By: Blair Mahar

Quarterly Newsletter of The Thunderbolt Ski Runners THE NEEDLE’S EYE Summer 2013

After years of frustrations with our old website we are happy to announce that one of our TSR members has been working hard behind the scenes this summer to organize a new Thunderbolt Ski Runners website for our members. The new site has borrowed from the look and feel of our old site, yet incorporates many new and updated features that will help TSR manage and run the business side of our organization while also providing a way for members to login and interact on the site. We hope you will all sign in and contribute once the new website is fully operational. Moving forward, all notices and postings about TSR events, races and volunteer opportunities will be coordinated and sent via the new website which is also linked to our Facebook page and twitter accounts. We look forward to engaging with club members on a more proactive basis from here on out!

A New Website Coming in September

40 years after being wounded in action during WWII, Bill Linscott returned to Europe during a reunion trip and came face to face with a part of his past.

Bill Lincott’s U.S. Army Canteen Cup Bill Lincott’s U.S. Army Canteen Cup P. 2

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The Remarkable Story of Bill Linscott’s Canteen Cup

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By: Heather Linscott

Though he had no way of knowing it, as a young boy cutting his teeth skiing on the Thunderbolt in the late 1930’s, my Dad, Bill Linscott, was destined to serve in the 10th Mountain Division during WWII. His father, my grandfather, was the president of The Thunderbolt Ski Club and was responsible for teaching many of the local boys how to perfect the Arlberg Technique. Bill was soon making a name for himself skiing and racing on the Thunderbolt. In 1942, at the age of 16, Bill won the Massachusetts Downhill Championship race, and within a year he was serving with the 10th at Camp Hale in Colorado. Born to be a Ski Trooper, this would not be Bill’s last brush with destiny. On April 1, 1945 Private 1st Class Bill Linscott was standing outside of his foxhole on Mt. Della Spe in the Italian Alps with some of his fellow 10th Mountain Division troops. The shelling the men had been taking all day had stopped for a while and the G.I.’s were enjoying the chance be outside of their foxholes. A few moments later a random incoming shell exploded nearby and killed all of the men around Bill. Bill did not escape unscathed; he was hit by shrapnel and wood splinters on his left side. Bleeding and in pain, company medics stripped him of his gear as they prepared to triage and evacuate their wounded brother off the mountain. Bill soon ended up in a hospital in Naples where he spent 3 months recovering from his wounds before being sent home in June of 1945. (continued on page 3)

Bill Linscott (left) and his brother Don training with the 10th at Camp Hale.

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(continued from page 2) Like many World War II veterans in 1985, Bill travelled back to Europe to participate in ceremonies marking the 40th Anniversary of the end of the war. Back in Italy after 40 years, my Dad got a very special war souvenir during that trip that he did not expect. The little Italian village which hosted the 10th Mountain reunion loved the Americans, and they held a big banquet for the boys who had freed them from the Nazis. The mountain troopers, now in their 50’s, had planned tours and hikes while they were visiting villages in the area. Some of the guys thought it would be fun to hike up into the nearby hillsides and see if they could find their foxholes and some places where they fought. On the way back from this hike the guys stopped to talk to a farmer’s wife and they noticed something in a nearby chicken coop that looked vaguely familiar. One of them reached in and pulled out an aluminum cup that looked like one of their WWII issue US G.I. canteen cups. Upon examining the cup closer they discovered that the name LINSCOTT was hand engraved into the bottom of the cup. They offered the woman money for the cup but she refused. Bill was not on the hike that day and they delighted in the thought of playing this up and surprising Bill at the banquet that was to be held later that evening back in town. As dinner was being served Bill was called up to the front of the hall…”PFC Linscott! Front and center!” Bill could not figure out why he was being summoned up to the front of this banquet hall. One of his former commanders read a citation to him for losing U.S. government property through “excess negligence and carelessness” and was ordered to pay a $120 fine. He was astonished and could not figure out what he had done. Bill was handed a box and soon discovered his tarnished canteen cup that he had lost 40 years prior after have been wounded on Mt. Della Spe. He was overtaken by emotion seeing this familiar object that he lost so many years ago with his name on it. Bill hung onto the cup and delighted in telling the story of how he got it back for many years. He later donated the cup to the Colorado History Museum which houses an enormous archive of WWII 10th Mountain Division gear, paperwork, unit histories, and ephemera. In 2011, Blair Mahar, founder of the Thunderbolt Ski Museum, was able to track down the cup and bring it back to Adams where it now sits on display in Bill’s hometown of Adams, MA.

