Author: Noah Hoffman

I had two one hour workouts yesterday. I classic skied in the morning and skated in the afternoon. There was an inversion. It was warm up at our hotel but cold (single digits Fahrenheit) at the venue.

I am always impressed with the size of the production for a World Cup race. It looks like a construction zone. They have to set up tons of tents and wax cabins.

They were also still making snow yesterday.

The trails weren’t really groomed. Also, not too many of the trails are lit which made the afternoon workout a little tedious.

Instead of doing lots of small laps I skied up the alpine area so I could take some turns coming down.

Also, the wax room wasn’t heated all day. It was a rough day on the techs. I noticed they didn’t spend too much time in there.

Yesterday evening I played cards with the girls on my team. We played Up and Down the River.

Lastly, here’s the video from Sunday’s 15km skate race in Muonio, Finland.

Here’s some awesome video our physical therapist Tara Fontenot took of Saturday’s classic race in Muonio Finland:

And here’s a picture Brian Fish took of me in Sunday’s Skate Race:

Yesterday morning I skated for a little over two hours. It was a beautiful day with a gorgeous sunrise:

One of the best I’ve ever seen:

I even managed to find the sun out on the trail!

Briefly!

It was really nice skiing.

Yesterday afternoon we drove the three hours from Muonio to Gällivare, Sweden. Last year we ran out of gas on this drive. This year we learned our lesson and filled up before we left. There’s not much out there (people, houses, shops…anything).

(By the way, the sunset around here looks very similar to the sunrise. They are only about two hours apart.) In Gällivare we are staying at the Dundrit hotel above town and the venue. We have a nice view of the city from here.

Gällivare is where I raced my first European World Cup two years ago. I had an outstanding race. I finished 31st. I really enjoy the course here and am looking forward to racing it again this weekend.

Yesterday’s 15km individual start skate race in Muonio was better for me than the classic race on Saturday. The conditions were challenging. It was above freezing and we got about an inch of new snow the night before the race. The whole course was foggy; It was hard to tell where the trail went on some of the downhills because everything was white. We were skiing through suspended water. The course developed a glaze. (That is hard packed but a little punchy. Snow covered roads sometimes develop a glaze when they look shinny and slick.) It was hard snow to balance and stand on. Traditionally I have done very poorly in these conditions. I tend to “try too hard” and my legs tense up. Yesterday I did a better job of staying relaxed and putting power into the snow at the right time. Here’s the view at the start:

Here’s my coach Jason Cork heading out to test skis with me:

Here’s a picture my teammate Holly Brooks took of me (left) during the race:

I ended up in 13th place, a minute and twenty seconds behind the winner Matti Heikkinen. Full results are here. Considering the conditions and the flat course (which doesn’t suit my strengths) I am happy with the way it went. Yesterday represented a big improvement for me in races with similar conditions. I am looking forward to taking another step forward at the World Cup next week.

In the afternoon my teammates and I ran to town (about 3 miles) then did strength.

Last night we went to the new James Bond movie (in English!) at a surprisingly large theater here at our hotel. It was totally worth the 9 Euros we each had to pay.

Gunnar Caldwell, Zach’s son, drilled me in one of the toughest interviews I’ve ever done. Zach put together this video:

I didn’t achieve the result I was looking for in the first race of the season yesterday, a 10 km classic race in Muonio, Finland. I executed my plan well, so I am not too disappointed. I  finished in 30th place, one minute behind race winner Alexey Poltoranin. I believe I skied well on the climbing sections of the course but struggled on the flats. This course is one of the flattest we will race all season. I have worked hard to improve my flat skiing but still have a lot of work to do. My teammate, Kris Freeman, finished fourth. Here’s the podium:

Above from right to left: Jens Filbrich (Germany, 3rd), Alexey Poltoranin (Kazakhstan, 1st), Lukas Bauer (Czech Republic, 2nd), Kris Freeman (USA, 4th), and Keishin Yoshida (Japan, 6th). (Not pictured: Niklas Colliander, Finland, 5th). Full results here.

Thanks to our wax techs for hard work on our skis!

