Author: PatrickO

Back to Alaska

Last summer I was able to join APU and Sun Valley skiing at the Thomas training center on Eagle glacier. (http://www.craftsbury.com/blogs/grp/?p=1910). Getting quality on snow time during the summer months is a huge asset to any nordic racer, and something still quite novel to life long Eastern skier. This year I was again hoping get to Eagle glacier for some solid training. After a last minute spot opened up, I hopped on a plane and found myself back in Alaska. The weather last year was a pretty mixed bag. A few days of nice sun, some overcast skiing, and some days where you weren’t sure what direction the precipitation was coming from because you were in whiteout conditions and had no idea where on course you were. Fortunately this year the weather was much more cooperative. Most days were cloud free t-shirt skiing and when the clouds rolled in hard, low overnight temperatures still made for much harder and faster tracks than the year before. One thing I learned from my previous trip is to put the largest baskets you can find on your poles. Racing poles are nice and light, but pretty useless when you are pulling them back out of the snow on every pole plant. Last year may have been slow and sloppy skiing, but this year the tracks were firm enough to delay morning training to allow the boiler plate ice to soften. Overall it was a great camp. Lots of quality kilometers of training, technique tweaks, seeing how other ski programs operate, and getting to mix it up in intervals with a different group of guys than our normal summer group. So without further ado, some pictures from my week on snow!

Alpine Air's A-Star helicopter lifting off

And headed up towards the glacier

View from the cockpit. Despite being only a 40 minute drive from Anchorage, and looking down on the town of Girdwood the facility is still very remote. All food, skis, gear, and even the Pisten-Bullys have to be flown in by chopper

Passing Alyeska Resort on the way up

A typical scene looking out from the facility. The training center sits on the edge of a 1500 ft drop off and the clouds often get hung up on the mountains below. The yellow rope is there for a reason… Somewhere under the cloud cover is the town of Girdwood and the Airport

Keith, Alpine Air's main pilot "dropping off" the edge going back for another load of skier and gear. The A-Star kicks up some serious rotor wash. (photo: H Mooney)

The view into town on a clear evening. In the front of the picture are two of four shipping containers for storing all the maintenance gear during the summer and the grooming equipment during the off season. Everything is bedded on concrete and bolted down to withstand the high winds and heavy snowfall.

Meltwater pond in the foreground, trails on the glacier way off in the background. All the water for the facility is pumped and filtered from the meltpond. Electricity comes from a diesel generator. The facility uses composting toilets. All trash is sorted into to two categories. Burnable is disposed on site and the remainder is flown back into town be disposed of.

The loop starts with a fast 1k downhill from the facility. Thanks to a good snow year this winter, even the Bergschrund (the head wall) crevasse hadn't opened up like last year so we were able to ski down and back from the loop to training every day.

Bergschrund from last year

It was pretty nice some days at the end of the long ski to catch a ride back up the big hill on the back of the PB last year though…

Great tracks and great skiing

Pete moments after some impressive klister grab had him doing a superman across the trail

Lots of skiing means big meals!

A huge thanks to Erik Flora of APU and Craftsbury for making this trip happen! Only a few more months and we will be back on snow gearing up for the race season. Summer has really flown by!

August 27, 2012
Muonio: then and now

Its hard to imagine how different our experience in Muonio, Finland has been since we were here last year. Normally cold snowy weather has been replaced by warm temperatures and steady rain. Despite the unseasonable weather, the grooming staff at Olos has done well to provide great skiing for the numerous national and club skiers frequenting the 3k loop. Today the track was closed to skiing as the workers frantically reallocated precious snowpack from one of the out-back sections to shore up the racecourse for the coming competitions on the weekend.

Perfect trails awaiting us the first day

Reserve snow-pack opposite the biathlon stadium last year

This years pile… The groomers said they stockpiled more snow for upcoming season than ever before but a warm rainy September resulted unprecedented melt

Workers at Olos uncovering the last bit of snow summered over in the half pipe by the alpine area. The excavator breaks up and removes the frozen wood chips that cover the snow-pack and the front end loader moves the 6 month old snow

Saving 3k worth of snow over the summer neccesitates a huge amount of woodchips

First tracks last year

And foot tracks this year (Photo: Ethan D)

High noon, 11-10-10

11-7-11 (Photo Ethan D)

The white ribbon below (Photo: Ethan D)

Got wind? (Photo: Ethan D)

Moving snow (Photo: Ethan D)

Patching up the race loop (Photo: Ethan D)

