 DORCAS WONSAVAGE of Farmington, Maine, is a three-time Olympian who competed in the 1988, 1992 and 1994 Olympic Games. Now a ski instructor and media coordinator for the New England Nordic Ski Association, she also has coached Farmington Ski Club's middle school program.
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Q: How did you get started?
A: I was probably about three years old, but that was just playing around in the back yard on skis. I didn't start competing in cross-country skiing until my senior year in high school.
Q: Were you a natural right from the beginning?
A: Actually, my coach in high school put his arm around my shoulders at the end of the season and said "Dorcas, don't even think about trying to ski in college." But I had become so in love with the sport and the people and being outside that it didn't matter. I ran into him a year after I'd won the Junior Olympics. He had a sense of humor and said "I'm glad you proved me wrong, kid."
Q: Did you have lessons or formal training?
A: I don't remember any formal training. It wasn't until college that I got any formal instruction.
Q: Is that a good way to learn or do you recommend getting instruction?
A: It's absolutely at the top of my list: get a lesson from a professional, not from a friend and preferably from someone you don't know very well so you can take that element out of it.
There is a lot of technique involved. There are a lot of little pieces of information you need, and if you try and learn by trial and error it may dissuade you from continuing to ski. One good lesson or one half day or couple of hours with a professional ski instructor will jump start your introduction to the sport.
Q: What should you look for in a course or an instructor?
A: Definitely look for someone who is certified or go to one of the larger cross-country touring centers, like Sugarloaf, where they have had a lot of experience teaching. If you are a beginner, a lot of the process is finding someone who can teach, not just someone who can ski.
Q: What's better, an individual or group lesson?
A: If you feel comfortable and have some confidence, go on your own so you can get the most out of the instructor. But perhaps you feel more comfortable in a group, and need moral support — like I did when I was starting — so get a friend to go along with you. Or perhaps you'd rather disappear into the back and learn from the group. You can stand back and watch other people and gain information that way.
Q: What are some common misconceptions that beginners have, or common mistakes beginners make?
A: If there's one thing most people come to the sport with, it's the idea that it is going to be a lot of work. But when it's taught properly by someone who is more of a teacher, someone who loves being outdoors, rather than an athlete, you will learn that it can be as easy or as hard as you like it to be.
That's actually why I encourage people to get and try out good equipment rather than fall back on the the heavy, clunky fish scale backcountry equipment, because that is work. Then you've lost the pure joy of gliding on snow. For every kick you make on fish scale skis, your skis will be dragging you back, whereas every kick on a pair of well-waxed skis on well-groomed trails gives you a sense of flying.
Q: So equipment makes a big difference.
A: Yes. The next thing on my list of recommendations is: rent good equipment. Don't hold yourself back by saying "Oh I'll just take the waxless skis." Take a step forward and learn what it feels like to glide on well-waxed skis.
Q: What are the basic styles of cross-country skiing and what are the differences between them?
A: There's the classic technique, which is also called the traditional technique since it is the original technique of skiing, walking or running on skis. It's also called "diagonal" because your arms and legs move diagonally to each other. I recommend learning this classic technique first. It's more stable.
A lot of the basics that you learn in the classic technique — how you use your poles; double poling; and striding — will transfer directly to skating or the freestyle technique. In classic technique, you use kick wax underneath the foot of your ski and glide wax on the tips and tail of the ski.
In the skating or the freestyle technique, you're actually skating much like you do on ice skates, but on your skis. In this technique, you have glide wax tip to tail on your skis, and your skis are shorter because they are going to be splayed out to the side so you form a "V" with your skis. The skis are about 10 centimeters shorter and your poles are a little longer, the boots are taller and come higher up on your ankles for added support.
All of a sudden you don't have kick wax on your skis, so you're able to ski much faster. Oftentimes we're not used to that speed, so if you 're a beginner you want to work up to that; you want to be careful about pushing beyond your comfort zone too quickly.
Q: When you start, you are basically walking on skis. How do you go from that to gliding? It seems like a huge mystery.
A: That's true, and the key to that mystery is balance. You'll start out walking and as you become comfortable balancing on one ski, you'll be able to move from the shuffle walk to the kick, balance on one ski, and glide.
Q: What are the basic techniques or moves that you need to learn?
A: The basics are the kick, glide and poling. Also basic to both skating and classic is your double pole [when you use both poles at the same time]. The beauty of that is that you can do it without using any muscles whatsoever. You can just plant your poles, maintain a nice gentle bend in your arms, and then fall on your poles so you can propel yourself using your body weight.
To go up hill, you make a herringbone pattern just like you would on your alpine skis [where your skis form a "V"]. To stop on the downhill, you can do a typical snow plow. You do need to use more of your muscles in your lower leg than you do in alpine skiing, because your boot doesn't continue all the way up to your knee. It is difficult to snowplow in very heavy wet or chunky snow.
