Cross Country Skiing Is on the Rise
By Bob Williams

      BETHEL, Me., Jan. 30 (World Wide News) -- Victoria McLoughlin sought solace on the slopes, so she came here to downhill ski.  Instead, Victoria quickly strapped on a long, ultra-thin pair of Alpine skis.  Then she quietly pushed off on a serene 40-kilometer trail at the Bethel Inn and Country Club here in this 18th Century New England farming community nestled on the scenic Androscoggin River.

      Victoria, you see, is among the growing number of downhill skiers who are discovering cross country skiing -- and liking what they ski.  She first traveled here last season with her husband, Jim, a New York City fire lieutenant who narrowly escaped death Sept. 11 in the terrorist attack of the World Trade Center.
      The couple sought rest and relaxation through skiing.

      "I loved it instantly," said Victoria, a hospital emergency room nurse from Staten Island, N.Y., who was taking her first vacation since the twin towers collapsed.

Photo by Bob Williams     Victoria McLoughlin  prepares for her first cross country ski race

      "I was alone in the woods, and it was peaceful, picturesque, invigorating and exciting," she recalled of her first cross country experience.  "The beauty was breathtaking!"

      Victoria, who is 36 years old, began downhill skiing 16 years ago, at the age of 20.  She skied slopes in the United States and Europe, and she considers herself at the intermediate level.

      "I picked up cross country skiing easily, and I felt I was getting a workout as I continued," she says of the initial trek that wound through a 6,000 yard golf course.  "The best thing is that I wasn't in danger, as I sometimes feel when I'm on crowded downhill slopes."

      The feeling of tranquility is what seems to be drawing more and more experienced downhill skiers to the cross country sport.  So says Wende Gray, administrative and marketing director of the Maine Nordic Ski Council (www.mnsc.com), a trade group of 15 cross country ski areas that is based here in Bethel.

      "Baby Boomers are aging," Gray explains.  "They were a big population that launched downhill skiing in the 1970's, and today they are looking for a kinder, gentler sport -- something they can do at their own pace."

      What's more, Gray adds, cross country skiing is less expensive and available to a greater percentage of the population.

Photo by Bob Williams     Jim & Victoria McLoughlin relaxing slopeside

      "You don't need a mountain, and you can cross country ski close to most major cities, or even in your backyard," she says.

       While advocates of the cross country sport attest to its growth, in fact exact figures are unavailable.  "We certainly look at the reported numbers from ski areas, because they sell tickets and season passes, but we must    estimate the millions of people who ski in parks and yards," says Chris Frado, president and executive director of the Cross Country Ski Areas Association (www.xcski.org), a trade group based in Winchester, N.H.
      The association is comprised of 225 cross country ski areas in the United States and Canada and 125 equipment manufacturers and state and regional cross country skiing associations.

      According to Frado, extrapolation shows growing interest and participation in cross country skiing. Frado points out that cross country touring centers and trails have popped up in such alpine ski areas as Waterville Valley and Bretton Woods in New Hampshire; Mt. Bachelor, Oregon; Sun Valley, Idaho, and Silver Star, British Columbia.

      Year-round resorts with extensive cross country operations, according to Frado, include the Woodstock Inn and Trapp Family Lodge in Vermont; Harwood Hills, Ontario, and Bear Valley, California.  Royal Gorge, in Soda Springs, near Tahoe, Calif., sports the world's largest cross country facility.  Frado attributes cross country growth to the development since 1970 of lighter, easier to use ski equipment -- boots, bindings and skis that are much lighter in weight than their alpine counterparts.  "This new, technically advanced cross country ski equipment makes a tremendous difference in the control one has of the skis," Frado says.  "Consequently, beginners find it a lot easier to learn the sport."   As for the vacationing and relaxing Victoria McLoughlin: with only a mere morning of instruction under her belt, the emergency room nurse -- who stood poised at her post Sept. 11 ready to treat the World Trade Center injured -- entered a cross country race here in Bethel.  She took top prize. "I would do it again in a heartbeat," Victoria said as she accepted her award wearing a Cheshire Cat smile.  "From now on I want to go to places where I can use cross country skis!"

      FOR LOVERS ONLY:  Looking for a romantic ski resort, now that Valentine's Day is upon us?  You're in luck because the editors of Ski America and Canada have just released a list of the top 10 romantic ski areas in North America.  Sun Valley tops the list for Western ski areas, while Quebec City in Canada is most romantic in the East.  According to the editors, "Sun Valley has long been one of the most romantic destinations in the country since it was created over a half-century ago.  Sun Valley has a European accent mixed with the Wild West." Other romantic ski areas out West are Aspen, Colo., Banff/Lake Louise, Canada, Deer Valley, Utah, Santa Fe, N. M., Crested Butte, Colo., Taos, N.M., Telluride, Colo., Alta, Utah, and Beaver Creek, Colo. In the East, the editors say, romance abounds in Quebec City, surrounded by the ski resorts of Mont Ste. Anne, Stoneham and Le Massif, which provides a European atmosphere of narrow, cobblestone lanes, lamplit cafes and French hotels where "couples stroll arm in arm . . .singles search for l'amour."  Remaining romantic ski areas in the East include The Balsams Grand Resort, N.H., Stowe, Vt., Tremblant, Quebec, Bretton Woods and Jackson, N.H., Mad River Valley (which is Mad River Glen and Sugarbush), Vt., Lake Placid, N.Y., and Charlevoix and the Eastern Townships, also in Quebec .

      For a full -- and romantic -- description of each ski area, click on to www.skisnowboard.net.

      MINOR MOGULS:  Next Tuesday and Wednesday -- Feb. 4 and 5 to be exact -- it's the 30th Annual FDNY Firefighters' Races and East Coast Firefighters' Races at Hunter Mountain in New York.  Teams of the Bravest wiz down the slopes holding on to a full-length fire hose. . . . The Whiteface Snowsports School, near Lake Placid, hosts a ski and ride clinic this weekend and next weekend.  More info at www.whiteface.com. . . . Mount Snow, Vt., has unveiled what it calls its Perfect Turn and Child

Care on-line reservation system.  With the service, guests can simply book a clinic or child care time at the touch of a mouse button. Get the full story from www.mountsnow.com.