Two weeks ago, Lost Valley was on my calendar because there were a couple of events I wanted to check out. Saturday there would be a USSA Level 100 coaches’ clinic, and the J. P. Parisien race was scheduled for Sunday. Any skier remembers that Saturday — rain and freezing rain. Not wanting to drive […]
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Posted inLocal Sports
H.S. skiing: Gray-NG’s Woods claims Sassi Memorial title
RUMFORD — Kaelyn Woods had her own expectations for Saturday’s Sassi Memorial Classic at Black Mountain: The Gray-New Gloucester sophomore hoped to finish among the top five in the hotly-contested race. Then, one of her coaches mentioned that she was the skier to beat in the girls’ 5-kilometer event. That was news to Woods. “That definitely […]
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Posted inLocal Sports
HS Skiing: Racers live on the edge at Leavitt Invitational GS
GREENWOOD — Telling dozens of teenagers to get a grip and live on the edge might seem like contradictory advice, but it was the only way to go at Monday’s Leavitt Invitational giant slalom race at Mt. Abram. Skiers struggled to stay upright on the icy, appropriately-named Boris Badenov slope, but those who did certainly […]
Posted inRiver Valley
Oxford County Special Olympics brings 110 athletes to Black Mountain for training
RUMFORD — More than 100 Special Olympics Maine athletes from 11 Western Maine teams participated in the Oxford County Special Olympics Winter Games training day at Black Mountain Ski Resort on Friday. They competed in snowshoe, and Alpine and Nordic skiing at the Rumford ski hill. The speedskating competition took place at the Hosmer Field […]
Posted inFranklin, sj-web
Sugarloaf snowmakers: ‘We don’t do it for the job, we do it for the mountain’
As the old snowcat purred to life, four men climbed into the bucket on the front and sat shoulder to shoulder. Three others crammed into the enclosed cab, and the rest of the crew jumped into the open bed in the back. Each night starts out the same for Sugarloaf’s nighttime snowmakers. In the evening, […]
Posted inLocal Sports
Alpine Skiing: Legendary coach paying it back to hometown
WINTHROP — Tim LaVallee hears voices when he returns to this neck of the woods. Sometimes the exhortation comes from his former football coach, Fred Douglas. Other days, it’s the prodding of his first ski coach, the late Lehan “Pete” Edwards. “Those guys are what inspired me to get into coaching,” LaVallee said. “I idolized […]
Posted inBethel, Oxford Hills, sj-web
New plan finds Mt. Abram long-timers hopeful, apprehensive
As skiers settle into the New Year, a new model of ownership and operations is in the offing for the Mt. Abram ski area. Rooted in a concept of community-based cooperative, the new plan has been in the works for several years, and its advocates say that details will be made public in a few […]
Posted inLocal Sports
Nordic Skiing: Leavitt, Mt, Blue mix it up at Telstar Relays
BETHEL — There are two waves of preparation involved in competing at the Telstar Relays, neither of which have anything to do with the moderate physical challenge. Step one is praying that the weather will cooperate and allow the event to happen. Thanks to a December snowfall and a New Year’s deep freeze that each […]
Posted inLocal Sports
Chill out about the wind chill, please
Tuesday morning, I watched the early news and listened as one of our couch potato weather forecasters warn everyone to stay inside unless they absolutely had to go out. Instead of just telling us the temperature would be 17 degrees, he had to add the wind chill, which he claimed could be dangerous. The forecast […]