The National Nordic Foundation (NNF) is proud to announce a new partnership with Lumi Experiences which will help provide the financial platform to continue the Trail to Gold Fellowship (T2G), inaugurated this year to provide talented US women coaches with World Cup coaching experience towards correcting a gender inequity in coaching at the top-level of the sport. Lumi Experiences, the world’s premier cross country ski travel company, will fund T2G Fellowships by donating a portion of each traveler’s entrée for their upcoming trips to the 2023 Nordic World Championships in Planica, Slovenia, available to book on  lumiexperiences.com. Book by October 31 and save $200/person.

This partnership represents a truly unique opportunity; travelers' experience supporting US skiing at next year’s World Championships will now simultaneously be charting a course for the future of that very US ski program. It is a partnership representative of the strong sense of continuity and camaraderie that courses through all of the US ski community, and one made possible by a unique perspective in that community. Lumi Experiences founder, Garrott Kuzzy, first experienced Planica during the course of his own development as a US Olympic skier, and had the insight to turn this experience geared at urging US skiers forward to something more than metaphor. With this partnership, travel in support of the US Ski Team will go directly towards making travel to support the US Ski Team a possibility for more promising coaches, from more places, across the country.

That mission in support of the Trail to Gold Fellowship is in keeping with its impetus. Trail to Gold: The Journey of 53 Women Skiers was a collective effort by a community of women skiers to tell each other’s stories, and in doing so, set a track for the next generation of US skiers to find success based on the themes and values represented by those who came before them. Their dedication, courage, and hard-work will be with each of the US athletes that takes the line at World Championships in Planica this February , and supporters will have the chance to help stoke that spirit as they experience it first-hand with Lumi Experiences.

Lumi Experiences’ support will make it possible for NNF to continue the Trail to Gold Fellowship next season, providing $3200 for three women coaches (a total contribution of $9,600) to complete a two-week internship with the US Ski Team during the 2023-24 World Cup season. This is an especially crucial contribution to making the T2G Fellowship a more permanent fixture of NNF programming, as the gender inequity present at the top-level of Nordic skiing coaching presents a need for persistent support of women coaches. Skiers who would like to support this Fellowship while also experiencing the full excitement around US skiing at the World Championships in Planica, Slovenia from February 20th-27th can find more information and reserve their spot on lumiexperiences.com. Book by October 31 and save $200/person.

Want to help support the NNF’s Trail to Gold Fellowship? Contact the  National Nordic Foundation