KINGFIELD, Maine — It feels like spring in much of Maine, but that doesn't mean the ski season is over. Instead, skiers and snowboarders can shed a layer while hitting the slopes.
As the end of the season approaches, The Maine Ski & Snowboard Museum will offer the last lecture in its Cocoa Chronicles series, focused on the women who have helped further the sport of skiing and snowboarding.
Museum president and historian Glenn Parkinson will venture into the world of mythology on April 8.
Skadi, the Norse goddess of winter and skiing, lived in the mountains. According to myth, Skadi married the sea god Njord but couldn't stand to live far from the mountains and so returned to them after only two weeks at the ocean.
The first published depiction of a woman skiing appears in a Swedish book by Olaus Magnus in 1555. Take a major leap in time to the women of Maine who have been involved in the teaching, setting up ski shops, and organizing the sport. One, Jean Luce from Sugarloaf, was instrumental in organizing racing nationally.
Maine has had a skier or coach in every winter Olympics since 1948, many of them women.
In the Beijing Winter Olympics, Sophia Laukli from Yarmouth competed in cross country skiing, adding her name to a long list of Maine women.
Julie Parisien grew up outside Auburn and competed in three Olympics.
"At one point she was ranked number one in the world," Parkinson said.
Whether the names are familiar or not, Parkinson hopes everyone walks away from the lecture knowing how integral women have been in the sport.