After the race, Kris enjoyed his electronic devices (computer, ipad, ipod, phone, and insulin monitor for his diabetes):

I am looking forward to the 15km skate race today. I have refocused on what I need to do. The only thing that matters is that I execute well. My coach, Zach Caldwell of Caldwell Sport put together this video of my technique block last week in Putney, Vermont. The video helped me relax, gain confidence, and focus on the things I need to do to go fast.

The Muonio 10km classic race, my first race of the year, starts in a couple of hours. I took a bunch of photos of the sprint race rounds yesterday afternoon. My teammate Andy Newell ended up 4th and Simi Hamilton finished 8th. In the women’s race Ida Sargent finished 5th and Jessie Diggins finished 29th. Here are pictures:

Above: Jessie Diggins in her quarterfinal.

Above: Andy Newell in his quarterfinal.

Above: Ida Sargent in her quarterfinal.

Above: Justyna Kowalczyk (the second best female skier in the world) winning semifinal two.

Above: Justyna Kowalczyk on one of the technical downhills on the sprint course. Kowalczyk is know for being a terrible downhill skier, but she has actually improved substantially in the last couple of seasons.

Above: Ida Sargent (right) and Justyna Kowalczyk in their semifinal.

Above: Justyna Kowalczyk (left) and Ida Sargent (center) starting their semifinal.

Above: Simi Hamilton starting his quarterfinal.

Above: Simi Hamilton

Above: Simi Hamilton finishing his quarterfinal.

Above: Simi Hamilton post finish.

Above: Andy Newell at the start of his quarterfinal.

Above: Andy Newell (second) on one of the technical downhills on the sprint course.

Above: Andy Newell winning his quarterfinal.

Above: Justyna Kowalczyk winning her quarterfinal.

Above: Ida Sargent at the start of her quarterfinal.

Above: Ida Sargent

Above: Ida Sargent using herringbone technique (a classic technique used on very steep terrain) to the finish of her quarterfinal.

Above: Ida Sargent after crossing the finish line of her quarterfinal.

Above: Jessie Diggins near the start of her quarterfinal.

Above: Jessie Diggins on one of the fast downhills on the sprint course.

I took a trip into the town of Muonio yesterday with my teammates Liz Stephen (left below) and Holly Brooks. Town is about 3 miles away from the ski hill where we are staying.

It was a beautiful sunset at 2 p.m. We went to the local ski shop and met the owner, Juhani. He is a friend of Dave Knoop from Park City, Utah. Dave is the head of the National Nordic Foundation. Juhani was incredibly friendly and generous. He gave each of us pocket knives inscribed with the name of his shop.

I watched a trash truck emptying a dumpster on a walk yesterday. It pulled a giant bag out of the can that was at least three times as long as the can itself:

We got limited amounts of blue ski yesterday.

Kris Freeman got into “Movember” for about three hours before he had to shave it off because he “couldn’t look at (himself) in the mirror.”

Our girls team, including Aino-Kaisa Saarinen (World Champion from Finland) took a picture with their bracelets showing support for Mary Robicheaux, a skier from Alaska who got hit by a car while biking this summer:

Today is the first race of the season for many of my teammates, a classic sprint race. On the men’s side, Andy Newell won the qualifying this morning and Simi Hamilton was ninth. On the women’s side, Ida Sargent was fifth and Jessie Diggins was thirtieth. All four athletes will ski the heats this afternoon. When results are posted, they will be at the Ski Muonio website.

I have my first race of the year tomorrow, a 10km classic race. I am not feeling very confident because it’s been so long since I did a real race. I am focusing on execution which includes skiing with good technique and starting the race under control. A good result will probably be a top-20 finish.

Afternoon skiing here in Muonio, Finland means skiing in the dark. Here’s my teammate Kris Freeman heading out for a session:

Most of the trails around here are lit.

The US Ski Team has been having fun since being back together as a team. I’ll let you know how we’re doing after five months together. Here’s my Ski and Snowboard Club Vail teammate Sylvan Ellefson:

Sylvan, Simi Hamilton, and Andy Newell are growing Movember mustaches:

The food here in Muonio is delicious. Here’s Jessie Diggin’s bowl of oatmeal with lingonberries:

And my bowl of cereal:

I’ve been doing physical therapy on my left shoulder with Tara Fontenot.

