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Windblown (NH) to be redeveloped by non-profit
The Windblown cross-country area in New Ipswich, New Hampshire is the
target of an ambitious new non-profit organization. Last season, Windblown owner Al Jenks announced his plans to retire after 38 seasons and sell the ski touring center to a non-profit organization. The non-profit, called Central New England Nordic Council, now has a Web site at http://cnencxc.org . They are taking pledges now, and, once they have obtained tax exempt status, will take money. The site does not seem to mention their fundraising goal, but it says that their deadline is March 31, 2011. I happened to run into Al a couple of weeks ago and he told me he will still be running Windblown for the upcoming 2009-2010 season. (But last year the shop sold off their rental equipment and other retail goods.) The CNENC site has an ambitious master plan ( http://nordicnow.org/images/Windblown_Master_Plan.pdf ), including not just buying the ski area, but developing a race course (mostly, but not entirely, on existing trails) and "stadium", putting in snowmaking and lighting and perhaps a biathlon range. They are having an informational meeting on December 2 at the Weston Ski Track. |
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Windblown (NH) to be redeveloped by non-profit
I went to tonight's informational meeting.
One clarification: the non-profit organization does have tax-exempt status now (they did not as of the writing of the master plan document). They are hoping to use the pledges as a way to bootstrap additional fundraising (e.g., grants). Of course, they also expect people to pay up on their pledges. |
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Windblown (NH) to be redeveloped by non-profit
Lew:
Now that the current owners of Weston Ski Track have more formally announced that they're retiring soon, and that the younger managers aren't interested in continuing operation, was there any talk at the meeting of redirecting efforts to keeping Weston going? I haven't looked at the Windblown proposals in detail, but I've never really understood the rationale--yes, it's in a nice snow belt, but it's only about 30 minutes closer to Boston than Waterville Valley, which already has a great infrastructure in place (facilities, nice 5 K race course, etc.). Jon |
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Windblown (NH) to be redeveloped by non-profit
On Dec 10, 9:36*am, Jon wrote:
Now that the current owners of Weston Ski Track have more formally announced that they're retiring soon, and that the younger managers aren't interested in continuing operation, was there any talk at the meeting of redirecting efforts to keeping Weston going? No, I wasn't aware of that. I was thinking that there was some competition between Windblown and Weston for snowmaking trails, but the people at the meeting seemed to answer that by saying that no one from Boston would go up to Windblown on weekday evenings. But no mention that Weston itself might be closing. I haven't looked at the Windblown proposals in detail, but I've never really understood the rationale--yes, it's in a nice snow belt, but it's only about 30 minutes closer to Boston than Waterville Valley ... I kind of have to agree. (I'd say 45 minutes to an hour's difference, but, still, yeah.) Much as I love the trails at Windblown, and I love the fact that it was built by an enthusiastic skier, it isn't the only good trail system that's a day trip from Boston. Northfield Mountain, just a little further from Boston than Windblown, has an excellent trail system, although less snow due to its low elevation. Someone (I think it was another email list) suggested that Northfield would be a good candidate for snowmaking since it has that big water reservoir right there. |
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Windblown (NH) to be redeveloped by non-profit
*Someone (I
think it was another email list) suggested that Northfield would be a good candidate for snowmaking since it has that big water reservoir right there. Yes, I think I remember in my college days that they used to make snow (and had a nice lake, also.) Hope some workeable solution is developed for Weston...I would have hoped there was some skiing, dot.com millionaire in the area who's looking for a diversion |
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