Kait Miller

NENSA is celebrating our 30th anniversary in 2025. As part of the occasion, we’re gathering reflections from skiers across New England on the people, moments, and values which have defined the NENSA community. This week Amy Patenaude and Charlie Gunn of the Mount Washington Nordic Ski Club share the story of their involvement with NENSA and what makes skiing in New England so special.

Amy & Charlie: I am sure that most of the skiers that are reading this know that 30 years ago is a long long time ago. It feels crazy to Charlie and me that it was 30 years ago that we decided that we should make a commitment to help get NENSA started by buying life memberships. At the time we rationalized that we planned to ski our whole lives and this could turn out to be a good investment in every way. Charlie had been a member of the Fischer Marathon Team and I was a newly minted Master; we liked racing marathons and the local races. We knew NENSA was necessary if cross country skiing racing was going to succeed in New England.

Our favorites are Bretton Woods’ Greschmossel and Mount Washington Cup, The Jackson Jaunt, Norsk’s Governors Cup, the marathon series–Bretton Woods, Waterville Valley, Craftsbury and of course the Bogburn. We wanted to be able to keep going to these wonderful places to ski and race and to help others join in the fun.

We continue to support NENSA and cross country skiers. Skiing brings us joy and good health and happiness. As Otto Schniebs said, “Skiing is just not a sport, it’s a way of life.”

The Zak Cup/popular racing, Marathons, Women’s Day still continue and grow.
We may not race as much as we did 30 years ago but we ski more.

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We want to hear from you! Send in your NENSA 30th reflections using this form HERE.

NENSA is celebrating our 30th anniversary in 2025. As part of the occasion, we’re gathering reflections from skiers across New England on the people, moments, and values which have defined the NENSA community. This week, we are featuring US Ski Team Head Coach and NNF Board Member, Matt Whitcomb.

Matt Whitcomb grew up in Worthington, Massachusetts, where his deep New England skiing roots began. He competed in high school for Wahconah before attending Stratton Mountain School, and later skied for Middlebury College. After graduating, he launched his coaching career with the Glacier Nordic Ski Team in Whitefish, Montana, followed by four years at Burke Mountain Academy—three of them as New England’s head coach for Junior Nationals.

In 2006, Matt joined the U.S. Ski Team as Development Coach, eventually spending much of his career guiding the women’s team. He is now in his sixth year as Head Coach of the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team. Beyond his national team work, he is serving his fifth year on the board of the National Nordic Foundation and remains deeply committed to athlete development at every level of the sport.

Matt lives in Burke, Vermont. Outside of skiing, he partners with Electives.io for corporate speaking engagements, and is pursuing a new venture in innovating fly fishing products, though that’s all still in his head.

What does NENSA mean to you?

Matt Whitcomb: When I think about what NENSA means to me, so many stories flood my mind. Honestly, settling on just one is agonizing!

It was our freshman year at Middlebury—the winter of 1997–98—and Justin Beckwith and I were itching for some early-season racing. After a quick dinner on campus, we borrowed a car from our buddy Matt Molyneux and headed to Sugarloaf, hoping to crash in a spare bunk with our old SMS team.

Like freshmen do, we arrived too late that blizzarding night, and too early in history to have cell phones to figure out where our team was staying. With no place to sleep and only gas money in our pockets, a hotel wasn’t really in the cards. So we parked in a lot and committed to sleeping in the back of “Number 32,” our loaner Colt Vista. We slept in our ski bags that night. Or, at least, we lay in them. It was frigid. Every half hour, one of us would start the car and do donuts around the lot to warm the engine, while the “sleeper” got tossed like laundry in the back. With the help of a few exhaust leaks, maybe we dozed for minutes at a time, but mostly it was just cold and ridiculous.

Mornings are often hard to crawl out of bed, but that morning, we were ready. At the trails we found some muffins in the lodge, learned we’d missed registration, and begged our way onto the start list. The organizers relented but had us start last, which was meant to be the least desirable seed.

As only believers expect, luck struck, and the overnight snow gave way to light freezing rain, and the tracks got faster and faster. By the time Justin and I started our race, the track was a certified luge run. There was no chance of kicking, so we committed to double poling, and went 1-2, ahead of guys like Dave Chamberlain and Justin Freeman, whom we had no business beating.

Sometimes the best days come after the worst nights. And always, the best memories happen in the presence of the best friends. Justin and I always did well together, and I think we have cross country skiing to thank for teaching us that taking a few punches just means you’re in the fight.  

