski day fun for adults isn’t necessarily the same thing for kids,” he said. “I think one of our best days was at the Woodstock Inn’s trails. So much of Vermont’s terrain is up and

down but many of their trails are on the golf course, which is flatter, which made it fun for Johannes. They also did a great job of taking the golf clubhouse and changing it over to a ski club in the winter – even replacing all the golf photos with ski shots —I don’t know why more golf courses don’t do that.

There were other little things that the Hollenbachs found that made the days fun for the entire family such

“The key to growing this sport is keeping it fun,” says Beckwith. “In Scandinavia, it’s called ski leike” –literal translation ski parks. The ski areas function as playgrounds with terrain parks of sorts that kids can learn on. “We try to keep it fun here too” says Beckwith. During the low-snow days at the beginning of the season Beckwith worked with downhill ski area Mad River Glen. “They blew snow and groomed the base area and that’s where we practiced, going up the slopes and then

“I think one of the things we need to get used to is that conditions won’t always be perfect, and we need to start thinking about being able to ski on all types of terrain,” says Beckwith. “If you Google ‘Nordic skiing’ it defines it as skiing with a free heel. Consider the growth of backcountry and touring and cross-country skiing – that’s all Nordic and it’s booming,” he says.

The reason for the boom? “I’ll ask you the same question I always ask my kids this: ‘What’s the difference between running and cross-country skiing?’” He pauses. “It all comes down to this: it’s about gliding on snow.”

Craftsbury's solar panels help ensure the future of XC skiing for kids. Photo by Jake/Helen Hollenbach

Sleepy Hollow's electric groomer. Photo by Roger Lohr

CROSS COUNTRY CENTERS OF VERMONT

NORTHERN

The Nordic Center is the gateway to Bolton Valley’s legendary backcountry terrain. It offers guided tours, lessons and rental equipment to get you out to enjoy some of the best Nordic skiing and snowshoeing in New England. Bolton has a 100 km Nordic trail system with 15 kilometers of groomed trails.

Trapp’s XC Center is celebrating 51 years! Come experience one of the premier Nordic centers in the East, featuring 160 km, with 55 km of tracked and skating terrain. Plus a full retail shop and rentals, and professional instruction. Don't miss Slayton Pasture Cabin for a warm lunch and a roaring re in the hearth.

Rikert's 55 km of trails wind through old forests, farm elds and past Robert Frost's summer cabin. e Center o ers a full service rental shop and ski school, plus fat biking! Jump on early season skiing with 5 km of snowmaking. Open 7 days a week and home to the Middlebury College Panthers.

SOUTHERN

Our Nordic Center has been enriched with professional grooming equipment, great additions to our rental eet, private instruction and a retail o ering with some essential gear and Edson Hill logo-wear available. A er a day on the hill skiing, snowshoeing or fatbiking, enjoy elegant dining or a cozy meal in the Tavern.

With an extensive network of winter trails throughout Mt. Peg and Mt. Tom, the Nordic Center o ers more than 45 km of groomed trails for skate and classic crosscountry skiing. Snowshoers & fat bike riders may utilize the groomed ski trail areas in addition to a series of ungroomed trails for a more invigorating hike.

e BHOC trail system o ers over 45km of well-marked and maintained ungroomed trails within the Moosalamoo Recreation Area for year-round outdoor adventures. No trail fees, BHOC operates on a donation basis and is a non-pro t 501(c)3 company dedicated to recreational access.

Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe Edson Hill, Stowe

Blueberry Hill, Goshen Bolton Valley, Bolton

ARC’TERYX RUSH JACKET

If you like the warmth and light weight of a puffy jacket but hate that branches and trees can easily rip it on a tour through the winter woods, Arc’teryx’s Rush Insulated Jacket ($800) may be your answer. It’s warm, remarkably light and packs down to something smaller than a football yet it has a bomb-proof feel that few other insulated jackets (at least ones that don’t have shells) can claim. The Rush’s synthetic nylon outer is made with GORE-TEX and Arc’teryx’s own Hardon fabric. It is as tough as ripstop, windproof and water-resistant enough to stand up to light sleet or snow. The insulation is Arc’teryx’s proprietary Coreloft which doesn’t bunch up and holds its shape and warmth, even when damp or after throwing it in the wash. The storm hood is roomy enough to pull over a helmet and the embedded RECCO reflector offers peace of mind. This jacket comes in two colors (black and Labrynth, as shown above) and in men’s and women’s models.

GEARING UP FOR THE BACKCOUNTRY

WHETHER SKIING OR HIKING, THESE ITEMS WILL MAKE YOUR WINTER BACKCOUNTRY ADVENTURES BETTER.

