by Chuck Boyd, Nordic/Backcountry Supervisor | Feb 24, 2026 | Division News, Program News
Highland Forest in fresh snow.
Are you ready to be signed off as a Nordic senior or would you still like additional training with the division staff? If so, come join us at Bolton Valley, VT on the weekend of March 21-22, 2026. Bolton Valley has some of the most diversified terrain in the division. It allows us to evaluate XC skiing, backcountry skiing, and alpine touring.
If you are looking to complete your Nordic/Backcountry basic or senior, or train for Nordic Master, come out and join us. Registration is on patrollerschool.org or contact the Nordic/BC Program Supervisor Chuck Boyd.
Registration is still open for the Pike Glades event, but it is filling up. We currently have two slots left. This backcountry event is a must for all uphill skiers, whether you are on telemark skis, alpine touring skis, or a split board. Besides learning uphill technique, we will ski the glades, run toboggans in the glades, and focus on lost area skier SAR techniques for those patrollers who have to go look for riders who duck the ropes and head out of bounds at your area.
Nordic Senior evaluation L-R Tyler Lewis, Jennifer Jones, & Sten Winborg
Sten Winborg teaching classic Nordic skiing
Nordic Fest was a blast and a bit chilly, but everyone braved the cold and learned new skills. Our PSIA instructors did a fantastic job of teaching both skate and classic lessons as the program strives to make better skiers of our Nordic patrollers. Sunday, we conducted both Nordic basic and senior evaluations. This has become an annual event, and I’ll let a few pictures tell the rest of the story.
by Chuck Boyd, Nordic/Backcountry Supervisor | Jan 25, 2026 | Division News, Program News
Are you an alpine patroller on skis? or split board? who has skins and have been doing uphill laps for fitness at your mountain? Are you a Nordic/Backcountry Patroller wishing to Improve your ski skills? Or are you any patroller wishing to learn backcountry rescue techniques? If so, then the Backcountry Patroller School at Pike Glades in Haverhill, New Hampshire is the event for you!
In our second year, Pike Glades is an excellent location to practice uphill skiing, backcountry navigation, toboggan handling in the glades, and low angle rescue. With so many out-of-area lost skier events happening in our division, this is a great opportunity to improve your skills and be part of a search and rescue team.
This year, members of the Eastern Division’s OET staff will be teaching our toboggan handling in the trees. We will be doing winter camping ‘lite’. We have access to a mid-mountain cabin to cook in, dry gear, and plan our scenarios. You will pitch your tents around the cabin with stunning views of Mount Moosilauke, and have access to a heated bathroom.
If you need winter camping gear, the Upper Valley Stewardship Center at the base of the mountain will improve your winter camping experience by lending patrollers gear. Also available at the base is the The Innstead Mountain Getaway, a group of luxury cabins for rent by the property landowners.
Backcountry Patroller School is scheduled for the weekend of February 28 through March 1, 2026. Registration is limited and available on patrollerschool.org. For more information contact Chuck Boyd, Nordic/Backcountry Program Supervisor.
by Chuck Boyd, Nordic/Backcountry Supervisor | Dec 22, 2025 | Division News, Program News
As I woke up this morning the temperature was 9 degrees with 3 – 4 inches of snow in my yard. What a great way to start this ski season. This is the best start that we have had here in the east for several years, so let’s take advantage of it. I’ve been out skiing on two types of Nordic skis so far, for a total of four times. Waxing skis in the evening has become a ritual, with fellow patrollers coming over to chat and wax their skis.
Congratulations to all the new NSP BOD members. This is the first time that everyone I voted for was elected. Did you vote?
We are working on getting all the online course materials up on the Patroller School website. This is a huge undertaking for the staff to have all this material online five to six weeks before the start of each program. We hope to have most of this material open to the students by Christmas.
Nordic Fest is a go for the weekend of January 31 – February 1, 2026 at Highland Forest in Fabius, NY. This will be a fun time, and I look forward to seeing many of my fellow Nordic patrollers!
Pike Glades Backcountry patroller school is scheduled for the weekend of February 28 – March 1. Hope to see a lot of you skinners there.
Bolton Valley’s Nordic Senior/Master weekend is scheduled for March 21 – 22, 2026. Come out and help us get our Nordic senior and master candidates through their evaluations. Bolton Valley always has great snow conditions and is open already.
