Despite bumps, cross-country skiing thrives

By John Hitchcock12:00AM / Wednesday, December 15, 2004Print Story | Email Story

Long frustrated cross-country skiers should be on snow this weekend â€” but they will not be at Hickory Hill, the long-established touring center in Worthington. Tim and Kathy Sena and other family members opened the 650-acre former potato farm in the late â€™70s, after a few years as a snowmobilersâ€™ center. For years the Massachusetts High School Championships were held there on tracks on or near the historic Lafayette Trail, used by Colonial forces in the Revolutionary War to haul cannons to battles closer to the coast. This year, the high school races will be at Notchview Reservation, 10 miles to the north on Route 9 in Windsor. The Bill Koch League program, formerly at Hickory Hill, will also be based at Notchview, the 3,000-acre tract owned and operated by the Trustees of Reservations. Information: 684-0148. The closing of Hickory Hill â€” for this winter at least â€” followed similar actions five years or so ago at Swift River Inn in Cummington and Brodie Mountain in New Ashford. The Swift River Inn, with its impressive multi-million dollar skiersâ€™ day lodge, is now a private school for teenagers. And after Jim Kelly sold the former Brodie Mountain Alpine Ski Resort to Jiminy Peak co-owners Brian Fairbank and Joseph Oâ€™Donnell in 1999, Kelly began converting his cross-country center in Lanesboro to a golf course, which is still under construction. Although the loss of three of the top touring centers in the Berkshires hurts, there are still plenty of other places to enjoy the traditional Nordic activity. Not far from Hickory Hill â€” which will still offer hot-air balloon rides and will be available for parties and other special events in two spacious buildings â€” are Canterbury Farm in Becket, home of the Pittsfield Winter Carnival cross-country races (623-0100); Bucksteep Manor in Washington (623-5535); Cranwell Resort in Lenox, home of the no-longer-held Bay State Games cross-country events (637-1364); and Butternut in Great Barrington (528-0610). Close to the Berkshires are Pineridge in East Poestenkill, N.Y. (518-283-3652); Northfield Mountain in Northfield (659-3714); Maple Corner Farm in Granville, (357-6697); and Stump Sprouts in Hawley, (339-4265). Lloyd Crawford of Stump Sprouts serves as spokesman for the Western Massachusetts Cross Country Ski Areas Association. He compiles a listing of special events for the group from December through March. Information: www.xcsskimass.com Prospect Mountain in Woodford, Vt., is considered a Berkshire area because so many Berkshire races are held there when snow conditions donâ€™t allow racing down south. Information: 802-442-2575. In fact, the opening Berkshire High School race is scheduled at the mountain for Friday, Dec. 31, at 9 a.m. Prospect, with its 2,200-foot base elevation, is the home of the Williams College Nordic Team, and the Williams Winter Carnival Races in mid-February bring in this countryâ€™s top college racers â€” as well as a few foreign competitors. Prospect is also the home of a Bill Koch League training program. Touring centers abound in Southern Vermont, with three in the Mount Snow area: The Hermitage, Timber Creek and the Wilmington White House â€” with snow tubing at the White House, too. Manchester offers a full touring center at Hildene â€” the historic home estate of Robert Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincolnâ€™s son â€” and sometimes at the Equinox Resort golf course. Stratton Mountain Resort has two centers, one at the golf course and a more limited one at the Sun Bowl area. Down near Bromley, Wild Wings has been in business in the town of Peru for 30 years. And next to Magic Mountainâ€™s downhill trail system is the Viking Nordic Center, a few years older than Wild Wings. Grafton Village also boasts a center, with some snowmaking. Okemo Mountain Resort in Ludlow has the newest touring center, located at the Okemo Valley Golf Club. Suffice it to say, thereâ€™s the Trapp Family Lodge â€” perhaps the first touring center in the East â€” at Stowe, along with several other centers. There is certainly a wide choice of places to ski, eat, drink and sleep in the Northeast, but SNOW is not certain, and only a few centers can afford to spend very big bucks on snowmaking systems. Swift Riverâ€™s equipment was sold to Cranwell. The 1932 Olympics at Lake Placid had plenty of cross-country races, but downhill events were not included. Yet, strangely, the Lake Placid Winter Games resulted in a mad rush to take up downhill skiing, and for years mainly Scandinavians and high school and college racers were the only people on cross country skis. Multi-million-dollar resorts mushroomed, and prices for downhill skiing shot up, perhaps explaining the strange switch to cross country, starting around 1970. People were sold on the slogan, â€œIf you can walk, you can ski,â€ which was of course not completely true. In any event, if a touring center opened in the early â€™70s, people came. They are still coming to the slopes and trails â€” but most come for snowboarding, free skiing (and that refers to style, not cost), snow shoeing and snow tubing. They also come, in sometimes staggering numbers, for snowmobiling. Touring center trail fees increased from a couple of dollars to between $12 and $20, and thatâ€™s not surprising because trail-grooming machines cost about $130,000. And even when there is an abundance of snow, an alarmingly large number of cross-country skiers are adverse to paying. Itâ€™s a problem! Nordic ski shops feel the same pinch, with fewer skiers willing to pay $400 for skis and $150 for boots. As a result, there are relatively few ski shops specializing in top line merchandise. Steve Blazejewski of Berkshire Outfitters in Cheshire is probably running the best Nordic shop in Western Massachusetts, and he knows it all, from racing and coaching both downhill and cross-country skiing for 35 years and from selling the right kind of skis for the same amount of time. â€œI sold as many skis in the early â€™70s from my fatherâ€™s basement as I do now in this huge shop,â€ he said the other day, indicating at least 30 feet of ski racks with skis up to six pairs deep. He still sells plenty of skis and other Nordic gear, as well as snowboards, snowshoes, bikes, canoes and kayaks. Blazejewski outfits high school and college teams, as well as Bill Koch kids and complete families. He also brings in factory reps to conduct clinics on waxing and selecting the proper skis. And Blazejewski and his wife, the former Karen Brundage of Williamstown, have produced more customers â€” or at least users of ski equipment. Karen is a physical fitness authority and coaches Special Olympics skiers and other athletes. Their oldest child, Hannah, was an outstanding racer for Hoosac Valley High and took up snowboarding at Bates. She now works and snowboards around Lake Tahoe. Older son Michael skis cross country at Cornell, and other son Sam is a first-year student at the Stratton Mountain Ski Academy. Larry Lane of the Arcadian Shop in Lenox is the top cross-country outfitter in South Berkshire and uses the adjacent trails at Kennedy Park, where he recently opened a trailside refreshment cabin. John Bryan of the Mountain Goat in Williamstown specializes in telemark and all types of backcountry gear. It should be noted that there is plenty of free skiing in the 400,000 acres or more of state and national forests in Massachusetts and Vermont. Just travel in groups of three or more, know the terrain or have a map. You can pay for lift tickets at almost of the area downhill centers, as they are making enough snow now. Most Alpine Vermont centers are in daily operation â€” and in the Berkshires, Bousquet is running daily from 3 p.m. and Jiminy opens daily today. Have fun! John Hitchcock of Williamstown writes frequently about the area sports scene.