Although the weather seems to be conspiring against us, the skiing has remained solid. Its seems we are past the worst of the rain and the mercury is finally dropping after 2 pretty nasty weeks. Big thanks to the workers at Olos for all of their hard work keeping the tracks open and several hundred people on snow. The races this weekend should certainly prove interesting with large competitive fields tearing around the shortened race loop. Might look a bit like this…

Trainin' in the train

November 7, 2011
Muonio: then and now

Its hard to imagine how different our experience in Muonio, Finland has been since we were here last year. Normally cold snowy weather has been replaced by warm temperatures and steady rain. Despite the unseasonable weather, the grooming staff at Olos has done well to provide great skiing for the numerous national and club skiers frequenting the 3k loop. Today the track was closed to skiing as the workers frantically reallocated precious snowpack from one of the out-back sections to shore up the racecourse for the coming competitions on the weekend.

Perfect trails awaiting us the first day

Reserve snow-pack opposite the biathlon stadium last year

This years pile… The groomers said they stockpiled more snow for upcoming season than ever before but a warm rainy September resulted unprecedented melt

Workers at Olos uncovering the last bit of snow summered over in the half pipe by the alpine area. The excavator breaks up and removes the frozen wood chips that cover the snow-pack and the front end loader moves the 6 month old snow

Saving 3k worth of snow over the summer neccesitates a huge amount of woodchips

First tracks last year

And foot tracks this year (Photo: Ethan D)

High noon, 11-10-10

11-7-11 (Photo Ethan D)

The white ribbon below (Photo: Ethan D)

Got wind? (Photo: Ethan D)

Moving snow (Photo: Ethan D)

Patching up the race loop (Photo: Ethan D)

Although the weather seems to be conspiring against us, the skiing has remained solid. Its seems we are past the worst of the rain and the mercury is finally dropping after 2 pretty nasty weeks. Big thanks to the workers at Olos for all of their hard work keeping the tracks open and several hundred people on snow. The races this weekend should certainly prove interesting with large competitive fields tearing around the shortened race loop. Might look a bit like this…

Trainin' in the train

November 7, 2011
Muonio: then and now

Its hard to imagine how different our experience in Muonio, Finland has been since we were here last year. Normally cold snowy weather has been replaced by warm temperatures and steady rain. Despite the unseasonable weather, the grooming staff at Olos has done well to provide great skiing for the numerous national and club skiers frequenting the 3k loop. Today the track was closed to skiing as the workers frantically reallocated precious snowpack from one of the out-back sections to shore up the racecourse for the coming competitions on the weekend.

Perfect trails awaiting us the first day

Reserve snow-pack opposite the biathlon stadium last year

This years pile… The groomers said they stockpiled more snow for upcoming season than ever before but a warm rainy September resulted unprecedented melt

Workers at Olos uncovering the last bit of snow summered over in the half pipe by the alpine area. The excavator breaks up and removes the frozen wood chips that cover the snow-pack and the front end loader moves the 6 month old snow

Saving 3k worth of snow over the summer neccesitates a huge amount of woodchips

First tracks last year

And foot tracks this year (Photo: Ethan D)

High noon, 11-10-10

11-7-11 (Photo Ethan D)

The white ribbon below (Photo: Ethan D)

Got wind? (Photo: Ethan D)

Moving snow (Photo: Ethan D)

Patching up the race loop (Photo: Ethan D)

Although the weather seems to be conspiring against us, the skiing has remained solid. Its seems we are past the worst of the rain and the mercury is finally dropping after 2 pretty nasty weeks. Big thanks to the workers at Olos for all of their hard work keeping the tracks open and several hundred people on snow. The races this weekend should certainly prove interesting with large competitive fields tearing around the shortened race loop. Might look a bit like this…

Trainin' in the train

November 7, 2011
Muonio: then and now

Its hard to imagine how different our experience in Muonio, Finland has been since we were here last year. Normally cold snowy weather has been replaced by warm temperatures and steady rain. Despite the unseasonable weather, the grooming staff at Olos has done well to provide great skiing for the numerous national and club skiers frequenting the 3k loop. Today the track was closed to skiing as the workers frantically reallocated precious snowpack from one of the out-back sections to shore up the racecourse for the coming competitions on the weekend.