All of the above events can be found at Patrollerschool.org.
I’ll let you know next month how the December skiing was. See you out there!
by Chuck Boyd, Nordic/Backcountry Supervisor | Nov 19, 2025 | Division News, Program News
Nordic Fest is back, but with a new date…January 30-February 1, 2026! We will again be at Highland Forest in Fabius, NY, with most of us arriving on Friday January 30. You can enhance your ski skills with L3 PSIA XC instructors who will provide personal instruction on your specific skill set needs.
Group meals, good lessons, and great people will make this an awesome learning experience. If you’re looking to test out as Nordic Senior, contact both your patrol director and me.
By the time you read this I will already have skied the toll road on Whiteface. The only way to catch this early season snow is to earn your turns. This is what Nordic skiing is all about.
It will be a couple more weeks before ski areas start spinning their lifts, so if you feel the urge, now is the time to get out there before everyone else. Just don’t be too aggressive as the snow will not be deep enough to hide all the hidden obstacles. Don’t hurt yourself before the season gets started. Work on getting in shape and having fun.
See you out there.
by Chuck Boyd, Nordic/Backcountry Supervisor | Oct 23, 2025 | Division News, Program News
As the leaves begin to turn color and the temperatures begin to drop, the refresher season has started. This year is Refresher Cycle C. We have divided the Nordic skills list into three recommended refresher cycles running parallel to our OEC refresher cycles. The skills list and refresher cycles can be found on the division website’s Nordic/Backcountry page.
The main topic of most refreshers is to be updated on your local mountain’s requirements. For the skills requirements, try to make that fun. Think of games and challenges. Even if you are a seasoned veteran at basic and senior skills, how fast can you perform these skills? Are you able to teach others?
I attended the Thunderbolt Backcountry refresher on October 18 and plan to be at the Nutmeg Nordic refresher on November 16. Let me know some of your refresher dates and I’ll see if I can attend.
This is the time of year to think about new gear. There are plenty of pro deals to be had, and the shops would rather have you come in earlier than their regular customers. Try to avoid weekends when the shops are busy and I’m sure that you will get better service. Look for ski swaps, these are good ways to sell preowned equipment, or maybe also find what you are looking for!
If you’re selling gear at a swap, take the time to clean it up and make it sellable. At the swaps where I volunteer we turn away dirty and abused items. Make your gear shine like two dollar signs in your eyes.
Hope to see a few of you before the season begins.
by Chuck Boyd, Nordic/Backcountry Supervisor | Sep 13, 2025 | Division News, Program News
I hope everyone had a great summer and accomplished their goals. Now it’s time to go to the AMN Instructor Continuing Education Event, September 26-28. This year’s event will be held at Pike Glades, NH as we move these events around the division.
Instructors, instructor candidates, and interested patrollers wishing to get involved with Nordic, MTR, or Avalanche are always welcome at this event. This year’s registration will close on 9/22, allowing all attending to have time to complete the online material before they arrive.
The Nordic/Backcountry station will focus on navigation, using CalTopo, and plotting a waypoint on a paper map. The MTR station will focus on low angle rescue as we try to standardize our systems throughout all NSP programs. The Avalanche station will do transceiver searches and exam prep for L2 avalanche and Nordic Master transceiver tests.
Plus, this year they will introduce the Hypo Wrap, a backcountry technique to help keep your hypothermia or injured patient warm until more help arrives and transportation is complete. With the online material ahead of time we can now adjust our schedule and spend more time outside doing hands-on training. This should make things a bit more exciting and fun!
We will announce the upcoming season’s events for Nordic/Backcountry on patrollerschool.org. When you sign up and access AMN you’ll find a video presentation of our program updates. AMN events will be posted on the division website calendar when the events are finalized. As a heads up, one of the events will be at Pike Glade, NH in February.
Did you know that Jesse Diggins came to Vermont and held training camps at Stratton? It’s fantastic to see Olympic Nordic skiers come east to help train our future Olympians.
