Blast from the Past- Stay Grateful

     With all the excitement over Prospect's spontaneous transformation into a winter wonderland, I just wanted to make sure no one forgot the snowless struggle that was last year. We have had to be adaptable athletes (and are lucky to have resourceful and resilient coaches!!) in the past and will certainly have to be so in the future; it's all good practice. For training. And races. And life. So be grateful when you feel like a blind, uncoordinated walrus; when you have have to do 652 billion laps to get in an hour long ski; as well as when there are ego-boosting, superhero conditions.

Our extensive training trail in Craftsbury last year. To be fair, this depicts only about half of the actual skiable loop.

This was at Berkshire East, I believe, mid season.  Who says no snow means no hills?

100% accurate. Keep at it, y'all.

What a week to be an eph. Just wrapped up an awesome thanksgiving camp at Prospect!

Me, about to do a klister-hits-powder faceplant 

Becker and me, pounding out some reading-intervals after the skate intervals on Saturday

Movie Night

We did not make it to Craftsbury but we did make the trip to the movie theater in North Adams to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.  A great time was had by all!

BEST SKIING IN NORTH AMERICA

Prospect Mountain may very well have the best skiing on the continent this week after 28" fell on Sunday night. With snow shortages in the Western US and British Colombia, there are few places besides western NY with as much snow as we have right now and there are few places I'd rather be. Thankful for a great team and coaches to share these long training days with.

Sad to hear that many other EISA teams' Thanksgiving camps are without snow this year, my only advice to y'all: get to Prospect ASAP.

These photos were taken by Jack Consenstein, one of our awesome freshman and an excellent photographer. He used his new drone to take these shots. See more of his work at: http://jconmedia.com/

Thankful to be an eph, thankful for SNOW!

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! The Ephs are thankful today for the entire ski community. We had a great Classic Threshold session this morning and are gathering for a team Thanksgiving dinner tonight at the Costley's. A huge thank you to Liz, Tom and Luke for offering our skiers a chance to get off campus together to share a meal. We are so thankful for your generosity!

A picture from today:

Thanksgiving Day 11-24-2016
Top of 1/3 looking down
Kick - 2 Thin layers of Rode Violet
PERFECT

Continued Coverage of the PROSPECT MIRACLE

Better skiing than we had all last year, all before Thanksgiving! We are all in a state of disbelief.
The team has been making the most of the Prospect miracle, getting an incredible first ski in Tuesday November 23, and then today, Wednesday, we spent all day knocking out two all-time sessions.

Winter Wonderland

 Lots of excitement in the lodge post-ski No. 1

Nobody can contain their excitement!

It's hard to do speeds when you can't stop smiling

Best assistant coach in the EISA, and I'll fight anyone who says he's not

 

Great to have Carmen training with us straight from cleaning up at CC Nationals

Jack Consenstein wondering what he should do with his lunch break

Looks like somebody is happy about his sandwich 

Thesis boys Eli and Jordan in "the dojo"

Happy sandwich-->Happy nap

Keeping cozy round the stove

Coach Jay in the studio with legwork

technique

Snow in Williamstown?!

I am excited to hear of snow in Williamstown. The weather hasn't changed too much here in Ecuador (most days are sunny and warm and cooler in the evening and sometimes rain in the afternoon) which makes it hard to believe it's already almost December! Here are some photos of what I've been up to:

 Two weekends ago was the performance of the play I have been working on. After a dress rehearsal where someone peed their pants, another kid refused to act, and another pulled the fire alarm, it was a huge feeling of elation when opening night everything went smoothly!

My soccer team for the inter-campus tournament.

 This past weekend I headed to Cuenca for a track meet with the university's track team. Ran my first 5k on a track and even got to do steeplechase!

A blue footed booby in the Galapagos.

Got to go on my first overnight field trip in college to learn about the uses of plants for my botany class. Here we are at our first stop.


Keep that snow around for me everybody! See ya in Quebec team!

Love,

Elowyn

The PROSPECT MIRACLE

It's real. I've been on this planet for almost 40 years. Can't remember a ski on 11/22 that was this good. You could feel the joy on the trails today. Thank you Mother Nature and all that had a hand in this. The Eph skiers were so happy today and we'll be heading up tomorrow for another 4+ hours of skiing!

Jordan leading Dylan and the men

Evan thought it wasn't bad.....for Vermont

Luke showing a big smile striding up
Chicadee

Half way up the A climb taking a break

Hannah Cole and Tsaina leading the team
The women's team won the
synchronized striding contest

First Ski

Winter is here in Williamstown! The grass may still be green at Craftsbury, but Prospect and Williamstown are white and the snow is supposed to keep coming. We slid around on the golf course this morning for a couple of hours and are stoked to have a good forecast heading into Craftsbury Camp. WINTER IS COMING! A few pics:

Wintery Commute

First Tracks!

"Hey Coach. My wax is...um, Perfect"

Okay, maybe the skating was much better than classic

Men's team enjoying the break from roller skiing

Becker and Benson enjoying their Sunday morning

Sonya, Ivy and more women chasing

Loving the white landscape

Dylan loving the East Coast weather. 65 degrees
one day, snow the next!

All smiles!

Stay tuned for more posts this week from Craftsbury Camp!

Fall Recap

Dear Williams Nordic Fans,

Fall training has gone spectacularly.  The men have truly set themselves up well for an unprecedented season.  And the women are prepared to make a significant mark on the EISA women’s field, with several proven veterans, and some young, exciting talent.  We will be unstoppable, and I implore you to follow us this winter on Facebook, Instagram, and here on the blog.

One of my favorite pics!

First day of official practice and these three are psyched!

Coach didn't stand a chance against Ingrid!

Agility training is SO much fun!

L4 bounding has been plentiful, and our bounding technique work has been on point.

Men's team is loving the new pavement in Pownal.

Women's team has too much fun!!

We have four new pull-up bars next to our ercolina's - Jason and I have made a goal to do 10 every time we enter the office...gettin yoked!!

Annual strength test numbers were big! Coach Perry still holds the record though...oops💪!

Some great weather for training this fall - women heading up Greylock.

Consistent speed sessions have been super fun, and we've seen some big gains in explosiveness and technique!

The team has been double-poling up Petersburg Pass once a week for specific strength, but they also manage to put in some time on the ercolina's - trust me, you don't want to be double-poling next to this crew.

We brought a bundle of skis to Caldwell Sport for stone grinding - It's starting to feel like ski season  🎿!

With how serious and dedicated everyone is with their training and school work, we still have way too much fun!

We head up to Craftsbury on the 22nd for our annual Thanksgiving camp, and we can not wait!  

Watch these videos:
https://youtu.be/dG2i5irZp4U

https://youtu.be/OPDZmMBcg2o

Lock it up.

Stack skulls.

Get uncomfortable.

Sweep the shed.