BURTON GORE-TEX 3-IN-1 MITTENS

It’s easy to throw down $100 or more on a good pair of mittens or gloves. Burton’s 3-in-1 mittens or gloves ($79.95) offer a lot, and for a lot less. The outer GORE-TEX membrane is waterproof and windproof yet light and flexible. That goes over an inner removable fleece lining that fits snuggly and doesn’t bunch up as you take your hands in and out. That’s not all, the gloves and/or mitts come with quality liners, perfect to wear when skinning up. There are also zip pockets on the back of the mitts where you can insert a handwarmer, if need be, and elastic wrist straps. They come in a variety of color options from a gray flannel to camo to a soft pink and men’s and women’s models.

OSGO COUTURIER NEOTERIC 100

As a ski company, Osgo is a bit of a conundrum. It was started by mountaineer Tom Seidensticker, a man who likes going uphill (he’s summited several Himalaya peaks over

24,000 ft.) but wanted skis he could be confident in on descents. The company is based in Chamonix, but the skis are made by Meditec in Tunisia, at the same plant that makes Zag, Nedeker snowboards and a variety of kiteboards and wakeboards. The brand focuses on building light (and often superrockery) skis, using carbon fiber to keep them stiff. For Eastern backcountry and sidecountry skiers, the 2023 Osgo Couturier Neoteric 100 ($799.95) features more of a tip rise than actual rocker, which gives more control when coming off the sidecountry and hitting the trail. The 178 weighs in at 1,325 kg and has tip-waist-tail measurements of 135, 104, 120. Our friends at Backcountry Magazine gave this ski an Editor’s Choice Award and we can see why. It’s not an all-mountain resort ski, but for the Eastern skier who wants a lightweight backcountry ski for climbing, control on windpack and slab at the top, and fun and float in the trees, it’s a good choice.

There are dozens of apps that will help you track your way through the backcountry, but OnX has become one of our favorites. The app company was founded by avid hunter Eric Siegfried who wanted to know not only where he was in the wild but also whose land he was on. The app tracks boundaries for public lands and the company has lobbied for access. The app has an amazing amount of detail about existing trails – complete with up-to-date info on some trail closures. You can toggle between “hike” mode and “snow” mode to show ski or hiking trails. You can also switch between topo, satellite and hybrid modes and there’s a 3D map option. The onX Backcountry App ($29.99/year) with premium membership can be used with offline maps too. As with any crowd-sourced mapping system, be careful not to follow just any trail or track that’s listed on the app and know whose land you are on.

Burton’s 3-in1 mittens or gloves

Arc’teryx’s Rush Insulated Jacket

Osgo Couturier Neoteric 100

SKIMO'S OLYMPIC HOPEFUL

Name: Wren Pyle Age: 21

Family: Parents, Dave Pyle and Michelle Martin; Boots, the cat.

Lives in: Burlington

Profession: Senior at University of Vermont

Main Sport: Skimo

By the age of 12, Wren Pyle was a nationally ranked swimmer. In high school, Pyle began running ultra-marathons and trail events. But she had never heard of ski mountaineering races, known now as “skimo,” until college. In 2021, the University of Vermont student won the national U23 women’s sprint skimo race and was named to the U.S. National Skimo Team. Now, she hopes to represent the United States in the sport’s debut event at the 2026 Olympics.

Skimo races involve bootpacking and skinning up a mountain course across a variety terrain and then skiing down. Sprint races have an ascent/descent of roughly 100 meters. An individual race typically has a minimum of three ascents and descents for men and women, and two for juniors. The longest ascent accounts for less than 50% of the total elevation gain with a minimum elevation gain of 1,300 meters (4,500 feet). Race times vary depending on the event, but top racers usually complete the event in 1.5-2 hours,). The individual race also includes at least one section on-foot (skis on pack).

How did you learn about and start racing skimo?

I really hadn’t done much skiing at all. We lived in Germany when I was very young so there are pictures of me skiing in Austria. Between the ages of two and 18, I probably only skied ten times. Part of it was that my swim coach was adamant about not getting hurt during the season. When I stopped swimming competitively five years ago, I got into ultra-distance running and trail running.

After I graduated South County High School in Virginia, I did a 40-mile race in Colorado's San Juan mountains. I did okay but the European woman

who won just dominated—she actually won the race by hours. I looked her up and learned that she did skimo. Then I started looking up some of the other European ultra runners and discovered that they also did skimo either for training or racing purposes.

In Vermont, you can’t run in the mountains in the winter the way I could when I lived in Virginia, so when I got to UVM, I took the money I’d made over the summer and purchased some skimo equipment. Jonathan Shefftz who is the director of the NE Rando Race Series invited me to his race at Bromley, gave me a student discount, and even got a ride for me because I didn’t have a car. I went and had a good time and he invited me for

the next one. Each time I progressed, he had me look into doing more. I taught myself to ski entirely from watching YouTube videos and World Cup races, and practicing at Jay Peak. That mountain is very friendly to uphill skiers and has good snow.

