If there’s ever a place for a cross-country skier to put on their bucket list, Mt. Bachelor in central Oregon is it. With a ski season that typically lasts into late May and can even extend to June—with natural snow some 6,400 feet above sea level—the Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center is spring skiers’ paradise. According to Nordic Manager Sydney Powell, Mt. Bachelor (about 22 miles west of Bend, OR) has been inundated since January with...
You might imagine traveling from the U.S. to Australia as being an arduous marathon of flights- and it is- but as Jessie Diggins points out, it turns out to be about the same length of journey time as the U.S. Ski Team makes annually when heading to Ruka, Finland for the first World Cup of the season. “So in my head, I was ready for it to be like this crazy long, super hard travel,”...
Recently I’ve become rather obsessed with the Tour de France. Having never watched a bike race previously, I now find myself glued to Eurosport for upwards of five hours a day. There are a number of factors contributing to this shift on my part: an increased familiarity with the landscape and culture of the host nation, some covid-induced couch time, and a newfound respect for the insane feats of athleticism on display day after day. ...
Believe it or not, it is mid-May. For those following a traditional cross-country calendar, this means the start of a new training year, building toward the 2022/2023 competition season. And, for many of the top American athletes, this means it’s time to make an annual pilgrimage to Bend, Oregon for the on-snow camp of the season at the Mt. Bachelor Nordic Center. The weather gods were kind to the camp attendees, with nearly a foot...
Disclaimer: The author skied both days and was one member of the large S2S organizing committee. This may seem like a conflict of interest, but also allows a more detailed look behind the curtain at how a new event was built. Click here to learn more about the origins of the Sovereign2Silverstar Ski Marathon, and to take a look at the successful first year of the event. *** The motto for S2S was ‘finishing is...
Cross-country skiers heading to Europe are spoilt for choice. The continent is packed with top-class destinations for all sorts of snow-related sports. For Nordic skiing, you might naturally assume that Norway should be top of your list but that all depends on want you want from your holiday. If your priority is having access to the maximum number of kilometers possible, then Norway ticks that box. The resort of Geilo alone has around 550km of...
For those who have yet to experience the beauty of Canmore, Alberta, a Google search for photos of the town alone should provide sufficient motivation to put it on your travel bucket list. A dramatic skyline of rugged and imposing peaks provide a backdrop to main street, the Nordic Centre, and pretty much anywhere else you could visit in the Kananaskis Valley. Smaller than its perhaps better-known neighbor, Banff, the streets of Canmore are lined...
Nordic festival are two words most North American ski fans can only dream about. Skinny skiers here are unlikely to experience the reality of such an event for themselves unless they make a trip across the Atlantic. For residents of France, the opportunity to participate in the second edition of the Martin Fourcade Nordic Festival presented itself this weekend and there were many eager attendees. This lucky expat was among the masses. For those unfamiliar...
Moving abroad during the best of times can be a challenge. Doing so during a global pandemic is at best, a questionable decision, at worst, a disaster. Thankfully my experience thus far has fallen mostly under the former category. At the age of twenty-two, after eight months of living at home in the Methow Valley with my parents, when the opportunity to move to France presented itself, I seized it. After a frantic month of...
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most people skipped their summer vacations. We don’t know what will happen by the time ski season is open, but we hope for the best. Hopefully, we’ll be back to the old normal instead of adjusting to the “new normal.” Cross-country skiing will be possible even in the new normal circumstances. Maybe we’ll skip the after-ski parties and get-togethers. Skiing is an individual sport, which allows you to maintain physical...
FasterSkier’s Kathryn Miller will be profiling a number of ski areas this winter. You can find her profile of Bretton Woods here. Wolfeboro XC Ski The Nordic Skier is the local shop in Wolfeboro where you can get ski tickets, find trail maps, rent gear, and purchase nutrition for your ski. The shop is located at: 47 North Main St. Wolfeboro, NH 03894 Trail system hours of operation: No set hours, ski when you are...
Once the kid who crushed from the secluded Methow Valley, Erik Bjornsen (28) has evolved into an all-arounder on the World Cup for the U.S. Ski Team and man with a plan. The plan is part travel business start-up co-mingled with a take it year by year approach when it comes to his elite level racing status. America’s World Cup skiers commonly remain in Europe over the holidays and prep for either the Tour de...
FasterSkier will be profiling a number of ski areas this winter. Bretton Woods Nordic Center 210 Mount Washington Hotel Road, Bretton Woods, NH 03575 Trail system hours of operation: 8:30-4pm Ticket rates: 21$ adult day, 19$ teen (13-17), 14$ Junior (5-12) and Senior (65+), Free for Seniors 80+ and kids under 4 with an adult *Rates are cheaper for resort guests as well as multi-day deals, special offers and a military rate Bretton Woods Nordic...
Simply imagining striding along at just shy of 9,000 feet makes the heart rate drift upwards. So let’s get this up front: if you’re coming from significantly lower elevations to Crested Butte, Colorado, take it easy for a day and acclimate. If you’ve got the acclimation piece down, Crested Butte could very well be the most iconic of ski towns. Tucked into a dead end valley in winter, and with it’s downtown oozing rustic ski...
First the Snow: Sometimes off-season snow is an afterthought — access to trail running, mountain biking, and yes even rollerskiing is enough to satiate the training apatite. And sometimes it’s not. Warm temps prevent access to snow and maybe you simply need a break. With that in mind, here are some resources for accessing snow in Ramsau am Dachstein: the famed high region in Austria where the Dachstein glacier awaits with groomed “off-season” cross-country tracks....
With the global reach of social media, photos are popping with new snow somewhere in the now chilling Northern Hemisphere. Almost midway through September, it’s not too early to think of World Cup skiing and the places those elite athletes will go. We’ve produced an interactive map organized by World Cup Period that details race location and race type. Here’s a link to the map if you’d rather explore it as a stand-alone webpage. As the...
Editor’s note: John Wood is a septuagenarian racer who lives in Eagle River, Alaska, outside of Anchorage. Four years ago he wrote a first-person Masters Mind piece for FasterSkier detailing his return from a full knee replacement to winning his age group at the American Birkebeiner classic race 18 months later. This article provides an update on what happened next, including competing at the 2019 Masters World Cup in Beitostølen, Norway, following a second knee...
Press Release Happy 4th of July! To celebrate, Lumi Experiences is announcing a special trip to the Minneapolis World Cup, the first World Cup in the United States in almost 20 years. The events are being hosted at Wirth Park, one of the largest urban parks in the country. The Loppet Foundation has grown cross country skiing in Minneapolis for close to 20 years, hosting events such as the City of Lakes Loppet, which brings...
While many skiers were blowing the dust off of their rollerskis, hitting the track or trail, or looking for crust to cruise on May 1st, Erik Bjornsen and his wife Marine Dusser were previewing the race course for the Fossavatn Ski Marathon, or Fossavatngangan, in Isafjördur, Iceland. While it might seem odd to begin a new season by racing a 21 k followed by a 42 k just two days later, Bjornsen and Dusser...
Washington’s Methow Valley is the literal end of the road in winter. There’s one way in from the south. There’s route 20, a sinuous side spur plunging down from Omak in the Okanogan Highlands to the Methow’s eastern edge. Otherwise, travel by car terminates just beyond Mazama — the small town nestled in the valley’s north. The Methow’s charm remains its solitude and mellowed pace. Despite the wifi and cell service, there’s the real...