Local kids deliver at the State Championships!

                                                                                                                 February 17, 2007

 Mammoth High School has a new Varsity State Champion Nordic Skier! Bishop High School                                                    has a new Junior Varsity State Champion!                  

	Several other local high school and middle school skiers placed very high in the standings at the CNISSF State Championship Cross Country Ski Races, held on February 16 & 17 at the Auburn Ski Club.  Schools from the Eastern Sierra, Tahoe area, and the west side of the Sierra all competed. This final school race weekend culminated a short and strange XC season due to lack of snow. After visiting the Tahoe area during the last two months of racing, this coach is convinced that the best overall skiing conditions in the Sierra Nevada this winter have been at our own Tamarack Cross Country Ski Center.
Dayna Stimson charges to a State Championship!	Click here for the full race report from Jim King, Coach & Wax Meister.	Maren Hauter storms in for ninth place!

  Congratulations go out to all the Middle School & High School racers from Mammoth & Bishop, and a big thank you to all the coaches who have committed their energy & enthusiasm to the success of these programs.

(posted 10/20/2006)

Mammoth Nordic understands the importance of healthy, sporting competition in the lives of our youth. 

• Your organization is proud to make annual financial contributions in support of these programs.

  One of the best things that happened to the eastern sierra nordic skiing community was Nancy and Claude Fiddler moving here from the Bear Valley area.

  The couple had been involved with the Bear Valley cross country ski area for years, with Nancy a member of the PSIA national demo team even before her return to racing in the mid-1980s. After a lengthy stint on the US National Team, racing in two Winter Olympics (1988 and 1992), and numerous international and World Cup competitions, Nancy joined John Dittli’s crew at Tamarack Cross Country Ski Center in 1993.

  A handful of dedicated skinny skiers who suddenly found themselves with children in their lives could be seen here and there towing sleeping tikes around in pulks mounted with carseats.  Locally there were no programs in place to introduce kids to the best sport in the world other than a Lee Vining High School XC race team that Mammoth area kids could participate in. Nancy Fiddler knew that the key to developing a stronger local Nordic scene was to get kids started cross country skiing as early as possible. Nancy and Barbara Cameron began coaching a Mammoth High School Nordic Ski Team in 1993, and later added a Middle School team. Racers competed against other Sierra Nevada school teams, most of which were located in the Tahoe/Truckee area. For a few years it was just Nancy and Barb coaching, with a handful of skiers’ parents helping out.  Lee Vining’s Larry Ford began coaching when his kids were old enough to join the team. Pete Kirchner started helping Larry with the high school team, about the same time Scott Christensen and Jennifer Noerdlinger took over the middle school coaching responsibilities.

  The additional coaches allowed Nancy to turn her sights on the younger kids in elementary school. Mammoth third grade teacher Jeannie Oakeshott had organized a once per year “Friday Night Families” XC ski tour at Tamarack for elementary students and their parents, with hot cocoa and cookies at the end of the fun scoot around the lower basin trails. Nancy Fiddler took this idea a step further in 1999, starting the Tamarack Gliders program for 6 to 10 year olds. Sponsored by the touring center, instead of only one afternoon per year, the Gliders get to ski every Friday afternoon throughout the entire winter with their parents. This has been an exceptional way for families to try out the sport, and there have been many kids with alpine skiing backgrounds who have taken to the skinny boards. There is a minimal program fee, which includes all ski rentals for kids and parents, expert coaching from Tamarack instructors, and of course the cookies and cocoa at the end of the outing. Gliders has been described by several grateful parents as the absolute best deal going in Mammoth, bar none. In fact, the program was so immediately popular that a Sunday afternoon Glider session was added, especially to accommodate Bishop families. As of this year, 60 to 80 kids are participating. On and off track techniques are taught, with several “powder-pigging” outings when conditions allow. Skiers are broken down into international “teams” (the Russians, Norwegians, Italians, etc.) according to ability. All the Glider kids keep track of their total kilometers skied throughout the season on a big chart in the touring center. At the end of the winter medals are given out for reaching various distances. Last year a couple of kids skied more than 300 kilometers. That’s Tom’s Place to Reno!

  Ski PE has been a Mammoth Elementary School winter activity for many years, but thanks to teachers such as Sue Barker and Sandy Bramble, XC Ski PE was added soon after the Gliders program got off the ground. Third through fifth graders are bussed to Tamarack each week just after lunch for a two hour session on and off the tracks similar to the Gliders experience. For many of these kids, it is the first time they have ever had skis strapped on their feet.

  Nancy Fiddler’s dream of molding some future competitive Nordic racers out of the kids programs has become a reality. In recent years Mammoth and Bishop middle and high school team members (many of whom got their start in Gliders/XC Ski PE) have had top ten finishes at the California/Nevada State Championships. A handful of local graduates have raced on college teams, and each year there are Mammoth students who are able to join the prestigious Far West Junior Nordic Ski Team. They qualify to race in the annual Junior Olympics (Junior Nationals) against the best teenage skiers in the nation.

  A couple of years ago a race team from Bishop Home Street Middle School was started by Tamarack instructor Jane Lester. The Bishop Avalanche was coached this year by Ann Klinefelter. This winter the Mammoth High Nordic team was coached by local teacher and elite competitor Todd Hensley. The Mammoth Middle School team was coached by Jim Stimson and Jim King, two local parents from the days of wood skis, beards, and pine tar and still have a strong love for the sport. Nancy Fiddler claims she is taking a couple years “sabbatical” from full time team coaching, but is always in the background, helping out at team practices with training, technique, and waxing skills.

  Tamarack XC Ski Center with Ueli Luthi at the helm continues to strongly support all the kids with enthusiastic instructors, excellent junior size equipment, and the generous offering of the trails and facilities for little or no cost.

• Contributed by Jim King, who has trimmed his beard back to a mustache,
  swears by Rode Violet Multigrade & still loves the sport.
• Photos by Jim Stimson