Day 3: Thanksgiving Camp!

Today started out a little rocky with a new inch of snow which turned the hill down to the Safeway into an ice skating rink. Ashley, Rachel, Grigory and I made it down in Ashley's Subaru just fine but when we were driving into Snow Mountain we found out that Gwynn had gone into a ditch to avoid piling up on the numerous other cars that were in the middle of the hill and the other car was stuck at the top of the hill. We couldn't do anything to help so we went ahead and started skiing and they joined us after the tow truck and police report. I blame the whole incident in the fact that someone needed to gravel that hill in the morning!

Just when we thought the skiing couldn't get any better it does! another 2 inches fell overnight and it was just enough to make the skiing absolutely amazing! It was perfect corduroy and newly groomed. In fact the groomers took the trail even further up the mountain that it had originally been! There are no other teams here, it's like we have this perfectly groomed ski trail just for us, it couldn't be any better.



We did some great classic technique work along with some video. It was an amazingly beautiful day and by the time we left it was snowing and it is still snowing! We will probably not be able to drive up to the waterfall tomorrow and have to/get to ski from much lower down. Who knows, if we get enough snow maybe we can ski in the valley!

Anyway, everything is going great and we're getting some absolutely amazing training in!

Second Day of Ski Camp!

I meant to write something yesterday but completely forgot so here's the run down on both days.

In August we reserved a condo that would sleep 12 people, thinking that would be enough but thanks to an awesome freshman/newbie class we quickly outgrew that condo. So on Sunday night, yes the one right before Thanksgiving, I began the hunt for another condo. Thanks to the bad economic outlook and the fact that there is no snow in town this was an easy hunt. It wasn't long until condo owners were throwing amazing deals my way. We ended up in a condo that would sleep 8 people for less than $100/night! It's awesome! That was the beginning of an amazing time!

As you drive around Fraser, Tabernash and Granby you can see a decided lack of snow. Actually, saying lack of snow implies that there is some, which there is not. Completely dry and bare. It doesn't look remotely promising for a ski camp... The Snow Mountain Ranch Nordic Center assured us there was skiing and when we stopped by the nordic center then even charged us $5/person. We were thinking this was a ripoff as we drove up the ski trails, places that I had always skied, to a road blockage. We walked past the barrier and there was some snow on the trail, little but we were like the dehydrated sailor "Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner" with no snow so the small amount looked extremely inviting. That was until we just kept going up and up and up and the snow was extremely variable, in fact I don't think you could call it snow most of the time, really just ice and rocks.

After what seemed an eternity of uphill in Zone 3 we crested a hill and saw an amazing sight! Groomed trails, with even a classic track! For some reason, due to elevation, north facing slope and trees, the snow up on Blue Ridges was amazing! Like mid-winter conditions, perfectly groomed, not icy and plenty of it! Suddenly the $5 wasn't looking bad at all! We skied for well over 3 hours, working on skate technique and doing a little video work. Everyone was smiling and happy and we really couldn't have asked for better conditions considering there are only a handful of places in the lower 48 that can actually ski at this time at all!

We opted for not skiing for the afternoon, due to the fact that the trek up to the snow is fairly long, and went for a short run. Michael then made an amazing dinner followed by video analysis and we were all ready for bed.

Thanksgiving Day dawned cloud and snowy! Yay! About an inch fell and it was enough to make good skiing a little better. Another 3ish hours today and we're going to Devin's mother Susan house for dinner tonight, we're really looking forward to it!

Things have worked out exceptionally well so far and we're looking for a little more snow tonight and even better skiing tomorrow.

We're rocking the the training camp!

Letter from the Coaches!

We just wanted to let you know that the Art Auction was a huge success. We made a one night total of over $3000! In fact once all the donations are added to that number I am guessing we'll be looking at closer to $3500! We'll know the exact amount once we get the report from on the online totals but it is easily our best ever one-day fundraising event!

We just wanted to let you know how proud we are of all of you! Everyone on the entire team got out there and worked hard, looked good and made this great event an huge success. We know you all worked extremely hard and we can't tell you how proud of you we are, you make us look good. I just thought I'd let you know that we had many business owners from around town, tons of faculty, staff and students as well as several high ranking administrators and you all behaved in a manner that continues to make the Nordic Team one of the most supported club sports on campus. It is due to your hard work, commitment, cohesion, team work and dedication that this event was a success.

