Work at Prospect

I was up at Prospect early last Friday to work on installing our new wax trailer/truck power station. Having a proper power setup is requirement for hosting carnivals these days. It came out pretty nice and hopefully will work well this winter for the carnival.

New Power Panel.
Hopefully high enough to stay out of the snow
Although, I'll happily dig it out
if it means we have that much snow!

8x20amp breakers

The foliage was pretty epic. A great bonus of having to do some work at Prospect.

 While running the new wiring I ran into this. American Pickers style!!!

Poles Anyone?

I also got to check out the newly finished corner on the top of Andy's and the drainage ditch on the top of 1/3. It's going to make for one tough course and training hill this winter!

Looking up Andy's

Looking down Andy's

The new top corner

Looking down the alpine slope (new xc race trail)

New drainage ditch on the top of 1/3

Today is the first day of official practice and we're kicking it off with a classic roller ski strength and technique workout. Perry and I are psyched to be back training with the team!

Wax Testing in September

Coach and I headed out to Sheep Hill to test out some new waxes yesterday...

Remembering Charlie Kellogg '62

Charlie's contribution to the ski world was huge, and he will be greatly missed by those who knew him. Fasterskier.com published an article yesterday highlighting some of Charlie's accomplishments. Charlie graduated from Williams in 1962.

http://fasterskier.com/blog/article/friends-remember-charlie-kelloggs-love-for-the-sport-the-outdoors-and-its-people/

Charlie Kellogg - Class of 1962

Top of Andy's

For those of you familiar with the trails at Prospect you might recognize where this picture was taken today. Normally you reach the top of Andy's and go left. Now the trail is about twice as wide at the top and you're going to be able to go right (yes, UPHILL!:)), or take the normal turn downhill. It should make for a very exciting and challenging race course and training hill this winter.

Bonjour from France!

Bonjour tout le monde!

I hope you all have been having wonderful summers! From what I’ve heard it seems like people have been hard at work rocking the cow across the world.

My summer started off with all the cool kids in the White Mountains/home where I spent two weeks working in a hut just down the ridge from Olivia. For my last day in the good old US of A, I chose to shun all responsibility and do a Presi traverse (like all the cool kids were doing this summer) with my brother.

Me and Peej atop Franklin. He taught me how to correctly take a selfie.

My first two weeks in France I spent on vacation with my family (14 of us, aahhh!) in Provence, which was mostly really hot (think 100 degrees every day). Despite the heat I did get out for some early morning runs because there were awesome trails that connected all the towns in the region. I got lost a lot, tried to avoid scorpions, and was often confused by poorly explained French trail marking systems.  

The view of the pool in Provence!

French trail markings. They are everywhere but you have no idea what they actually mean/ where they lead. 

The last six weeks of my summer were spent in Paris working on a project for Williams. I was studying maps as a means of personal and cultural expression, which meant I got to wander somewhat aimlessly about Paris handing out blank maps of the city to strangers. My wanderings yielded some incredible responses to my project, but also exciting discoveries like a garden where you could pick fruits and vegetables for free (!), and a fountain that dispensed potable seltzer water, also for free. This was a big deal, for those of you who know how much I like seltzer water. 

Bastille Day in Paris with jets flying over the Louvre

Outdoor film festival overlooking the city

My commute to and from the bookstore where I worked. Not too shabby!

While I was in Paris I also volunteered at a bookstore near Notre Dame. I spent many hours climbing up and down ladders to shelve books and telling Japanese tourists that the bookshop did not sell books in Japanese. As for the ski training, there was a lot of flat pavement pounding and track intervals going on. Luckily not far from my apartment there was an elevated park about 5km long that led straight to the largest park in Paris, which was more like a large forest where I frequently got lost. All in all, the theme of my summer was probably getting lost, whether on the trails of Provence, the streets of Paris, or any other part of France that I happened to visit. 

I was able to get out of Paris for a weekend and visit the wine country around Bordeaux

The view of Notre Dame from right near the bookshop

La Coulée Verte where I ran (almost) every day

While Paris was quite the adventure, I am very excited to be back in the mountains and to return to school. My first day of classes was today, so naturally I am procrastinating by writing this blog. Grenoble is, to be brief, “super cool” (add French accent for full effect).

Grenoble, the mountains, and the gondola!

Have fun in the Purple Valley this fall and keep me updated on major events, like the tag sale (which I am VERY sad to be missing) and the Big Splash, and I will see you all in QC!

Hannah, Benson, or whatever variation of Benson you prefer 

Williams Carnival

I spent this morning walking the trails at Prospect with Steve Whitham and David Dethier. Exciting to think how fast our Eph Skiers will be ripping through this stadium come the 3rd weekend in February. 10K Skate, 5K Classic Pursuit. How torturous will the course be? TBD:)!

