Wong visit to Nashoba not to be missed
School vacation week is nearly here. If only, you think now, you’d taken the time to make some special plans, you have might even pulled of something spectacular, right? Something the kids — and you — will savor as a core memory. If only.
Help is here. Because next week at Nashoba Valley Ski Area (https://skinashoba.com) freestyle skiing legend (and we don’t use the word “legend” lightly; he’s the real deal) Wayne Wong will be on snow every day from Feb. 19-22 to ski with Nashoba guests.
That’s right: For the price of a lift ticket, you can carve turns, learn some classic tricks (or just see some; Wong’s still got it), hear stories about the birth and rise of freestyle skiing and just plain have a ball.
Wong has been visiting Nashoba pretty much annually for more than two decades. His friendship with the Fletcher family, who have long owned and operated Nashoba, runs deep.
Wong, who was a central and celebrated guest at both the recent Freestyle World Cup at Waterville Valley, New Hampshire and the World Cup at Deer Valley, Utah (where a new 70sthemed mountaintop bar not only features photos of Wong but has a signature cocktail in his name), was Skiing Magazine’s 1972 Free Skier of the Year and has, since the early 70s, been both a pioneer and voice of the freestyle skiing movement.
They called it hotdogging back then, and folks still like to call it “Skiing the Wong way” to this day. His mark on skiing is indelible; and all of skiing is thankful for that.
At Nashoba, Wong will be on hand all day those days, and while exact times are not set in stone, he’ll be heading out and hopping lifts with guests on and off all day.
Wong still loves skiing like they just fell in love. Skiing with him is like an endorphine boost for your own relationship with skiing. His passion and pure joy rubs off quickly.
In other words, it’s a special ski experience worth making happen.
Advice? Choose your day and reserve your lift ticket on line now — holiday weeks can get busy and knowing you have a ticket eases your mind (and booking ahead often saves a few bucks).
If you’re bringing your kids, do some (fun) research ahead of time. Share stories and photos (and videos!) of Wong’s great feats. Next, have them look up “Wong Banger” so they can both chat up Wong about that signature move of his and ask him for tips to learn it. For extra credit, have your kids ready to drop some of that old-school freestyle lingo. It adds to the vibe of the experience.
And then, the night before you head up to meet the legend himself, watch the classic film “Hot Dog,” in which Wong appears and which very well could have been born of his 70s fame.
Nashoba Valley is in Westford, about 45 minutes from Boston proper. You can make a day and evening of it. There are ski and ride lessons, a fabulous base lodge with both casual and sit down dining, a huge tubing park and more.