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Skiers high on Pineland Farms X-C trails |
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Written by Scott Andrews, Outdoor Writer, The Times Record
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January 24, 2003 |
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New nordic ski center conveys Olympic aura
“If you feel like a cross-country Champion when you kick and glide through fields and forests at Pineland Farms, that’s not surprising. New England’s newest Nordic ski center conveys an Olympic/World Cup aura in several key places.
Pineland’s trails were patterned after Olympic models by famed race course designer John Morton....Although it’s been in business less than a month and it boasts a mere 15 kilometers of trails, Pineland Farms already looms large on the New England cross-country ski scene, rating raves from hard-core enthusiasts who are training for this winter’s big regional races and drawing equal praise from kick-and-glide buffs who fancy its splendid scenery and first-rate facilities....
It’s well-deserved praise. I’ve skied Pineland Farms three times already this season and covered every kilometer at least once-and savored every minute of the experience.
Mike Marino, a veteran cross-country competitor from Cape Elizabeth, comes nearly every day... ‘This is a real meeting place for hard-core skiers,’ said Marino. ‘Superlative on all counts.’
...Trails were designed by John Morton, a Vermonter and former Olympic competitor who has coached the U.S. Biathlon Team and written a couple of books on Nordic skiing. Morton’s layout involves three loops totaling 15 kilometers.
...Among the first to discover Pineland was Kate Damon, cross-country coach for the Lewiston High School ski team. Damon brings her 10 athletes to train in both classic and skating techniques.
‘The trails are fantastic!’ enthused Damon. ‘They were cut really well with cross-country skiing in mind....My team is thrilled to be skiing here.’
Another racer who voices high praise for Pineland is Danny Danforth of Lewiston, a veteran marathon competitor. ‘The turns and the hills are just right for keeping up speed,’ Danforth explained...
‘The high-caliber skiers are finding that they don’t have to travel several hours to the bigger centers,’ said Gorham Bike & Ski owner Jamie Wright.” |
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Students Shoulder Work For New Trail System |
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Written by Steven Wallach, The Hardwick Gazette
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October 09, 2002 |
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“Hardwick- Hazen Union students have made the first cuts in a 100-acre woods behind the school for a professionally designed 5-kilometer trail that will be open to hikers, runners, snow-shoers, picnickers, and cross-country skiers... The trail work is part of their participation in the school’s forestry and natural reources program... Veteran Hazen teacher Marc Luneau runs the program, often with a chain saw in hand...
Luneau said the trail was laid out by John Morton of Thetford. Morton is one of the foremost trail architects in the country, Luneau said.
‘He goes all over the world laying out these things,’ Luneau said of Morton... ‘He’s been here several times working with us and he thinks this piece of land is great for the trail. Good guy... The trail will be a big community asset,’ he added, ‘and maybe a tourist attraction. Who knows?’” |
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Volunteers Come Out in Full Force Once Again |
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Written by David Corriveau, Valley News
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October 06, 2002 |
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“Sooner of later, everybody that meet director Dan Grossman recruits to help shepard almost 2,000 runners through this 3.1-mile exercise in endurance finds a way to contribute.
‘Our first year (1991), we had 275 runners and something like 10 volunteers...’ Grossman said. ‘Now we have a list of around 400 (volunteers)...’
Grossman had watched his daughter Emily run for Thetford at the New England cross-country championships at Derryfield Park in Manchester, NH, in November of 1990, and learned that Vermont would play host to the 1992 New England meet at ‘a site to be announced.’
Barely four months later, Thetford Academy won the right to play host to the New England championship, and the planning began. Soon, Thetford resident John Morton, a two-time Olympic biathlon skier and coach-turned designer of trails for cross-country running and skiing, started prowling the acadeemy’s existing course through the state park-’About two-thirds of it was on the state park road and the rest was deer paths between the trees,’ Grossman recalls- and looking for ways to make it truly cross the country.
After mud season, the work began...At the end of August, bulldozers cleared out the last of the stumps, just in time for the Academy’s first home meet.
‘We don’t run any other courses like it,’ New England champion, Meghan Owen of Killingly, Connecticut said. ‘It’s all in the woods, rolling hills.
It’s a challenging course, and there’s always a lot of good competition. It’s good to run with the best.’” |
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Get Ready to “Schuss” at Morse Farm |
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Written by Bill Holland, The Montpelier Bridge
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September 01, 2002 |
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“If the snow gods smile this winter, cross-country skiers in the Montpelier area will have an even bigger reason to smile as well. Morse Farm, ...for many years a local tourist attraction thanks to its maple sugaring house and gift shop, will offer 15 kilometers of groomed ski trails.
Local ski enthusiast Nat Winthrop, had a vision of Morse Farm as an ideal venue for a cross-country ski center...Winthrop, in turn, persuaded fellow-skiers Bill Kaplan and Chip Stone to invest in the venture as equal partners.
They approached Morse, who was at long last receptive to the idea of a forth season...The partners, determined to do things right, hired John Morton to lay out a system of trails.
Morton, a participant in six Olympics and for 11 years coach of the Dartmouth ski team, is known for creating trails that maximize the terrain to insure that something interesting is always happening. The characteristic result is a swooping, swerving roller-coaster course that challenges the expert without overwhelming the novice.
...It’s going to be an elegant ride, folks (those fickle snow gods willing). |
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Now he’ll be a man for all seasons |
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Written by David W. Smith, Times Argus
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May 18, 2002 |
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Burr Morse and his friends propose opening a ski center
“East Montpelier-Add trail grooming to Burr Morse’s list of duties. In addition to tapping trees, boiling sap and mixing up batches of maple creamees and popcorn, Morse and his family hope to run a cross-country skiing center out of their sugaring house and store that will crisscross their 240-acre farm and surrounding crountryside with groomed trails...
The center, which Burr and wife Betsy will own and manage with partners Nat Winthrop, Bill Kaplan and Chip Stone, all of whom live locally, has been mapped out by a professional planner, John Morton of Thetford.
‘He’s really impressed with the lay of the land here,’ said Morse....
‘Ours will really be state-of-the-art. It will be fun skiing.’ |
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