Switching Gears

Well, these times they are a changin'...

My life is in a period of transition as I am prepare to begin graduate school this spring. To give you an idea, I recently sold my car and had my last day of coaching for APU....unless I can manage to do some fill-in sessions in the future.

Here's Angela and Joanna cutting up their gourmet cake they brought to share after practice on my last day of the APU noon group, which also fell on St. Patty's Day. There's nothing more that I will miss about this transition than the incredible people I've been able to spend my time with in the skiing community. This includes the masters & juniors I've been able to work with through coaching, my coaches (current and former), competitors, supporters, and teammates.

I don't have any recent pictures with my teammates since they've been scattered around the globe at World Championships, OPA Cups, AK Supertours, etc... but I did find the above picture in the "Ski Trax" magazine yesterday. The photo is by Flying Point Road and is of Morgan Smyth, Holly Brooks, Myself, and Sadie Bjornsen. Excelling together at the classic sprint at US Nationals in January was certainly icing in the cake for a great year of training and racing with them.

In the coming month and a half or so I am thrilled to get to see some activities I've been organizing work themselves into fruition. Up on the plate next:

1. Volunteering and exploring Guatemala with Justin! We will help out at Maya Pedal, where we will make Bicimaquinas (Pedal Powered Machines) from donated bike parts/pieces, that can be used by the locals to pump water, mill grain, etc... We are thrilled to get to take part in this NGO and also experience a part of the world and culture that is new to us.

2. Going north to rural Alaska to help introduce the joy of xc skiing to elementary and high school students living along the Koyokuk River (which is off the road system). The idea to do this was a seed planted in my mind many years ago when Jennifer Johnston began organizing these types of trips. It has been something I've wanted to do for many years, however I was never able to participate due to my late season racing commitments. After some dreaming, calling around, and networking, it looks like it's going to happen! If you have used ski equipment you would like to donate to leave at these villages, please let me know.

3. Soon after I will be bonding with textbooks in the library, Im sure!

Before then, I hope to upload some pictures of recent adventures soon to help spread the word on what is possible to do in AK in the spring with so much daylight. Spring in AK is paradise, so soak it up if you're there!

Ahh...Spring Skiing

I don't think I will ever be able to get enough of spring skiing in Alaska. Powder, groomed trail, crust, snowmachine trails, or sastrugi... it seems like there's a fun and freeing way to experience it all. With increasing daylight, the exploration routes through the mountains, trees, and river systems seem endless. And I feel like I have barely begun to tap into what is possible.

Here are some pics from some morning/day trips in the past month or so...

Eklutna Lake/Serenity Falls:

Dad with the Twin Peaks in the background.

Dad checking out the old avalanche debris just past the lake. I thought we would turn around after about an hour of skiing, but we kept wanting to see what was around the next bend or mountain... and eventually found ourselves at the Serenity Falls hut (~22miles round trip).

Beautiful, high peaks back in this valley.

Eagle River area:

Turnagain Pass:

Paige Brady, a lifelong adventure buddy and telemark skiing inspiration (check her out in the Powderwhore ski movies). The powder, wonderful not long ago, became wind affected which made made gradual slopes more enticing such as touring at places like...

Rabbit Lakes:

A beautiful place in the winter too, even with the wind whipping through (Paige Brady pic). A huge thanks to Skhoop for their generous sponsorship of the most stylish winter wear.

Arctic to Indian:

Arctic Valley area and Birch, the Bird-dawg.

There are plenty of strong ice and snow bridges along the way right now.

And even some open water to fill up bottles if needed.

35k of bliss through the Ship Creek Valley.

Jeff, Carolyn, and Eric. We were all on fish scaled touring skis, which was the way to go for the current conditions. Having metal edges for the relatively steeper luge-like descents in the woods was super nice. Thanks to the Brady's for letting me borrow their ski set up, rather than risk breaking one of my beloved nordic pairs.

A spread eagle on the spot. A good day in the mountains gives me an energy and enthusiasm that I can't explain.

Another thing that gives me this vivacity is coaching. Getting outside with other skiers, seeing improvement, sharing what I've learned, and learning more in the process has been rewarding and fun job.

I may be shifting the structure of each day from ski-training/racing/coaching... but I feel like skiing, training, and coaching, each in some form or another, are all things I wont ever really be able to live without.