Perfect trails awaiting us the first day

Reserve snow-pack opposite the biathlon stadium last year

This years pile… The groomers said they stockpiled more snow for upcoming season than ever before but a warm rainy September resulted unprecedented melt

Workers at Olos uncovering the last bit of snow summered over in the half pipe by the alpine area. The excavator breaks up and removes the frozen wood chips that cover the snow-pack and the front end loader moves the 6 month old snow

Saving 3k worth of snow over the summer neccesitates a huge amount of woodchips

First tracks last year

And foot tracks this year (Photo: Ethan D)

High noon, 11-10-10

11-7-11 (Photo Ethan D)

The white ribbon below (Photo: Ethan D)

Got wind? (Photo: Ethan D)

Moving snow (Photo: Ethan D)

Patching up the race loop (Photo: Ethan D)

Although the weather seems to be conspiring against us, the skiing has remained solid. Its seems we are past the worst of the rain and the mercury is finally dropping after 2 pretty nasty weeks. Big thanks to the workers at Olos for all of their hard work keeping the tracks open and several hundred people on snow. The races this weekend should certainly prove interesting with large competitive fields tearing around the shortened race loop. Might look a bit like this…

Trainin' in the train

November 7, 2011
Muonio: then and now

Its hard to imagine how different our experience in Muonio, Finland has been since we were here last year. Normally cold snowy weather has been replaced by warm temperatures and steady rain. Despite the unseasonable weather, the grooming staff at Olos has done well to provide great skiing for the numerous national and club skiers frequenting the 3k loop. Today the track was closed to skiing as the workers frantically reallocated precious snowpack from one of the out-back sections to shore up the racecourse for the coming competitions on the weekend.

Perfect trails awaiting us the first day

Reserve snow-pack opposite the biathlon stadium last year

This years pile… The groomers said they stockpiled more snow for upcoming season than ever before but a warm rainy September resulted unprecedented melt

Workers at Olos uncovering the last bit of snow summered over in the half pipe by the alpine area. The excavator breaks up and removes the frozen wood chips that cover the snow-pack and the front end loader moves the 6 month old snow

Saving 3k worth of snow over the summer neccesitates a huge amount of woodchips

First tracks last year

And foot tracks this year (Photo: Ethan D)

High noon, 11-10-10

11-7-11 (Photo Ethan D)

The white ribbon below (Photo: Ethan D)

Got wind? (Photo: Ethan D)

Moving snow (Photo: Ethan D)

Patching up the race loop (Photo: Ethan D)

Although the weather seems to be conspiring against us, the skiing has remained solid. Its seems we are past the worst of the rain and the mercury is finally dropping after 2 pretty nasty weeks. Big thanks to the workers at Olos for all of their hard work keeping the tracks open and several hundred people on snow. The races this weekend should certainly prove interesting with large competitive fields tearing around the shortened race loop. Might look a bit like this…

Trainin' in the train

November 7, 2011
Muonio: then and now

Its hard to imagine how different our experience in Muonio, Finland has been since we were here last year. Normally cold snowy weather has been replaced by warm temperatures and steady rain. Despite the unseasonable weather, the grooming staff at Olos has done well to provide great skiing for the numerous national and club skiers frequenting the 3k loop. Today the track was closed to skiing as the workers frantically reallocated precious snowpack from one of the out-back sections to shore up the racecourse for the coming competitions on the weekend.

Perfect trails awaiting us the first day

Reserve snow-pack opposite the biathlon stadium last year

This years pile… The groomers said they stockpiled more snow for upcoming season than ever before but a warm rainy September resulted unprecedented melt

Workers at Olos uncovering the last bit of snow summered over in the half pipe by the alpine area. The excavator breaks up and removes the frozen wood chips that cover the snow-pack and the front end loader moves the 6 month old snow

Saving 3k worth of snow over the summer neccesitates a huge amount of woodchips

First tracks last year

And foot tracks this year (Photo: Ethan D)

High noon, 11-10-10

11-7-11 (Photo Ethan D)

The white ribbon below (Photo: Ethan D)

Got wind? (Photo: Ethan D)

Moving snow (Photo: Ethan D)

Patching up the race loop (Photo: Ethan D)

Although the weather seems to be conspiring against us, the skiing has remained solid. Its seems we are past the worst of the rain and the mercury is finally dropping after 2 pretty nasty weeks. Big thanks to the workers at Olos for all of their hard work keeping the tracks open and several hundred people on snow. The races this weekend should certainly prove interesting with large competitive fields tearing around the shortened race loop. Might look a bit like this…

Trainin' in the train

November 7, 2011
Muonio: then and now

Its hard to imagine how different our experience in Muonio, Finland has been since we were here last year. Normally cold snowy weather has been replaced by warm temperatures and steady rain. Despite the unseasonable weather, the grooming staff at Olos has done well to provide great skiing for the numerous national and club skiers frequenting the 3k loop. Today the track was closed to skiing as the workers frantically reallocated precious snowpack from one of the out-back sections to shore up the racecourse for the coming competitions on the weekend.

