February 2, 2009 E-MAIL PRINT

Around the Region: Tele skiers on move

by Marty Basch/

Telemark skiers (one is shown at left) will converge at Sunday River on Feb. 7 for the Maine Telemark Festival. (photo: Sunday River)

Telemark skiers (one is shown at left) will converge at Sunday River on Feb. 7 for the Maine Telemark Festival. (photo: Sunday River)

Brace for a wave of telemark skiers in the Pine Tree State.

The Maine Telemark Festival at Sunday River is going on Feb. 7. Festival headquarters are at the White Cap Lodge, where tele-heads will find free demo gear, free clinics for all abilities, raffles, a bump contest and prizes.

Then on Feb. 8, Saddleback in Rangeley, Maine, serves up its fifth annual Telemark Invasion with free demo gear, an uphill-downhill race and then telling some tele tales over a tall one at the Swig n' Smelt.

"This is a great opportunity for anyone who is interested in the sport to try it out," said Steve Prince of Saddleback in a release. "The free clinics are being run by some of the best telemark skiers in the Northeast."

Get ready for the National Toboggan Championships Feb. 6-8 at the Camden Snow Bowl on the coast of Maine. Riders launch their wooden toboggans down a 400-foot chute-run. Under the right conditions, speeds can top 45 miles per hour.

Waterville Valley in New Hampshire's White Mountains will showcase both freestyle and cross-country events Feb. 6-8. The Rosemary Bowl Freestyle Skiing Competition is freestyle's longest-running event. Plans call for aerials on Phil's Hill Feb. 6, moguls the next day and slopestyle Sunday. Over at the cross-country center, Feb. 7 is the Freeman Challenge Freestyle Nordic Ski Race. That's an 8.5-kilometer jaunt for adults and about a 5K for kids.

The ever popular Mountain Dew Vertical Challenge touches down at Pats Peak in Henniker, N.H., on Feb. 8, the same day as the Race to Beat Cancer at Cranmore in North Conway, N.H.

This is the one for skiers who want a challenge: Mad River Glen's 2009 Triple Crown Series. The series begins Feb. 7 with the unconventional terrain competition, where skiers huck themselves off the Glen's chutes and jump. Ski as many runs as you can on Feb. 27 off the Vermont area's quirky single chair during the vertical challenge. To put even more pressure on the skiers, it has to be done on Chute and Lift Line, not only some of the toughest terrain around but also right under the chair. On March 14, it's all about the bumps.

The CSC Jimmy Fund Race is being held Feb. 7 at Nashoba Valley in Westford, Mass. Looking ahead, freestyle icon Wayne Wong will be bashing the moguls Feb. 13-16 at Nashoba, with free clinics each day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The eighth annual Ryan Joubert Classic is on tap Feb. 7 at Wachusett in Princeton, Mass., followed by a USASA Slopestyle Competition on Feb. 8. On the Massachusetts/New York border, Catamount features the Ski Haus Flex Night Feb. 7.

Consider yourself a corduroy cowboy? Then mosey on over to Ski Sundown in New Hartford, Conn., on Feb. 8 for its Wild West Day. There'll be lots of horsing around, with shooting demos and roping contests. Just don't put spurs on your snowboard boots.

Have you tried Rip Saw yet? It's the first-ever double-black diamond at Loon in Lincoln, N.H. The classic-feel trail with some serious steeps opened last month on South Peak. The resort also opened the intermediate Escape Route. Watch out on that one. If you don't live off the trail, you will find yourself in a parking lot.

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