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 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 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

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. down on skinny skis. It was the bomb.” 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.

“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.

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.

“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.”