Category: XCFeeds

A collection of live feeds from cross-country ski blogs around the web.

Ski Selection Trip to Ogden

This week I took a quick trip to Ogden, UT, to pick skis at Atomic & Rossignol. Ultratune has a lot of beautiful new skis on the way. The first stop was Atomic, on the 27th, and things went really smoothly.

This year’s Atomic skis look particularly good. The introduction of the new hard track skate ski the Atomic World Cup HT gave added reason to take a careful look at the ski picks, and discuss the new skis, at their facility.

Checkin’ it out. (All Photos: Kristina Owen)

As always, Rick Halling was very accommodating and helpful. The Atomic warehouse is quite tidy and well organized – for a warehouse – but the lighting is still a little dim. Next year I think I’ll bring a headlamp.

Examining flex data for a pair of Atomic skate skis.

I start with a pick list, then make preliminary selections from a huge rack of skis that are sorted by model and size. Each of these pairs is then unwrapped, tested for a few key parameters, and repacked. The pair is either saved or returned to the rack. This process makes sure that I get the spectrum of flexes that I need, and also screens out a few pairs that I don’t find satisfactory.

Re-packing some skis.

It’s not particularly exciting work, at least not after getting through the first dozen pairs or so, but Rick Halling is a very amicable guy with a lot to add to the conversation, and the day was very enjoyable. Careful measurements for sure, but also enjoying a relaxed, conversational, atmosphere.

After picking all the skis, they get checked by warehouse staff, then packed for immediate FedEx shipment to Ultratune. With a little luck, they’ll arrive at the shop before Oct 1st.

September 30, 2011
Who’s Producing Fast Young Male Skiers?
A quick follow up to my previous post on the same topic for women. Swap Germany for Russia, and otherwise the answer is largely unchanged:

Once again, this is the number of skiers born since 1988 who’s best FIS points results last season averaged better than 50 FIS points. I used a more strict cutoff with the men, since their FIS points tend to run lower than the women. As before, sprinting is a bit less lopsided. I was really surprised by the large number of young German men, many of whom I’m unfamiliar with.

Of course, FIS points are an admittedly crude measure, so perhaps this is overestimating things.

Related posts:
September 30, 2011
Cloud Skiing

September 29, 2011
Italy Finale

Our last day in Italy was upon us before we knew it: two weeks can really fly by. We decided to go big and go home, setting out on a 20 kilometer hike from Schlinig, Italy to Sur En, Switzerland. The hike took us through the infamous Uinaschlucht, a gorge with a smuggler’s route carved into the cliff walls.

Coach Beckwith has got map fever right now: here he plots out the route before our departure from Schlinig.

Confident that we know our way, he drives the van back out the valley. We’ll see you in Switzerland!

The peaks of the Ortler range were snow capped, but it was 70 and sunny down here in the valley.

Right before the major climb in the hike, we stopped for a “rock on” pose in front of the waterfall. It was somewhere around here that we decided that this was the best day ever.

It was great to have our favorite Frenchman back from training in Austria with the biathletes.

It’s tough to find words to describe how beautiful it was here.

Fitzy lugs her camera gear and extra clothes up the mountain. She took a lot of great photos on this trip. Some have made their way onto the blog, others are sure to debut on Facebook in the next few days.

Dev takes a moment to reflect on where he’s been.

Once we climbed up over the waterfall, it was all downhill to Switzerland in this high alpine valley.

To the Uinaschulcht we go!

Toine is always an enthusiastic photo subject.

We tried to kill some time on the way to the Uinaschlucht, so we hiked up this ridge on the side of the trail.

Looking down on Antoine from the ridge.

The Halvorsen siblings are interviewed by Antoine (not pictured) about the hike.

Heading into the gorge. The river is close to the trail at the top, then quickly drops deep into the slot canyon.

The group stayed together for the whole hike, up from Schlinig, down through the Uinaschlucht and out the other side: this was an awesome way to wrap up a fantastic camp.

Someone came into this valley and said, “I think i’ll cut a two-kilometer long path into the side of this cliff. By hand.”

The cliffs drop off close to 100 meters into the abyss below.

It was an unbelievable camp in Italy: we had fantastic weather, a variety of great training, awesome food, and hospitality that we can only hope to replicate in the spring. Thank you to everyone who made it possible for this trip to happen!

September 29, 2011
Italy Finale

Our last day in Italy was upon us before we knew it: two weeks can really fly by. We decided to go big and go home, setting out on a 20 kilometer hike from Schlinig, Italy to Sur En, Switzerland. The hike took us through the infamous Uinaschlucht, a gorge with a smuggler’s route carved into the cliff walls.