Sometimes we have to get creative with the tools we use. We used a fireplace tool as a weight:

I owe a huge thanks to Tara for making the trip over here.

I had the morning off of training. Here’s Ida Sargent doing speed:

Ida and most of my teammates were getting ready for the sprint race tomorrow.

I am not racing tomorrow, but I will do both distance races this weekend. There are some really good skiers here. On the women’s side, Justyna Kowalczyk, the second best female skier in the world was out training today:

Yesterday we had blue skies here in Muonio, Finland. The sun never hits our side of the mountain. (The mountain is not very big, but the sun doesn’t get high in the sky north of the arctic circle.) Some of the ski trails go around the mountain, and there was some sun on the other side. The temperature has been in the teens and twenties. The skiing is awesome. Here’s my teammate Holly Brooks coming back from LUNCH!

All of the men: Kris Freeman, Tad Elliott, Andy Newell, Simi Hamilton, Sylvan Ellefson, and myself are in one three bedroom, one bathroom cabin. It’s very nice and comfortable.

Sylvan and Simi are sleeping up in the loft. Here’s Sylvan:

Today was a little more overcast. Here’s Kris heading out for a ski:

And here’s Liz Stephen leading Ida Sargent and Jason Cork:

The scene is a little grey around here.

After skiing most of the team headed into town.

We stopped by the local middle school to meet the kids.

The kids were a little shy at first when we were up in front talking to them.

But they were more involved one on one.

We got to know them a little bit. I imagine growing up in Muonio could be tough at times.

It was a big group.

We signed some autograph cards for them.

I also collected their signatures.

And Sylvan signed some foreheads:

I signed some forearms.

And we took some pictures with them.

After we went to the grocery store. Newell enjoyed the kids section.

Kris Freeman and I had an easy travel day yesterday. All of our flights were on time, and we got all of our bags. We met some of our teammates in Frankfurt and the rest in Helsinki. I couldn’t stay awake on the flight from Frankfurt to Helsinki or the flight from Helsinki to Rovaniemi. Luckily I was still able to sleep through the night last night. We have a much bigger cargo truck this year than we did last year. Here’s our wax technician Oleg Ragilo loading it up:

It was very wintry in Rovaniemi.

We are psyched to have our former team physical therapist Tara Fontenot back with us for this trip:

Our first stop in Finland was at McDonalds!

I brought a bunch of little bags of different currencies I have collected from past trips. It is nice to have some money when you step off the plane.

On the three hour drive from Rovaniemi to Muonio, we went through Levi which hosted the Alpine World Cup this past weekend. Two years ago we were in Muonio for the Levi World Cup and were able to go to the race. I’m bummed we missed it this year. 17 year old Mikaela Shiffrin from Vail was third on Saturday. It would have been really fun to see that. The mountain looks sweet:

I woke up in Putney, Vermont this morning hoping to pack and get one more technique ski in with Zach Caldwell. (It may be a stretch to call it “this morning”. It’s currently 6:55 a.m. on Monday here in Frankfurt, Germany, 12:55 a.m. in Putney, but I haven’t slept a wink since “this morning”.) We ended up having too much packing to do, so we didn’t do the session. It’s not the end of the world, but I don’t feel that we got very much closure on the new technique cues we developed this week. But we had a lot of packing to do! Here’s Zach sorting out my skis:

We packed all of my racing skis for the winter. We also packed the entire fleets of my teammates Sylvan Ellefson and Tad Elliott. Then we packed all of Kris Freeman’s skis that  came back to the U.S. this summer. Lastly, we have two pairs of Holly Brook’s skis and a pair for the World Cup Salomon rep. In all, we have 65 pairs of skis in four ski bags. One bag is 70lbs and the other three are around 50lbs. Here’s a cool shot Zach took of me with Tom Troutner who is wrestling some skis into a bag:

My incredibly generous friend Brayton Osgood (left below) drove me and all of the stuff to Boston. Brayton was home for the weekend visiting his parents. He was heading back to Boston where he is studying Accounting at Northeastern. He left home a day early to help me get to the airport.

In Boston we met up with Kris. Kris and I checked in on Lufthansa with seven total bags, just about all of which were at least a little bit overweight. Our agent was nice to us, not weighing a single bag. We got them all checked to Rovaniemi for $300; a steal! The first flight from Boston to Frankfurt was fast and easy; it was less than six and a half hours in the air. I spent most of the flight reading The Hunger Games. I finished the book just as we landed.