Congratulations on making the U.S. National Skimo Team. Last season, I got the opportunity to ski for the US National Team as a U23 member and I hope I can qualify again. I won the National Championship U23 Women’s Sprint title in Vail, Colorado in February, 2022, and got to wear the Stars and Stripes —that’s a dream I’ve had ever since I was a young swimmer. Getting to wear your country’s colors is a great honor and responsibility. I’m a bit limited right now because I’m still in school so I’ll only compete in the northeast until I head to Nationals in Utah in March. I hope that after two years of competing in the U.S., I’ll be fit and fast enough for the World Cup circuit next winter.

What was it like to win the women’s U23 sprint title in Vail last February?

It was the first true sprint race opportunity I’d gotten, and I got to race against a lot of the senior women. I didn’t qualify for the overall finals, but I did make it to the semi-finals. It reminded me of my swim days because

as a swimmer you race five or six times a day and when you do sprint races, you also race multiple times in one day. I’m hoping that this year I can be the top U23 racer again and maybe make the top six and the finals.

As an endurance athlete, what do you like about sprint races?

I’ve done 12-hour running races and as much as I like endurance sports, this takes me back to being a swimmer. I like the skimo transitions. I find it more rewarding to chase a perfect fourminute effort and I also really enjoy that kind of training. I enjoy being in the gym and doing the short-distance, high intensity work. What I like about skimo in general is that it’s a bit like a triathlon. You have three different disciplines: skinning, bootpacking, and skiing. That’s fun and challenging. You can’t rely on any one to be successful. You need to be proficient at all three.

You transitioned in 2019 and have met the IOC guidelines (maintaining testosterone levels of below 10n/mol for at least 12 months) but as a trans woman do you foresee any challenges in your bid for an Olympic spot?

I’m preparing as though there aren’t. The IOC has guiding principles about inclusion and fairness, but they’ve said they’ll allow each individual federation to set their own rules. USA Skimo has been very positive, and I’ve been able to compete for my own country. I don’t know what the policy will be in 2026 but I’m hopeful I can compete and recognize that it’s out of my control. Sitting at home and thinking about it doesn’t do much good, but I’ve received nothing but support from my family, friends, and the women of skimo.

Why did you choose UVM?

I wanted a school that didn’t have a football team. I came from a high school with a really good football program, and I wanted to get away from that. I also wanted a school with around 10,000 students and I loved Burlington’s proximity to the mountains. When I lived in northern Virginia, the closest mountains were two hours away and the idea of 4,000foot mountains half an hour away was intriguing. I also loved the inclusivity of Burlington, and UVM felt like a very welcoming place. In Vermont it seems like neighbors know each other and look after each other and in rural areas they don’t lock their cars and they bring each other food. It felt like a place I could have as a home, not just a place to go to school.

Wren Pyle only started skimo racing after moving to Vermont to attend UVM. Courtesy photo.

You haven’t left your swim career entirely behind, right?

Although I stopped swimming competitively five years ago, I haven’t missed a season in the pool. I’ve been a coach in some capacity all those years. First, I was an assistant coach at the Y with their high school program and this past summer I was the head coach for the Winooski summer swim program. This season, I’m an assistant coach at UVM. I still love swimming and think it’s a great sport and I have a lot of passion and knowledge from my training as a swimmer.

I’m getting my degree in exercise science and physiology, and I think swimming has lagged behind some other sports in using literature and science. This year, the UVM squad had one of our most successful early season meets ever. We have a lot of swimmers making great progress. There’s a lot of art to coaching but a bit more science might produce a stronger athlete.

Are you doing other sports, as well? I run and bike but just for training purposes. I was actually a fan of ultra running before I ever tried it thanks to a documentary about the Badwater Ultra. I thought the sport looked amazing. It was the only other individual sport I knew about. I’m

a decent runner but I will never be a competitive one and I’ve come to enjoy running as a way to train.

I love cycling but I didn’t grow up bike racing and it’s not something you can just jump into. I like being able to leave my house and go for a six-hour training ride without having to use my car and I’ve posted some decent times on Strava. I was mostly a road cyclist, but I recently got into gravel riding. I might race if I have the opportunity but if I never put on a bib, I’d still be happy. I recently did an Everest [cycling the equivalent of the height of Mt. Everest] to raise money for the Trevor Project, an organization that supports LGTBQ youth in crisis.

What Vermont events have you done?

The past three years I’ve raced on the NE Rando Race skimo circuit. That’s what I look forward to every year and what got me started. Even though I’ve reached the point where I can go to national races, I always want to go back to Bromley which was my first race.

I’m also still trail running and bike riding. I’ve done some trail runs including a 25K with the Richmond trail running group and The Moose which is a 100-mile bike race/ride in

the Northeast Kingdom. I’ve done the Shelburne Half Marathon and the GMAC Turkey Trot.

