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  Fischer Skis is proud to announce the Fischer Grants program, an ongoing grant program aimed at promoting access and engagement to skiing in the United States. With a first-year commitment of $20,000 in support for ski programs, the Fischer Grants will focus on youth and underserved ski populations, snowmaking efforts, education and outreach. “Skiing faces a number of challenges: economic, cultural, and the unpredictability of winter which make growth difficult,” described Fischer Skis Director...

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 new leaf. He’s still training as a professional skier, but he’s also the owner of a cross-country skiing business called Nordic...

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 skate and classic techniques – be capable of successfully instructing intermediate to advanced Nordic skiers – work well as a...

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 royalty are U.S. Cross Country Ski Team (USST) members Kevin Bolger, Paddy Caldwell, Sophie Caldwell, Jessie Diggins, Simi Hamilton, and...

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 workout would she recommend with poles?  *** It may come as no surprise that many of Caitlin Patterson’s dryland workouts...

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 172 finishers made it the largest North American rollerski race. The event was hosted in conjunction with the Mansfield Nordic...

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 in Oslo this summer. Kørra’s primary athletes are 12 junior skiers (six boys and six girls) that comprise Norway’s National...

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 off, he remounted his bike, but not before noticing his left wrist was badly injured. For a moment, Torchia considered...

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” workout, in reference to starting and ending a workout with someone else, which is how they often train together. ***...

  Mark your calendars: The 10th Annual SkiErg World Sprints will be held November 8–11, 2018. That’s four days, so we expect we will have more participation than ever! This 1000-meter virtual race allows you to see how you stack up with others of your age and gender around the world. Whether you use the SkiErg for general fitness, cross-training, CrossFit, or to train for competitive Nordic skiing, this event is a great training goal...

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 Weston, MA, from 3:15p.m. until 5:15p.m.  The team competes on Wednesdays, either with schools in the Lakes Region of New...

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 years ago, the couple has immersed themselves in the greater Minneapolis community — both in and out of skiing. They’ve...

We are excited to announce big upgrades to our men’s and women’s Gold Level Nordic Race Suits and Jackets this season. Once again, Podiumwear has teamed up with Olympic Gold Medalist Jessie Diggins on the design of these products. “Jessie’s input and feedback has been integral,” said Product Developer Kristine Larsen. “We are so excited about all the changes, which really revolutionize these cornerstone Podiumwear products.” In addition, Diggins specifically asked that we make a...

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. The IOC is now in favour of joint bids, re-use of existing facilities and lower costs. These improvements have resulted...

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 coach rather than draw attention to himself. Based as a business person in Colorado’s Vail Valley, Ellefson is giving back...

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 impaired skier Maine State Championship, for example … so we’re really excited to go after that this year. We’ve come close...

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 colleagues in Canada,” Munger recalled in a phone interview on Sunday. The North American home crowd in Quebec City had...

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 Minnesotan who brought home a gold medal has now helped us bring home the World Cup,” said host committee co-chair RT...

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 World Cup Period 1 team selection,  2019 World Ski Championships (WSC) in Seefeld, Austria, and the 2019/2020 national team. Grover...