Helmets are latest safety craze on slopes

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Whether or not this winter amounts to the cold and snowy season the experts predict, it will offer a potpourri of new adventures in skiing and riding here. New trails, new trends, world-class events and the adventures of Maine’s world-class natives.

If you plan on returning to the ski slopes after some time away, you’ll be happy to know the latest rage is one of the safest: helmets.

At Eaton Mountain in Skowhegan where boarders ride till 10 p.m., manager Gene Kitt estimates that 30 percent of the riders are wearing helmets this year, which is 30 percent more than those that wore them five years ago.

“I think more people were tired of getting thumped,” Kitt said. “They look better now. And they’re warmer. In general, I think more people are wearing them in sports. You see them more on bicyclists. It’s a trend. We run [mountain bike races] in the summer and years ago we had to force riders to wear them. Now it’s just something they do.

”At Sunday River there has been an increase in sales and interest in helmets according to Eric List, manager of the rental shop there where a helmet costs an extra $6.

“People are choosing to use them. A few years ago, a lot of the features weren’t there,” List said. “The style and fashion, as well as the fit and comfort, the aerodynamic design, some have breathable liners. There are high-tech helmets. But they are all based around absorbing impact. They are much more user-friendly.”

Helmets now go for as low as $80 and as much as $180. But List said lower-end models are just as effective as higher-end helmets, if not as fashionable.

In fact, helmets now come in flashy colors with bold designs, not unlike NHL goalie masks.

At Cadillac Mountain Sports in Bangor, manager Brad Ryder said the helmets run from $69.95 to $109, but many people shop for style.

“The good news is that with all the accidents, it’s cool to wear them,” Ryder said.

For Nordic fun

If you’re looking to try out some new equipment, there are ample opportunities for adventure with four new Maine Nordic centers and upcoming competitions.

One center in Monson, A Fierce Chase, operated by John Chase, has 10 kilometers of wide trails for novice and intermediate skiers.

Near Moosehead Lake, the Chesuncook Lake House has 45 miles of groomed trails and 100 miles of wilderness trails for skiing.

An outfit along the Kennebec River, run by John Beauchamp, involves overnight ski tours utilizing the same route that Beauchamp’s rafting company, Professional River Runners, uses for summer expeditions.

And in Aroostook County, 11 ski touring centers known as “Ski Aroostook” offer more than 60 miles of groomed and back country terrain. (For information, call 800-754-9263.)

However, that’s not all Aroostook County offers right now.

The Richard Grindle/Lindsay Berghuls Skimeister Invitational will be held Thursday and Friday at the Maine Winters Sports Center Nordic sight in Fort Kent and Mt. Farlagne Ski Area in Edmunston, New Brunswick, across the border.

The skimeister event is for juniors, but runs in conjunction with the 10th Mountain Division Nordic Championships, which is open to alumni and senior racers. The championships honor the Skiing and Mountaineering Infantry, which was the most highly decorated U.S. division in World War II.

(For information, call 328-0991)

Maine filled with pros

This winter there are two major nationally televised ski and snowboarding events slated for Maine resorts and more than a few professional Maine skiers and riders looking to do well.

In January the U.S. Freestyle Grand National will be held at Sunday River, bringing to Maine the likes of Olympic gold medalist Jonny Moseley and Eric Bergoust, and other top performers, like Britt Swartely, who was fifth at the ’98 Olympics in Nagano. The event will be broadcast on CBS.

At the end of March, the X-nix U.S. Snowboard Championships will be held at Sunday River, bringing to Maine Farmington native and U.S. Snowboarding Team member Seth Wescott. ESPN will feature this event.

Wescott is only one Maine professional racing down mountains to prepare for the 2002 Olympic Games.

With the Nordic World Cups at Soldiers Hollow in January and the World Championships in Finland in February in his sites, Marcus Nash, a Fryeburg native and one of three U.S. Nordic Team members, shows promise of doing well.

Nash, who now resides in Auburn, Calif., is one of three men and women on the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team this year. And after the last two years amounted to his most successful yet, he poised to do well on the World Cup circuit, where he posted his second Top-20 finish last year

Mainer David Chamberlain of Wilton also shows promise after doing well with Nash at Sovereign Lakes, near Silver Star, British Columbia last month.

Chamberlain finished 16th, 30th and 12th, in races held on Nov. 23-25. Nash, of Fryeburg, took 25th in the Nov. 23 race and 21st in the Nov. 25 race.

Outdoor Calendar

Yarmouth’s Rod & Gun Club is sponsoring several gun courses aimed at developing shooting skills and safe gun-handling. Courses will run several times throughout the spring beginning in January. They’re conducted by a staff headed up by NRA certified chief instructor Jeff Weinstein.

Some of the NRA courses being offered include a personal protection course, metallic cartridge and shotgun reloading, and basic rifle. For information, call 846-3000.

The sixth annual duck stamp competition for the Federal Junior Duck Stamp Design Contest is open to students in grades K-12 at a cost of $5. The contest is offered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The state’s Best of Show entry will compete with contest winners from other states at the national level. Proceeds from the sale of Junior Duck Stamps support conservation education.

Designs are judged in four age categories and entries must be postmarked by March 1. For information, call Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge, 328-4634.

Deirdre Fleming covers outdoor sports and recreation for the NEWS. She can be reached at 990-8250 or at dfleming@bangordailynews.net.