Nordic teams have gotten off to a great start this season but for Alpine teams it has been a different story. Brief ice storms along with warm weather forced the cancellation of two meets last week that most area teams were planning on to begin their season.

"It has been a bit of a mental strain right now with the weather," Maranacook Alpine coach Ronn Gifford said. "We have gotten a fair amount of training in but no racing."

The Black Bears have been training at Kents Hill but have only been skiing and not working on gates. That will change this week when Maranacook plans to travel to Titcomb Mountain for a slalom event Friday before hosting a meet Saturday at Kents Hill.

"From here on out, we have a couple of meets scheduled every week," Gifford said. "Typically we wouldn't get on snow, training-wise, until after the Christmas break. This year has been a little different, but then we hit the weather situation. Hopefully, this week things will turn around."

Maranacook features a young team paced by senior Sean Vallant. The younger members of the boys team appear to be packed into a tight group, competition-wise and need time on gates to found their way down the slope.

Sophomores Ben Trimm, Sam Barnes and Rob Brown are joined by freshmen David Nurse, Sean Daigle and Chris Morris, who are waiting to earn spots as scoring skiers for the Black Bears.

"It's a pretty big pack," Gifford said. "They are all skiing well, it is just a matter of finding out who will rise to the top."

Seniors Kayla Brown and Katy Dutile will be leading the Black Bear girls this season, who have several older skiers on the team but with little Alpine experience.

"The girls are gaining experience but we still have a large group who are inexperienced racers," Gifford said. "Everyone is skiing very well, we just hope that we can start competing this week, to see where that takes us."

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Two years ago, longtime Mt. Blue High School Alpine ski coach Ricky Hardy retired hoping to have a little free time to enjoy the winter months, take a vacation and even travel to the college ski carnivals to watch his kids ski.

Hardy, an elementary teacher at Cascade Brook School in Farmington, hasn't really had much of an opportunity to do any of those things after surviving a serious fall from the roof of his house in his first year of ski coaching retirement. That nearly took his life.

Nearly back to living a normal life, Hardy has returned to the ski slopes where he is helping his former assistant and head coach, Mark Cyr. During Hardy's tenure with the Cougars, the girls team put together a string of 11 straight Class A state titles while the boys won eight -- six of them in a row.

"I felt really frustrated with my responsibilities," Hardy said. "I would be rushing from my classroom to Titcomb to get ready for a race and didn't seem like I was being fair to anyone."

Cyr had been trying to find an assistant but was unable to secure anyone who could put in the time, consistently. Hardy was starting to show at Titcomb on a regular basis and before they knew it the coaching duo was reunited.

"I figured if I'm going to be there I might as well be doing something," Hardy said. "A lot of it was for my own physical well being and to give Mark a hand, as well."

Hardy likes his new responsibilities as assistant coach. He doesn't have to rush out of his classroom anymore and when he does arrive at Titcomb, he is able to join in to help wherever he is needed.

"Mark and I always got along and it worked well," Hardy said. "We always shared that ultimate goal of having the kids come out of the program and being able to ski for the rest of their lives, whether recreational or competitive."

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Losing meets is a major factor for the Skowhegan Alpine team, which has yet to put in a day of gate training, according to coach Bill Varney. The Indians have lost three of four scheduled meets and are looking forward to a good week.

"We have done a lot of training but haven't trained gates yet," Varney said. "After New Year's Day we usually start racing, but we haven't been able to because of the weather."

Varney realizes that training sessions are far more demanding than actual competition but is excited to see how Skowhegan attacks the courses during meets.

Senior Andy Calder has the ability to be the best racer at any high school event, but it's the large group of freshmen that Varney is watching closely.

"We have five freshman boys that have good potential," he said. "I am pleased with all our results, we have made improvements and are showing strength."

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Two years ago, Sam Mathes was named the Morning Sentinel Nordic Skier of the Year. On Friday, Mathes skied to a sixth-place finish to help the Colby College men's Nordic team win the school's first ski carnival race in Nordic skiing competition.

Colby placed first in the 10-kilometer freestyle event at the Bates College Winter Carnival at Black Mountain. In Saturday's classical race, Mathes finished 25th helping Colby to a fourth place team finish.

Also, Messalonskee grad Nils Koons was 12th in freestyle and 10th in classical. Koons is skiing for Dartmouth. Mt. Blue grad Matt Dunlap was 26th in freestyle and 41st in classical, skiing for Bates.