March 26, 2009 E-MAIL PRINT

Splish splash

by Marty Basch/

Pond skimming is a ski country rite of spring. Here John Boerher takes to the pond at Okemo in Ludlow, Vt. Okemo's pond skim is April 4. (photo: Okemo)

Pond skimming is a ski country rite of spring. Here John Boerher takes to the pond at Okemo in Ludlow, Vt. Okemo's pond skim is April 4. (photo: Okemo)

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Mother and son stood soaked to the core on the edge of the manmade pond.

First mother, then son, they took off down the slope on skis to the roar of a three-deep crowd. They started across the surface of the water hoping to reach the snowy finish line on the other side, some 80 feet away.

And first mother, then son, sank like an anchor.

But it was all in good fun.

"When I started to slow down, I knew I wasn't going to make it," said Harrison Flagg, a third-grader from Greenland in southern New Hampshire.

The enthusiastic skier was trying pond skimming for the first time, his ski boots tied up in garbage bags for the run. Though he "skated like crazy" from the start of the course, he succumbed to the chilly water.

"It was awesome," he said.

The scene was Shawnee Peak, but it could have been played out at any ski area across New England. Skiers and snowboarders in various types of clothing from costumes to shorts to bathing suits and real suits start down a snowy slope bound for a ride across the water.

LIterally, it is either ski, sink or swim.

"I just went as fast as I could and then kind of leaned back and tried to glide across," said Harrison's mom, Polly. "I lost my momentum, slowed down and nose-dived."

Pond skimming is one of the rites of spring skiing and snowboarding, up there with mogul contests in the slushy bumps, zany cardboard derbies where imagination and duct tape rule the course, and grooving to the tunes on a ski area deck while the grill sizzles.

Loaded with thrills, chills and spills, the ride across the water is also serious business. Ski patrol members are stationed all around the area, with several by the pond. There's usually a person or two wearing a dry suit in the water. They're there to help sinking skiers and snowboarders. Those boards are heavy in the water. Sometimes the patrollers carry a skier out or help a rider off with the board. Sometimes they push or pull from the water a contestant who came so close finishing the run.

Snowboarder Aaron Svedlow, from Falmouth, Maine, slid across the pond like a pro to the whoops of the crowd.

"I didn't make it last year; sunk like a stone," he said. "This is all about hitting it straight on, not turning, and keeping the tip of your board up."

One Okemo familiar face is Jackson Gore Inn front office manager John Boerher, looking forward to his third pond skim event.

Boerher says that mental preparedness is key to success. He practices positive visualization and says he is “mentally over the pond before I start my descent.” Boehrer, who likes to wear a jacket and tie for his skim, knows the agony of defeat and the feeling of having the air knocked out of you by the shock of cold water. He says that the only thing you can do is fight to get out of the water as quickly as possible. Nothing else matters, and whatever comedic quips you had planned vanish because you can’t even speak.

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