MIDDLEBURY — Middlebury College will host its 90th annual winter carnival this Friday and Saturday, Feb. 15 and 16. The Nordic races will be contested at the Rikert Nordic Center on the Bread Loaf campus in Ripton, while the alpine events will be held at the Middlebury College Snow Bowl up Route 125 in Hancock.
The carnival, which will feature some of the best skiers in the country, will be a prelude to the NCAA Skiing Championships, which Middlebury will host for the fifth time in school history. The Panthers will host the events at the Snow Bowl and Rikert Nordic Center from March 6-9. The Panthers previously hosted the event in 1961, 1972, 1988 and 2001.
The Winter Carnival schedule of events is as follows:
Friday, February 15
Alpine
9:30 a.m.  Men’s 1st run slalom followed immediately by women
12:30 p.m.      Men’s 2nd run slalom followed immediately by women
Nordic
10:00 a.m.      Women’s 5K Classic – Individual Start
11:30 a.m.      Men’s 10K Classic – Individual Start
Saturday, February 16
Alpine
9:30 a.m.  Women’s 1st run giant slalom followed immediately by men
12:30 p.m.      Women’s 2nd run giant slalom followed immediately by men
Nordic
10:00 a.m.      Men’s 20K Freestyle – Mass Start
12:30 a.m.      Women’s 15K Freestyle – Mass Start
Outside of the sports competition, Middlebury’s Winter Carnival will feature a bonfire, fireworks, snow sculptures, ice show, comedy club and the carnival ball. The bonfire and fireworks will be held on Battell Beach beginning at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 14. The ice show will be held at Kenyon Arena on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and again on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Admission to the ski events is free. Tickets for the Ice Show are available online at the Box Office website or with cash or check at the door.
BUS TO THE RACES
To accommodate spectators and participants of Middlebury College’s Winter Carnival, ACTR will run more frequent buses on its Snow Bowl route Friday, Feb. 15, and Saturday, Feb. 16. The regular commuter hours on this route for Friday remain unchanged.
Throughout both Friday and Saturday, ACTR will have 11 departures starting from Middlebury College’s Adirondack Circle. The first non-commuter bus will depart from Adirondack Circle at 9:10 a.m. and leave Merchants Row at the Middlebury green at 9:15 a.m. All buses will follow the usual Snow Bowl route through East Middlebury and Ripton. For the rest of the day, departures will be every 35 to 40 minutes.
At the end of the day, the last non-commuter return trip from the Snow Bowl will be as usual at 4 p.m. ACTR will have extra buses running for most of the two days to help spectators, skiers and other riders get to and from carnival events.