Yet Another Life Experience During School....

You might be wondering "Wow, why is Sam in Alaska right now? I thought he was going to school in Montana or something."

Well let me tell ya..

Don't worry, I'm still going to school and skiing at Montana State. Classes get out in May, but I found the time and generosity of my professors for one last adventure before summer break.

During my 24 hour layover in Anchorage, I got to go out and ski on this. Kincaid at it's finest.... In April

What I'm doing is called NanaNordic, which is a ski and biathlon coaching program promoting skiing as a lifestyle across Arctic Alaska. Over the course of a month, distinguished Alaskan and elite American ski and biathlon athletes will travel from village to village with 220 pairs of skis, boots, an poles and teach roughly 2000 villagers how to ski. There are 11 villages in all (Kotzebue, Kiana, Selawik, Shugnak, Ambler, Buckland, Noorvik, Deering, Noatak, Kivalina, and Kobuk), with myself and a few other coaches posted in Kotzebue, 996 miles Northwest of Anchorage. During this time, we will sleep in the local schools, eat with the kids in the school cafeteria, and enjoy being a temporary member of the community. It's a great cultural experience for both the visiting coaches and the local villagers, and after we're done, the program will donate the skis used throughout the month to the local schools for physical education classes.

Another pic from my Anchorage layover. I leave Alaska, and come back to a brand new biathlon building with an epic walk-in safe and new rifles. I can't wait to work here this summer

I've never been to the bush before, let alone above the Arctic Circle, so excited is an understatement. Not many Alaskans I know have been to the Arctic, and I'm excited to see the Bering Sea for the first time. For those that have been there, they claim it is the REAL Alaska, and it's finally my time to experience it.

I write this as I'm flying to Anchorage, and I must be really tired and hungry because the mountains of Montana from the air look like steak and the puffy clouds of Washington look like white chicken tenders.

So good to be back in my element. Liekish Loop April 7.
Stupid moose...

I don't know what my connectivity or availability for posting will be once I'm up there. No matter what, my adventure will make it onto this site in its entirety eventually, and with plenty of pictures.