The Marlboro Nordic Ski Club needs your help!

Members, friends, and supporters,

Three years since we started, and the Marlboro Nordic Ski Club has made real strides! We’ve built some new trails and improved others, allowing for more skate skiing and as well as skiing in low-snow conditions. In fact, the work of the last several years allowed us to keep trails open for a record number of days this season, despite finicky conditions. On the programming side, with help from many of you, we’ve revamped our Bill Koch league, offering more regular instruction tailored more closely to the interests and needs of the kids participating. We were also finally able to bring back the historic Wendell Judd Cup, with near record participation and a killer afterparty!

Now that the snow is gone, we’re thinking once again of ways to improve our offerings, and it’s here that we need your help. We are fortunate and thankful to have a strong membership base. Your membership dollars go a long way towards keeping the trails opened and groomed, but in this economic climate everything costs more: gas and parts for the groomers, ski equipment for the kids’ program, excavator work to improve the trails… We are committed to keeping skiing affordable, which means we charge significantly less than our peer institutions; our membership revenue doesn’t cover the cost of operations.

To that end, we’re opening a campaign to raise $10,000 dollars this summer.

What will we do with the money?

–Continuing trail improvement, especially on Town Trail and South Pond Loop. As you’ve probably noticed, these trails are less skiable, especially in marginal snow conditions, than those around campus. They require substantial snow to be open and even then, have problems with water pooling and drainage. We hope to hire a local excavator to install more drainage ditches and culverts, and to smooth the trails so they’re skiable more days of the winter.

–Ski equipment for the youth program. Gear naturally gets broken and damaged over the course of the season. As some of our skiers get older, we also need to invest in sets of larger equipment. We hope the youth program will continue to grow in popularity, which will also require more skis.

–Rainy day fund. Groomers break. Chainsaws break. Snowmobiles break. We want to make sure we’re in a position to meet any emergencies with minimal interruption to grooming operations. This means having some money in the bank for “the unexpected”

-Small stipend for kids program volunteer coaches. These volunteers commit a lot of time to ensure that local kids develop a passion and love for the sport and outdoors. They are true heroes!

We’re already grateful for the support of this wonderful community, and we hope that you’ll consider making a donation before we all switch gears to the summer months. Every bit helps us to keep the trails open and the programs running. The Marlboro Nordic Ski Club is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization and all donations are tax-deductable.

Donations can be made online here:

Or checks can be mailed to:

Marlboro Nordic Ski Club

PO Box 358

Marlboro, VT 05344

Thank you for everything you do to help make this club and this town so special to so many people.

Sincerely,

The Board of the Marlboro Nordic Ski Club