Perfect trails awaiting us the first day

Reserve snow-pack opposite the biathlon stadium last year

This years pile… The groomers said they stockpiled more snow for upcoming season than ever before but a warm rainy September resulted unprecedented melt

Workers at Olos uncovering the last bit of snow summered over in the half pipe by the alpine area. The excavator breaks up and removes the frozen wood chips that cover the snow-pack and the front end loader moves the 6 month old snow

Saving 3k worth of snow over the summer neccesitates a huge amount of woodchips

First tracks last year

And foot tracks this year (Photo: Ethan D)

High noon, 11-10-10

11-7-11 (Photo Ethan D)

The white ribbon below (Photo: Ethan D)

Got wind? (Photo: Ethan D)

Moving snow (Photo: Ethan D)

Patching up the race loop (Photo: Ethan D)

Although the weather seems to be conspiring against us, the skiing has remained solid. Its seems we are past the worst of the rain and the mercury is finally dropping after 2 pretty nasty weeks. Big thanks to the workers at Olos for all of their hard work keeping the tracks open and several hundred people on snow. The races this weekend should certainly prove interesting with large competitive fields tearing around the shortened race loop. Might look a bit like this…

Trainin' in the train

November 7, 2011
Muonio: then and now

Its hard to imagine how different our experience in Muonio, Finland has been since we were here last year. Normally cold snowy weather has been replaced by warm temperatures and steady rain. Despite the unseasonable weather, the grooming staff at Olos has done well to provide great skiing for the numerous national and club skiers frequenting the 3k loop. Today the track was closed to skiing as the workers frantically reallocated precious snowpack from one of the out-back sections to shore up the racecourse for the coming competitions on the weekend.

Perfect trails awaiting us the first day

Reserve snow-pack opposite the biathlon stadium last year

This years pile… The groomers said they stockpiled more snow for upcoming season than ever before but a warm rainy September resulted unprecedented melt

Workers at Olos uncovering the last bit of snow summered over in the half pipe by the alpine area. The excavator breaks up and removes the frozen wood chips that cover the snow-pack and the front end loader moves the 6 month old snow

Saving 3k worth of snow over the summer neccesitates a huge amount of woodchips

First tracks last year

And foot tracks this year (Photo: Ethan D)

High noon, 11-10-10

11-7-11 (Photo Ethan D)

The white ribbon below (Photo: Ethan D)

Got wind? (Photo: Ethan D)

Moving snow (Photo: Ethan D)

Patching up the race loop (Photo: Ethan D)

Although the weather seems to be conspiring against us, the skiing has remained solid. Its seems we are past the worst of the rain and the mercury is finally dropping after 2 pretty nasty weeks. Big thanks to the workers at Olos for all of their hard work keeping the tracks open and several hundred people on snow. The races this weekend should certainly prove interesting with large competitive fields tearing around the shortened race loop. Might look a bit like this…

Trainin' in the train

November 7, 2011
Muonio: then and now

Its hard to imagine how different our experience in Muonio, Finland has been since we were here last year. Normally cold snowy weather has been replaced by warm temperatures and steady rain. Despite the unseasonable weather, the grooming staff at Olos has done well to provide great skiing for the numerous national and club skiers frequenting the 3k loop. Today the track was closed to skiing as the workers frantically reallocated precious snowpack from one of the out-back sections to shore up the racecourse for the coming competitions on the weekend.

Perfect trails awaiting us the first day

Reserve snow-pack opposite the biathlon stadium last year

This years pile… The groomers said they stockpiled more snow for upcoming season than ever before but a warm rainy September resulted unprecedented melt

Workers at Olos uncovering the last bit of snow summered over in the half pipe by the alpine area. The excavator breaks up and removes the frozen wood chips that cover the snow-pack and the front end loader moves the 6 month old snow

Saving 3k worth of snow over the summer neccesitates a huge amount of woodchips

First tracks last year

And foot tracks this year (Photo: Ethan D)

High noon, 11-10-10

11-7-11 (Photo Ethan D)

The white ribbon below (Photo: Ethan D)

Got wind? (Photo: Ethan D)

Moving snow (Photo: Ethan D)