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Dalton Announces New Supplier for Energy Program

10:46AM / Thursday, November 27, 2025

DALTON, Mass. – The Town of Dalton has signed a thirty-four month contract with a new supplier, First Point Power.

Beginning with the January 2026 meter reads, the Dalton Community Choice Power Supply Program will have a new rate of $0.13042 per kWh. The Program will also continue to offer an optional 100 percent green product, which is derived from National Wind Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), at a rate of $0.13142 per kWh.

For Dalton residents and businesses who are enrolled in the Town's Program, the current rate of $0.13849 per kWh will expire with the January 2026 meter reads and the new rate of $0.13042 per kWh will take effect. This represents a decrease of $5 per month on the supply side of the bill given average usage of 600 kWh. Additionally, this new rate is 3 percent lower than Eversource's Residential Basic Service rate of $0.13493 per kWh. Residents can expect to see an

average savings of $3 per month for the month of January 2026. Eversource's Basic Service rates

will change on Feb. 1, 2026.

Dalton launched its electricity program in January 2015 in an effort to develop an energy program that would be stable and affordable. From inception through June 2025, the Program has saved residents and small businesses over $1.7 million in electricity costs as compared to Eversource Basic Service.

It is important to note that no action is required by current participants. This change will be seen on the February 2026 bills. All accounts currently enrolled in the Program will remain with their current product offering and see the new rate and First Point Power printed under the "Supplier Services" section of their monthly bill.

The Dalton Community Choice Power Supply Program has no fees or charges. However, anyone switching from a contract with a third-party supplier may be subject to penalties or early termination fees charged by that supplier. Ratepayers should verify terms before switching.

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