LOCALadk Magazine

LOCALadk 40 Noco? What? Who?! It's "Noco" for short, "Northcountry Kneedroppers" for long — your local group of silly skiers who don't take anything too seriously and talk about gear far too much. One thing is paramount though, they tele and they care that you tele (or that you want to learn to tele)! They believe a good winter day in the woods is the best you can ask for in the ADK. For them that means some loose turns in soft snow and sharing it with friends. How it started As fate would have it the founders of Noco met on skis April 8th, 2021, at Saranac Lake's own Mount Pis- gah (not that there was much snow left on the slope). Nate Atkinson and Jeremy Utz walked up the hill in the Spring mud and strapped on their skis for a glori- ous 60 -foot run and a few turns. They then took them off walked to the next snow patch to bag another 100 - foot descent. A couple of budding ski friends who were mostly strangers to each other reveled in the sparse snow patches together. The essence of Noco was en- capsulated on that first ski day. Most would say it wasn't worth it. Many would find it a comical scene. To a dedicated few it was a great end to the winter season, soaking up every possible turn and enjoying the non- sense of it all with friends. It took Jeremy and Nate almost two years to get or- ganized and christen the club as Northcountry Knee- droppers. The core crew had spent the Winter working together at the reincarnated Cascade Ski Center, now under the ownership of The Adirondack Mountain Club and operated as Cascade Welcome Center. There is no better way to organize a crew of Nordic-dork ski bums than make them run a ski shop together. The staff, and other friends, were busy that first winter as they fo- cused on one simple question: how do you take clas- sic XC ski technique and gear to every corner of the Adirondack Park? Most old-school locals will tell you simply — you learn to telemark. Mastering that skill became a slight obsession, and the best way to learn a miserably difficult skill is with friends, laughing at each other as you fail along the way. Lucky for this crew, the winds of Telemark were blow- ing favorably across North America that same winter of '23. Small telemark clubs had been popping up and filming their silly-skiing endeavors. Telemark Colorado was highlighting these clubs and filming their own ad- ventures while producing This is Telemark, the first full length telemark film in a decade. The wheels were turn- ing and Nate and Jeremy wanted in on the movement. They figured the best way to bridge the gap between the old school tele crowd and those new to the sport was to host an ADK World Telemark Day meetup for all at Whiteface Mountain. Advertising this event led to the creation of Noco's social media (@noco_knee- droppers on the Insta-machine) and amateur content creation schemes. What turned out to be the first annual Tele ADK day was a success and the ball was rolling for making Noco a real deal tele club. Meet the NoCo Kneedroppers! Story and photos by Nathaniel Atkinson

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