Open today. At 6 am the temperature is 16º with clear skies, half an inch of snow overnight. Forecast high is 30º and sunny. Grooming is happening as I type, Ian is in the snow cat. New tracks and corduroy on the low trails. Middle and Upper Blue Jay, Loon, Chickadee good skiing as is. Check when you get here to see if anything changed.

Today is a frozen granular base with the new powder mixed in. We end up with a very skiable surface that is quick and fun to ski on.  I skied already this morning and it was good. I was on rental skis and it wasn’t even all that fast.

Yesterday afternoon was a Youth Ski League Practice. There are many volunteers that make this program work. There are new volunteers and skiers, as in the family does not have a history of Nordic skiing. And there are volunteers that have Nordic skiing in their genes for a couple of generations. Greg, helping in the picture above, is carrying on the tradition, his mom and dad ran the Stratton Nordic Center way back in the 70’s and early 80’s and were very much a part of kids programs.

This is Sverre, known world wide for his coaching at Stratton Mountain School, for about 40 years. But also known as Johnny Caldwell’s son, and Sophie’s dad. And behind Sverre is Simi Hamilton, from Colorado, now on the US Ski Team, and helping his father-in-law play with kids on skis.

And here is Sophie. Home for a breather before continuing onto the last three world cup races. Playing a quick game of Sharks and Minnows with the littles.

There were so many smiles at yesterdays practice. From the kids, from the volunteers, and from the parents.

There are many, many more volunteers that I didn’t get a photo of or note here. A special thanks to all that make this kids program successful. A note on one particular missing volunteer picture is “Mrs. Forbes”. Jeannie started helping with the Nordic ski program when George was in kindergarten. Now she and George both help out, and George is in his early 30’s. You do the math.