I don’t prioritize racing out of season very much, though. I spend the summer base training, so I end up doing things like endurance charity events. In the off season I like to reconnect with friends and get away from the pressures of racing. When I was running ultra races, I would take the winters off but now I skimo race from December through April and five months of competing is a pretty long time.

Will you stay in Vermont after graduation?

I would if I had an opportunity. At this point, I plan on going back to Colorado where my parents and my coach live. I was a military kid. My dad was in the army for 30 years and we moved around a lot including the Washington D.C. area, but we moved back to Colorado after I graduated high school so it’s the place that feels the most like home. Right now, the thing most important for me is racing and I’m willing to go wherever I can to do that.

What do you think you’ll do when you’re done competing? When I’m done racing, I want to go

back to school. I’m intrigued by high altitude acclimatization. Hopefully, ten or 15 years from now I can move away from chasing medals to climbing bigger mountains like Denali and the Himalayas. The science part of my brain is interested in better protocols for acclimatizing. Some research can be done to better understand how to make it more consistent. I’d also like to stay involved in swimming, possibly as a head coach somewhere.

Is there anything else you want to tell us?

As much as I enjoy racing at a high level and competing for prize money and titles, the most important thing for me is showing kids that no matter what situation you’re in and no matter how you are marginalized, there is a place for you outdoors. People should be able to get out and enjoy these beautiful places. You don’t need to be a rich skier from France to do a sport like skimo. A trans girl from Vermont can compete in a national event but there are many different paths. You can compete at the highest level or just go out and have fun with your family. I hope folks who see people like me competing see there is space for everyone.

—Phyl Newbeck

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RACE & EVENT GUIDE VERMONT SPORTS

LISTING YOUR EVENT IN THIS CALENDAR IS FREE AND EASY. VISIT VTSPORTS.COM/SUBMIT-AN-EVENT OR E-MAIL EDITOR@VTSPORTS. COM. ALL AREA CODES ARE 802. ALL LOCATIONS ARE IN VERMONT, UNLESS NOTED. FEATURED EVENTS, IN YELLOW, PAY A NOMINAL FEE.

RUNNING/HIKING

JANUARY

27 | Onion River Outdoors Snowshoe Romp, Montpelier

Gather at the Hubbard Park Old Shelter for ORO’s annual Snowshoe Romp. Enjoy a candlelit trail through the woods, hot chocolate, ice cream and a bonfire. Bring a headlamp and demo snowshoes from MSR, Tubbs, and Atlas! 6-8pm. onionrver.com

28 | Shoe-Ski, Highgate Center

A fun day of cross country skiing and snowshoeing. This year fat bikes are are also welcome. Hot chocolate, warm cider, and soup provided. $20 per per person or $35 for a family. Proceeds go to Friends of Northern Lake Champlain to improve the water quality of the lake. friendsofnorthernlakechamplain. org/events-2

FEBRUARY

1 | Millstone Madness Snowshoe Race, Barre Town Forest

A three-mile snowshoe race on the double and singletrack trails of Millstone Trails. 10 a.m. start. cvrunners.org

MARCH

6 | G.M.A.A. Kaynor's Sap Run, Westford

Celebrate the official opening of the road racing season in Vermont at the GMAA Sap Run. The course is an out and back at Westford Elementary School, and is a scenic 10k on dirt roads. Gmaa.run

APRIL

8 | Half Marathon Unplugged, Burlington The start and finish will be at Waterfront Park and the course will be outand-back along the Burlington Bike Path with a two-mile loop in Colchester midway through the race. runvermont.com

16 | Paul Mailman 10-Miler and 5K, Montpelier

A race primarily on dirt roads, this race has been the Road Runners Club of America Vermont 10-Mile State Championship and part of the Central Vermont Runners race series. cvrunners.org

23 | Mutt Strutt, Waterbury

Get your dog in shape for this three-mile race on the dirt roads and trails of Little River State Park. cvrunners.org

30 | IceBreaker Running Race, Lake Morey Resort Join the first annual Lake Morey IceBreaker Running Race. The 5-mile course follows a picturesque rolling loop around the lake, beginning and ending at the resort. runsignup.com/Race/VT/ Fairlee/LakeMorey5Miler

MAY

8-18 | Peak Bloodroot, Pittsfied Race through the rugged foothills of the Green Mountains in the 500-miler on Wednesday, a 100-miler on Friday, followed by the 50-miler, 30-miler, 10-miler and kids’ hike on Saturday. peakraces.com

6 | Shelburne 5K/10K/Half-Marathon, Shelburne Run past the Shelburne Museum, Meach Cove, vineyards, and orchard, and through gorgeous countryside before heading back. Almost entirely on quiet back country roads. Racevermont.com