Patching up the race loop (Photo: Ethan D)

Although the weather seems to be conspiring against us, the skiing has remained solid. Its seems we are past the worst of the rain and the mercury is finally dropping after 2 pretty nasty weeks. Big thanks to the workers at Olos for all of their hard work keeping the tracks open and several hundred people on snow. The races this weekend should certainly prove interesting with large competitive fields tearing around the shortened race loop. Might look a bit like this…

Trainin' in the train

November 7, 2011
Muonio: then and now

Its hard to imagine how different our experience in Muonio, Finland has been since we were here last year. Normally cold snowy weather has been replaced by warm temperatures and steady rain. Despite the unseasonable weather, the grooming staff at Olos has done well to provide great skiing for the numerous national and club skiers frequenting the 3k loop. Today the track was closed to skiing as the workers frantically reallocated precious snowpack from one of the out-back sections to shore up the racecourse for the coming competitions on the weekend.

Perfect trails awaiting us the first day

Reserve snow-pack opposite the biathlon stadium last year

This years pile… The groomers said they stockpiled more snow for upcoming season than ever before but a warm rainy September resulted unprecedented melt

Workers at Olos uncovering the last bit of snow summered over in the half pipe by the alpine area. The excavator breaks up and removes the frozen wood chips that cover the snow-pack and the front end loader moves the 6 month old snow

Saving 3k worth of snow over the summer neccesitates a huge amount of woodchips

First tracks last year

And foot tracks this year (Photo: Ethan D)

High noon, 11-10-10

11-7-11 (Photo Ethan D)

The white ribbon below (Photo: Ethan D)

Got wind? (Photo: Ethan D)

Moving snow (Photo: Ethan D)

Patching up the race loop (Photo: Ethan D)

Although the weather seems to be conspiring against us, the skiing has remained solid. Its seems we are past the worst of the rain and the mercury is finally dropping after 2 pretty nasty weeks. Big thanks to the workers at Olos for all of their hard work keeping the tracks open and several hundred people on snow. The races this weekend should certainly prove interesting with large competitive fields tearing around the shortened race loop. Might look a bit like this…

Trainin' in the train

November 7, 2011
Wild Alaska

After a week of some pretty incredible skiing on Eagle Glacier Rosie and I loaded up her new car to head out on a road trip for several days. I wanted to experience Alaska. Real Alaska. This kind of Alaska. Although I didn’t have the former governor of the state as my guide, Rosie did a wonderful job showing me the sights and attractions that wild Alaska has to offer. The following are some pictures from our time in Anchorage and the Kenai peninsula.

View from Flattop out over Anchorage

Flattop

Looking for cheap entertainment? Try hitting up Anchorage's sand dunes

Or the Air history museum. Lots of historical bush-planes and helicopters on exhibit

Good thing I didn't try to fly this guy to the glacier…

Hiking up alongside the Exit Glacier near Seward

View looking out at the 500 square mile Harding Ice Field-white as far as the eye can see

Animals everywhere

This guy gave Rosie and I quite a scare when we were found him around a corner of the trail when running down from Exit Glacier but he was too busy getting fat for the coming winter on berries to care about our presence

Camping in the shadow of Mt Marathon. Wanna run up and down this as fast as possible? Give it a try next 4th of July (if you can get a bib that is!)

Checking out some of the sea stars at the Aquarium in Seward

Sign for the Climate Change exhibit- sponsored by BP of course!

Great trails around Seward

But some of the bridges need a little bit of repair… watch that first step!

Lots of Silver Salmon

returning to spawn near Seward

I couldn't figure out why the sea life center was so packed until we saw the cruise ship that had made port on our way out of town. End of the cruise line for a bunch of fanny-pack clad American tourists

Trying to get the off-shore rescue suit on in under 30 second. I failed miserably

My favorite house from the whole trip- a converted fishing trawler sitting high and dry on the "Homer Spit"

And of course, too many Moose to count! These guys were in the driveway right when we got back into Anchorage.

September 7, 2011
Wild Alaska

After a week of some pretty incredible skiing on Eagle Glacier Rosie and I loaded up her new car to head out on a road trip for several days. I wanted to experience Alaska. Real Alaska. This kind of Alaska. Although I didn’t have the former governor of the state as my guide, Rosie did a wonderful job showing me the sights and attractions that wild Alaska has to offer. The following are some pictures from our time in Anchorage and the Kenai peninsula.

