When it’s said that John Caldwell was the father of cross country skiing in America, it’s not a stretch, not by any means an exaggeration. There is an absolutely direct line from his ideas about and love for the sport and from his book The Cross Country Ski Book (1964) through to this year’s Olympics, to Bill Koch, Tim Caldwell, Bob Gray, Martha Rockwell, Jessie Diggins, Julia Kern, Ben Ogden, Sverre Caldwell, Sophie Caldwell and the Stratton Mountain School, to name a few. And not to mention the extended Caldwell clan, the first family of nordic skiing in the US, which continues to have an impact. And, just as importantly, his influence extended to your local ski touring center or local trails, and your high school or middle school ski program, even if you might not have thought about it in that way. All because he planted the seed.
He could wax eloquent about technique and strategy but somewhere in that book (I can’t find my copy!) he says, simply, something like: “I’ll say it again: It’s fun.”
His involvement spread from Dartmouth, the 1952 Olympics and the Putney School, where he taught and coached, spanning the era of wooden skis with balsa cores that would snap in a corner; giant wool-clad editions of the Washington’s Birthday Ski Race; the 1970s knicker-clad boom in ski touring; to the US ski team, the advent of skating, wildly sophisticated ski technology, and the European-model local club system that has transformed US cross country ski racing. RIP, John Caldwell, and thanks for everything.
Photos: John Caldwell at the 2019 nationals in Craftsbury; Bob Gray, Tim Caldwell, Bill Koch at the 2018 Super Tour Finals in Craftsbury; Sverre and Sophie Caldwell and racers you may recognize, Craftsbury 2018; The Book.
