Happy New Year from Mont-Sainte-Anne! Today we capped off a great week of training with a chilly time trial and the second annual MSA talent show. Performances were shared by all, including the coaches! Notable performances include freshman Magdalen York teaching the crowd how to moo like a cow, and "Sunshine" Gardner – the older, cuter brother of Nick Gardner – demonstrating how to pick-up girls. We are so all so grateful to have had the opportunity to spend a week in such a beautiful place, and are looking forward to our first carnival in less than two weeks!

Alum Jordan Fields turned my backpack into a nugget this week!

Mont Saint Anne

The team had a great 5/10K Classic TT this morning. It was around -2F at the start, but there was some quality racing and many positive signs for the season to come! This afternoon we had a great skate ski on trail 33. Absolutely beautiful out there and I took a few pics along the way:

Elowyn had the best eyelashes
this afternoon!

Sonya and Elowyn enjoying the snow!

Ivy, Ingrid, Isabel and Lucy

Williams Ski Team Buddies!

Happy Holidays from Mont-Saint-Anne!

Happy Holidays to all of our blog readers! The team arrived in MSA on 12/26 and we just finished up our 3rd day of PERFECT skiing. Temps have been right around or just below 0F, so we've been working hard to keep everyone moving and warm. Not many pictures, since our phones are too cold and internet non-existent at the coaches condo, but here are a couple dark ones showing off the perfect conditions. We had a great gathering with our team last night and many of their wonderful family members. What an awesome group! We're looking forward to firing up the racing engines tomorrow with a 5/10K Classic TT. Happy skiing to everyone!

Men's Skate Train

Coach Hecker

Becker!

Women's Train

More ladies

And more ladies!

New Fall Edit is Up!

Fresh off the press, our fall training edit is now up on the YouTube!  Check it out below!

Winter!

This fall has gone by so fast, it's hard to believe that it's already winter and there is snow on the ground. The days of getting lost in the gym (and everywhere else) are behind us (somewhat) as are one whole semester of classes!

Even more surprising was how amazing Prospect was this week!

The transformation this week was pretty incredible. This is the lodge from our running/bounding workout two weeks ago:

This is the lodge on Thursday:

The timing shack looking good with tons of snow around it!

Skiing! The conditions were great, especially after a couple more inches on Wednesday night and another round of grooming.

The race loop looking spectacular. In other news, the A climb is still huge, and Nick Gardner still declared the course double-pole-able. No word yet on what Braden Becker plans on doing; according to unsubstantiated rumors he was spotted running the course on snowshoes with poles.

 Williamstown got some snow too, and some of the hardworking students took a well earned break to build a fort out in front of Paresky.

I'm currently sitting in the Albany airport, waiting for my flight. I've only been here for five hours, and I don't have long to go! Excited to be home in Colorado for a couple of days (although I'll miss the snow), and even more excited to be back East for camp in Quebec next week!

Carr "the legend" pulls a turkey out of thin air

Hello sports fans.
Bringing you the noteworthy sports highlights in realtime.

Evan "The Linguini Slinger" Carr just bowled a turkey (thats three strikes in a row) closing out ten frames with an earth shattering 104 points and putting in a strong bid for MVP all within one week of arriving on Williamstown. We're excited to see what he can do this season, and hoping he can share some of the secrets he learned in Namibia.

Another Prospect Miracle

Two of our freshmen boys enjoying their *first* ski at Prospect!

My Talented Friends

This weekend I had the pleasure of seeing how talented my friends!  Not only are they fast skiers, they are also talented artists and dancers.

Nick with his prints.  He made the bottom one, a self portrait, and the one on the right, a toast to Minnesota.  I guess this is where he was all those Saturday nights.

Jack with his photographs taken in Pittsfield.

Elowyn groovin' in her Ritmo performance.

A fabulous turn.

She rocked two numbers and even tried her hand at choreography.

Elowyn and a proud friend Lucy.

It hasn't started to snow yet but I heard there might be some powder tomorrow.

How much longer can I put off this paper: a photojournal

It has been an event filled couple of days. I'm afraid I've been having too much fun for the amount of work I have, but so it goes. As soon as I finish writing this blog post I should probably start engaging in the serious business of final papers. To be fair, it's a little bit hard to concentrate with all the new snow (!!) on  the ground that I just want to go and play in so so badly. Soon, though. Soon it will all be over and I will be home with my dog in front of a wood stove reading books that I will never have to write a paper on.

What has been going on with the ski team you may ask? Time trials, Evan Carr's return from Namibia, and the first snow have all come and gone. Unfortunately my phone has been out of storage and unable to take any photos for about a month, so the photo documentation is woefully lacking. However, Ingrid is a goddess and lent me her phone to take some photos of our annual Yankee Gift Swap (White Elephant to those unfamiliar with nonsensical East Coast lingo) last night. I think I captured some great moments, so I'll let the images do the talking.

Franklin apparently does not respond well when people say "smile"

Best sweater award goes to Ingrid. Maggie wins best combination of velvet and stripes

Best wrapping job goes to Henry for his creative, yet understated, plastic ziploc bag

Lucy teaching the younger generation a thing or two about the Ukulele Arts

D-man showing the frosh who's boss

HE'S BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!

I see you over there

A little mistletoe can go a long way

Red velvet crew. Making Sonya proud. 

Thank you to the Lemioux family for generously hosting another year of festivities!!

Gift swap was good to Andy

Connie seems to have fallen for the classic "bridge that looks like a bridge but isn't actually a bridge" ruse on our romp around the golf course this morning. 

There are only about 20 pages of writing between me and the beautiful ski trails of home, so I should probably start chugging along. Thanks blog-world for indulging me. I hope everyone's holiday's are full of joy and glorious, fluffy snow!

Love,
Ivy

Reindogs, Reingoats, Reinpony's but No Reindeer

   

Last year I unfortunately missed the annual spectacle known as the Reindog Festival. This year I made sure I got to experience what some would probably consider a Christmas and dog lovers dream.

Here are a couple photos that sum up most of the event this year! 

A tribute to Eli Hoening and Speeder 

Its almost the holidays, one more week of classes to go!