It’s been a long time since I’ve gone a winter without suiting up to compete almost every week. As far back as I can remember, winter weekends have always been spent either running gates, chasing jumping meets, or generally cruising around the northeast race circuits. This winter was no different, except for this time I wasn’t the one doing the racing.

My first winter of full-time coaching was a big learning experience. Jumping from the EISA to the USCSA level opened my eyes to what the other side of collegiate racing is like: wide ranges of attitudes and abilities, teams ranging from the lone Marlboro and WPI skiers to UVM and Clarkson rolling up with 20+ athletes every weekend, and a much more laid-back race organization that values effort over results and ritual.

That last bit is what took the most getting used to. Having raced EISA and USSA, we always took it as SOP to have fully marked courses, a maze of fencing and V-Boards in the stadium, and race officials around every corner. At this level, teams run their own races, each one with their own standards (though technically under the same rules as USSA and FIS). It wasn’t uncommon this season to have athletes warming up backwards on course, something that the next level would’ve been a disqualifiable offense.

The other big change for me this year was how race-days went from a preparation standpoint. With 24 skiers almost every weekend, classic races were very much a race to get skis prepped in time for everyone's start. The skiers were more than willing to help, but at a point it gets to be too much when eight or ten people are testing waxes and they all say different waxes work (or worse, the same wax works for one person but doesn’t for the next).

That being said, my biggest fear this season was not being taken seriously by the athletes, but as it turned out, I had nothing to worry about. everyone on the team was more than helpful with anything I asked of them, including driving personal vehicles through horrid lake-effect snow storms to deliver equipment on less than an hours notice. While the team captains were my primary source of team information, my real brain-trust this season have been the sophomore and junior classes, who have been more than open with me, expressing concerns and changes they’d like to see in the coming years.

The team was very accepting of me as a new (young) coach, to the point where many were looking to me for personalized training plans to supplement/augment the ones provided by the head coach. A majority of them have even asked me to step in as the head coach next year after the current one retires at the end of the season (We’ll see guys, we’ll see).

So far this season has exceeded my expectations immensely, and I can’t wait to see how it concludes. Yesterday, we arrived in Jackson Hole for the USCSA National Championships, which start for us on Tuesday.

Well, now that the season has ended, I've been able to 'focus' on my other sports, like jumping!

On March 9th, I strapped on my jumpers for the first time all season in Lebanon, NH, during the Storrs Hill Mud Meet and USCSA National Collegiate Ski Jumping Championships. That day was not only my first day on a jump all year, but was also my first attempt at a K50 jump ever.

Hiestad Hill: The K50 at Storrs Hill.

The Mud Meet (which I won last year) is a Skimeister event (my specialty) for all ages and abilities. It combines a short nordic ski with a rather easy alpine race, as well as a meet on the K5 and K25 jumps.

In addition to the Mud Meet, Hill Manager Jon Farnham, along with USCSA, hosted an informal K50 meet that also acted as the Collegiate National Championships. There were only three people competing, all of us from the Burlington, VT area (the other two were UVM students).

I won.

It was my first day all year with long skis on, and I won the collegiate national championships. It was terrifyingly awesome.

The rest of the meet was a good time, short Nordic ski and an even shorter alpine race, and I took second overall, to the current NH State Skimeister.

That Friday, the three of us, along with a

few others, traveled to Lake Placid for a Exhibition Meet for the rest of the USCSA athletes. We limited ourselves to the K48, but there were a handful of locals (not college kids) hitting the K90.

I didn't jump as well that night, only hitting 35 or 36 meters, while I was hoping to hit 40, it didn't matter. We were there for fun more than anything.

The day after the Mud Meet, the Saint Michael's Nordic Team travelled down to Cochran's Ski Area for their first annual Nordic Skier Cross race. It was a blast, with a huge descent and a few good climbs, along with jumps, gates, and tight turns. I did rather well, coming in 8th overall, with only a couple of falls under my belt.

And that basically concludes my ski season, I should be updating more regularly on cycling season (first race is this saturday!!), as i will have more free time.

torin.