Once again I was drawn to Lost Valley. This time was in answer to a note from Scott Hoisington letting me know about his UMF ski team and a pair of very special skiers.

The occasion was a ski race among Maine colleges and universities. Intercollegiate ski racing doesn’t get much attention. NCAA Division I teams compete in Carnivals and must have both Alpine and cross country skiers. Bates College is the only University in Maine competing in Division I, traveling to the traditional Carnivals such as Dartmouth, Middlebury and Williams.

Bates has actually hosted the NCAA National Championships, with the Alpine at Sunday River and the cross country at Rumford’s Black Mountain. In other years, a skier or two might qualify for the NCAAs and travel to wherever they are being held. Nancy Fiddler comes to mind, who took up cross country skiing at Bates and went on to win 14 national titles on her way to the Olympics.

Bates has done a great job supporting a Division I team, but other Maine colleges, while not having the budgets for a Division I team, wanted to get into competitive skiing within the state.

The result is the Reynolds Division, named after retired UMF ski coach and Ski Industry Program Director, Tom Reynolds. The competition is strictly Alpine, no cross country. Five schools compete in this division, Bates, UMF, UMO, Bowdoin and Colby.

The race I attended had about 100 racers equally divided between men and women. That the racing is highly competitive, as evidenced by the fact that in the season -long standings to date the top three teams are separated by only a handful of points.

The race was a two run-slalom on Bull Moose, the run under the main chair. It’s a perfect trail for a race because the run doesn’t interfere with any other trails at the area. Spectators can see almost the entire course standing by the finish area or, those wanting to stay warm, from inside the lodge.

An announcer gives the names of each skier as they enter the course. The race was run efficiently with only an occasional hold to reset a gate. The course was reset during lunch for the second run.

For me, that was time for interviews with two of the young women who competed as a team and individually.

Mackenzie MacDonald has a condition called Ocular Albinism which severely limits her vision. She can only see one gate ahead and in shade cannot see blue gates at all. To allow her to ski the course, a teammate, Brianna Marquis skis ahead of her. Following her guide, Mackenzie skis the course until handling the last two or three gates on her own as Brianna skis off to the side, raising her arm in the direction Mackenzie needs to head. Brianna than heads back to the top to take her own run.

I learned that Mackenzie finally got to try skiing around the age of 12 when her mother learned of a program called Maine Adaptive Sports.

She described her experience in an essay how she got to ski on her own after learning the basics:

“When I first went down the hill, I was terrified of crashing into a little kid or even and older person. Somehow in the middle of feeling terrified, I felt overcome with joy. I was skiing down this hill, in the freezing cold. I felt like this was something I could actually be good at if kept at it. By the end of the day, skiing was one of my favorite things to do.”

For the next two years Mackenzie kept skiing and everyone at Maine Adaptive told her she should join the race team. That didn’t happen and she didn’t ski for three years.

That all changed when she entered the University of Maine at Farmington. Last year she returned to skiing and progressed rapidly, picking up new skills and skiing more black diamonds. She was officially recruited to join the UMF Ski Team.

Mackenzie told me that she truly enjoys skiing by herself and the feeling of freedom she get on the trails. Her vision is sufficient to see other skiers and any obstacles in the trail.

Her progress been recognized and later this season she and Brianna will travel to Winter Park in Colorado to ski with the U. S. Disabled Team.

Winter Park was a pioneer in disabled skiing and has one of the finest programs in the U.S., and it will be an opportunity for Mackenzie to ski with and learn from some of the best.

My only regret is that I didn’t have the opportunity to take a run with this remarkable young woman. But I left Lost Valley with an admiration for these two friends who are enjoying a special journey in skiing.

BEFORE WE MARCH

It’s hard to believe that we are entering March in a few days but we could still have a solid month-and-a-half of skiing at most of the major ski areas, and with the snow pack as deep as it is, we could still be riding lifts into May.

Next weekend we’ll take a look at a lot of special events coming up in what can be the best ski month of the year. But there is one very special event that can’t wait. The 23rd annual Hannes Schneider Cup is next Saturday, about a week earlier than usual.]

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Schneider family in North Conway. The celebration of the skimeister’s life and times will take place at Mount Cranmore with a race and exhibitions. Members of the current 10th Mountain Division will be on hand.

The event benefits the New England Ski Museum, which has opened a great new location in North Conway. Details can be found at www.newenglandskimuseum.org.

See you on the slopes.