Drifters Weekend!

My favorite part of the weekend was getting a bunch of sunny ski days that ended in REALLY good food and REALLY fun games!! I loved the beautiful morning we had for our O.D., and even though the skiing wasn't perfect I had so much fun with Ben Byrne, Sam Sterling, and ATay. Coming down Maple Mountain was fantastic!!!

I am also very proud of the fact that I made it to the semifinal in Around the World Ping Pong and that I made it through the Lemon Squeeze cave with all my limbs intact, and that I found a really good hiding place for Sardines! Smiles!!

Drifters Weekend

My favorite part of the Drifters weekend

My favorite part was exploring the ridge behind the house and finding icicles, caves and animal tracks. It felt like being 10 years old again and just going outside to wander for the afternoon. Plus being with really cool people who were all so happy was also a plus.

WOMEN'S RELAY TEAM TAKES THIRD!

This picture is of Morgan Goodwin, blasting to the finish line for the men's relay team: what a stud!!

On this chilly morning which made the ski tracks soft and slippery as a snotty Kleenex, Alice Nelson woke with the determination of a power ranger. She blasted out of the start like a hat out of a bell, her eyes shooting sparks like a nail gun. Watching Alice come into the exchange zone in the lead pack, her teammates Christina Perron and Fiona Worcester knew that they would have to step it up and join in the fight, like the two musketeers did for the third musketeer. By the end of their second laps, the team was in the lead group of six teams, gapping the rest of the field as long as the distance between gate A4 and gate E25 in the Detroit International airport.
On her third and final lap, Alice charged past the fourth place Middlebury team and tagged off in third place to Christina. Christina double poled out of the start like a warrior ant on the charge to lead the army toward an unsuspecting caterpillar. And it was a good thing she did, because standing at the top of the first steep uphill was the entire Dartmouth men's team, chanting her name the way a crowd roars at a gladiator for a kill. Flustered, Christina tripped and fell flat, the way the next-to-last Twister player falls after not being able to hold the twisted position for one second longer than their remaining competitor. But, quick as a bat, Christina sprang up and sprinted toward the stadium, finishing her final lap and tagging off to anchorwoman Fiona still in a 3rd place that was as solid as the pavement on a warm July afternoon. But Fiona wasn’t going to give up the width of a melting snowflake – she bolted out of the gate and sizzled down the tracks the way a wax iron does when it falls off the bench and into the snow. Faster than instant mashed potatoes she came ‘round the bend toward the finish line, still ahead of Middlebury and crossing the line in a third as solid as crazy glue 24 hours after it is applied.
Soon after, William’s second relay team consisting of Liz Kantack, Emily Olsen, and Katie Craig crossed the line to finish off a victory sweet as Bud’s birthday Baked Alaska.
The team was happy as clams that haven’t been harvested for consumption in an Olive Garden ‘Pasta with red clam sauce' dish and are instead living happily in the ocean.
This ended a weekend of good skiing on snow as real as Bud’s stories are not, and the drive home was a happy, if not quiet, one. :)

To get results of the sprint race for men and women visit: http://www.eisaskiing.org/BART/Results07/smc07.htm

First Day of First Carnival!!

A tough day of skiing for a team who has had only three days on snow at their home turf, but the Cows fought the good fight today for the first race of St. Michael's carnival. For a few, it was the first time racing this year. For others, it was the first-ever college carnival race. For all it was a good day of white stuff and more white stuff!For results visit: http://www.eisaskiing.org/BART/Results07/smc07.htm

P.S. A Very Merry UnBirthday to Bud!!

No snow in Africa, either...

Hey guys! I'm so glad that I can now live vicariously through the team blog. It's great to hear what you're all up to, but I hope I can soon start reading about all the snow that's falling on Prospect.

The closest I've come to anything nordic here is evident in the photo. This was taken before the Cape Town equivalent of Queer Bash, the theme of which this year was Comic Strip. I'm dressed in full Viking splendour as Hagar the Horrible (along with friends Captain Haddock & Tintin and Prince Valiant).

Fortunately, even if there's no skiing, there are still a lot of other ways to have fun. I did a 90K bike ride for my Sunday OD this week, and it was the first long ride I've done where I haven't been menaced by baboons!

Here's hoping for snow soon -- keep rocking the cow!

Jordan '03 (and assistant coach '05)

This is why we need it to snow: because we will go crazy.

