Locals Appreciation Day for Nordic Skiers from Jans and White Pine Touring

Locals Appreciation Day for Nordic Skiers from Jans and White Pine Touring

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Every year, the folks at Jans give the Park City community an early holiday gift in the form of the White Pine Touring Locals Appreciation Day.  Held at the Nordic Center and intended to “share the love” of cross country skiing, this event is chock full of everything from lessons and rentals to demos and free swag from vendors.

While conditions prior to this year’s event had the Nordic staff holding their breath and doing snow dances, Mother Nature treated us to a fresh snowfall the day before.  Thanks to our main man Lou, who has groomed all over the world from Australia to Michigan, and a little technique he calls “snow farming,” we were able to open both the 5K and 3K tracks with soft, beautiful snow that lasted all day long.

With over 500 people in attendance, ranging from 7 year olds to 70 year olds, the event offered both classic and skate ski lessons, grouped according to ability level with multiple instructors for each.  There were folks that had tried cross country skiing over 20 years ago who donned skate skis for the very first time.  Alongside them were veteran racers who came out to demo the latest equipment and purchase their Nordic package for the season.  And in the midst of all of the cross country activity, there were people snowshoeing to their heart’s content. Just not on the track itself.

A hearty lunch of clam chowder and chili was provided by the adjacent Hotel Park City while Nordic vendors including Salomon, TOKO and Rossignol were on hand to answer questions about the latest gear.  A new vendor to Jans and White Pine, Cocogo hydration drinks was also onsite providing samples of their product which delivers both long chain and short chain carbohydrates in a natural formulation.  White Pine Touring is one of the first private retailers to carry this line prior to its national rollout with Whole Foods.

Locals Appreciation Day brought the Park City community together while showing that Nordic skiing is a great low impact, low risk alternative to alpine skiing.  And it provides an awesome cardio workout in the process.  Plus, have you ever seen a ski resort offer a Locals Day with lunch included?

Liz Yokubison, Senior Editor of Jans.com