7 | Adamant Half Marathon and Relay, Adamant

This scenic figure eight course runs past the hills and ponds of Calais and East Montpelier. Part of the Central Vermont Runners race series. cvrunners.org

12 | Maple Leaf Marathon, Lake Morey Run eight laps of a 3.3-mile course for a full marathon or four laps for a half marathon in the Boston Marathon USATF qualifier at beautiful Lake Morey. newenglandchallenge.org/maple-leaf-marathon

14 | Vermont Sun Half Marathon, 10K & 5K, Lake Dunmore

Starts and finishes at Branbury State Park on Lake Dunmore, a spectacularly beautiful and pristine place to run. Amenities include digital photos, post race food and music, aid stations every 1.5 miles. vermontsuntriathlonseries.com

18-28 | Infinitus Trail Races, Ripton Infinitus is again at Silver Towers Camp in Ripton. Start dates vary for this 8-mile, marathon, 88k, 100 Mile, 250 Mile, Penta, Deca, 888K relay, and 888k races held on trails with the shortest races (8 miles to 88K) being held on Saturday, and longer races starting earlier. Endurancesociety.org

20 | Kingdom Games Dandelion Run, Derby

Choose between a half marathon, a 10K, a four-mile, a two mile, or a one-mile run or walk through the dandelion fields and the hilly but beautiful Northeast Kingdom. kingdomgames.co

20 | Barre Town Spring Run 5K, Barre

Central Vermont Runners hosts this race from the Barre Town Recreation facility. cvrunners.org

28 | Vermont City Marathon, Half Marathon & Relay, Burlington The marathon is back with a full course! Run the streets of Burlington and out the bike path to return with views of Lake Champlain. Half marathon and relay options, too. runvermont.com

JUNE

5 | 30th Covered Bridges Half Marathon, Woodstock Run 13.1 miles through scenic covered bridge, starting at Suicide Six Ski Area. Currently sold out. cbhm.com

11 | 42nd Annual Capital City Stampede, Montpelier

Central Vermont Runners hosts this 10K road race out and back, half on paved roads and half on dirt. cvrunners.org

15-17 | Vermont 100, West Windsor

Limited to 450 runners, and 70 horses, this cross-country endurance race for runners and equestrians covers 17,000 vertical feet over 30 hours and benefits Vermont Adaptive. vermont100.com

18 | 20th Annual Basin Harbor

5K & 10K A 5K and 10K at beautiful Basin Harbor – a spectacular seasonal resort on the shores of Lake Champlain. Racevermont.com

18 | Mt. Washington Auto Road Race, Pinkham Noth, N.H.

Elite runners and those who won their spots in the lottery compete on this sold-out 7.6 mile course up the Mt. Washington Auto Road sponsored by Northeast Delta Dental. mtwashington.com

25 | Catamount Ultra, Stowe

Run a 25K or 50K trail race on wide, hardpacked dirt trails that roll through highland pastures and hardwood forest at Trapp Family Lodge Outdoor Center. The 50K course is two laps on the 25K course rolling through highland pastures and hardwood forest, complete with maple sugar tap lines in place and ready for the spring “run.” catamountultra.com

BIKING

JANUARY

20-23 | Fat Tire Adventure & Poker Ride, Burke

The Inn at Burklyn partners with Dynamic Cycling Adventures to host a fatbike poer ride at Kingdom Trails. Land at five different areas where you can exchange a playing card in an attempt to improve your poker hand… best hand wins a prize. burklyninn.com

21 | Überwintern, Stowe

Überwintern is an annual fatbike festival featuring a day of fatbike group rides, demos and sharing local brews around warm fires with friends on a winter’s day. mbtvt.com

28 | Rikert Fat Bike Roundup, Rikert Nordic Center, Ripton

Guided group fat bike rides for all abilities, one set of rides in the morning, one in the afternoon, followed by bonfires and fun. addisoncountybikeclub.org

FEBRUARY

12 | Cold Rolled, Rutland

The event will feature a vendor village, rides for all ages and abilities, and groomed packed powder trails for your fatbiking pleasure. Group rides will begin at 10am with an aid station, refreshments and bonfire. mbtvt.com

12 | Frozen Onion, Montpelier

A fun race with free fat bike demos for newcomers. Race starts/ends at North Branch Nature Center and uses the groomed trails of North Branch River Park. Multiple distance options, and a kids’ race, too! onionriver.com

25 | Winterbike, Burke

Now in its 12th year, Winterbike will include the usual crowd pleasing ingredients including a ride, remote aid station, after party catering by Ranch Camp, and so much more/ Hosted at Mike’s Tiki Bar and on the Kingdom Trails network, boasting over 31 miles of cold-rolled singletrack. mbtvt.com