See you all soon at the AMN. The winter outlook for the east coast shows lots of snow and cold temps for us.
by Chuck Boyd, Nordic/Backcountry Supervisor | Jul 4, 2025 | Program News
What is a Nordic Master? As the name suggests, it is a master of all Nordic skills. These include Nordic Senior, MTR 1 & 2, Avalanche 1 & 2, instructor in one or more NSP disciplines, holding or having held an NSP administrative position, and demonstrating proficiency in XC and Nordic downhill skiing, as well as toboggan handling skills. Once these prerequisites are met, candidates must pass three final evaluations and an oral review board to earn this coveted certification.
Currently, there are 22 Nordic Masters across the country. One is a division director, two are on the national board of directors, another is the national Nordic/Backcountry program director, and three are division Nordic/Backcountry program supervisors. All the Nordic Masters have worked tirelessly to master their skills and provide leadership and education to help make NSP the best it can be.
This level of achievement does not happen overnight. I’m NM 005 and have been a patroller for 31 years. With determination, you might be able to achieve this goal in 10-15 years of service, but being a Nordic Master is about being the best that you can be. We now have a couple of patrollers starting the final evaluation process and several others who have almost completed all the prerequisites.
Planning for this season is already underway, with the AMN scheduled for the weekend of September 26-28, 2025, at Pike Glades, NH. This is an instructor education event, but all patrollers are welcome, especially if you are considering becoming an instructor in any of the three disciplines.
We plan on running our three Nordic Senior/Nordic Master events similar to last season. First will be Nordic Fest at Highland Forest, NY, January 9-11, 2026. Second will be a Nordic/Backcountry event at Pike Glades, NH, February 27, 28, and March 1, 2026. The third and final event will be the Nordic Senior/Nordic Master event at Bolton Valley, VT, on the weekend of March 20-22, 2026. These events will be posted on the division calendar as well as Patroller School once the final details are worked out.
Hope you all have a great summer and look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on skis this winter.
by Chuck Boyd, Nordic/Backcountry Supervisor | Jun 5, 2025 | Program News
We wrapped up another ski season with our Nordic Senior and Nordic Master (NM) training clinic at Bolton Valley, VT. The patrol and management were gracious hosts and worked with us to help make this event such a success. Bolton Valley provides traditional Nordic track and skate skiing and backcountry skiing for all skier levels and is an excellent choice for advanced-level evaluations.
For the Nordic Senior clinic, four patrollers expanded their knowledge and tested their skills. Saturday started with a ski tour in spring conditions, working on several uphill techniques, especially at a few challenging water bars. At the cabin, we opened the patrol’s rescue cache, and the Bolton patrollers demonstrated how they use their backcountry litter. Some new ideas were adapted as we practiced loading a patient.
After lunch, we headed out to do rope rescue work. Jeff Sergeant led the group, demonstrating the raising and lowering systems we are trying to standardize throughout all division programs requiring rope rescue skills.
The main event started in the evening. Jeff Sargent was about to be evaluated for his Nordic Master overnight SAR exercise. This is one of the three final NM evaluations required once you meet the prerequisites and is considered by many to be the most demanding. Our suite became the ICS command center with Greg France as the Incident Command (IC), training Mike Lapierre and Brian Doyle to take over in the future. Jeff started to prepare the ICS 200 paperwork. Mike Balk, our patient and lost person, headed off to a location only known to the rescue support team. Once in place, a set of GPS coordinates was called in as the last seen point of the missing skier. Jeff downloaded the coordinates into his phone. All systems were double-checked before Jeff headed out the door.
A cold front was approaching with strong winds picking up to 25-35 mph and gusting to 45, snow flurries, and temperatures dropping to single digits. It was going to be a cold night for the participants. We discussed our backup rescue plan for the rescuers, hoping for the best. The overnight SAR exercise requires the participant to navigate to the missing person, treat their injuries (at least two), build a shelter, spend the night, prepare a hot meal, and evacuate in the morning.
We tracked Jeff’s movements and studied his search patterns. He called in at regular intervals, reporting his progress. Making it to the first set of coordinates, he was surprised no one was there. A second last seen point was called in. Jeff added this to his phone, and after another 20-30 minutes of searching, the subject was located. He called this in along with his first set of vitals and treated the subject’s injuries.
Once the patient was stabilized, Jeff called back in for assistance with the evacuation. IC notified Jeff that the rest of the team was involved in another callout and that no help was available. He would have to spend the night with the subject. He replied that he was starting to build a shelter. Two hours later, once we knew Jeff was settled in with Mike, we went out to observe his situation without them knowing (evaluation and safety factor).