View from Flattop out over Anchorage

Flattop

Looking for cheap entertainment? Try hitting up Anchorage's sand dunes

Or the Air history museum. Lots of historical bush-planes and helicopters on exhibit

Good thing I didn't try to fly this guy to the glacier…

Hiking up alongside the Exit Glacier near Seward

View looking out at the 500 square mile Harding Ice Field-white as far as the eye can see

Animals everywhere

This guy gave Rosie and I quite a scare when we were found him around a corner of the trail when running down from Exit Glacier but he was too busy getting fat for the coming winter on berries to care about our presence

Camping in the shadow of Mt Marathon. Wanna run up and down this as fast as possible? Give it a try next 4th of July (if you can get a bib that is!)

Checking out some of the sea stars at the Aquarium in Seward

Sign for the Climate Change exhibit- sponsored by BP of course!

Great trails around Seward

But some of the bridges need a little bit of repair… watch that first step!

Lots of Silver Salmon

returning to spawn near Seward

I couldn't figure out why the sea life center was so packed until we saw the cruise ship that had made port on our way out of town. End of the cruise line for a bunch of fanny-pack clad American tourists

Trying to get the off-shore rescue suit on in under 30 second. I failed miserably

My favorite house from the whole trip- a converted fishing trawler sitting high and dry on the "Homer Spit"

And of course, too many Moose to count! These guys were in the driveway right when we got back into Anchorage.

September 7, 2011
Eagle in August

This last week I was fortunate enough to join APU and Sun Valley for a week of skiing on APU’s Eagle Glacier outside Girdwood, Alaska. For anyone from the east skiing in the summer is an unusual, almost foreign prospect. The season in Vermont is short, and as a skier you spend more time cross training for your sport than actually participating in it. While I was dubious about returning to Alaska after my three previous experiences (all involving -15 F temperatures and inadequate handwear) I was lured all the way here by some incredible pictures of glacier skiing from the USST woman’s camp several weeks prior (http://www.craftsbury.com/blogs/grp/?p=1817).

A typical day on the Eagle Glacier…

Although the weather for this camp wasn’t as nice as for the woman’s camp, the overcast sky and mix of fresh snow actually made for harder faster conditions which was a nice reprieve from mushy corn snow and disapearing ski pole baskets that we experienced the first day.

Thursday afternoon classic ski on hardwax

Another addition to the camp was riding the new Pisten-Bully to and from training in the morning. A summers worth of melt coupled with a strong earthquake weeks prior had opened several large crevasses between the main building and the ski loop. Riding the back of the PB up the big hill to the training center for a waiting meal at the end the long day of skiing was another huge plus!

Falling in one of these guys would ruin your ski!

Some of the ladies enjoying the sun at the end of a ski

Powder skiing in August? Can't complain about that!

By the end of the week the clouds had fully blown out and we were treated to some pretty spectacular views of Girdwood, Alyeska resort, and the surrounding mountains and snow fields

The training center with Eagle Glacier off to the right

And the town of Gridwood, Alyeska resort and the Turnagin Arm several thousand feet down to the left…

Hiking down to the edge of the glacier on Sunday morning

Down the scree field

Out the ridge towards Girdwood

Gelso suiting up for the ride down

And down the moss they go!

Through the Alaskan Bush

And back to the van and civilization after 5000+ feet of descending over a few miles!

September 1, 2011
Eagle in August

This last week I was fortunate enough to join APU and Sun Valley for a week of skiing on APU’s Eagle Glacier outside Girdwood, Alaska. For anyone from the east skiing in the summer is an unusual, almost foreign prospect. The season in Vermont is short, and as a skier you spend more time cross training for your sport than actually participating in it. While I was dubious about returning to Alaska after my three previous experiences (all involving -15 F temperatures and inadequate handwear) I was lured all the way here by some incredible pictures of glacier skiing from the USST woman’s camp several weeks prior (http://www.craftsbury.com/blogs/grp/?p=1817).

A typical day on the Eagle Glacier…

Although the weather for this camp wasn’t as nice as for the woman’s camp, the overcast sky and mix of fresh snow actually made for harder faster conditions which was a nice reprieve from mushy corn snow and disapearing ski pole baskets that we experienced the first day.

Thursday afternoon classic ski on hardwax

Another addition to the camp was riding the new Pisten-Bully to and from training in the morning. A summers worth of melt coupled with a strong earthquake weeks prior had opened several large crevasses between the main building and the ski loop. Riding the back of the PB up the big hill to the training center for a waiting meal at the end the long day of skiing was another huge plus!

