The Snowflake is a symbol wherever they fall. In their simplest form, they’ve been etched into almost every winter culture at any point in human history. Interlocked lines, leading to more interlocked lines, interlaced into a crystal symbolizing the airy peace of a cold winter’s day. The complex image of a snowflake though – all their fractal beauty – is tied to a very specific place: New England.
Starting in 1885, a Vermonter named Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley started pointing the then-nascent technology of photography towards snowflakes – thousands of them – he collected on his Jericho farm. Bentley was trying to unwind a very New England-y observation; that all snow isn’t the same. Fresh snow is airy. Re-frozen snow after a thaw is hard and packed. Most New Englanders concerned with this observation now just test klister and hard wax and call it good.
Bentley though, stuck to scientific aims. That is, until, he inadvertently uncovered the crystalline intricacies contained in snowflakes. His photography would become a pop-hit, with individual snowflake crystals running in newspapers, in collected books, and becoming the basis for the snowflake as a visual tome. Meanwhile, his scientific work on snowflakes ended up leading to a less-than-definitive morphology. He drove towards a conclusion which has become a popular notion, that “no two snowflakes are alike.”
This realization imbued the snowflake as a symbol with even more beauty. Out of the cold, dead of winter, nature couldn’t help but create. In each snowflake, there was a new mishmash, and a new world.
When the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) incorporated in 1995, its first Program Director Zach Caldwell had to design a logo. So, he went with a snowflake. Zach was probably not consciously inspired by his fellow Vermonter’s century old legacy – being as smart as Zach is though, he very well could have been – but he did land on an image drawn from a lasting power, and one which had it too.
In between bannered block lettering on top and bottom, a six-point snowflake was chosen. In snowflake classifications, this is a “stellar dendrite,” which fall in very cold, humid conditions – a classic snowflake, for a classic New England snow. To fill it, Zach emplaced the outline of the Norwegian legend Oddvar Bra (of breaking his pole fame) in full classic stride from the cover of one of his uncle John Caldwell’s The Cross Country Skiing Book editions.
The decision to fill the snowflake with one of Norway’s all time great skiers was pertinent to much of NENSA’s early programming. John Caldwell, who had led the movement to start the organization, had started the practice of hosting clinics with his connections from the nordic countries dating back to his days as the US Olympic coach in the 1960s and 1970s. When John dreamt about what he wanted the New England ski community to shoot for in developing its skiers, he realized that it looked a lot like the Norwegians and Swedes which were dominating the sport back then even more so than they do today. So, he continued to bring them in. For early NENSA coaches’ clinics, for races, and simply to keep skiers from Falmouth connected to skiers from Falun around their love for the sport. The aim was to fill a class of experts in the New England community which it hadn’t quite yet filled on its own.
Zach, for his part, liked the aesthetic of the Bra in full classic stride. So, using the edition of Adobe Illustrator which came on Windows 95, he drew up the NENSA logo.
The humble NENSA snowflake has endured as NENSA’s world became crystalized with its own connections. The snowflake began appearing on the New England Junior Nationals Team suits and then multiplied and multiplied. It spread on gifts given out at Eastern High School and J2 Championships, and at NENSA Women’s Day. It became the first little team crest that thousands of Bill Koch Leaguers wore on their jackets. It adorned Olympians way before their Olympic dreams could crystalize.
What began as a couple of branches has laced together into a small world. A community which matched the tenor of the beauty found in a snowflake. Nordic skiers couldn’t help but fill the dark dead of winter with light, life, and the warmth of human souls pointed in the same direction. They created their unique snowflake. Created NENSA.
Last year, as part of NENSA’s thirtieth anniversary, we asked the community to vote on a special logo to celebrate our world. Charlotte Ogden of Bivo submitted eight designs. The overwhelming favorite in the community captured John Caldwell’s Granddaughter Sophie Caldwell-Hamilton, by parts an Olympian, World Cup Champion, former Stratton Mountain School T2, Dartmouth and Stratton Mountain School standout, and current Program Director at the Aspen Valley Ski Club (AVSC). Sophie was captured in full classic stride. Her technique looked punchier than the long-gaited extended arm of the original logo. And though it wasn’t intentional, a slight illusion on the eyes led to debates on whether she was striding towards you in her silhouette, or striding on to some hill, just out of frame.
As NENSA’s thirtieth wound down late last Fall, the NENSA Staff started to ponder where the Sophie logo would go. And, after some small considerations, the notion was raised – why doesn’t it just stay? Wouldn’t it make sense to have a NENSA skier in the NENSA logo?
The plan was floated by the NENSA Board of Directors at our Fall Meeting. A question on whether there were any objections met with an awkward silence which lasted just long enough that it was up to NENSA’s last remaining founding board member Peter Hendel to break it up with some humor – “wait, I’m just remembering, I think that old guy on the logo was me!”
The second snowflake in the NENSA collection then, is here to stay. We are proud to put a NENSA skier at the heart of NENSA. From Caldwell to Carnivals to competing at the world stage, Sophie grew up here, and then did it all. We think its reflective of a community which has dared to grow, expand, and lace its own crystalline, unique beauty. And one that like all snowflakes is fractal inward and outward. In each New England skier’s accomplishment, there’s the bit that belongs to me and you. In one skier, we see a reflection of the racers, coaches, families and friends which make NENSA, NENSA.
Snowflake Bentley’s collection of snowflake photography is housed in his hometown of Jericho. We’re proud though, that of all the snowflakes that aren’t alike, perhaps the most visible snowflake image in a Vermont winter is the NENSA snowflake – displayed on a BKLer at Prospect, a racer at Craftsbury, or anywhere in between.