Coach Beckwith has got map fever right now: here he plots out the route before our departure from Schlinig.

Confident that we know our way, he drives the van back out the valley. We’ll see you in Switzerland!

The peaks of the Ortler range were snow capped, but it was 70 and sunny down here in the valley.

Right before the major climb in the hike, we stopped for a “rock on” pose in front of the waterfall. It was somewhere around here that we decided that this was the best day ever.

It was great to have our favorite Frenchman back from training in Austria with the biathletes.

It’s tough to find words to describe how beautiful it was here.

Fitzy lugs her camera gear and extra clothes up the mountain. She took a lot of great photos on this trip. Some have made their way onto the blog, others are sure to debut on Facebook in the next few days.

Dev takes a moment to reflect on where he’s been.

Once we climbed up over the waterfall, it was all downhill to Switzerland in this high alpine valley.

To the Uinaschulcht we go!

Toine is always an enthusiastic photo subject.

We tried to kill some time on the way to the Uinaschlucht, so we hiked up this ridge on the side of the trail.

Looking down on Antoine from the ridge.

The Halvorsen siblings are interviewed by Antoine (not pictured) about the hike.

Heading into the gorge. The river is close to the trail at the top, then quickly drops deep into the slot canyon.

The group stayed together for the whole hike, up from Schlinig, down through the Uinaschlucht and out the other side: this was an awesome way to wrap up a fantastic camp.

Someone came into this valley and said, “I think i’ll cut a two-kilometer long path into the side of this cliff. By hand.”

The cliffs drop off close to 100 meters into the abyss below.

It was an unbelievable camp in Italy: we had fantastic weather, a variety of great training, awesome food, and hospitality that we can only hope to replicate in the spring. Thank you to everyone who made it possible for this trip to happen!

September 29, 2011
Italy Finale

Our last day in Italy was upon us before we knew it: two weeks can really fly by. We decided to go big and go home, setting out on a 20 kilometer hike from Schlinig, Italy to Sur En, Switzerland. The hike took us through the infamous Uinaschlucht, a gorge with a smuggler’s route carved into the cliff walls.

Coach Beckwith has got map fever right now: here he plots out the route before our departure from Schlinig.

Confident that we know our way, he drives the van back out the valley. We’ll see you in Switzerland!

The peaks of the Ortler range were snow capped, but it was 70 and sunny down here in the valley.

Right before the major climb in the hike, we stopped for a “rock on” pose in front of the waterfall. It was somewhere around here that we decided that this was the best day ever.

It was great to have our favorite Frenchman back from training in Austria with the biathletes.

It’s tough to find words to describe how beautiful it was here.

Fitzy lugs her camera gear and extra clothes up the mountain. She took a lot of great photos on this trip. Some have made their way onto the blog, others are sure to debut on Facebook in the next few days.

Dev takes a moment to reflect on where he’s been.

Once we climbed up over the waterfall, it was all downhill to Switzerland in this high alpine valley.

To the Uinaschulcht we go!

Toine is always an enthusiastic photo subject.

We tried to kill some time on the way to the Uinaschlucht, so we hiked up this ridge on the side of the trail.

Looking down on Antoine from the ridge.

The Halvorsen siblings are interviewed by Antoine (not pictured) about the hike.

Heading into the gorge. The river is close to the trail at the top, then quickly drops deep into the slot canyon.

The group stayed together for the whole hike, up from Schlinig, down through the Uinaschlucht and out the other side: this was an awesome way to wrap up a fantastic camp.

Someone came into this valley and said, “I think i’ll cut a two-kilometer long path into the side of this cliff. By hand.”

The cliffs drop off close to 100 meters into the abyss below.

It was an unbelievable camp in Italy: we had fantastic weather, a variety of great training, awesome food, and hospitality that we can only hope to replicate in the spring. Thank you to everyone who made it possible for this trip to happen!

September 29, 2011
Running intensity.

Today everyone visited different museums in the morning and then we did a little intensity in the afternoon. Anika and Kate did some biking intervals ( sorry, no pictures) and the rest of the group did running intervals. Our goal was to run the first 3 intervals at a 5 km race pace and then hammer the last one if they good.

