Canada Day 3

Another great day in Canada. A long morning ski in warming temperatures with a mix of spots of sun and drops of rain. The afternoon ski was misty, but the skate tracks were fast. And then dinner cooked by the women's team: chicken or tofu pesto, sweet potato and feta spinach salad, bruschetta. New Years dessert of raspberries, truffles, and sorbet.

It is only day 3, but after 6 long sessions the team is already starting to feel the hours of training. Bud and I are happy to see the "glazed" look - that means there has been some quality training happening.

Tomorrow: Time trial!

Into the mist. . . Our afternoon ski started in the fog.

Julia and Kristen work on bruschetta

Aubrey and Kirsten work on truffles

Mmmmmmm . . . . finished product.

dishing up: pesto, bruschetta, and salad

Result of Sale Day at the plaid factory: Casey, Keith, Patrick

Canada Camp Day 2

Day two was even more exceptional than day 1. Temps in the upper teens to lower twenties, fabulous tracks, sunshine.
In the morning we did 4x4 intervals up Lac Ste Hilaire, a winding steep uphill that has a complimenting downhill loop. Some of the older athletes tacked on an extra interval for good measure.
In the afternoon the ladies team took a classic tour while the men opted to skate. It was a gorgeous evening with a gorgeous sunset.
The men's team made dinner: burgers,sausage, homemade fries, tortellini - complete with two recipes of Beth Nesbitt's famous lemon bars.
The work for the day ended with technique video from the morning's intervals.


Another spectacular day.

Keith

Sarah

The sophomore boys: Phil, Casey, Ian

Coach Fisher and Patrick

Lac St Hilaire has THE BEST downhill. Maddy and Hannah prepare.

The Vermont Contingent: Kalle and Julia

Canada Camp Day 1

Day one, and we've already logged more than 4 hours of skiing on great snow and great tracks. The smiles abound. So do the muscle aches, for some. . . . three of the team members have been abroad this semester (Holly and Erik in Nepal, Dimitri in Mongolia) and they are having to catch up to the training pace rather quickly on their first day of practice back with the team.

The skiing is fabulous, and though it was pretty cold for this morning's skate session, the temps warmed a bit for the start of the afternoon classic ski and we had a beautiful sunset to guide us home.

Isaac Hoenig's parents, Peter and Cathy, are also here in Quebec with the CSU team and they made us an offer this evening we couldn't refuse: Dinner. We were treated to hot homemade chili and sweet cornbread, spinach salad, pie and ice cream. What a treat!

What a day! Can't wait for tomorrow. . . .

Who's happy to be at Mont St Anne? Isaac, Kalle, Patrick, Ian, Robby

Maddy shows how its done in V2 drills

Kirsten and Sarah give a shout out as they zoom downhill at the end of the morning ski

The women's team pauses on the bridge leading to the ski trails as they begin their afternoon ski.

Striding into the sunset

Peter Hoenig in the kitchen

The boys team digs into some hearty chow

Isaac, Robby, Mark, Sarah, Maddy, share some commentary after dinner

Canada will have to wait. . .

We woke up to two fresh feet of snow and more coming down in torrents of swirling wind.

Bud and I decided the *smart* decision - as all the roads had winter advisory warnings until evening - was to delay our travels to Canada for one day. We were disappointed in the delay, but tried to make the most of it by driving to Prospect late in the afternoon (the roads were closed in the mid-morning) with the few members of the team who were in town.

Steve had been hard at work plowing and grooming, and his efforts were much appreciated! We skiied in groomed track for a lap and then we did a little off-trail skiing.

We leave for Quebec in the morning!

I had lots of fun shoveling out the vans

The crew heads out for the trails. Thanks to Steve for grooming!

Dimitri, Evan, Mark, try to stomp their way uphill


The descent down is a veeeeerrrry slow one. . .

Andrea Fisher, Maddy, Julia

Merry Christmas, from the Williams Ski Team!

These photos are from our annual ski team Christmas dinner and Yankee gift swap. Lasagna dinner followed by the gift exchange, which is always good for a lot of laughs, ferocious swapping, and a few really *choice* gifts unwrapped!

Phil's artistry is also his gift wrap.

Choice Item #1: Evan receives Kristin's gift of a sweet retro jumpsuit.

The gift beneath the artistry: I hope Knapster needed some colored pencils

Evan and Keith making gourmet salad.

Barb serves Isaac a load of lasagna

Kalle is psyched for his travel comb

Caleb scores some lightning tights

PattieJ thinks his new tights go well with the rest of his suit.

Maddy and Julia share a holiday hug.

4 x4 Erg Relays with Crew Team

About two weeks ago we joined with the crew team for our annual tradition of 4x4 relays. The teams are three people: a mix of crew members and skiers, each person does a 4 minute pull and then trades off to a team member. Every member does 4 pulls. The team that pulls the most distance at the end of 48 minutes wins! No prizes, just Pride.

This year the competition was made even more exciting because the crew coaches had a big screen set up - hundreds of wires running around between ergs and a central computer and the screen - that showed a live image of the leading boats!


Keith and Kalle cheer on their team members, Isaac and Mark pull.

Sarah, Kirsten, Maddy take their turns pulling

Kristen, Christina, Hannah, Julia are cheered by their crew teammates

The big screen

Casey and Caleb watch their team on the screen
Below: video of the last minute: the gym gets pretty loud as teams cheer their teammates toward the finish line.

Eastern Cup Openers

It was a mix of old and new at the Eastern Cup Openers in Craftsbury and Jericho, Vermont, this weekend. Saturday's race was a skate sprint, but we had no contenders from the current Williams ski team as many either had finals to finish or had gone home for break.
Sunday's classic mass start race saw four Williams team members toe the line: Kristen Halvorsen, Ian Nesbitt, Casey Jones, and Caleb Lucy.

We were also psyched to see three Williams alums join the ranks of racers over the weekend: Topher Sabot, Ellen Chandler, and Gina Campoli-Broadhead. In a weekend when our own team showed off our NEW suits (retiring the white and purple cow spots after 20 plus years) Topher came attired in an old-school Williams one-piece, a garment Coach Fisher remembers to have been the cutting technology on style (replacing two-piece knicker suits) in the year they were acquired by the Williams team.

Topher Sabot is not only still fast but still Stylin'.

Kristin Halvorsen skis in a line of women mid-way through the 4-lap course.

Ian Nesbitt

Caleb Lucy

Casey Jones glides over the finish line.

Coach Fisher stops Kalle on the trail for some quick technique tips

Knapster couldn't be happier: she is done with finals and finally on snow

gorgeous fading light on the meadows

Finishing the ski with the last of the light