Day 1

There's nothing like shooting in a crowded range

Today was day one of Trials. The conditions were great, with no wind and temperatures in the bearable range. Overall I felt fine, but there are definitely places I know I can improve on. I had some issues with not being able to feel my trigger finger on my prone bout due to the cold, but once everything got warmed up I was able fall into a rhythm. The course was nice and demanding (although nothing compared to the Junior Men’s course), and I had some good back-and-fourth competition with Kyle Rutar throughout the race. It’s great to have all these friends up in Alaska to race against, and it’s really cool to see them do well. When I crossed the line I knew the race was close, with Jake Prince and Nick Proell and others really close. I’m happy to pull off the win, and hope that the pursuit tomorrow runs a little smoother for me. After my hopes for making the Montana State Ski Team didn't become a reality, today's success is even more satisfactory, knowing that my Nordic training has kept me on track for my biathlon career this season. I carried my watch during the race, and you can see a play-by-play of the race here.

T-Minus 24 Till Trials

Today was the 'Official Training Day' for the U.S. Junior/Youth World Championship Biathlon Trials at the home-range at Kincaid. Conditions are perfect, with fast snow and just enough wind to keep things interesting. The range is really colorful with so many visiting biathletes, and with friends and family among them it was like a big winter party with guns. The sprint competition is tomorrow, and I have a good feeling about the course and conditions. I feel fast, and hopefully that can translate to an acceptable result. Best of luck to everyone racing this week.

There was a LOT of media at official training today, including
news stations, Anchorage Daily News, and photographers.
Photo by Erik Hill

Home

After almost exactly 4 months, I am home again. After a demanding finals week, I hopped on a plane and in no time was back in Alaska. It's incredible how fast air travel is. It took 7 hours to get from Bozeman to Anchorage, and after driving for six days to go the same distance those many months ago, I looked at all those impatient, stressed-out airport passengers and couldn't help but shrug.

No Place Like Home

I missed home a ton, and on the flight back I made a list of all the things I want to do before heading back to college next semester. Seeing the mountains this morning was one of the best homecoming welcomes I could imagine. It wont be long before I am up exploring them again.

Winter in Alaska is how it should be, and it seems that this may be the only place in the country right now where the skiing is literally perfect. My brother and I went and previewed Sunday's Besh Cup course out at Chugiak High School this "morning" (I forgot how dark it stays even at noon), and then I headed out to check up on my second home: Kincaid Park.

There is no shortage of snow. Gotta love it.

Skiing at Kincaid was as if I never left. The snow is deep, hard-packed, and perfect corduroy. The biathlon range, which I had missed so much, looks ready for the intense World Junior Trials competition. I am stoked beyond words to have these races on my home range.


For the next few days it will be life at its best: Racing, training, spending time with family and friends over the holiday, eating good food, and sleeping in my own bed. And those mountains... They're calling to me.

Finals Week, Part II

In the midst of studying for my calc final today, my friend Carl and I went on what is most likely my last distance ski before heading back home to Anchorage at the end of this week. This whole time I have been at MSU, I’ve compared everything here to how it is at home in Alaska. I am proud of my home state and the supreme opportunities it gives me to have fun in the outdoors, but today I got my first feeling that Bozeman might compare in some ways to the outdoor impressiveness of Alaska.

Carl in distance mode.
Sparse conditions, but the groomers (and we) made it work.

Carl and I went to Bozeman Creek Trailhead to ski, and although all of Bozeman has been skiing on the same “one-dump” snow this whole season, the trails have held up rather impressively. It was sunny, and as we skied up the canyon I started to fall into a groove that I haven’t felt in a couple seasons. It’s hard to describe, but it’s that feeling when you’re so happy doing what you’re doing you forget that it’s exercise, or training at all, and every move becomes effortless. Coming off a rough start to this season, this feeling is promising that things are on the upswing. There's no better feeling than when things start to click.

Still Climbing. Carl was having fun with the camera's color mode

We climbed farther and farther up the canyon, and in no time at all we were farther than I had ever been along the trail. We would ski in the cold shade of the trees, and every so often emerge towards a sun-soaked vista of the valley. We were so high up we had almost climbed to the top of one of the mountains, and from our well-groomed perch we could see on the other side of the valley the trail we had come from below. It was satisfying to get so high in the mountains from such a low starting point. At our turnaround point, we stopped and looked down at the trail that ultimately took us to where we were, and I realized that even though the trail was not in the ideal condition, and that I was skiing on my rock skis, everything seemed to work. We thought nothing about the setbacks of poor snow or hitting an occasional rock and had the most fun I’ve had in a long time.      

At the turnaround. Now my jacket is green

The trail goes all the way to the top of the mountain, and then follows a ridge even further up the canyon. The grooming stops after a while, but breaking trail is just as exciting as skiing corduroy. One day soon I will be back to go further.

T-Minus 20 Days to Trials

Oh Man.....

Finals Week

Sporting the Finals Beard.
Pretty good grooming considering the  amount of snowfall.

I've been finding it hard to get some training in during finals week, but today I realized I spent the entire day in class or at my desk studying, so I thought I deserved a treat. It's funny how good getting some solid k in feels, even if you think you're being stalked by a mountain lion (a big thanks to Neil Liotta for that one, telling me to watch for the mountain lions as I'm heading out the door into the pitch black). It was pretty dark out, but the moon reflected off the trail and trees and was really beautiful. Overall a good day.

Post 1

I used to think blogs were silly. All ski blogs said the same thing because all the skiers were in the same place, racing the same races, and it wasn't really necessary to have the same story re-phrased over 20 seperate blogs. But now I'm on the road less traveled, studying, training, and biathloning at Montana State University, more-or-less doing my 'own thing'. I've also realized that two people can have totally different insight about an event or location, and I thought I might as well get into the blogosphere as a way to document my experiences for myself as well as others.


Please stand by as I get this thing operational.