Gino (above) paced himself well and got consistently faster (5:14, 5:13, 5:00, 4:50).
Tyler tends to start conservatively and then speed up. Today was no exception (5:32, 5:08, 4:56, 4:44).
The loop we ran came up the hill to the snowmaking pond and then around the pond.
Liz jumped in for a couple of the intervals.
Tess ran well and kept her times close (5:58, 6:08, 6:01, 6:08).
Coaches for the day.
Hamish (5:12, 5:06, 4:58, 5:00) ran nicely.
Charlie and Gino.

Tyler and Murph.
Charlie has been fighting compartment syndrome for several years and it was great to have him feel good enough to run. He did two complete loops and two loops 1.2 times around the pond and ran well (5:09, 5:15, 4:21, 4:07).
Mackenzie has been a bit tired so she jogged and cheered today. Kate ran very consistently (5:47, 5:55, 5:53, 5:52).
Scenic shots.
As always, if you click on a picture, it should enlarge. That’s our van in the background (shows that it is a big pond).

Hamish and Gino with Stratton in the background.
“Murph” paced himself well and got faster in each interval ( 5:10, 5:02, 4:56, 4:48).
Paddy and the Srs went to Mass MOCA for the day and didn’t return until late. He arrived for the warm down (which he used as his warm up).
Brooke has been sick so she took a short run and then was the photographer…thanks!

September 28, 2011
Who’s Producing Fast Young Female Skiers?
Answer: Norway. And Russia.

Looking forward to the upcoming season, I’m somewhat astounded by the number of talented young Norwegian women on the horizon. Here’s a quick snapshot of what I’m talking about. I took female skiers born no earlier than 1988 who did at least 3 FIS races last season, and averaged their best few results in both sprint and distance. Then grouped them by nation according to the number of skiers with an average of less than 75 FIS points:

14! The Russian women aren’t far behind with 10. And an average of 75 FIS points (among only your best races) isn’t that strict a cutoff, really. Things are a little less lopsided in sprinting, but Norway leads the way there too.

For the record, the American women here are Jessie Diggins and Sadie Bjornsen (distance) and Ida Sargent and Sadie Bjornsen (sprint).

Related posts:
September 28, 2011
Nice day for a skate ski.

This afternoon we split the group in three for a skate ski. Our group went to BMD and worked on balance and V2, the other groups got to venture out on other roads for a distance ski.
Kate is starting to get much more comfortable on her skis.

Molly has been battling a stress fracture in her heel, but yesterday she visited the Dr. and got the ok to add skating. She is very happy :).
Tess is showing some excellent progress in her skating.
Mackenzie is working on keeping in a nice forward position.
We drop the poles to work on pushing with both legs.
Mollie and Kate working on “floating” up the hill.
Mackenzie wasn’t the only one enjoying a late afternoon swim.

The rest of the team headed to South Londonderry and split into two groups of five, with a coach biking alongside. Each group skied the same route, just in reverse order, and everyone skied for 1:30 – 1:45. Here’s the view from the bike today of Anika, Issy, Mac, Tyler, and Murph.

Mac and Murph – working on getting forward and skiing smooth.

New pavement on Thompsonburg Road – sweet!

Hop in line and roll. One of the best parts of being on this team is the number of talented skiers you get to train with every day. Pop in behind a teammate and figure out what they’re doing. Everyone’s working on something and there’s a lot of improvement on the team this fall.

September 27, 2011
My Wife Says I have Too Many Skis

Yesterday I hung around at the CyclovaXC shop eating powdered sugar donuts, drinking Coke, and opening up box after box of brand spankin’ new cross country skis. I had to laugh because my wife already tells me that I have too many pairs of skis…well, as of now I have about 50 more pairs with another couple hundred sitting in some boxes in the back (numbers are approximated, I don’t know how

September 27, 2011
My Wife Says I have Too Many Skis

Yesterday I hung around at the CyclovaXC shop eating powdered sugar donuts, drinking Coke, and opening up box after box of brand spankin’ new cross country skis. I had to laugh because my wife already tells me that I have too many pairs of skis…well, as of now I have about 50 more pairs with another couple hundred sitting in some boxes in the back (numbers are approximated, I don’t know how

September 27, 2011
My Wife Says I have Too Many Skis

Yesterday I hung around at the CyclovaXC shop eating powdered sugar donuts, drinking Coke, and opening up box after box of brand spankin’ new cross country skis. I had to laugh because my wife already tells me that I have too many pairs of skis…well, as of now I have about 50 more pairs with another couple hundred sitting in some boxes in the back (numbers are approximated, I don’t know how

September 27, 2011
Changing Weather

All signs and forecasts are pointing to another spectacular snow year here in the Methow, so I’ve been anxious to get all the mountain time I can before they close up with the fluffy white stuff. Last week Alison and I packed up the camera and the Husky and headed to Kangaroo Pass on the last (or first, depending on your direction) section of the Birthday Tour, a classic route through the Washington Pass region of the Cascades. Since training has been getting increasingly specific and rollerski-centric it was great to just run up a scree-covered trail and catch the rising sun.

