John Morton

John Morton grew up in Walpole, New Hampshire, where he skied all four disciplines for the Tilton School. At Middlebury College he specialized in cross-country, winning the Eastern Intercollegiates in 1966 and 1968, and placing second at the 1968 NCAAs. Morton then served in the Army, mostly training at the US Biathlon Training Center in Fort Richardson, Alaska, but served a tour of duty in Vietnam as a mobile advisory team leader. He later taught high school English and coached track and skiing in Anchorage.

But in 1978 he was named head ski coach at Dartmouth, serving in that position thru 1989. He retired from that position to start writing about cross-country skiing, and he also began designing Nordic ski trails. Morton has also designed trails for cross-country running, mountain biking and equestrian sports. He has designed competition venues for the World Winter University Games and biathlon World Cups. He has also continued to write for several ski publications and is a ski commentator for Vermont Public Radio.