Boys Varsity Skiing
Program Overview
Varsity Ski Program
Gunn Varsity Skiing includes boys and girls teams that train together at Mohawk Mountain in Cornwall, Connecticut. Gunn competes in the Brigham Ski League — named in honor of Bob Brigham's 40 years of legendary coaching and leadership — alongside Taft, Suffield, Loomis Chaffee, Ethel Walker, Berkshire, Salisbury, Forman, Cheshire Academy, and Miss Porter's, as well as in the NEPSAC Class C division.
Both teams train Monday through Friday and race on Wednesdays, with dryland training starting in December and the racing season running through January and February. Races take place at venues across New England, including Sundown and Butternut. Gunn participates in the NEPSAC Class C Championships in mid-February concludes the season with two league championship races — the David Rockwell Giant Slalom Championship and the Carl Williams Slalom Championship — followed by the Brigham Ski League Awards Ceremony. Racing opportunities are also available at the junior varsity and recreational levels.
Varsity Skiing at Gunn is for student-athletes who love a challenge and like to ski fast — skiing proficiency is required, although racing experience is optional. The program fosters a love of skiing and ski racing through a family-like team atmosphere that lifts each racer up as a competitor, a teammate, and a member of the Gunn community, grounded in the school's cornerstones of scholarship, integrity, respect, and responsibility. Training covers everything that makes a high-performing skier — technique, tactics, conditioning, sportsmanship, equipment preparation, performance psychology, communication, collaboration, and personal growth — and every member of the team is valued as a person, student, and athlete.
Meet the Coaches
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Head CoachIn addition to assisting the Crew Team and coordinating The Frederick Gunn School’s Regattas, Sal is the Head Coach for the Boys and Girls Varsity Ski Teams and teaches U.S. History and in 2021, taught a popular Winterim course, "Revolutionaries, Spies and a Traitor." Outside of Gunn, he operates the Bicycle Tour Company, based in Kent. As an Independent Revolutionary War Historian, he authored two Experiential Learning Travel Guides. In August 2021, Sal’s led a 700-mile Bike and Kayak Tour, following the 1781 Route of the French and American Armies from Newport, Rhode Island to Yorktown, Virginia, supported in part by a grant from the National Park Service. While at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, he studied Economic Development in Sri Lanka and enjoyed rowing competitively.
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Assistant CoachMax Marchiony is a member of the Science Department faculty and an Assistant Coach for Gunn Rowing. Marchiony holds a bachelor’s degree in quantitative social science from Dartmouth College, where he was a four-year varsity oarsman for its Men’s Lightweight Rowing Team and a peer ski instructor. Prior to joining Gunn, Marchiony taught math and coached skiing, rowing, and soccer at Lawrence Academy. A Massachusetts native, he was a US Rowing Club National Champion, competing with the Wayland-Weston Rowing Association, and helped to lead his team at Weston High School to a State Championship. Fun fact: his great-great-grandfather, Italo Marchiony, invented the ice cream cone!
