After almost a decade as Plain Valley Nordic Team head coach, Pierre Niess heads to the University of Utah; Gorman hired

Henry Gorman has been named the Program Director & Head Coach of Plain Valley Ski Team.

COURTESY OF THE UNH SKI TEAM

PLAIN - Pierre Niess arrived as the new head coach of the fledgling Plain Valley Ski Team (PVNT) in 2015 without having set eyes on the Upper Valley. PVNT’s founder, Rob Whitten, had recruited the Strasbourg, France native from the University of New Mexico, where he was a student assistant coach. 

Beginning with a race roster of no more than a half-dozen eager but green skiers with little chance of winning local, let alone regional or national races, Niess methodically built a racing powerhouse. While simultaneously helping to develop the Plain Valley Ski Trails’ system into courses suited to both public use and training grounds for high-end racing, Niess grew the three-layered team to over 120 strong, which now boasts an alumnus on the U.S. national team, a junior national champion, numerous multiple-time All Americans, and a junior club ranking of 13th in the nation.

“Challenge, learn, repeat” is the mantra and training philosophy that Niess used with PVNT. “Now is the time for me to find a new challenge,” he stated while explaining his decision to take the Head Nordic Coach position with the University of Utah, which has won five of the last NCAA Championships, sent four skiers to the 2022 Olympics, and has more than a half-a-dozen current and former racers on this year’s U.S. national team.

As for leaving PVNT, Niess reflected: “For me, it’s been a privilege – the chance of a lifetime to find meaning in seeing a generation grow. So, I’ll always be grateful to have been part of this and will always be a fan of PVNT. It’s not very often that you find the chance to create something that mirrors your personal values.

PVNT’s future remains bright. Three All Americans are returning this year, and there is a real chance they will all shine at the U.S. Senior National Championships in Anchorage in January. 

They will be led there by the new PVNT Program Director & Head Coach, Henry Gorman, who, coincidentally, was born and raised in Utah and skied in college for the University of New Hampshire before coaching at the high school level in Alaska. 

Gorman told PVNT that he is “excited to be taking on the coaching helm . . . The program and I share fundamental values about skiing and the immense good it can provide for kids that have the opportunity to participate. I personally benefited in a myriad of ways from pursuing ski racing and saw how it affected so many others positively. Being the head coach for PVNT will allow me to share a sport, lifestyle, and community that has been the best part of my life. 

Niess takes over for the Utes on August 1st; Gorman arrives in Plain mid-July. 

Caroline Menna is an intern for Ward Media and a rising senior (Class of 2025) at Cascade High School. She will serve as Editor-in-Chief of the Cascade High School Publications Group for the 2024-2025 academic year.