Falling in one of these guys would ruin your ski!

Some of the ladies enjoying the sun at the end of a ski

Powder skiing in August? Can't complain about that!

By the end of the week the clouds had fully blown out and we were treated to some pretty spectacular views of Girdwood, Alyeska resort, and the surrounding mountains and snow fields

The training center with Eagle Glacier off to the right

And the town of Gridwood, Alyeska resort and the Turnagin Arm several thousand feet down to the left…

Hiking down to the edge of the glacier on Sunday morning

Down the scree field

Out the ridge towards Girdwood

Gelso suiting up for the ride down

And down the moss they go!

Through the Alaskan Bush

And back to the van and civilization after 5000+ feet of descending over a few miles!

September 1, 2011
50k the hard way!

The GRP crew kicked off our racing here in Sun Valley with the 50k at US Distance Nationals this last Saturday. The weather here in Idaho has been a mix of fresh snow overnight and sun and clouds during the day making for some great mid-winter conditions. The morning of the 50k we were greeted by falling snow and high humidity, which in a classic race can make for tricky “zeros” conditions. Luckily Nick and Pepa found a hard wax that provided both the speed and kick we were looking for and we were able to avoid having to stop mid race and re-wax like several other teams. Being US Distance Nationals, the course planners didn’t hold back in their design. The result was a 7 lap course (4 laps for the girls racing the 30k the next day) that featured a great combination of fast double poling, gradual striding uphills, as well as an extremely long and steep “A” climb to really separate the field before the fast decent into the finish area. Of the previous 50k races that I have done, this one certainly featured some of the most vertical at over 4800 ft of climbing in 50k (for comparison Mt Mansfield is 4395 ft above sea level and is only around 3600 vertical of climbing) yet the course was still very skiable for having that much climbing.

A 50k is a very interesting distance to race because it is so different pace wise than a 10 or 15k race. Yes you breathe hard, and your muscles burn on the hills, but everything is much more drawn out than the shorter races. Instead of racing for 30 or 45 minutes you’re going hard for 2.5+ hours, and during that time some funky stuff can happen. The weather can change a lot (it did), you run out of glycogen which is your primary fuel source when racing (I did), your muscles can cramp up from over use (they did), and then you might not be going as fast as when you started. Somewhere between the feed station and long hill going out on my 6th lap I knew I was done. I went from skiing pretty easily with the main pack on earlier laps to survival mode in the span of just a few kilometers. Judging from the number of people I passed pulling off bibs or taking off skis trying to stretch and loosen cramped muscles I wasn’t the only one hurting during the second half of the race. The last two laps I was skiing to finish.

A 50k is one of my favorite race distances because it is so much about the right mindset. You really don’t know how the race is going to go until you have a bib on skiing down the trail. There might be times when you feel great, and there are certainly going to times when you feel terrible and want to stop but few things feel better than crossing the finish line exhausted knowing your done and you raced a long long way in the process.

Ida cheering on Kikkan (USST) and Maria (Utah) race leaders in the 30k

Han skiing away from a chase pack on the last climb

Apologies for the lack of photos so far. Super Tour Finals starts tomorrow with the freestyle prologue followed by a classic mass start the next day. Should be a blast!

March 28, 2011
Suns out, guns out, funs out

Over the last month, the skiing here at Craftsbury has gone from really good to incredible. We haven’t gotten any huge storms but we also haven’t had a big thaw resulting in considerable snow pack with all of the Center’s core and peripheral trails open and in great shape. Yesterday was one of the first few days that has been well above freezing but none of us were complaining in any way; I don’t think we could have asked for better spring skiing!

Perfect tracks right from our front door

Dylan, Tim, and I started out for a long skate OD this morning with the goal of skiing all of the Center’s open trails. Temps started out around freezing with the sun starting to climb in the sky and not a cloud to be seen. In a few hours we were starting to shed layers and the snow was really starting to transform and slow down. By the end of the ski, it felt way more like a spring day skiing out west than mid February in Vermont! My highlight from the ski (aside from the incredible weather and perfect grooming) had to be racing down Elinor’s field right behind Tim and witnessing one of the more impressive Superman diggers I have seen in a while. Too bad I didn’t have my camera out for it, but for those of you curious it looked somewhat like this, especially with our flow and shades…

Grand Tour- hour 1

GT- hour 2

Cranking out some turns down Elinor's towards the house

Although temps were warm and the snow really settled down, there should be enough to last us well into the spring. A great day of skiing up in Craftsbury!

