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 […]
Beckie Scott Describes “Disrespect” and “Laughter” From WADA Colleagues, Steps Down From CRC
On September 20th, this year, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Executive Committee made the decision reinstate the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA). WADA’s 12 person Executive Committee had met in Seychelles to vote on a recommendation from the Compliance Review Committee (CRC) that RUSADA’s suspension be lifted. Nine Executive Committee members voted in favor of the […]
Nordic Nation: Andy Newell in Transition
FasterSkier caught up with former, yes former U.S. Ski Team member Andy Newell on October, 8 in Park City, Utah. Newell was in Utah assisting with the latest NEG camp and training with his old cohort when time permitted. No longer a staple of the national team, the 34-year-old Newell has partially turned over a […]
Craftsbury Outdoor Center Seeks Ski Instructor/Shop Employee
The Craftsbury Outdoor Center is seeking an experienced instructor/shop employee to work in the Nordic Center for the 2018-2019 winter season. The position, which starts in mid-November and runs through the end of March, is scheduled for 30-40 hours per week and requires availability on weekends. Qualified candidates must: – have teaching experience in both […]
Lights, Camera, Action: U.S. Ski Team Stars in Latest Warren Miller Film
Big and bold. Published on the latest press release from Warren Miller Entertainment are the rarefied featured athletes in the season’s cinematic siren call that winter is imminent: The Warren Miller ski film Face of Winter. Of course, there’s the icon of the Iron Cross, Jonny Moseley. Listed along with the gravity side of skiing […]
Wednesday Workout: Using Poles on the Ups with Caitlin Patterson
This week’s workout comes from Caitlin Patterson, a Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) skier and 2018 Winter Olympian. We asked the 28-year-old Patterson, an accomplished mountain runner as well, about training and racing with poles while hiking or running. When and what type of terrain does she typically use them for, and what kind of […]
Patterson, Harmeyer Win ‘Largest North American Rollerski Race’, NENSA Fall Classic
This past weekend, more than 170 skiers descended upon the Camp Ethan Allen Training Site at the Vermont National Guard base in Jericho, Vermont, for the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) Rossignol Fall Rollerski Classic. According to NENSA Competitive Programs Director Justin Beckwith, the field size nearly doubled from last year, and he believed […]
Norway’s New Junior Coach, Former SMU Runner Monika Kørra
In early August, Norwegian Monika Kørra was named Norway’s national junior team coach, an under-the-radar, nordic news event that resonates. Kørra, a 29-year-old accomplished runner and cross-country athlete in Norway, comes to the job with an undergraduate degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and a master’s in coaching and sport psychology, which she completed […]
Torchia on the Ups, Downs and All He’s Learned Since His First USST Nomination
Two summers ago, with just five miles left of the Marquette Trails Fest 30-mile mountain bike race, all Ian Torchia could hear in his head was the voice of Krystof Kopal, his Northern Michigan University (NMU) teammate, snidely saying, “You drop out again?” Fifteen minutes earlier, Torchia had careened into a tree. After dusting himself […]
Wednesday Workout: ‘Trailheading’ with Team Gregg
This week, we’re featuring a workout from the training logs of Team Gregg. These days, husband and wife Brian and Caitlin Gregg are adjusting to life, training and bodily changes as Caitlin is pregnant with their first child (a girl), due in early February. Read the full story here. Caitlin sent us the following “trailheading” […]
Belmont Hill Nordic Team Seeks Assistant Coach
Belmont Hill School, an all-boys’ independent school located in Belmont, MA, seeks an assistant coach for its Nordic Ski team for the winter of 2018-2019. The assistant coach will help plan and execute practice for the team, consisting of about twenty boys in grades 7-12. Practice takes place weekdays at the Weston Ski Track in […]
Soon-To-Be Parents, Caitlin and Brian Gregg on the Winter Ahead
The questions started rolling in this spring. How’s training going? Are you going for 2019 World Championships? What’s the plan for next winter? When you’re Caitlin and Brian Gregg, Olympians and local superstars in the Midwest, it’s hard to keep your athletic profile on the DL. Since buying a house on Theodore Wirth Park seven […]
Calgary in Final Three for 2026 Olympics
The bidding process for the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics is crawling forward, and when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the shortlist last Thursday, Oct. 4, Calgary was in the final three. Much has changed since the last time Calgary, Alberta, hosted the Games in 1988 as well as since Vancouver, British Columbia, in 2010. […]
Nordic Nation: Sylvan Ellefson Gives Back, The ‘Mountain Child’ Episode
From 2011 to 2014, Sylvan Ellefson, based out of Edwards, Colorado, was on a roar. SuperTour wins, World Cup starts, and a 30-kilometer skate national championship in 2014. Now, at 31 years old, it seems the skier who began his ascent in the sport during high school would rather focus on being a husband, father, brother, and […]
NENSA Coach of the Year, Alsobrook on Bowdoin’s Upward Path
Building on one of its most successful seasons yet, the Bowdoin College nordic ski team, out of Brunswick, Maine, recently jumped back into training under the guidance of head coach Nathan Alsobrook. Last winter, three skiers qualified for NCAA Skiing Championships, one alumna qualified for the U.S. Olympic team (Kaitlynn Miller, class of 2014), and one visually […]
Minnesota’s World Cup: One Day of Skate Sprints, $1.6-1.7 Million
Following the 2017 World Cup Finals in Canada, John Munger, executive director of the Loppet Foundation, received a phone call from a fellow Minnesotan. Jessie Diggins had just completed her 2016/2017 season, and she had a question for Munger. If Quebec could host a World Cup, why couldn’t Minnesota? “She was really jealous of her […]
Minneapolis to Host 2020 FIS Cross Country World Cup
(Press release) The International Ski Federation (FIS) today officially confirmed that Minnesota will host a World Cup cross-country ski event in Minneapolis in March 2020. U.S. Ski & Snowboard and the Loppet Foundation will serve as hosts of the World Cup event, taking place at the new ‘The Trailhead’ facility in Theodore Wirth Park. “A […]
Nordic Nation: All Criteria Considered with Grover and Kaeding
In late August, U.S. Ski Team (USST) Head Coach Chris Grover broke his own news, releasing three new sets of criteria on behalf of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, the national governing body for cross-country skiing. The three separate documents discussed by Grover and linked in his blog disclosed the selection criteria for World Cup and […]
Throwback Workout: Marathon Prep with Holly Brooks
For this week’s workout, we go back in time four years ago to when former U.S. Ski Team member and two-time Olympian Holly Brooks was prepping for a season of international ski marathons in 2014/2015. Now retired from pro skiing and with her own coaching, counseling and consulting business, Brooks, 36, recently ran a sub […]
Fish on Promoting the U.S. Development ‘Pathway’ vs. the ‘Pipeline’
JACKSON, Wyoming — Last last month, U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced that Bryan Fish had been promoted to cross country sport development manager. FasterSkier sat down with Fish on Sept. 14 at Jackson Hole’s Center for the Arts, where he was leading a Level 200 coaching clinic, to learn more about this transition and how […]