The Dublin School Nordic Center is installing snowmaking infrastructure on half its 5k racecourse, with the first artificial snow due to fly this fall. Construction is underway on a million-gallon retention pond and buried plastic pipe throughout the course that will deliver water to high-efficiency air and water snow guns.
The Nordic Center is a “treasure for the community,” according to Brad Bates, head of the Dublin School and its Nordic Center. Bates said the snowmaking will not change the course’s public access rules – the public will be welcome to ski on all the Dublin School’s trails whenever a racing team hasn’t booked them for exclusive use, although he said they will be asking for donations to use the trails with manmade snow. He said the trail system will remain open to the public throughout construction – but after Labor Day, visitors should watch out for open trenches as the pipes are placed.
The racecourse meets Olympic standards for quality and course profile, and a representative from the school is scheduled to present a proposal for lighting on the course at the Planning Board meeting on Thursday. The course is one of the highest racecourses in New England despite its southern location, and Bates said he would like to see the course “become the racing hub for Southern New England.” He said that currently, teams travel to Craftsbury, Vermont or Waterville, Maine for races.
The Harvard University Nordic ski team took notice of the course’s desirable attributes and plan to host their first-ever home carnival (a collegiate multi-event ski competition) on Jan. 17 and 18.
Chris City, the head coach for Harvard’s Nordic team, said the course’s proximity to Boston and open-access policy made it “a natural place to do this.” His team usually practices on a golf course twenty minutes from campus, but training on racecourses usually involves traveling much farther away.
“College racing is a spectacle,” he said and described the exciting mass-start races where 80 to 100 competitors take off at once. “I’m really thrilled that Dublin was willing to partner with us on this, and the improvements they’re making to the facility will really help make our carnival a fantastic event.”
Bates said the public is welcome to attend the D1 races and noted that the Dublin course is especially spectator-friendly.
The school already makes snow on the small alpine slope on the main campus of the school, which afforded the Nordic team a meager one-third mile loop on the soccer field when natural snow conditions were unsuitable. Bates said that the Dublin School pursued snowmaking on the Nordic trails to facilitate training during the all-important window between Thanksgiving and New Years, when natural snow is far from reliable. He said Dublin School trustees recognized skiing as an important part of the school’s history and wanted it to be a part of its future, too.
Bates said the current phase of the snowmaking project cost about a quarter-million dollars. This is about half of what the project might have cost another entity, he said, because trustees and staff donated professional skills and equipment to the cause. Bates credited trustee George Foote, “a brilliant engineer,” with designing the project. Alpine ski coach Sandy Eneguess dug the pond with his own excavator, and thought to use its tailings to improve the start-finish straightaway on the course, Bates said.
Bates said his goal is to rent an air compressor in November, make snow during the first cold week of the winter, and be done for the year. Artificially-made snow is four times denser than natural snow and therefore lasts longer before melting away. Compared to alpine ski trails, Nordic trails are flatter, narrower, and nestled under tree cover – all of which makes snow last longer.
Last year, both Dublin School’s boy’s and girl’s Nordic teams were league champions of the New England Prep School Athletic Council. High school teams from ConVal and Keene will also use the course, as well as Dublin XC, which is a community team with programming for children and adults. Bates said that racing teams have agreed to a per-skier donation to defray the cost of the snowmaking infrastructure. He said the Dublin Nordic Center’s website will have a calendar that will show when teams have reserved exclusive use of the trails.
The Dublin Nordic Center sports eight kilometers of trails, Bates said, and there are about 20 additional kilometers of trails on the Dublin School property. The public trails on the adjacent Beech Hill conservation area and Yankee Publishing property make for an extensive network of wooded trails suitable for year-round access between skiing, hiking, and mountain biking. Pets are welcome on the Dublin School trails in the off-ski season.
There’s a second ongoing earthmoving project at the Dublin Nordic Center that’s slightly less conspicuous than the snowmaking infrastructure – unless you’re a mountain biker.
The patches of forest among the ski trails are crisscrossed with a growing network of single-track mountain biking trails, featuring banked turns and rock, log and bridge obstacles.
Bates said the trails were developed by Stuart McIntosh, the father of one of Dublin School’s Nordic skiers who is an avid mountain biker and supporter of the Dublin School’s outdoor sporting programs.
For the past three summers, McIntosh has dedicated a week of his time to lay out new trails on the property. Students then help to build the trails throughout the year during the school’s Saturday “Work Gang” service projects. Bates said the trail-building is an exceptionally popular option among students. He said there are just under four miles of the trail now, and they would receive more signage after the snowmaking construction completes.
“That is very much open to the public,” said Bates, of the trails. “I’m psyched they’re popping up on Strava,” and other ride-mapping apps.