MITOC started as a bunch of skiers, and sking is still an important winter activity in the club. The club is most active in cross country skiing and backcountry skiing, and we rent skis for both. MITOC doesn't do downhill alpine skiing or rent alpine skis, but the Snowriders serve the MIT community in this area (we share the office, and there's some overlap in membership).
If you enjoy cross-country skiing, you may also be interested in www.xcskiworld.comwhich tries to cover everything related to cross-country skiing. Ofparticular interest may be their information on waxing your skis.
If you're the more competitive sort, check out the New England Nordic Ski Association's site. They are a comprehensive competition organizer for New England and link to local clubs.
In recent years, there has been a very active backcountry/ ski mountaineering community in MITOC, organized around the mitoc-bcski@mit.edu mailing list. Most of us call New Hampshire home, but we report out on trips all over the place.
If you enjoy hiking during the winter, but relish the thought of strapping skis or a board on your feet and schussing down the mountain instead of plodding your way down, this is the winter pursuit for you. Some skill and coordination required!
The club rents telemark skis and boots for backcountry skiing. We also have four pairs of skins for rental, as well as two pairs of Alpine Trekkers that allow regular alpine skis to be used with skins for efficient climbing. We also have avalanche shovels, but not beacons or probes.
Both MITOC cabins are located in prime locations for people wanted to ski the backcountry. Camelot is right around the corner from both Mt. Cardigan and Mt. Moosilauke, and Intervale is down the road from Doublehead and everything in the Presidentials, including Tuckerman Ravine and the Gulf of Slides.
Telemark skiing, both in the backcountry and some lift served, is a very popular activity with MITOC skiers. Telemark skiing is a style of downhill oriented skiing with bindings that connect the toe of a flexible boot to the ski. It is defined both by the equipment as well as the style of turn it uses (knees bent, one leg in front, one in back). Telemark has long been a popular mode of backcountry skiing (although randonee (alpine touring) and bc snowboarding are growing in popularity).
The club now rents a limited selection of telemark skis for backcountry skiing, including a few Atomic TM7s, several Alpina Cross Terrains, and a pair of Rossignol Hellgates. We have a fleet of Garmont Excursions, plastic tele boots aimed at the "touring for turns" segment (as opposed to big and burly downhill).
If you're interested in learning to tele, one of the best places to start is to by going with other MITOCers to one of New England Telemark's festivals. They offer free lessons with instructors and are always a lot of fun. MITOC has brought a crew to most of the festivals for the last couple years. Another outstanding organization is the North American Telemark Organization, which has a festival and does instruction.
Many club members frequent Telemark Tips and TelemarkEast