APRIL

29 | Rasputitsa, East Burke

More than a gravel cycling race, this is a homegrown self-supported challenge of the mind, body, and soul that instills people with a connected sense of place and purpose. All bikes welcome. rasputitsadirt. com

SNOWSPORTS & OTHER JANUARY

7 | Bogburn Classic, Rikert, Rikpton New England skiers usually flock to Pomfret for this classic cross-country ski race that was first held in 1986. The Haydocks usually welcome the community to their property to highlight their love of classic skiing in a lowkey and friendly environment. This year the eNensa.net

17 | NE Rando Skimo, Berkshire East, This event will be paired with Backcountry Magazine's Basecamp Clinics, demos, and raffle prizes nerandorace.blogspot.com

12-22 | FISU University Games, Lake Placid, New York

Watch student athletes ages 17-25 from around the world compete for their nations in 12 Olympic sports at the Lake Placid, Mt. Van Hoevenberg, Whiteface and Gore Mountain sites. This will be like a mini-Olympics with more than 1,500 athletes participating and more than 100,000 spectators anticipated. For a full schedule: lakeplacid2023.com

14 | TUCK IT! Fastest Skier & Rider in the East, Magic Mountain Skiers bomb the 1,500-foot top to-bottom slope and are ranked by the speed as they fly past the radar gun. There is a $1,000 cash prize. magicmtn.com

15 | Mad River Glen Triple Crown Family Tournament, Mad River Glen

The original father/son race dates back to 1942 when it was held on Mount Mansfield (Stowe). Now open to anyone who wants to participate. Racers complete a family-friendly GS course where a racer’s best time from two runs is counted. The time is then added to that of other family members (by blood). madriverglen.com

21-22 | Women’s Weekend Snowsports Clinic; Greens to Blues, Magic Mountain

Go from skiing green runs to intermediate blue ones with coaching by on snow trainer, Rebecca Skandera, a PSIA Lev2, AASI Lev1 instructor and Dr. Chrissy Semler. Dr. Semler is a licensed clinical mental health counselor, certified mental performance consultant, and professor listed on the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee Sport Psychology and Mental Health Registries. Repeast Feb. 4, Magicmtn.com

18-23 | Winter Rendezvous, Stowe

Celebrating 39 years, join hundreds of LGBTQ winter enthusiasts for 5 days of world-class skiing and boarding at Stowe Mountain Resort. This fun-filled event offers a host of outdoor activities, parties, and entertainment winterrendezvous.com

19-22 | 48th Winter Carnival, Stowe

The town of Stowe shines with over 20 major activities for both young and old, from zany sports events, the Ice Carving Competitions, ski movies, Kids Carnival Kaos and the infamous snowgolf and snowvolleyball tournaments. gostowe.com

27-29 | Smuggs Ice Bash, Smuggler’s Notch

Vermont's annual ice climbing festival features talks, demos, clinics and more. Put on by Petra Cliffs with on-site demos and vendors at Smuggler's Notch's ice falls. smuggsicebash.com

28-29 | Craftsbury Nordic Marathon, Craftsbury

Race the Classic races on Saturday and freestyle on Sunday. The 50k will be Saturday, with the Sunday race coming in around 30k. craftsbury.com

26-28 | Banff Mountain Film Festival

World Tour, Burlington

UVM's Davis Center hosts stories of exploration from around the world in a festival featuring a collection of exhilarating, provocative, inspiring action, environmental and adventure films. skirack.com

29 | Prospect Mountain XC Sprints, Woodford

Join Nordic ski racers of all ages for the cross-country ski race on the trails of Prospect Mountain. Part of the Zak series. nensa.net

FEBRUARY

1 | 101st Harris Hill Ski Jump, Brattleboro

The world’s top male and female ski jumpers compete on a 90-meter jump, and soar more than 300 feet at speeds of nearly 60 mph. The event has a festive atmosphere for the whole family with food, music, and a beer tent. harrishillskijump.com

3-5 | Vermont Pond Hockey Championships, Lake Morey Resort, Fairlee

The 12th Annual VT Pond Hockey Championships return after a two year hiatus with Open, League and Pond divison. "Pond" i is strictly for recreational players who have no formal league or school experience, men and women 21 and older. You can have up to six players on a team, but only four players on the ice at one time. Each team is guaranteed four round-robin games (weather permitting), and the opportunity to qualify for the medal round and win the coveted Golden Sap Bucket Trophy. lakemoreyresort.com

4 | USASA Night Rail Jam, Bolton Valley Resort

Held under the LED lights at the Hyde Away Terrain Park, conditions warranting. Boltonvalley.com

4 | Special Olympics Vermont Penguin Plunge, Burlington

A unique winter event where participants raise funds to take a dip in Vermont's icy lakes. Now in its 28th year, the event series supports a movement that works year-round to foster inclusion and acceptance of people with intellectual disabilities (ID) by using the power of sport to showcase their gifts and abilities. specialolympicsvermont.org/penguin-plunge '