2015/2016 Schedule

Folks,

The Carnival schedule has been made official, and on the right-hand side of our blog, above all of our beautiful faces, you can see a detailed version of where and what the Ephs will be doing this winter.  I'm pretty excited for this years schedule!  It looks like there will be plenty of opportunities for Williams skiers to both excel, and challenge themselves.

Notice, Williams is hosting a Carnival this year!!!  The EISA circuit is in for a world of pain.  I predict, that along with an array of broken poles, skis, and self-esteems, we will also witness the first skiers to literally crawl during a 5k race.  EISA circuit: you have been warned.  Williams '15/'16 roster boasts a group of ruthless individuals, that are more than jacked-up to destroy all ego's at this year's Williams Carnival.

Brace yourselves, winter is coming.

Alpine and Nordic 2015/2016 EISA Schedule

Perry

A Summer of Moving East

Since leaving New Zealand, it seems I've been in constant motion eastward, spending no more than 4 days at a time in the same town.  Once I was back in America, as I readjusted to driving on the right side of the road and using American currency, I split time between my hometown of Casper, Wyoming, and my family's cabin in Silverthorne, Colorado.  The former consisted mostly of doctor's appointments and catching up with high school friends, while the latter consisted of hiking 14ers and spending time with family.

The Rockies are a wonderful place.

With my oldest brother, Dave, on top of Torrey's Peak.  We took the unconventional route up Kelso Ridge, which included some awesome Class 3 climbing, and roughly 5% of the crowds that hike up the normal route.

From the top of neighboring Gray's Peak, a look back at Torrey's and the Kelso Ridge.

A week or so later, from the top of Missouri Peak.

Dave leads the way as we make a quick descent before those clouds turn ugly.

From here, I embarked on phase two of moving east with a cross-country road trip back to the Purple Valley.  Mostly this just means that I sang country music to myself for ~35 hours.  South Dakota was the low point of the trip; the high point was stopping for a weekend in Minneapolis where my other brother, Jeff, and his wife live.  Dave also joined us for a full Stamp sibling weekend, highlighted by attending a country music festival in rural Wisconsin to see Eric Church perform.  It was, how shall I phrase this, a cultural experience.

The sibs! (side note: this was perhaps the second time in my life that I've worn a cowboy hat, but when in Rome...)

I hit the road the next day for the second half of the drive, the low point of which was paying roughly $30 in tolls to cross the states of Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio.  A few hours of sleep in Pennsylvania, a 3am wake-up, and a beautiful sunrise drive later, I arrived back at Williams and went straight to my first thesis meeting, then frantically reunited with friends including Olivia and HC! I did field work for my thesis the next day, then had a couple days of figuring out what my thesis will actually be about, but lest you think the eastward travels be over, I then headed to Harvard for a couple weeks of lab work.

As Josh informed us in his earlier post, the White Mountains are "the place to be" and "what all the cool kids are doing", so naturally I took a break from the big-city life to pay Olivia a visit.  We were blessed with some uncharacteristically beautiful weather, did some great hiking, and I got a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the efficient and entertaining workings of an AMC hut.

Always a pleasure hanging out with this one!

Once I finish up the lab work here at Harvard, I'll return to the Purple Valley and actually stay in one place for a significant amount of time- what a concept! I hope everyone's summers finish up nicely; I can't wait to see everyone in a few short weeks!

Summer Adventures Across the Atlantic

I hope everyone out there in the Purple Valley and beyond is having a great summer! As for living beyond the Purple Valley, I've been working in Ireland for the last month doing research for my senior thesis with the Earth Institute at the University College of Dublin. I'm simulating the effects on extreme waves as they come to shore on the Atlantic coast of Ireland.

How the big boys do wavetanks

It has taken a bit of an adjustment to living and training in the city for this country boy. When I was doing field work in May, I had a trusty research assistant to train with (I miss you Jordan), but I've been training mostly on my own while I've been in Dublin this time around. Fortunately, I was able to get out of the city and take a brief backpacking trip to the Swiss Alps with a childhood friend who had an internship near Geneva.

That's the Matterhorn way in the background

The adventurers

The glaciers near Zermatt are alright.

Our first campsite on the Europa Trail. That bit that looks like a cliff: it's a really big cliff.

The rock slide bunkers assume that you're "dumb as a bag of hammers," just in case

Proper nutrition is always important

After that fantastically beautiful interlude, I'm now back on my working and road running grind in Dublin. I've found this summer that, although I don't mind city life, I have had to choose between training and spending time with other people. It has made me realize how blessed I am to spend so much time with people who love to get out and train. I'm looking forward to seeing all of you on campus in a month. I'll be back in the Berkshire's as of August 15th. If you're around town early hit me up.

The White Mountains: the place to be

If you're on the East Coast, you should probably go to the Presidential Range. It's what all the cool kids are doing this summer (see Jason's post below).

Chilling on Mt. Jefferson earlier this summer with Olivia and Hannah Benson (aka Benzone aka Bensolation Station)