On January 2nd, 2025, the Belmont Hill Nordic Skiing Team began the year with their annual training trip to the Craftsbury Outdoor Center in Vermont, a vast mountain-top facility that hosts Nordic skiing in the winter, as well as rowing and running training, and dirt bike trails in the warmer seasons. During the four-day span, each skier traveled over 50 miles laterally and 200 flights of stairs through long steady-state skis, interval practices, and scrimmage races. Will Trautz ’27 stated he “was extremely excited to go on the trip again. It always provides great opportunities to get solid training and it’s always a great time.” Each day the skiers would have two daytime skis, and, occasionally, a night ski with headlamps. When not skiing, the trip served as a team bonding experience, as they played many ping-pong tournaments and card games in between skis. The trip was accommodated with immaculate weather conditions, with temperatures ranging from single digits to low twenties, and perpetual snowfall. However, the weather soon led to a crisis, in which two of the three mini-buses would not leave their parking spaces buried in snow and ice. One bus was excavated by the manpower of the team, while the other had to be towed, providing a frightening but humorous closing to the trip.