Today on my OD rollerski up Falls Creek I transitioned from a steady downpour of rain into snow! Yep, right around 4800ft the (albeit very wet) white magic starting dropping on me, given me new energy as I finished a set of L3 intervals to top of the workout. It’s time to talk to Mark at Ultratune about some clutch stonegrinds, and to start planning race flights. Two months to go-time!

September 26, 2011
Changing Weather

All signs and forecasts are pointing to another spectacular snow year here in the Methow, so I’ve been anxious to get all the mountain time I can before they close up with the fluffy white stuff. Last week Alison and I packed up the camera and the Husky and headed to Kangaroo Pass on the last (or first, depending on your direction) section of the Birthday Tour, a classic route through the Washington Pass region of the Cascades. Since training has been getting increasingly specific and rollerski-centric it was great to just run up a scree-covered trail and catch the rising sun.

Today on my OD rollerski up Falls Creek I transitioned from a steady downpour of rain into snow! Yep, right around 4800ft the (albeit very wet) white magic starting dropping on me, given me new energy as I finished a set of L3 intervals to top of the workout. It’s time to talk to Mark at Ultratune about some clutch stonegrinds, and to start planning race flights. Two months to go-time!

September 26, 2011
Changing Weather

All signs and forecasts are pointing to another spectacular snow year here in the Methow, so I’ve been anxious to get all the mountain time I can before they close up with the fluffy white stuff. Last week Alison and I packed up the camera and the Husky and headed to Kangaroo Pass on the last (or first, depending on your direction) section of the Birthday Tour, a classic route through the Washington Pass region of the Cascades. Since training has been getting increasingly specific and rollerski-centric it was great to just run up a scree-covered trail and catch the rising sun.

Today on my OD rollerski up Falls Creek I transitioned from a steady downpour of rain into snow! Yep, right around 4800ft the (albeit very wet) white magic starting dropping on me, given me new energy as I finished a set of L3 intervals to top of the workout. It’s time to talk to Mark at Ultratune about some clutch stonegrinds, and to start planning race flights. Two months to go-time!

September 26, 2011
Speeding it Up

This morning we did some classic starts, speeds, and finishes at the Sun Bowl. Lots of good improvements all around as we worked on being fast off the line, finding good body position for double pole and fighting all the way to the finish. Most sprints were run in 4-6 rounds so you could fine tune your approach and duke it out with a teammate or two several times. Andy and Skyler trained with us this morning – always great to have them around and raising the bar.

Boys warm up – Hamish, Charlie, Mac, Tyler, Calvin & Gino.

Murph, going for it.

Charlie vs Gino.

Andy catches some air.

Paddy vs. Andy.

Tess, Kate, and Rizzo were tightly packed today.

Tyler and Calvin.

Anika and Issy looked strong and smooth.

Revived Films, hard at work in front of the camera.

Skyler and Andy.

Getting forward. Doesn’t get much better than that.

Skyler leads Charlie and Mac.

Hamish.

Charlie.

Issy & Anika.

Kate, Tess and Mackenzie.

Roommates battle it out.

September 26, 2011
At What Age Do Skiers Peak?
If you imagine a typical skier’s career in FIS points, it will often follow a vaguely parabolic shape: they get faster for a while and then get slower for a while. Somewhere in between there they “peaked”. Our goal in this post is to estimate approximately when this occurs for each athlete and then see what we can learn from this, if anything.

To estimate each athlete’s peak, I simply fit a trend line to each skier’s age vs. FIS points data and look for the minimum of that curve. (Lots of technical details have been omitted for your sanity and for mine.)

Some people are never quite a fast as they were when they were 22. Others don’t really get going until they’re in their late 30′s. But most skiers peak sometime between 25-30. At least, that when they have their best results internationally.

Here’s another interesting way to look at this, the technical details of which I’m again going to omit. The following plot shows the average tendency for skiers to be faster or slower at a particular age than the year before. Negative values means they’ve tended to have improved over the past year, positive values mean they’ve tended to become slower:

This would suggest that on average, women tend to stop improving at around age 27, while for men this happens at around age 29. Interestingly, more and more of the men continue to slow down as they age, but less so with the women.