11 | Kandahar, Mad River Glen

The Kandahar channels the spirit of full mountain races that were once commonplace. The last version held in the 1980s began on Creamery and finished by the base of the Double. The modern version is more modest but will still reward those who can ski gates as well as terrain on the trail. Madriverglen.com

11 | Mansfield Nordic Club Skiathlon, Sleepy Hollow, Richmond

A Classic/Freestyle Skiathlon: Skiers switch from classic to freestyle skis mid-race for men and women U16 and older (6km classic + 6km freestyle). Back by Popular Demand: “What the Heck, I’ll Try It” 5km Freestyle (your choice of technique). There’s also a Lollipop race for kids. Nensa.net

11-12 | Southern Vermont Primitive Biathlon, Manchester

A primitive biathlon is a fun and challenging wilderness competition of target shooting and snowshoeing at Skinner Hollow Farm on Rte. 7a The event is open to all muzzleloading firearm enthusiasts, regardless of their skill level or athletic ability. svtpb.org

17-18 | Eastern Cup Open & Rikert

Nordic Grand Prix, Rikert Nordic Center, Ripton

Get an early start on the season at Rikert where snowmaking on the course assures good conditions. Saturday is a Classic individual start on a 5k for U16 and a 10k Open. Sunday is a Freestyle pursuit start: 5k U16, 5k Open. Hosted by Frost Mountain Nordic. Rikertnordic.com

17 | NE Rando Skimo Sprint, Bromley

Be prepared for uphill, downhill, hiking and skate skiing. nerandorace.blogspot.com

23-26 |Lake Memphremagog Winter Swim Festival, Newport

Get ready to take the plunge and breaststroke a 25-meter hat race (make your own hat that must be worn the whole way) or compete in classic freestyle, butterfly and relay in distances from 25 to 200 meters. This is all in a pool carved out of the lake ice. kingdomgames.co

24 | Pico Hiko Splitfest - 6th Annual Splitboard Demo & Festival, Pico Interested in splitboarding? We'll help find the ideal ride, from the right gear for mellow on-resort morning laps to big-mountain freeride shred tools, avy safety equipment, layering and backcountry mapping! Ticket quantity is LIMITED.eventbrite.com/e/picohiko-splitfest-2023-6th-annual-splitboarddemo-festival-tickets-488639242127

26 | 76th Stowe Derby, Stowe

Ski from near the top of Mt. Mansfield’s Toll Hous trail all the way to town or wherever the 20 km course runs. Also a 6K short course and 16K fat bike division. mmsc.org

26 | Stratton Terrain Challenge, Stratton

The race returns for its second year at the Stratton Nordic Center as part of NENSA’s race calendar. With support from the Stratton Mountain School Nordic ski team, West River BKL and the Putney Ski Club, you can look forward to a fun and challenging “terrain challenge” freestyle race. incorporating tight corners, swerving downhills, dips and loops, and plenty of ups and downs on a course that will keep your heart pumping. nensa.net

MARCH

3-5 | Slash & Berm Banked Slalom, Killington

Darkside Snowboards, and Burton are teaming up once again for the 9th Annual Slash & Berm. Snowboarders will gather at The Stash terrain park in Killington to take advantage of the natural terrain and all the creative elements the mountain has to offer for a great cause. killington.com

11 | Jr. Castlerock Extreme, Sugarbush

Tthe premier unconventional terrain competition in the East where talented young skiers (14 & under) are invited to tame Castlerock’s fabled terrain and compete in a highly challenging and technical run down infamous Lift Line. sugarbush.com

APRIL

1 | Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge, Killington

The annual competition will heat up again on Saturday, April 1st as amateur bumpers take to the slopes of Outer Limits to battle for a place in the finals. The top 32 men and 16 women will compete in a head-to-head competition. killington.com

ENDGAME

THE SNOW CAVE

One late December day, while strolling around my mother’s neighborhood in Ferrisburgh, I happened upon a sizeable snowbank. Two six-year-old boys were attacking the crusty mass with ski poles, their focus and drive a thing to admire. “We’re going to put dynamite in these holes so that we can make a bigger hole,” one boy told me, pausing to wipe his runny nose. “We’re going to crawl in and stay there until summer,” the other boy added, his grin spreading from ear to ear and beyond. They returned to their work, mittened hands carefully placing invisible sticks of TNT, and I continued on my way, remembering, a gladness beating in my heart.

You see, no season delighted the childhood me like winter, no pastime like honeycombing the backyard drifts and driveway plow piles with curving tunnels, domed chambers, secret alcoves, claustrophobic-cumcozy nooks, cozy-cum-claustrophobic crannies. Were these subnivean palaces of my youth objectively grand, or did they only seem so to the chief architect, engineer, and builder? Better question: Does it matter? From four to fourteen I felt Vermont’s harshest season as an opportunity, as an invitation to wholly immerse myself in the elements—body, mind, spirit, soul. In a word, I felt wealthy, rich with what Henry Thoreau called “Contact!”