PFC Linscott breaks for chow during a lull in combat somewhere in Italy.

Bill donates his canteen cup to the Colorado History Museum.

Bill’s canteen cup on display in the Thunderbolt Ski Museum.

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Bill Linscott raced in the 1940 Massachusetts State Championship at age 14 and came in dead last. Two years and hundreds of runs down the Thunderbolt later he took first place in the 1942 Mass Downhill Championship race. His name was engraved on the Governor’s Trophy along side the previous champs Dick Durrance, Alex Bright, Robert Livermore, and Toni Matt, all of who were among the best skiers in the country.

AT A GLANCE

DID YOU KNOW?

TSR Elects New Officers A New President and VP Take The Helm in 2013

PRESIDENT: Paul Chojnowski took up snowboarding just eight years ago and began to "earn his turns" at backcountry venues in New York and New England during the last six winters. He has been an active member of the Trail Crew and Movie Night Committee and a volunteer for the annual Thunderbolt Race from the beginning. A mountain biker when he first returned to the Berkshires he now spends most the cycling season on his road bike. Paul continues to produce and exhibit art while working as an outdoor guide at a local time share resort. His son Truman (the veteran snowboarder in the family) is studying electrical engineering at WPI and looks forward to his first Thunderbolt race in 2014.

VICE PRESIDENT: Heather is a fitness teacher at the Berkshire Arts & Technology Charter School in Adams, MA and daughter of Thunderbolt

legend Bill Linscott. She enjoys backcountry skiing, hiking, and camping on Mt. Greylock, in the Whites, Vermont, and in Colorado. Heather is also spends time exploring the coasts and waterways of Alaska and Maine by sea kayak. Heather is the founder of the Mt. Greylock Go-Round and placed twice in her age group in the Vermont 50 Mtn. Bike race. She is also a founding member of TSR.

TREASURER: Matt is a former naval architect turned math and science teacher at McCann Technical School with a growing interest in sustainability engineering. An accomplished alpine skier, Matt has skied the Northeast, Southeast, Austrian Alps, Dolomites, and Sierra Nevadas. In 2012 Matt became a Long Trail End-to-Ender and can be spotted hiking with his wife, cat, and newborn daughter. Matt also enjoys canoeing on the Hoosic River, growing fruit trees, and turning house projects into complicated algebraic equations. Know as “Uncle Matt” by his TSR pals, Matt puts in long hours behind the scenes of the club doing the jobs that don’t often get recognized by the public.

Sgt. At Arms: Blair Mahar is a Biology teacher and girls varsity soccer coach at Hoosac Valley High School in Adams, MA. He served a tour in the desert with the US Air Force during Desert Storm and returned home to the

Berkshires in 1996 where he now lives with his wife, 2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 9 chickens. Blair produced the Thunderbolt documentary Purple Mountain Majesty in 1999 and is a founding member of the Thunderbolt Ski Runners, serving as TSR president for 3 years and as Thunderbolt Race Director in 2010 and 2011. Blair has skied throughout the Northeast and in Germany, Austria and Italy. He enjoys mtn. biking, reading, working on old tractors, and a cold Mtn. Dew.

TSR Board of Directors In addition to TSR’s slate of officers, there are 4 members who serve on the board of directors:

Rich Adamczyk Dave Childs Josh Chittenden Steve Sauvé

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Contact Info: PO Box 171 Adams, MA, 01220

Thunderbolt Ski Runners

info@thunderboltskirunners.org

President – Paul Chojnowski Vice President – Heather Linscott Treasurer – Matt Barlin Secretary – Blair Mahar Board of Directors

• Rich Adamczyk • Dave Childs • Josh Chittenden • Steve Sauvé

“To Preserve the Integrity and Continue the Legacy of the Thunderbolt Ski Run”

All current TSR members are good through September of 2013. If you receive an automated “Membership Renewal” e-mail from

us please just ignore it. We will kick off a membership drive for all members in September on our brand new website.

Date taken: Unknown Location: Thunderbolt Description: A dashing looking George Verow shows excellent form…forward lean, knees bent, eyes down the fall line…in this classic snaphot taken on the Thunderbolt probably in the late 30’s. George served as forerunner for the early Thunderbolt races and was a member of the Ski Runners of Adams. He also appeared in the Thunderbolt documentary Purple Mountain Majesty in 1999.

PO Box 171 Adams, MA, 01220