Hello Everyone,
What an amazing December holiday week! It was so great to see so many families throughout the week and I hope you’re as happy as we are with the progress you/your family made after 6 days of skiing with our programs.
As we continue to roll through January, we have our hopes up for more cold temperatures and a snowstorm or two!
Martin Luther King Jr Day Weekend
This coming weekend is our Martin Luther King Jr Day long weekend. Please note that this tends to be one of the busiest weekends of the ski season, so please be sure to give yourself some extra time commuting to the resort.
I have gotten a few questions about the schedule for this weekend so here’s a reminder of our schedule and the hours for our non-competitive seasonal programs:
- Cub Club
- Saturday – Monday – 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
- Cross Cub, Synergy, AAMP
- Saturday – 8:30 am – 11:30 am & 12:30 pm – 3:00 pm
- Sunday – 8:30 am – 11:30 am & 12:30 pm – 3:00 pm
- Monday – 8:30 am – 11:30 am
Late Arrivals
I wanted to remind everyone of our morning arrival times and what you should do if you arrive late to programs.
- Cub Club
- Drop-off time is dependent upon group level. The higher-level groups will leave the room earlier, and the lower-level groups will leave after. We ask that you please have your child in the Cub Club room by 8:30 am for upper-level groups and 8:45 am for lower-level groups. (Matt expands on this in his post further down)
- If you’re running late, please note you may need to wait until the group comes in for a break to connect your child with their group.
- Cross Cub and Synergy
- Drop-off time is at 8:30 am and groups will leave the meeting areas by 8:45 am.
- Groups will do one lap on the American Express chair so if you’re running late, please bring your child to the bottom of AMEX and look for Frances and/or Sarah.
- Please note that if you are running late and your child’s group has already completed their warm-up lap, we will not be able to connect them with their group for that session.
- AAMP
- Meeting time is 8:30 am and groups will leave the meeting area by 8:40 am
- Groups will do one lap on the American Express chair, so if you’re running late, look for Greg at the bottom of AMEX.
Stratton Mountain Sports School Sick Policy
Stratton Mountain Sports School has the right to refuse a child who appears ill. You will be called and asked to pick up your child if your child exhibits any symptoms of illness. The list below is not an all-inclusive list of excludable conditions. We will try to keep your child comfortable but he/she will be excluded from all activities until you arrive. You are expected to arrive within 30 minutes from the time you are notified.
Overview of excludable conditions:
- llness that prevents your child from participating in activities.
- Illness that results in a greater need for care than we can provide. Illness that poses a risk of spreading illness to others.
The Mountain Sports School Leadership Team may exclude a child if they feel that the child is too ill to participate in the Stratton Mountain Sports School’s daily schedule. The list of excludable conditions is not all-inclusive and your child may be excluded for reasons not listed.
Stratton Mountain Activities
If you haven’t taken advantage of all of the great non-skiing activities that Stratton has to offer, what are you waiting for? Information about a couple of our activities is listed below, but you can find a complete list by clicking this link: Stratton Mountain Activities. You can also check out this great blog post with additional details about our activities: Activities at the Resort!
| Guided SNO-GO Bike Tours | Stratton’s Nordic Center |
|---|---|
| SNO-GO’s easy to ride technology allows all riders to learn and rapidly progress to enjoy the mountain in a new way. Join our guides on this introductory tour of SNO-GO bikes. We’ll show you the basics of the bike and how to ride, then guide you down the slopes. Riders are guaranteed two hours of exciting riding with a guide who takes you on the best terrain for your group. Enjoy the excitement of cruising down Stratton’s trails in a new and exhilarating way. | Stratton Mountain’s Nordic Center features 10km of cross-country ski trails groomed for both classic and skate skiing and 3km of single-track snowshoe trails. Beginners and experts alike will enjoy the tree-lined trail system meandering through a Wildlife Conservation Area. Cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and fat biking are all available activities at the Nordic Center, with rentals available for each activity. Options for fat biking may include all the Nordic ski trails, depending on the firmness of the snow. |
Women on Snow Ski Camp
The Women’s Ski Camp is the getaway you’ve been waiting for. Cruise Stratton in style during this camaraderie driven ski camp designed for women. During this two-day camp, you’ll be split up into small groups designated by pace, desired terrain, and goals for the camp. You’ll begin each morning at 8am with a group meet-up, coffee and a continental breakfast. At the morning meeting the group will discuss the day’s plan and mountain conditions, stretch and boot up, then hit the snow. Stratton Mountain Sports School’s incredible female instructors will lead groups on the snow from 9am- 3pm on what could be the best two days of skiing of the season. When the day is over, look forward to discounts at First Run, the Stratton Training and Fitness Center, fitness classes, and much more.
- 2 days skiing
- On snow 9am – 3pm with 1 hour lunch break
- Continental breakfast and lunch provided both days
- Participants will receive an agenda with meeting times and locations will be emailed prior to camp starting
- First Run will offer free ski demos, and discounts on boot fitting, tuning, and select products.