And now? At the ache-when-Iclear-the-walk age of 36? Sure, I’ve dug a few snow caves on mountaineering trips in the Greens and the Whites—I haven’t yet totally lost touch with the unique satisfactions of stuffing oneself beanie first into a smoothsided tube and slumbering as a bear might. But let’s be honest. Over the coming weeks and months, those boys with their imagined explosives would cultivate an intimate relationship with capital-W Winter—a sensuous, tactile relationship with The Thing Itself— while I would probably just potato on the couch watching Seinfeld reruns.

Thus it was decided: Another evening at my mother’s house was in order, but this time, rather than gorge on holiday ham, drain drams of peaty Scotch, and eventually conk out on a soft mattress, I’d allow the inner child of yesteryear to snug himself down

inside the outdoors. Mom’s response, when I mentioned this plan, nodding to the pyramidal snowbank at the end of her cul-de-sac, was predictably Momlike: “Remember to keep your nose free, in case of collapse.” Patiently, I explained that the warmth of a properly constructed snow cave—body heat and a candle’s tiny blaze can raise the internal temperature a whopping fifty or more degrees!—was enjoyed only by the fully buried. She shook her head, unconvinced: “At least consider bringing an air horn, that way, if need be, I can come to the rescue with a shovel.”

Ah yes, shovel—that noun which, once gripped, becomes verb. The first task was retrieving a metal one from the garage, the second task was chiseling a starter hole from the pyramid’s consolidated junk-snow, and the third task was accepting, with a huff and a puff, that the inner child had lost some of his yesteryear fitness. Luckily, it wasn’t long before fatigue morphed into a kind of sweaty, meditative trance, a trance that became

. BY LEATH TONINO

gymnastic contortions I’d not known to be physically possible. Honey, I’m home!

Cramped has a nice ring to it, but snug sounds better. The cave, which measured seven feet by four feet by three feet (I could sorta, kinda, slightly sit upright) had to be met on its own spatial terms. After ten minutes of thrashing about in the mute blackness, struggling to un-wedgie my long johns and straighten my discombobulated bedding, I finally got comfy—and not merely comfy-for-an-entombment comfy, but genuinely at ease, relaxed. Here, again, was that exhausted peace, that burrower’s bliss. The jolly, tingly happiness of keeping a special secret, a secret nobody in the universe knows save for one wee human being, zipped the length of my slightly crooked spine. Held by the cave, I was that secret, safely sequestered.

ever more entrancing the deeper I dug. Laboring on hands and knees, on belly and back, the so-called “real world” slipped away. No cell phones rang, no e-mails appeared in the Inbox, no money came or went from the wallet. I’m tempted to describe the meditation of burrowing, the exhausted peace it engenders, as quasi-religious: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Snow Cave, and the Word was Snow Cave.

By dusk my dwelling, if not bearworthy, was at least roomy enough to admit a foam Thermarest pad, a synthetic North Face mummy bag, and, of course, a trio of tea candles, each perched atop its own chunky pedestal of ice. Everything neat and tidy, I joined my mother for a quick dinner of—what else?—leftover ham and Scotch, then headed back out, fullbellied and pleasantly buzzed.

Thirteen degrees. Sharp wind from the northwest. A few stars strewn across immense darkness. I squirmed through my entry tunnel, into a darker darkness, and did a sequence of

With a flick of the lighter, I touched each candle to life. The flames, despite the night’s rushing, neighborhoodencompassing wind, did not waver. Heck, that wind, as far as I was concerned, had altogether ceased to exist. For a spell, nothing existed but the glistening walls, the crystal ceiling, the shadows cast by my arm as I raised an airplane bottle of single malt— wouldn’t you bring one along?—for a nightcap nip. Nothing but the easy rhythm of my own breathing and the toastiness of my toes. Nothing but the thought that ten or so hours hence I would be birthed from the womb of the snowbank, born anew into bright sunshine and blue sky. And that my mother would have the coffee going. And that with caffeine surging through my veins I would stroll the stiffness from my skeleton, find those TNT boys, see how they were progressing, ask if they needed help.

Finally, a follow-up airplane bottle polished off and my candles almost spent, this spell of contentment came apart at the edge of dreams. So it goes. The magician of sleep, the magician named capital-W Winter, cast a new spell over me—and just like that I was falling as a snowflake, landing as snow upon snow upon snow.

Leath Tonino is a contributig editor to Vermont Sports. A version of this essay originally appeared in Yankee

A child's instincts to build a snow cave never really goes away. Photo Adobe Stock