Also, check out the photo of Fiona skiing with the Dartmouth girls on the NENSA website.

Update: Results can be found here

The Epic Video

In case you can't get enough of it or want to relive the moment, Sam Kapala's epic crash in Quebec last year:

Back for Winter Study!

It's hovering around 60 degrees on a sunny Saturday morning here in Williamstown. Snow exists only in the manmade form at Jiminy Peak and sadly Prospect isn't quite ready for us yet. Tomorrow morning's practice will be an over distance classic rollerski. Oh global warming...

We're back from Quebec which was a lovely week filled with great weather, lots of training, a dozen or so movies, yummy yummy dinners, an epic snowball fight with Bates and the return of the much-missed Katie Craig from her semester in Madagascar.

Our camp time trial was made a little less competitive by the absence of the Bates team who couldn't make it up on New Years Day due to the bad weather. However, the team braved the ice and rain and completed a 5K/10K skate race. Christina Perron and Ben Byrne emerged victorious. Results are below:

Men 10k Freestyle 1^st lap 2^nd lap final time

1. Ben Byrne '08 13:45 14:23 28:08

2. Sam Kapala '09 14:05 14:09 28:14

3. Alex Taylor '10 14:30 14:34 29:04

4. Jack Nelson '07 14:35 14:49 29:24

5. Morgan Goodwin '08 14:32 15:16 29:48

6. Greg Rahmlow '07 18:00 17:50 33:50

Women 5k Freestyle

1. Christina Perron '07 16:26

2. Ali Demarchis '10 16:32

3. Katie Craig '08 17:32

4. Emily Olsen '09 17:55

We're tentatively headed for Rumford next weekend for a weekend of Eastern Cups and then we'll open the carnival season with St. Michael's hosting at Sleepy Hollow in VT on Jan. 19 & 20.
Photo: from left, Katie Craig '08, Sam Kapala' 09, Jack Nelson '07, Christina Perron '07, Tucker Sawin '07, Liz Kantack '09, Morgan Goodwin '08, Ben Byrne '08, Alex Ambros '09 in Quebec.

Mmmmm....

Thanks to Bud, Aubrey, and everyone else doing their snow dances, wearing pj's inside out, and all the other crazy superstitions that supposedly bring snow, we actually got a few days of skiing in over break. Sadly, it seems that the majority of snow dancers have been speaking french or something like that because the white goodness hasn't made it down to Williamstown...yet. I'm still optimistic. But onwards to the real reason for this post: spreading the wealth of Cinnamon Pull-a-Parts. Happy Baking!

Cinnamon Pullaparts
350°/40 min
One large bunt pan of sticky goodness (but not enough for the baker to assume that there will be a piece left after the short time it takes to turn off the oven and put away the oven mitts)

Prepare:
½ recipe Basic Rolls dough
Use a 10-inch ring mold, bunt or springform pan with tube. Grease well. Pour into bottom of the pan:
1/3 cup melted butter or margarine
Sprinkle with:
1/3 cup brown sugar
½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Mix together: more is better
½-3/4 cup sugar (half brown, half white if desired)
1 ½ tablespoons cinnamon
¼ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
After first rising, punch down dough and divide into twenty hunks. Dip each hunk into:
½ cup melted butter or margarine
Then roll lightly in sugar mixture. Place hunks in a single layer on the bottom of pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place until very light and almost doubled. Place pan on foil-lined baking sheet and bake. After removing from the oven, allow pan to sit on a wire rack for about five minutes, then turn upside down onto serving plate, leaving pan over the pullaparts for a few more minutes. Remove pan and serve.




Basic Rolls
375°/20-25min
About 3 dozen rolls

Mix together in a large bowl:
2 cups lukewarm water
½ cup sugar
Add:
1 package active dry yeast
When mixture is foamy, add:
3 ½ cups unbleached white flour
1/3 – 1/2 cup nonfat powdered milk solids
Stir briskly, about 200 strokes, then add:
½ cup softened butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 ½ teaspoon salt
Gradually stir in, enough to form a soft dough:
3 cups flour
Knead only until smooth. This dough should be soft, even a little sticky. Place in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in bulk. Punch down, scrape from bowl and shape into rolls as desired. Place in greased baking pan(s), about ½ inch apart, or in greased muffin tins. Cover and let rise in a warm place until very light and almost doubled. Bake.