The Dublin School Nordic Center is open for skiing! A windfall of late-November snow left us with about seven-inches of base which has consolidated nicely to provide solid coverage on the 9km of trails above Dublin Road. We woke up Thursday to an additional six-plus inches of high moisture snow that will set very nicely over the coming days. We’ll be grooming and setting tracks ahead of the weekend. I write from within a snowglobe, our campus transformed into a winter village as snow continues to fall.

This lower-temperature window has also allowed us to begin making snow. Operations have been concentrated around the new snow making loop on Upper Sapporo. Steve and Co. will begin pushing snow out along the trails over the next few days. The idea is to develop our base at higher elevations, where snow is best retained, working down towards the stadium in the following weeks. Added to the natural base, this early season snowmaking effort will provide a resilient snowpack that should see us through the season. We’re hoping to be skiing in April. 

Winter weather in the Northeast is infamously fickle, one moment winter is fully on, the next week may then see mid-forties and rain. A nightmare if what you’re trying to do is ski consistently. The Nordic Center is fortunately located at elevation, which is oftentimes the difference between rain and snow. To take further advantage of the higher elevations, we spent the warmer months expanding our snowmaking infrastructure to achieve coverage at even higher altitudes. The difference of a couple-few hundred vertical feet may sound negligible, but is in fact a serious advantage that will keep us skiing through the winter. 

The Nordic Center is an amazing backyard for members of the Dublin School community. More than that, however, the Nordic Center has always been part of the school’s public purpose. Alongside Dublin’s own Nordic program, it is home to ski teams from across the Monadnock Region, and is always open to public use. It’s also the home venue for Harvard’s Nordic team. On any given day, the trails are abuzz with skiers ranging from very very young to very very old, skiers on the pointy end of their sport to skiers who are stepping into bindings for the first time. 

Just to underscore how the Nordic Center is expanding and sustaining access to the sport, here’s a note someone passed along after a visit to the trails a few days back:

“Local Nordic options are shrinking with the decline in natural snow. To have a resource in the southern NH area with snowmaking is a precious gift!”

Along these same lines, one coach of a public high school team shared their program likely could not exist without the Nordic Center. How many of you grew up as Nordic skiers? Likely very few. How many of you who went to public high school grew up as Nordic skiers? Likely even fewer. The idea of a public high school having a Nordic program is, at least to me, mind boggling. The sport, for many reasons, is so underexposed. In speaking of the Nordic Center as part of the school’s public purpose, we really do mean the public as opposed to the relatively small community of folks who are already involved with the sport. 

There’s also a positive impact on the local economy associated with the Nordic Center being open for skiing. Race weekends occasion a swell in bookings at local hotels and increase traffic to local restaurants with hundreds of racers to accommodate and feed. Closer to campus, the Dublin General Store reports a considerable uptick in sales on weekends when the Center is open – nothing better than a DG cookie after a full day on the trails. 

If you find yourself on campus anytime this winter, be sure to visit the trails. Snowshoeing is a good alternative if you’d rather not ski. See you on the trails!

Article by Liam Sullivan