For Mike, part of the NM IT training is to be the patient for several of these events. As an IT, I have suffered dearly for it. Jeff was a strong candidate for this scenario, and he did very well. After making breakfast, they were both evacuated and returned to the IC smiling.
Except for the sun coming out and the temps going up to 20, the weather on Sunday was still like the night before. We spent the morning building improvised toboggans and had the students demonstrate their rope skills. We finished the day debriefing, and all headed off in different directions.
We will be back at Bolton next year, so check the division’s website calendar for the dates and registration information.
by Chuck Boyd, Nordic/Backcountry Supervisor | Apr 15, 2025 | Division News, Program News
Our Backcountry Skiing/Riding and Toboggan Enhancement Course focuses on skiing/riding, skinning, and toboggan handling. It furthers the skills introduced and mastered at lift-served ski areas. It gives members a chance to adapt these skills to the backcountry, where the snow is deeper and variable, requiring different strategies, tactics, and additional stamina. This is the first all-backcountry program offered by the Eastern Division.
Pike Glades turned out to be an amazing location. The property is utilized by the Upper Valley Stewardship Center, a non-profit whose staff works hard to maintain and upkeep access, skin tracks, and signage.
This terrain is a collection of northeast-facing glades accessible by ski touring, splitboarding, or snowshoeing. The peak summits are above the tree line at 2200’ and the base is at 700’. No matter your skiing ability, you will be thrilled by the skiing at this location.
This was our first Nordic/Backcountry event at this location, and it was so well-received that we already scheduled next year’s backcountry event and are looking to schedule the 2025 AMN instructor refresher at the same location.
Our weekend started at the Community Center for the Oliverian School, with a meet and greet, plus breakfast and trip planning. While the group was getting organized, equipment and supplies were being shuttled to the Warrior’s Cabin, which is located mid-mountain at the end of a service road. During the winter of 2025, it was plowed by a construction contractor renovating the cabin. The Warrior’s Cabin is heated by propane and was used to store potable water, solar-powered battery packs for recharging radios and cell phones, and for drying gear. Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast were prepared inside the cabin.
Our ski tour started up the Joan Wolter Trail towards the summit and a cabin called “The Shire.” Along the way, we demonstrated and practiced uphill travel techniques and transitions. The weather was beautiful as we arrived at the Shire to have a snack, admire the breathtaking views, and transition for our downhill ski through the glades back to the Warrior’s Cabin.
Our sleeping accommodation was winter camping. All attendees were experienced in outdoor winter overnighting. Tents were set up behind the Warrior’s Cabin, where there was an outstanding view of Mount Moosilauke.
On our second skin up, four patrollers each carried sections of a Cascade rescue sled with handles. Once back at the Shire, we assembled the toboggan, assigned a patient, and took turns managing the loaded toboggan through the glades. It was quite challenging for most of us as we all learned and tried new skills.
Dinner was back at the cabin, where Linda had prepared a hearty meal of meat and vegetarian Irish stews. This was topped off with a homemade wacky cake for dessert. Once finished, the evening navigation exercises began. Using CalTopo on their phones, the participants entered several waypoints that they needed to locate outside along the trail. The last waypoint held a hidden surprise.
Sunday morning was low-angle rescue (LAR) with both raising and lowering a loaded SKED. Dead Fred, a local patrol mannequin, volunteered to be our patient. Knots and anchors were practiced and built. The SKED was first lowered using a munter/mule knot with prusik backups. This was then converted into a 3:1 raising system with double prusiks. By the end, Fred didn’t look any worse for wear.
The highlight of the weekend was to have the DHART helicopter land in a landing zone we created. The group got a lot out of the pilot’s explanation regarding landing in a possible snow LZ. The tour of the bird was great, and both the students and instructors were extremely happy to learn how the medical crew took a patient hand-off.
Huge thanks to all the instructors, staff of the UVSC, DHART, the local community, and all the participants who helped make this such a great event. As mentioned above, we are already making plans at this location for next year. Stay tuned.
Our final event was held at Bolton Valley, VT, which included Nordic Senior training, exam, and Nordic Master training.