The graphs for sprinting tell a different, more ambiguous story:

Again we have the familiar tendency for skiers to peak in their late 20′s, but both distributions have a curious secondary mode (the small bumps on the left). This could just be artifact of the recency of sprinting. The other plot is considerably more ambiguous:

Neither of these lines spend much time below zero at all, which would suggest that most skiers are pretty much only plateauing or getting slower at nearly every age.

Related posts:
September 26, 2011
XC running race Vid 9-20-11

Click the link to find the show: VIDEO HERE

September 25, 2011
A Look Back in Time – Ten Year Reunion on the Stelvio

Reunion of sorts – Coach Beckwith (WJC ’99) meeting Peter Schlickenrieder (WJC ’89) – Moving Planet Day 2011

The past few mornings I have been waking up early enough that I might be rivaling past Middlebury College Coach, Terry Aldrich in his zeal for the dawn. This pattern lends to a feeling of courting a day — certainly being ready for it — and being unmistakably ahead of your colleagues (or in my case, athletes) in exuberance by the time they wake up. Bottom line — as the GMVS XC Ski Team is nearing the end of our first altitude camp of the 2011-12 — the Head Coach is fired up!

Today was a special day, not only because the kids got an excellent day of training on snow along side the Italian National Team, but because they got to link their passion to a bigger issue. Today is a worldwide day of unity and awareness, drawn together under the name, Moving Planet — with the goal or reducing dependence on fossil fuels, looking to alternative energy sources and promoting a movement towards a world with 350 part per million of CO2. We had a day we will never forget — one with snow, contemplation of our place in the world, and physical experiences (read, play) that link us to the planet in a respectful way.

Speaking of days I will never forget, on the eve of competing in World Junior Champs in 1999, in Saafelden, Austria — I witnessed the then fastest man alive, Peter Schlickenrieder duel with the fastest Austrian sprinter in a night sprint. The town had shut a street and lined it with snow — for a single ski race that lasted no more than a few minutes. Sprinting as an event did not really exist yet, this was an exhibition to help launch the Junior World Champs, and I was blown away by this man V1’ing in a yellow suit at what-seemed-to-be the speed of light.

Coach on an off day in Innsbruck.

Return to courting the day … here I am with the kids, watching them ski along side Olympic Champions, Spanish, French, and Swiss Junior National Teams and the Sud Tirol Coach points to a man who looks to be dodging his forties rather well, “this one is Schlickenrieder…” I am enthused explain in my broken Deutsche-English, my memory of this phenom of a sprinter. “He has made silver in Salt Lake in the Sprint.” I watch him pass and dream a bit.

Near the end of the workout I spy Peter propping his skis against the Stelvio sign and snapping a picture for his sponsor, Salomon. I offer to help this idol of mine from years past — “Would you like me to take a picture with you in it.” Boom — I’ve broken the ice and am now talking to an Olympic Medalist! It takes me a minute to convey my story, but yes he remembers the sprint, and is flattered I have made the connection.

Inspiring views surround the valleys of the Sud Tirol.

We not only talk of ski racing, but also of the significance of the day and how Nordic Skiers are spokesmen for the environment. He shares that he believes his homeland, Germany, is a world-leader in photovoltaics. Most days he says he doesn’t have time for photos and chat, but he is very affable — offering that he is making a “revival” nearly ten years after taking the Silver Medal in the Sprint at the Salt Lake Olympics. I am stoked and feel a real connection to this man who only existed before in my mind.

It all starts with play — and a desire to try really hard at something.

The view from our hotel — past castle ruins and into the Ortles Range.

Looking out the Martell Valley after our roller ski the other day. 20 kilometers and some 4000 feet of climb.

Shortly after this meeting I gather our team with the Sud Tirol Regional Langlauf team for a photo that makes me proud. I explain the cause of Moving Planet and have a Swiss skier explain to the German-speaking-Italians what the significance of the day is and what we are supporting with our photo. We are bringing together two continents and five countries under one cause and linked by the sport of cross-country skiing. Pretty inspired indeed.

Kinda makes you want to smile!

Two hours on snow makes this one smile.

This guy too — first day on snow for 2011-12 ski season.

The view down into Switzerland.