We officially entered the EU.

Now we are enjoying free food, drink, and internet in the Lufthansa lounge. There are some perks to flying a lot!

This morning I spent a couple of hours cutting my poles down and getting everything set up exactly how I like it. I’m travelling to the World Cup tomorrow with six pairs of poles.

Zach Caldwell and I did one skate technique session today. Zach road his bike while I roller skied. I like having Zach on a bike better than in a car because it is easier for him to communicate with me so I get more consistent feedback.

I spent the afternoon writing more than 25 thank you cards for our fundraiser last week.

This evening I went to a very fun birthday party for Chris Osgood.

Tonight was my last real social activity for the next three weeks with friends that aren’t skiers. I’m going to miss hanging out with people who do something different than myself.

I had a good skate technique session with my coach Zach Caldwell this morning. The new technique cues that I developed yesterday were easy to incorporate today. I was nervous and not very confident about my skate skiing coming into this technique block. We are focusing on skate and will probably not classic again after the short session we did yesterday. Skating yesterday and today went well. I’m feeling more prepared, ready to race next week and ready for the whole World Cup Season than I was when I arrived in Putney.

I also got my passport today so now I can actually leave for Finland on Sunday!

It has been at the Russian Consulate in Washington D.C. getting my visa for the World Cup in Sochi.

It made it here with one day to spare. Kris Freeman’s also got shipped here. We are on the same flight to Frankfurt on Sunday, so I will bring it to him (probably).

Today I went to see Gunnar Caldwell’s (Zach’s son’s) class at The Grammar School.

I have visited this class of kids several times. Today we played a version of capture the flag called “Go for 20″. Each team begins the game guarding 10 flags. The goal is to get all 20 to your side. I also showed them some pictures of my recent travels.

And I showed them where I live.

Here I am in the awesome Grammar School T-shirt they gave me:

This evening I went to Jake and Eve Mcdermott’s house for dinner. Jake and Eve are incredibly generous every time I come to Putney. I always get to go to their house for a great home-cooked meal. Today I also got to meet their cute new puppy:

She was fun to play with!

This morning I did skate technique work with my coach Zach Caldwell. We had a good session. I was a little tired from the travel yesterday, but my energy was good. We developed two new technique cues: “push to extension with hands” in V2 and V2 Alternate. This means I release my hands down and don’t push them back. When I push my hands back my elbows stay bent and my shoulders hunch up. The second new cue is “low to high” for V2 Alternate. This means I get deep in my knee on the off side and come up high on the poling side. Both of these cues are very intuitive to me and clicked easily. We’ll test them again tomorrow.

This afternoon my US Ski Team teammate Ida Sargent came to Putney from northern Vermont. She did max classic intervals. I skied with her. It was a good opportunity for me to practice skiing as easily as possible at a given pace, and it was good for her because I was able to push her. Zach put together a great video of the session:

This evening I had dinner at my good friends the Osgoods. Then I got crushed in a game of scrabble.

I woke up at my grandparent’s house in beautiful Castle Rock, Colorado today.

My mom and grandmother dropped me off at the airport this morning with lots of gear.

They are doing lots at Denver International Airport.

They are building a train station for the Light Rail that will connect downtown Denver with the airport. (They are also building a hotel and public plaza.) I am excited because soon I will be able to have my grandparents drop me off at a station 10 minutes from their house and I can take the train all the way to the airport. It is currently a 45 minute drive each way and costs $10 in tolls.

I flew from Denver to Cleveland then to Hartford, Connecticut. The travel was easy. My skis didn’t make it, but hopefully they’ll get here tomorrow. I was shocked to get off the plane in Hartford and have it be winter!

Amy Caldwell of Caldwell Sport, my coach Zach’s wife, came to get me at the airport. It is an hour and fifteen minute drive each way. I owe the Caldwells more than I could ever hope to repay.

I came bearing gifts for Zach from the US Ski Team including a giant High Sierra gear bag. Zach and Amy’s son Gunnar wanted to test if it’s big enough:

Big enough, he determined.

