The mission of Far West Nordic Ski Education Association (Far West Nordic for short) is to promote the sport of cross country skiing. We accomplish this mission by:

• Strongly encouraging communication within our small part of the world
• Providing opportunities for athlete skill development
• Providing coaches education
• Selecting Junior, Senior and Master Regional Teams
• Promoting Cross Country Ski Racing
• Interacting with other divisions and organizations that have similiar objectives

We follow the age guidelines set down years ago by the United States Ski Association. Namely, Juniors are 19 and under, Seniors are 20 to 29 and Masters are 30 and over.

• Communication - We produce a regular general membership newsletter, a occasional junior newsletter, a yearly full-color tabloid magazine, and keep this web site updated regularly. We heavily subsidize our membership newsletter since it is the only means of communication in California and Nevada and the only way to bring the cross country ski community together. Our junior newsletter is specific for juniors is free.
• Development - this encompasses both athlete development and coaches development since both are strongly related. Starting with athlete development, our strong suit, we have something for just about any age. Here is were the age groups come in.
• • Elementary School Program - Far West supports grade school programs by providing coaches clinics, communications, and information to coaches and parents.
• • Middle/High School Program - Look to the event schedule for information as it becomes available. To get involved contact your local school of choice and join the Team. The California Nevada Interscholastic Ski Federation or CNISSF CNISSF Race Schedule has already been determined. For athletes that want to get more training we offer a full venue of events which are listed on our Junior Page.
• • Senior Division Program - Far West is striving to create programs for skiers in the senior division (20-29 years old). Please stay tuned for more details.
• • Master Program - This is a bright part of Far West. Our masters tend to be heavy metal collectors at Masters Nationals and World Masters. The masters get together in the early winter (December) and put on weekend camp. At the end of the season the Masters Team is named based on the citizen's Races held during the season.
• Regional Team Selections - Far West Nordic is 'authorized' by the United States Ski Association to select a team for Junior Olympic,s and we name a Master's Team (anyone can enter Master's Nationals). To fairly select a Junior Olympic team the Junior committee sets up the qualification proceedures in the Spring and sends them to every junior athlete we know of. The proceedures are describe fully on the Junior Page but simply there are a series of chosen qualifing races and athletes qualify based on their time relative to their peers.
• Promoting cross country racing - We sponsor and support two race series currently. The first, the Sierra Ski Chase is to encourage participation. You receive a t-shirt for completing a minimum of the races listed. Participants are also awared 'place' points for their finish and 'age' points to make the younger racers work harder. The second is the Fischer Cup Series. Here the fastest skiers gets the big prizes. The regional resorts put about three dozen open or Citizen's Races during the season. There is usually something going on every weekend. All of these races are discussed fully on the Race Schedule Page.
• Interaction with other divisions and organizations.
• • Within our region there are huge variety of organizations from local clubs, Middle and High School Teams, Cross Country Ski Resorts, University Teams, Ski Shops and ski product Representatives. This group is collectively referred to as Far West. You can see Far West Nordic is only a small part of Far West cross country skiing.
• • Far West Nordic also interacts with other divisions and clubs/organizations for our out-of-region junior trips. We also have a presence at the USSA Convention to voice our opinion.