Ski the East

Those who know me know that my relationship with East Coast skiing started out rather "icily", shall we say. First impressions were not good: in my freshman year at UNH I l gained a new appreciation for rock skis and glare ice. I battled epic “wintry mix” conditions (for those who don’t know, that means sun/snow/sleet/rain, in any combination, at any time. Fun). I missed my extra blue kick wax and sunny skies, and I quickly realized that this spoiled West Coast ski brat needed to get tough, real quick.

Gradually I came to appreciate the quiet beauty of the Green Hills (sorry, Mountains) of Vermont. It’s a different kind of fun when you're skiing on narrow trails that wind through the woods and could end in a sharp corner or downed tree at any time. I’ve also learned that when the conditions aren’t perfect, it takes the type of skier who can put his or her head down and battle through. There’s a reason they say skiers who grew up in the East can ski anywhere! I even occasionally enjoy an icy downhill to keep me on my toes.

I’m happy to say that East Coast skiing and I are now going steady, which is good, since I’m spending almost 6 weeks in the east this winter. Since returning to Craftsbury after Nationals, we’ve had absolutely perfect skiing on the trails here. It helps that there are numerous 2 hr + loops on the trail system and they are always impeccably groomed. It also helps that Alaska, the entire West Coast, and Europe are hurting for snow this year, but we have plenty! As one of my teammates remarked the other day, we might be enjoying some of the best skiing in the world right now. I’m pretty much in heaven skiing every day right out our front door.

Andrew's been taking a lot of skiing shots, here are the girls putting in the k's

Unreal conditions. That's our house in the background, literally door to door skiing 

Headlamps are a necessity for afternoon training sessions, but the sunsets can't be beat

Preeeeetty nice

Our groomers have been doing an awesome job both keeping the trails in shape and prepping for the upcoming races

Pure skier bliss

It was tough to pull ourselves away from the great skiing at Craftsbury, but a group of GRP skiers went to Rumford for the Eastern Cups and actually had a great time. Rumford isn’t my all-time favorite venue because I’ve had trouble breathing in the past due to paper mill pollution. However, this time the prevailing winds kept the yucky air away, and I had two good races, taking 4th in the 5k skate and 1st in the classic sprint! I don’t think I’ve won a race since I was a junior, so it was really fun to race my GRP teammates in the final, and a good confidence boost to take the win. I’ve also become an EISA SuperFan the past two weekends cheering my former UNH teammates at the Bates and UVM carnivals. They’ve been rocking it!  I can’t wait to have them skiing here in Craftsbury in two weekends since the Dartmouth Carnival is combined with the second weekend of SuperTours.

GRP ski ladies swept the non-college podium in the 5k skate... and the classic sprint podium the next day!

A rare GRP team photo at the Rumford awards

When skiing in 0 degrees and -10 windchill, remember, hand warmers and duct tape!

And our face tape got an upgrade too, I think the Williams team was jealous of our cow tape

 Next up, the Craftsbury SuperTours! We’ll be racing a 20k classic mass start on Friday and a classic sprint Sunday, and then three more races (skate sprint, 10k skate, 10k classic mass start) the following weekend. Skiers are slowly trickling in from across the country, and while the fields for the first weekend will be pretty small, they’ll be really competitive. Check out the Bart Timing website for live results, and I’ll be sure to post an update after the two weeks of craziness are over.

Oh, I should also mention that I now know what the rest of my season will look like (this is exciting for a nomadic skier, to actually know where you’re going to be for the next two months). On February 24th I’m heading from Craftsbury to Europe, where I’ll race OPA Cups in Rogla, Slovenia and Chamonix, France. In between I’ll most likely do a FIS Race somewhere in Austria. Then I’ll fly back to the US on March 16th and head straight to SuperTour Finals in Sun Valley, ID and wrap my season there. Pretty stoked to see what I can do in the upcoming races!