There were also presents waiting here for me, including my supply of Honey Stinger to keep me from going hungry on the World Cup:

I am supper psyched to be back in Putney. It is as much home for me as anywhere. I am looking forward to seeing all of my great friends in the area!

This morning I skate roller skied with my Team Homegrown teammates up Vail pass. We did a loop around town first. The whole session took two and a half hours. We started in Vail at 8,150′ (2,484 meters) and ended at the top of the pass at 10,662′ (3,250 meters). The road and bike path up the pass are newly paved which made for great skiing! Some of the juniors on the team were a little beat at the end. Here’s Ian Boucher:

And here are Sam Tarling (right) and Tony Ryerson:

It was gorgeous on top of the pass.

And we had doughnuts at the top!

After the ski, my mom and I drove down to my grandparents house in Castle Rock (just south of Denver). It is really fun to see my grandparents for the first time in several months. It feels like fall, not winter here. I was comfortable in shorts and t-shirt and some leaves are still on the trees.

Tomorrow I will fly to Putney, Vermont to work on technique with my coach Zach Caldwell.

I had a long day. We (Team Homegrown) did 6 by 3:30 classic intensity this morning in Eagle. It was a good hard session. I was not skiing as fast as my teammates Sylvan Ellefson and Ryan Scott. I am getting better at not putting too much stake in roller ski races and workouts. However, those guys are in really good shape and I’m looking forward to watching them this season.

We have trained in Eagle four of the last five days. After each session, we stopped into HP’s Provisions for a post workout snack. Today, they put out a sign welcoming us! Here’s Sylvan (with one of my postcards that we gave to them):

And then I got to pose:

In the middle of the day I hung out at the Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy. I talked to the 11th grade class about my decision not to attend college immediately after high school. I also completed my application to The Level Field Fund. I am applying for a grant to help support my skiing. This afternoon I went for a 45 minute run with Sylvan then did core strength. After a Ski and Snowboard Club Vail parents meeting at which I introduced myself and told them what had brought me to this team, I did dinner with the US Men’s Alpine Tech Ski Team. It was fun to see my friends who are on my way to the Alpine World Cup and wish them good luck for the season.

This morning I did a classic roller ski speed (10-15 seconds as fast as possible) session with my Team Homegrown teammates. At the uphill station, I played around with gliding versus running on skis. At the double pole station I worked on “grabbing more ground” with my poles (planting my poles further forward) so that I can have more to pull on. I also worked on whipping my hands through quickly. Here’s the video from the session:

This afternoon I played tennis with my strength coach Alex Moore, Eliza Outtrim (the 8th ranked mogul skier in the world), and Eliza’s boyfriend. We played three sets, each time with a different partner. The only set I won was the one I played with Alex:

Alex is here with the US Men’s Alpine Tech Team. They have four athletes, two coaches, a physical therapist, a chef, and Alex here for the camp. I am a little bit jealous of their financial resources. Plus they are on-snow on Vail Mountain:

I was hoping (because Vail Resorts said they would try) to be on a 1 kilometer man-made loop at the base of the Alpine hill. However, it hasn’t been very cold here at night and Alpine comes first for snow-making.

After tennis I went for a one hour skate roller ski by myself. Because of a late start and daylight savings time I was out in the dark. This evening I had a delicious dinner with some of my teammates at our coach Dan Weiland’s house. Thanks mostly to Dan’s incredible wife Carmen for the food.

It’s been a long day. I started this morning at 8 with a three hour classic ski with my Team Homegrown teammates. Here’s the group after the ski:

Here’s my teammate Sylvan Ellefson:

I drove directly from the ski to Aspen where I had lunch with my parents. This evening was the Rocky Mountain Nordic Angel fundraiser in Aspen. After lunch I worked on the silent auction bid sheets with my dad for a couple of hours. The fundraiser itself was a great success with several hundred (that’s a total guess) people coming to support us. It was both inspirational and overwhelming. After another hour and a half of driving I made it back to Vail at 11 P.M. I am exhausted from several hours of standing on my feet and talking. Audrey Mangan of Fasterskier.com drove from Vail to Aspen and back with me to attend the fundraiser. After spending the whole afternoon talking to friends and supporters, it is a little tiring to talk to a reporter all the way home.