BETHEL – The Bethel Inn and Country Club announces a new team to operate its 40 km Cross Country Ski and Snowshoe outfit. The team will be comprised of Mike Cooper, Kirk Siegel and Roger Smith.

“We’re extremely excited about expanding our operation with such a professional and experienced team of cross country ski enthusiasts,” said Allen Connors, general manager of The Bethel Inn and Country Club.

Cooper is a seasoned ski center manager, trail groomer and trail design consultant, whose most recent major project is the 42-mile Grafton Loop Trail in the Mahoosuc Range. Siegel is a former ski coach for the Gould Academy cross-country ski team and the U.S. Biathlon Junior Team, a Dartmouth Skit Team captain and is a practicing attorney who specializes in real estate and land conservation. Until 2002, Smith was chief of vehicle maintenance at Sunday River Ski Resort, and for more trails manager at Sunday River Inn Ski Touring Center offering national-level experience as a cross-country ski racer, certified coach, and event organizer.

Cooper and Siegel have worked together in recent years to upgrade and instruct in the after-school ski program at Crescent Park School in Bethel and the Bethel Outing Club’s Bill Koch Youth Ski League, while Smith was Telstar Middle School ski coach.

Among their top priorities for this season are creating a kids terrain park close to the inn and excavating and grading a challenging intermediate five kilometer trail known as Corkscrew. Skiers should see new storage cubbies in the shop, outdoor and indoor cafe tables and expanded ski tuning and maintenance.

The ski center expects to open for the season in mid-December, with retail stales, ski and snowshoe rentals, lessons and ski technique clinics. Horse-drawn sleigh rides on Saturday nights and a ski-swim-sauna ticket will be offered. The team plans to work with the Maine Nordic Council, the New England Nordic Ski Association, schools and ski clubs to create a schedule of events that offer fun, skills and fitness to further Bethel’s reputation as a Mecca for cross-country skiers.