- Lift line privileges
Camp Dates:
Below you’ll find additional information specific to each program. Feel free to skip down to the program that you or your child are enrolled in. Please reach out to me or the program supervisors with any additional questions. We can’t wait to ski and ride with you and your family over the long weekend!
Best,
Tony Bailey
Mountain Bike & Seasonal Program Manager
802-297-4074
tbailey@stratton.com
Cub Club
The big three-day weekend is almost here, and the mountain will be ready to go! In Cub Club, this is our busiest weekend, and we’re excited to see so many of our Cubs!
With our anticipated busy weekend, I want to share a couple of bullets that will ensure this weekend goes as smoothly as possible:
- Check-In Times
- To keep the room from being too congested, we’re going to stagger arrival times for this weekend. The more advanced skiers will check in earlier and depart the room as our new skiers start to arrive.
- 8:30 am – Raccoon, Deer, Wolf, and Catamount
- These groups will leave the room by 8:45 am
- 8:45 am – Mouse, Squirrel, and Rabbit
- 8:30 am – Raccoon, Deer, Wolf, and Catamount
- To keep the room from being too congested, we’re going to stagger arrival times for this weekend. The more advanced skiers will check in earlier and depart the room as our new skiers start to arrive.
- Quicker Drop Off
- Another way that you can help us keep the room from being too congested is to leave the room once your child is situated and ready for the day. The room starts to feel quite small when all of our Cubs and their parents are in the room in the morning.
- Lunches
- With the busy weekend, we’ll have two lunches. We’ll use the whiteboard to divide the lunch groups. The groups on the bottom row will eat lunch first, and the groups on the top row will eat second.
- Pick Up
- Everyone is welcome to arrive a few minutes before the kids arrive at 3:00 pm, the Cubs like it when you are there to greet them on their return from skiing all day.
- Please wait inside the room instead of near the stairs or just outside the front door. The coaches are required to bring their group back into the room before Cubs can be released for the day and parents waiting outside will distract our Cubs and make it a challenge for the coach to get the group inside.
- The end of the day is a great time to get some feedback from the coach about how your Cub did that day.
- Everyone is welcome to arrive a few minutes before the kids arrive at 3:00 pm, the Cubs like it when you are there to greet them on their return from skiing all day.
Recently, I have been asked some similar questions about some of my philosophies for how I run Cub Club. Please see the questions and answers below, and if this sparks another question, don’t hesitate to reach out to me via email or stop by the room after check-in.
- Why doesn’t my child have the same coach all season?
- In Cub Club, we vary the coaches each week as I think everyone can contribute to your child’s progress. Each coach has a slightly different style and way of explaining things and I believe that exposing our Cubs to this ensures that what we’re teaching in Cub Club will “stick” with each Cub over the entire season.
- I do try to keep the same coach through each weekend, but there will be exceptions to this based on our coach’s availability.
- When/How does my Cub advance to the next level?
- My staff is trained to look for certain movements within a “skill group”, as they progress from Mouse to Bear. We ski with the cubs looking for these movements in all snow conditions, often it’s the coaches that ask us to validate what they see.
- Saturdays are skills days, with Sundays as the evaluation days.
One last thing: we are about halfway through the season, and the Cubs are sliding further and further from home base, wearing away that early coating of wax! It’s time to get your Cub’s skis tuned for the rest of the season. The skis can be dropped off at First Run next door for a quick tune-up!
That’s all for now. We look forward to skiing with your Cub this weekend!
Best,
Matt Erickson
Cub Club Supervisor
merickson@stratton.com
Cross Cub
Hello Stratton Cross Cubbers!
Happy January! Thanks for a great holiday week. I cannot believe how quickly this season is going and that we are already up to our next holiday weekend.
Did you know January is National Safety Month? I bet you did if you were able to make it up for the program on the 4th! If you couldn’t make it up, you missed some pretty awesome Decorate Your Helmet Day designs. Congrats to our top three helmet designs from Cross Cub this year!
This is my favorite time of the season- time for some miles! We have now pretty much moved on from turning the feet and teaching parallel and it’s time to put those skills to use all over the mountain. Most all children now ski backward, can hockey stop, side slip, and do a whirlybird or 360. The emphasis we are now working on as a whole is carving and making the skis do the work they were designed to do.
With the temps being so inconsistent, we need to remember to dress appropriately. I have seen quite a few children underdressed in the colder weather. When the kids are cold, it is much harder for them to learn. Please ensure you are sending them dressed in layers, with hand warmers, and with a neck gaiter. A t-shirt and shell is not sufficient and we will send the children home if we do not feel they are dressed for the weather.