We also want to give a special thanks to Trevor and Liz who have really put their heart and soul into this event, working on it tirelessly the entire fall semester. Also to Marie, Gina, Adam and Joe who stepped up the last two weeks and really pulled the committees together and got the last minute things done.

We'd like to send out a special Thanks to Ken, the owner of Cross Country Connection. He donated the space and the food and bought some art. This is way beyond anything we could have expected so be sure to say thanks when you go into the shop. We would have a hard time running a ski team in the town without him.

To put it into perspective, the $3000 you just raised will pay for the elite team races or it will more than pay for the entire week at Thanksgiving camp, or it will pay all the entry fees for USCSA Nationals, the list goes on....

You Rock our World!

Happy, snowy Jack

I went to Happy Jack today intending to run.. And instead I skied, the whole area is skiable! Nearly got blown off the parking lot, so the winter is there.

Fall Training

Well we just ended the third training rotation of the school year and things so far are looking pretty good. We have a great slew of excited freshman and i think all the returning skiers really took training over the summer seriously. In my case, i did a lot more ski training rather than just biking and am excited to see how it will help me this winter. I also increased my training in zone 1. This, i am hoping, will help me in longer races this up coming year. So, so far YTD i have 30 more hours since school started last year, and have already got to 80% of the total training i did last year. I am also a bit leaner and have been feeling better overall.
it should be a great winter.

pray for snow

adam

Old Balls on Skis!

Hey All! I figured I would give you all some insight into skiing post college! I have joined a Master Skier Program with the Alaska Winter Stars in Anchorage (I know, Katie and Liz, they are like your nemesis but maybe you won't hate them so much now? :)) I workout with the group 2 times a week, they have workouts 5 times a week but let's get serious, I am a 23 year old single girl, and well, sometimes my priorities lie in other places. The make up of the group is about 20 people, mainly men in the 40-50 range and a few women in the 35-50 range. I convinced my friend Amy, a first time skate skier, to sign up to so we cover the under 30 demographic quite nicely! I went to my first circuits practice last week and then this week I went to my first on snow practice. That's right, we have been skiing in AK. There is awesome skiing about 1.5 hours from town at Hatcher's pass, but in town at Kincaid Park there is a sweet 3 k loop that is pretty much ice but it is skiable. So, I show up at my first circuits practice expecting a few jumping jacks, etc, I mean let's get real, there are a bunch of old people in this thing! WRONG! My first circuits practice was quite possibly the toughest practice of my life! We did bungees, medicine ball, box jump, bench press, ab stuff, whatever you can think of, we did it! UGH! All while listening to techno music that our totally awesome coach, Jan Buron had chosen. Jan is this crazy Polish guy who is probably one of the funniest people I have ever met, I am really looking forward to being coached by him, I hadn't realized it until now but this is the first time I have had a non-American coach. So after I barely survived these circuits, we then go for a 20 minute run, then do plyos in the parking lot.... needless to say they are whipping me into shape! My second practice was skate technique and the best way to describe it was I think I probably looked like a horse on ice skates. RIDICULOUS! You would have thought I had never skiied in my life! Luckily, after a few minutes my technique came back and we practiced the transition from one side V1 to the other side while on a hill, and I was able to demonstrate it expertly (Thanks Christi and Rachel!) ......
Being in a master's program is interesting to me, I am still trying to figure it out because I mean, what are all these skiers here for? Why am I there? Before now, skiing was about results to me, I skied in HS to make the varsity travel team, making All-State, etc, then in college it was about going to Nationals. Now I sit at practice in the dark at 8 pm 2 times a week with these people who aren't working towards a national title or to make the team or anything like that, they are simply there for the love of it. It is great, I guess I always have been one of them but it took me a while to realize it, and I still don't think I will ever be able to shake that competitive edge. Luckily for me, Anchorage has a sweet citizen's race series.

So anyway, where am I going with this? Good question. I guess there is skiing outside of college, even when you aren't training for the Olympics! My biggest piece of advice for those looking to the future : DO NOT get out of shape. Trust me, you will regret it! :)