Checking out stockpiled snow in preparation for the 2011 Sprint Tour

February 18, 2011
A day in the life: (semi) Pro

Racing in high school and college I wondered what was the mark of a full time professional athlete? Was it winning prize money at a Supertour? Racing in high level domestic competition or even in Europe? Was it having a full fleet of skis and a wax tech to make those hard calls for you on race day? Was it having a high strike rate?

I found out today the answer is winning eggs and toilet paper as prizes. 10 athletes living in a house go through lots of food. Eggs (and of course it follows, TP) go particularly quick around here and this morning we were pretty much out of both. I really can’t think of a better prize for race organizer to give out! Big congrats to the organizers at Bolton today (for their prize/raffle selections of course) and pulling off a well run race despite natures best efforts to intervene.

3 days worth of eggs!

The haul: 7th gen. dish soap, dish detergent, and tasty homemade baked goods!

Today I think we saw just about every type of precipitation imaginable over a two hour period. Snow, sleet, freezing rain, all thrown sideways at us from some monster wind gusts. It really speaks to how nasty it is outside when a Casco visor, one of the few choices of eye wear that doesen’t fog, is completely covered in a layer of snow and ice by the end of the first climb. The best tactic for descending today I found was to simply hope the racer ahead was keeping it on the course and follow their blurred outline down the hills. A pretty epic one in the books!

Overall we had a great day as a team with Chelsea taking second in the woman’s race and Dylan Ollie and I placing sixth, fifth, and first in the guys field. It also felt great to get out and blow some carbon off the valves after some steady volume training here in Craftsbury following our Finland racing trip.

Link to full results

Weather outlook bleak- try back later…

So what about the EC Opener this coming week? Hopefully the rain that is falling right now will turn to snow later tonight and leave us with a good solid base with some accumulation on top. I guess it will be pretty obvious if were going to have the races here in Craftsbury or have to move them by the morning. Looking at the current weather forecast right now (and hearing the rain falling outside) I would be pleasantly surprised if we still had much white stuff on the ground come Monday. But maybe, just maybe?

December 12, 2010
Quebec and Home

This last weekend members from the GRP headed to Foret Montmorency for a great weekend of skiing. When we arrived conditions were good, although only 10k or so of skiing was opened and had been groomed. But thanks to the steady snowfall the groomers continued to open more skiing every day and conditions steadily improved. By Sunday during our OD ski we were able to ski 20+k that had been groomed with the PB and much more that had been packed down previously. It had been a while since I had been to Foret so it was nice to head back there and enjoy a steady block of training on good snow. The additional elevation on some of the forest service roads really meant for some impressive snowfall accumulation while we were skiing. By the end of our skis the tracks that had been recently groomed had already filled in and were practically non-existent!

"Enemies of the forest" poster in our dorms- I never realized that la negligence and l'urbanization were such problems…

Midwinter conditions in Foret

The snowstorm that hit Quebec also brought us some white stuff here in Craftsbury. We probably got 6-7 inches of snow here in Craftsbury although the snow has been so light and fluffy that has packed down to practically nothing. Thanks to all the trail work and smoothing this summer coupled with extensive snow farming from the parking lots and along side the trail we have some great skiing despite the light snowfall so far. A big storm looks to be shaping up for this coming Sunday although it is uncertain if we will be getting some heavy snowfall accumulation or just rain instead. Fingers crossed!

Overnight flurries this whole last week- we're going to need a bit more accumulation before the opening Eastern Cups this comming weekend

December 11, 2010
Skiing the Notch

We may not have much snow in Vermont right now but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have access to great skiing! Early this morning we loaded up the van and headed to Stowe to ski the Notch road which is now closed for winter. The freezing rain that hit the area on Friday helped create a solid base over the asphalt and with just a few inches of snow and skillful grooming by Dick Dreissigacker we were able ski for several hours without even scratching our skis!

Roller-skiing on Saturday

And skiing on Monday??

It was really cool to see how many people were out on the Notch road today skiing or walking their dogs on a beautiful day. With the sun shining and hardly a cloud in the sky it felt more like Spring conditions than late November! Unfortunately it looks like warm temps and rain in the forecast will bring an abrupt end to what little skiing we have in Northern VT for a little while. Already today the ice base was beginning to melt in sections where the darker asphalt was exposed to the sun. Tomorrow we might be racing to finish our ski before sections of the trail melt away completely!

Great skiing on only a few inches of snow

It doesn't get any nicer than this!

November 29, 2010