Don’t forget we are offering Snowboarding Sunday on February 9th and March 2nd. You bring the gear, and we’ll teach the lesson. Please email me the week prior if your child is planning on snowboarding. If you do not email me before the weekend, we cannot guarantee that a coach will be available. Here’s a link to purchase snowboard rentals if you need them: Snowboard Rentals
A few more reminders:
- Snack Breaks
- It is up to our coaches on where, when, and whether or not to take a snack break each session
- Snack breaks are not a requirement, and there will be days that our coaches do not take a break during a session.
- Please ensure your child is eating a sufficient breakfast before they come to slide for the day. With our morning session being only 3 hours, we do not want to be spending 1/3 of our morning inside.
- We do not do a loop for the afternoon session. Please do your best to get back to the flag by 12:30 or make sure your coach knows whether or not you are coming back in the afternoon so we can wait for you.
- Equipment check
- If you’ve skiied with us all year, our equipment is probably past due for some maintenance
- It is time for a good sharpen and wax for everyone’s skies. Even if your child skis on rentals, it is important to keep up with ski maintenance
- Bring your stuffie to ski day- 2/1st
Hope to see you all soon and thanks for letting us ski with your children.
See you this weekend!
Frances Hoeffner
Cross Cub Supervisor
fhoeffner@stratton.com
Synergy
Hi Synergy Families,
Happy New Year and cheers to good health, more snow, and many turns in 2025. We had one of our smoothest holiday week periods to date, so thank you to everyone; students, parents, and coaches for your patience and flexibility. I think we skied every weather condition in December, and it reminds me how hardcore our Synergy skiers are! To help out the mountain with ushering in more snow, here are a few rituals that you can do at home:
- Offer a snow penguin to the snow deities (this has been the most successful ritual)
- Wear PJs inside out and backwards to bed
- Place a frozen spoon under your pillow
- Place a white crayon on a windowsill
While we wait ever so patiently for some glorious nor’easters, our groups continue to focus on skiing fundamentals such as building awareness of when and where to apply pressure on our skis and how that affects the skis’ interaction with the snow and learning how to use various round, “C” shape turns to control speed. This month, Synergy will be focusing on learning when to use different edge angles when carving or schmearing (yes, that’s a true skiing term with a New Jersey accent) turns and why we use a certain turn shape in combination with edge angles depending on snow conditions and terrain.
Important Program Dates
February
- Saturday 2/1 Bring Your Stuffie to Ski Day – Have a stuffie friend join you on the slopes. Make sure your stuffie can be secured in your jacket! This is both for Cross Cub & Synergy
- Sunday 2/9 Snowboard Sunday – See details above
Off the Slope Events
Thanks to our amazing parent volunteer Robin Lockwood, we had our first Synergy off-the-slope event at Climb! If you are a Synergy parent and you’d like to help us plan and organize events and activities outside of skiing, please reach out!
We have two more events scheduled for this season that you won’t want to miss! More information coming as we get closer but please take note of the events and dates below:
- SAT 2/22 – Pizza Party at Jr. Ski School @4:30
- 2/18-2/21 – Meet & Ski (NO PROGRAM)
Best,
Sarah Kneip (and Waffles the Penguin)
Synergy Supervisor
skneip@stratton.com
AAMP
Team AAMP,
Wow as I think back over the last several weeks we have covered so many activities and had a ton of fun! We have focused on four different skill progressions:
- Ski-to-ski pressure with focus on standing on the outside ski
- Rotary with focus on turning out of the fall line (finish the turn)
- Short radius turns with, well, a lot of focus 🙂 (separation, pole use, core stabilization, strong rotation at end of turn, ski in narrow corridor, etc.)
- Edging the outside ski with a focus on ankle roll to start the turn, ankle flex, short leg/long leg, etc.
In the middle of all of this activity, several found time to attend the annual wine and cheese ski tuning social (emphasis on good wine and cheese of course). An in depth discussion was had accompanied by many tuning questions and answers. Every step of the tuning process was covered including hands on demonstrations of proper tool use and wax application. This is always well attended and helps to remove the “mystery” out of ski tuning.
Last weekend we hosted an exciting NASTAR race course event for the AAMPers and M1’s on SUNTANNER. Especially for the first timers, any anxiety was quickly replaced with excitement as AAMPers started down the course. It was so gratifying for the coaches to see the big smiles and excitement as people finished the course! The excitement and positive comments were plentiful. Race course tactics were presented as part of this event and it was impressive how attentive skiers were to these discussions. Of course, you can’t have a race without some trash talking amongst the coaches. The record will stand that Coach Mike is king of the hill as he edged out Coach Greg by a nose. Mark your calendars for the next NASTAR event scheduled for Saturday morning February 8th!
Looking forward, we have two more progressions to work through and then will start to blend skills together and play with them in varying ways.
The coaches encourage you to watch these two short videos relevant to our next progression as we work more on edging.
Cheers!
Greg Morin
AAMP Supervisor
greg.morin@stratton.com