Heavenly

We can't ask for much more up here in Quebec. It has been a fantastic week of skiing, a fantastic week of everything. Mont St. Anne is once again beautiful and our three hour ski today flew by faster than we could believe. We appreciate the laps we did at Craftsbury over Thanksgiving but there's nothing like Trail 24, endless corduroy and extra blue. 

When not skiing, food is definitely the first priority. Our chalets allow us to cook all our own meals- and cook for each other. Menu highlights include chili from the parents (thank you!!) on the first night, an excellent curry from the girls and a pulled pork/dhal combo that we boys were proud of.

Games galore and some guitar sounds make the evenings great. All in all, we're a happy crew. More to come soon!

Not a tater-tot casserole (hot dish) but that's a good thing

Bagels in bulk

The result

One of the many specimens attending camp this year

Pineapple Express

JFF waits patiently but proudly for the girls. Boys take the lead 4-3.  

Happy Hans!

Carr, Canada's least trustworthy card game player

Cruising by the river

Midwest's finest

Textbook from Jordy and the boys

Happy trails

10 Hours Of Bliss

The team has logged 10 hours of training so far at MSA.  One classic speed session, one skate speed session, one L4 classic interval session, and several easy skis with technique work.  On top of all the skiing, Jason and I have logged about eight pots of coffee, six different kick wax tests, four hours of Canadian reality tv, and three delicious dinners - the first was made by a few of the parents, and one of each by the men's team and the women's team (I think the women are winning the dinner competition...).  There's also a heated race between the men and women as to who will make it to the ski area first for each practice - it's currently tied.

Sonya - Most likely to make a snow angel!

Luke - Most likely to catch a snowflake on his tongue...

Coach J - Most likely to get super excited about skiing!

Sonya - ALSO most likely to get super excited about anything!

Hannah Cole - Mostly likely to eat an entire raw onion.

Beautiful skiing!

Awesome morning classic technique session!

Impeccable Skiing!

MSA, as always, has delivered!  The skiing is amazing, and the team is super stocked to be skiing! Monday morning, we headed out for an easy classic ski with a little technique, and in the afternoon the team had some fun with a few skate speeds.  It started dumping snow this morning, and hasn't stopped...We just got back from an awesome L4 classic session, and we'll head out into the storm again this afternoon for an easy skate ski.

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

The Team got some new hats after enjoying a delicious first dinner made by some of the parents!!

OMG!

Coach J is pumped!

JFields - Too cool!

Jack Schrupp - Go away.

The guys working on classic technique.

The girls striding through a winter wonderland!

The herd!

SOOO much skiing to be done!

Perry

Hello From AK

Hello from the North! The holiday season here is fairly cold, but not very far below zero, and filled with snow! So far, everyday here has been filled with great skiing. I will be missing the team in Quebec, but I will be doing my own training camp over here in Fairbanks. Can't wait to be reunited with everyone in the East soon though!

Here are some pictures from my break so far:

My first morning home: 9am solstice sunrise.

My sisters and I after our first ski on snow since Thanksgiving (for me at least)

Becca and a little ice.

My bff Tom.

At the bottom of Goldstream Valley, near the ridge I live on.

The sun really does show its face! (High noon).

Christmas picture disfunction with the sisters.

A classy mid-ski selfie with the selfie pro himself (Fath).

The view from the top of the downhill ski area. Full disclosure: I didn't go downhill skiing.

My parents cruising up from the coldest trail at Birch Hill.

Miss everyone! Ski hard and have fun! See you soon!

The Road to Quebec Camp

Happy Holidays All! It was a warm winter break here in New England. The rollerskiing has been hot and the trails have been wet. I brought out my race skis the other day, but the maple butter and brie just haven’t been kicking in these sub-par conditions.

To that end, we are on the road to Mont St. Anne, chasing the fluffy white stuff. We have heard tell from our sources in Canada, that the conditions at MSA are quite good, and we’re excited to get out of the vans and shred mad pow pow.

 

The trails at MSA on Christmas day. Fine powder conditions?

Our sources on the ground Vanya and Emma

Loading the van with the lads

The crew of young studs in my van ready to rip

The whole team is ready for a week of training, chilling, and cooking great food. The returning champions (the men’s team) are hungry to win the dinner competition again this year.

Best of luck to our absent teammates in Houghton and Alaska! We’re pouring some out for you.

-Josh

Let it snow!

After finishing finals this week, some of us made it up to Craftsbury for the opening Eastern Cup races. It was so exciting to be finally racing, after training all year for this. We had a small but mighty crew of purple cows on course including Rebecca, Jordan, Luke, Braden, and Perry! With over 400 racers on a 1k loop, Craftsbury was quite the scene this weekend. Saturday was a 1.6k skate sprint, which included going up the steep hill twice. Because of the limited snow, this sprint was unusual in that only 16 people qualified for the heats, and the heats were 4 people each. Right as the women's race began, it started snowing, which was awesome. It was so much fun to finally be skiing in the snow, as friends cheered for us in the sprint.

Reb, charging up the hill!!

Me, enjoying a great day to be a skier as it dumps snow

 Sunday's race was a 5k skate, which involved 5 loops. This definitely challenged our ability to count. With so many racers on course at the same time, many people skied in packs. It was also a great spectator course.

Jordan, skiing his way into 7th place!!

It was awesome to see Perry out there racing. All those intervals paying off!

(Unfortunately I don't have pictures of Luke or Braden racing, but they also looked great!)

It was a really fun weekend, although we missed the rest of the team. These first races got me super excited for carnival season, which is just around the corner. First, some quality training and good times to be had in Quebec!

MN Can’t Get Us Down

As the team pushes through finals and prepares to head home for the holidays, we’re faced with the reality that the Purple Valley has still seen no signs of snow, but a frustrating snowless December doesn’t feel nearly as bad with a team as it does on your own. The team is finding ways to stay positive, like by crushing the erg workout (even though the teams were mixed, we all know what the results would have looked if they had been divided crew against the champions.. I mean.. against nordic), and heading up to Prospect to bound, and more importantly get psyched on the race course and visualize some snow!

Mother Nature has been teasing us with a little white...

                               

 But despite the pavement the team is still all smiles! :D

Really... I have never seen a smilier bunch!

                                             

                                                  

...and a shot from Thanksgiving break, the nordie frosh tackle some rock walls! (in our sweet new jackets)

Big thanks to the coaches and everyone on the team for being so nice and welcoming this fall. I have never been on a real team before and I’m really happy to be able to say it’s been a great experience so far, no matter what kind of weather has been thrown our way!