Q: Stopping seems difficult. Isn't there a certain fear of falling attached to that?
A: Another misconception that people have is the idea that falling is bad. Falling seems like a big mistake. But keep in mind something my college coach told me years ago that I've adhered to ever since: Everybody has 1000 falls to their name in their lifetime. The goal of a beginner is to get as many of them out of the way as possible.
Even racers fall. This is what I tell my racers: If you fall, that proves to me not that you made a mistake but that you were pushing the envelope and exploring your limits and that's the only way you are going to improve.
As James Thurber said, "Human is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." So the epics you go through as you are learning will be the stuff that stories are made of, that you get to tell around the fire next month or next year with a big smile on your face.
Q: That caution tends to make people go slower. But is it easier to ski and to turn on your skis if you are going faster?
A: Yes. There's a tremendous parallel in mountain biking. If you are going slow when you hit a rock, you fall over. If you are going fast, you bounce up and over it. Sometimes the thing to do is bullet along, keep those feet straight. Look where you want to go; don't look at the trees, because you're going to go right where your eyes are focusing.
Sometimes when you go around a downhill corner you start worrying "Oh no, I'm going to fall, I'm going to fall," then sure enough, you fall. When I was doing mental training, I started going around the corners saying to myself, "Stand up stand up stand up."
Q: What are ways you can prepare, as a beginner? What kind of fitness or training helps?
A: Go hiking and walking with ski poles. Hiking with poles is a perfect training method for preparing yourself for cross-country skiing. Hiking poles help you on the downhills, help protect your knees, get you used to using poles and using your arms and upper body.
Training for cross-country basically defines cross training. If you get tired of running you can bike; if you get tired of biking you can roller ski. Anything you do contributes to it. That's probably why you avoid over-use injuries because you use different muscles and joints. If you do get an injury or stress in a joint you can train through it by doing another activity.
Q: Are you going to be in agony if you don't have great cardiovascular fitness?
A: I don't think so, as long as you are honest with yourself, your instuctor and the people you are going skiing with. You can go as far or as short, on as flat or as hilly terrain as you like.
There are plenty of people who don't have the fitness level but want to get outside and enjoy the outdoors, and are able to get out there and go at their own pace. That's the
beauty of cross-country skiing — you can choose where you go rather have to go than where the ski lift drops you.
In terms of exercise, cross-country skiing is really second to none because it's a total body workout. You become a quadruped. If your legs get tired, you can start using your arms and vice versa.
Q: Does it help to know how to downhill ski or ice skate?
A: I think it does help you. In both cases you've already mastered or started to feel comfortable balancing on one foot - that's very key in cross-country skiing. Alpine skiers have a feel for the snow, and what it's like to be on a pair of skis and apply them in front and behind you. You still have to learn to use your arms and upper bodies. The arm tempo or upper body tempo dictates how fast your legs go.
Q: So bottom line: is it hard to learn?
A: A lot of people do find it really hard. They can't glide, they step on their skis, they fall... But I preach patience and a return to childhood. Kids have no problem picking it up. That's because they don't care about what they look like; they don't have preconceived expectations. Adults are harder to teach; we think we should be able to learn and we don't want to look bad while we're learning.
The key is to focus on enjoying being outside and going at your own pace.
Q: Where are some good places for beginners to go?
A: I recommend groomed trails, particularly for beginners. You're not going to get caught up with snow cookies, those little chunks of ice on the trail. You won't tire yourself out plowing through deep snow. You will immediately get a sense of the magic and the feeling of flying on groomed trails. Then after that you can appreciate and experience plowing through snow in your back yard.
When you are beginning, you don't want to deal with more than you have to; you're already dealing with a lot of new challenges.
In the Portland area, Cumberland has an area called Twin Brook. They have snow-making equipment and very nice trails. It's the main training site for the Coastal Nordic Club and the Cape Nordic Ski Club, two very active clubs. In the Augusta area, try the Pine Tree State Arboretum. [Check the list of cross-country ski areas for details.]
Q: What's your favorite Maine place to cross-country ski and why?
A: I always come back to Sugarloaf. There's always snow, the grooming is superb, and I still get lost on the trails after 10 years. If I want to stay close to home, I go to my local: Titcomb Mt. The Farmington Ski Club maintains trails there.
Q: What's the most important thing you need to enjoy cross-country skiing?
A: Having a can-do attitude.
Q: What words of advice or pearls of wisdom do you give to beginners?
A:
Always remember to eat after you go out and exercise. You have a window of about an hour where you can replace your glycogen level. Eat something with some protein and you'll feel much better and will recover much better, quicker. Don't forget to drink water, and lots of it. Also stretch before and after.
Other than that, I'd say get a lesson, fall a lot and laugh at yourself.
— Interview by Melissa Kim, MaineToday.com (January 2002)
Watch a video of Dorcas as she demonstrates the classic and skating techniques, and talks about why she recommends learning the classic technique first.
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