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We want to hear from you! Send in your NENSA 30th reflections using this form HERE.

NENSA is celebrating our 30th anniversary in 2025. As part of the occasion, we’re gathering reflections from skiers across New England on the people, moments, and values which have defined the NENSA community. This week, we are featuring NENSA and Stowe Nordic Board Member, TD, and event host, Carol Van Dyke.

Carol grew up in Stowe, Vermont and first tried cross country skiing in 1973 at the Trapp Family Lodge. Since then she has been the Event Director for many events at the Trapp Family Lodge including the 2007 Bill Koch Festival, NENSA Eastern High School Championships, many Eastern Cups and UVM Winter Carnivals, a Super Tour, and NCAA Championships. Carol has three kids who all went through the Stowe BKL program where Carol was a BKL leader from 1996 to 2002 also coaching NENSA’s very own Youth & Introductory Program Director. She’s a former president of the Stowe Nordic Club, and was the Stowe High School Nordic ski coach from 2001 to 2018. Carol served as President of the NENSA Board from 2016 to 2022, is a USSS Level 2 certified coach, and a Level 1 Technical Delegate. Carol is also a long time instructor for the New England Women’s XC Ski Day event and this past year when injury meant she couldn’t ski, she still showed up to help doing any and all tasks possible.

What has skiing in New England meant to you?

Carol Van Dkye (CVD): Thirty years ago, I got my NENSA membership number 1150. I was unsure whether this new organization was worth joining but Executive Director Fred Griffin assured me that I would get my money back if I did not think so. Well the rewards have been manyfold. Now I have a Lifetime Membership and NENSA continues to be an integral part of my passion for the sport of cross-country skiing.

I started as a Masters racer, then as my children entered the Bill Koch Youth Ski program, I began coaching and eventually coached the Stowe High School ski team and the Vermont teams at the U16 and Eastern High School championships. I served as the Stowe Nordic Club Event Director for several NENSA affiliated events hosted at the von Trapp Lodge Outdoor Center such as the BKL Festival, Eastern High Schools, and Eastern Cups/UVM Carnivals. Joining the board in 2008, I have watched NENSA evolve into the dynamic organization that it is today with successful programs reaching all ages and abilities under the inspirational hard work of the dedicated staff.

Along the whole way it is the friends I have, mentors I have learned from, and sharing my love of skiing through experiences and opportunities with NENSA that have given me great gratitude that I am part of the NENSA community.

Can you share a moment that embodies the spirit of New England skiing?

CVD: The “Moment of Noise” at the Rikert BKL Festival on March 2, 2024 when everyone shouted with KO [Katharine Ogden] in memory of her dad, John Ogden.

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Carol was the winner of the 2022 Chummy Broomhall Award given out every year to a volunteer who embodies the ethos of Chummy who was the Chisholm Ski Club leader for 70 plus years, a 2x Olympian, and builder of the Olympic race courses for Palisades Tahoe, Lake Placid, and Black Mountain. He embodied the spirit of being a volunteer generously giving his time and energy to generations of skiers. It is in this spirit that this award be in his honor for the unsung heroes of ski racing. You can read Carol’s award announcement here.

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We want to hear from you! Send in your NENSA 30th reflections using this form HERE.

NENSA is celebrating our 30th anniversary in 2025. As part of the occasion, we’re gathering reflections from skiers across New England on the people, moments, and values which have defined the NENSA community. This week, we are featuring Craftsbury Outdoor Center coach, 3x Olympian, 2x World Championship silver medalist, and former BKL skier, Susan Dunklee.

Your connections to NENSA and years involved?
Susan Dunklee (SD): I spent many years as a ski racer (starting mid 90’s through 2022); now I’m a ski and biathlon coach.

What does it mean to you to be a cross-country skier from New England?

SD: Whenever the weather got challenging, I’d tell myself that I had a competitive advantage over my competitors. Growing up skiing in New England made me tough and resilient.

Can you share a moment that embodies the spirit of New England skiing?

SD: One of my earliest ski coaches was Bob Townsend who used to organize an after school elementary ski program in the cow fields behind Glover school. Many years later, when I came home from the World Cup or the Olympics, he would always find me and give me a giant lollipop in honor of my racing roots (BKL lollipop races).

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We want to hear from you! Send in your NENSA 30th reflections using this form HERE.