And for my play … well there is nothing I like better than going downhill on skinny skis — it sort of crosses the barriers of two worlds for me — and take me back to the beginnings of skiing for me and the sport itself. Because of the recent snow — there are snowfields and bands of drifts that make a decent of several thousand feet possible. I packed the kids in the van with Evan and pointed to a far switchback — “meet me down there.” The ski was as adventurous as I had hoped, complete with crust, corn, rocks, grass, and some striding through a knee deep lake. This is it!

September 25, 2011
A Look Back in Time – Ten Year Reunion on the Stelvio

Reunion of sorts – Coach Beckwith (WJC ’99) meeting Peter Schlickenrieder (WJC ’89) – Moving Planet Day 2011

The past few mornings I have been waking up early enough that I might be rivaling past Middlebury College Coach, Terry Aldrich in his zeal for the dawn. This pattern lends to a feeling of courting a day — certainly being ready for it — and being unmistakably ahead of your colleagues (or in my case, athletes) in exuberance by the time they wake up. Bottom line — as the GMVS XC Ski Team is nearing the end of our first altitude camp of the 2011-12 — the Head Coach is fired up!

Today was a special day, not only because the kids got an excellent day of training on snow along side the Italian National Team, but because they got to link their passion to a bigger issue. Today is a worldwide day of unity and awareness, drawn together under the name, Moving Planet — with the goal or reducing dependence on fossil fuels, looking to alternative energy sources and promoting a movement towards a world with 350 part per million of CO2. We had a day we will never forget — one with snow, contemplation of our place in the world, and physical experiences (read, play) that link us to the planet in a respectful way.

Speaking of days I will never forget, on the eve of competing in World Junior Champs in 1999, in Saafelden, Austria — I witnessed the then fastest man alive, Peter Schlickenrieder duel with the fastest Austrian sprinter in a night sprint. The town had shut a street and lined it with snow — for a single ski race that lasted no more than a few minutes. Sprinting as an event did not really exist yet, this was an exhibition to help launch the Junior World Champs, and I was blown away by this man V1’ing in a yellow suit at what-seemed-to-be the speed of light.

Coach on an off day in Innsbruck.

Return to courting the day … here I am with the kids, watching them ski along side Olympic Champions, Spanish, French, and Swiss Junior National Teams and the Sud Tirol Coach points to a man who looks to be dodging his forties rather well, “this one is Schlickenrieder…” I am enthused explain in my broken Deutsche-English, my memory of this phenom of a sprinter. “He has made silver in Salt Lake in the Sprint.” I watch him pass and dream a bit.

Near the end of the workout I spy Peter propping his skis against the Stelvio sign and snapping a picture for his sponsor, Salomon. I offer to help this idol of mine from years past — “Would you like me to take a picture with you in it.” Boom — I’ve broken the ice and am now talking to an Olympic Medalist! It takes me a minute to convey my story, but yes he remembers the sprint, and is flattered I have made the connection.

Inspiring views surround the valleys of the Sud Tirol.

We not only talk of ski racing, but also of the significance of the day and how Nordic Skiers are spokesmen for the environment. He shares that he believes his homeland, Germany, is a world-leader in photovoltaics. Most days he says he doesn’t have time for photos and chat, but he is very affable — offering that he is making a “revival” nearly ten years after taking the Silver Medal in the Sprint at the Salt Lake Olympics. I am stoked and feel a real connection to this man who only existed before in my mind.

It all starts with play — and a desire to try really hard at something.

The view from our hotel — past castle ruins and into the Ortles Range.

Looking out the Martell Valley after our roller ski the other day. 20 kilometers and some 4000 feet of climb.

Shortly after this meeting I gather our team with the Sud Tirol Regional Langlauf team for a photo that makes me proud. I explain the cause of Moving Planet and have a Swiss skier explain to the German-speaking-Italians what the significance of the day is and what we are supporting with our photo. We are bringing together two continents and five countries under one cause and linked by the sport of cross-country skiing. Pretty inspired indeed.

Kinda makes you want to smile!

Two hours on snow makes this one smile.

This guy too — first day on snow for 2011-12 ski season.

The view down into Switzerland.

And for my play … well there is nothing I like better than going downhill on skinny skis — it sort of crosses the barriers of two worlds for me — and take me back to the beginnings of skiing for me and the sport itself. Because of the recent snow — there are snowfields and bands of drifts that make a decent of several thousand feet possible. I packed the kids in the van with Evan and pointed to a far switchback — “meet me down there.” The ski was as adventurous as I had hoped, complete with crust, corn, rocks, grass, and some striding through a knee deep lake. This is it!

September 25, 2011