Peter Welch: “cross-country skiing is a sport enjoyed by tens of thousands of Vermonters, including several Vermont Olympians. Just…”

“cross-country skiing is a sport enjoyed by tens of thousands of Vermonters, including several Vermont Olympians. Just about every Vermont ski area today has groomed cross-country trails, and most schools and communities have cross-country ski programs. Where I live in Norwich, VT, cross-country skiing is as popular as riding a chair lift and skiing down. From our front door, my wife Margaret and I can put on our skis and head out across a field and into the woods, breaking our own track or following a snowmobile trail. Many Vermont cross-country skiers today are not old enough to know how the sport got its start because, before John Caldwell--often referred to as the ``father'' of cross-country skiing--it was something people did in Scandinavia that hardly anyone in America knew about. That was until Caldwell wrote ``The Cross-Country Ski Book.'' It was published by the Stephen Greene Press in Brattleboro in eight editions from 1964 to 1987 and became one of the most widely distributed skiing books published in the United States. John Caldwell is an Olympian himself, competing in the 1952 Winter Olympics in both cross-country and ski jumping. After graduating from Dartmouth College, he went on to coach U.S. Olympic cross-country ski teams in 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, and 1984.”