Scenes From The Empire State

Here are some of the things that the UAA volunteer assistant coach witnessed while in New York last week:

Team meeting at the girls' house

Corbin skied fast. The US Ski Team was so impressed they invited him to race with them in Europe next month.

Discussing ski selection. Marit seems skeptical.

Hey guys!  I found Murphy Kimball's fan club! They said they only drove seven hours to see Murphy compete. 

Dashe. In the thick of it.

We spent a lot of time in this wax cabin.

Trond and Chase. Mixing drinks for the mass-start 20k.

Dashe. She never stops racing.

Murphy's fan club got what they came for. Murphy on the podium.

Erling is a good sprinter. So he got on the podium too.

When a significant number of your skiers qualify for international trips, you have to discuss logistics with the US Ski Team. Here's Greta Anderson.

Garrett

Vebjorn Flagstad - friend of the Seawolves.

Michaela Keller-Miller. Former Seawolf. Killer was fast in the classic sprint.

Hermod

Quincy Donley. She's never been a Seawolf. But she's a friend of mine, so she's in this blog.

Erling. At home in his element.

It was raining pretty hard on the classic sprint day. 

Our down parkas are really warm. But they're not waterproof.

Foul weather doesn't keep us from supporting our teammates.

Henry. Offering encouragement to Erling in the semifinal.

Shopping with Ian from Toko. Ian doesn't charge a delivery fee.

On Porter Mountain

 I had big plans for lots of blog posts last week during US Nationals in New York. But then my computer died. I couldn't figure out why. For more than two days, I couldn't turn it on. No matter what I tried, it simply wouldn't start, and I assumed my four year old computer had simply done all the computing it was going to do, and it was dead. 

But then, near the end of the week, after giving it a couple days' rest on the dining room table, I pushed the power button, and it fired up!  It seemed real strange to me that my computer would act this way. But then, I realized, my computer was just looking out for me. My computer knew there was no way in hell I had any time to write any blog posts in the evenings, because Trond was working us (Chasé and me) so hard, all day long, and all night long, too. Day after day, night after night, never a rest. He kept ordering us to wax more skis, scrape more skis, glide-test more skis, brush more skis, and get out and do more glide tests. It never stopped. My fingers were worked down to the bone from all the waxing and scraping; even if I'd had time to get back to the team house to write a blog post, there's no way I could have typed anything with these nubs. 

But now we're back to Alaska. Back from a successful week in New York. And I'm recovering on Kodiak Island this evening, in a torrential rainstorm, and my computer works just fine. 

The Olympic 50km course went around the Porter Mountain Loop. I highly recommend it.

Modern ski racing at the elite level is rarely contested racing loops of more than five kilometers. A five kilometer loop is just big enough to contain two pretty big climbs and a couple of little climbs, and the downhills are designed to lose elevation quickly and efficiently so the racers can get back to climbing. This is quite different from race courses in the old days, when the generally accepted dictum was that a race course should be one-third uphill, one-third downhill, and one-third flat. 

Trond gave us coaches a little time off mid-week at US Nationals so we could go for a ski on the old 1980 Lake Placid Olympic trails. It was a real treat! You can call me sentimental all you want, but I miss the old racing formats, where a 10km race was typically held on a 10km loop. I remember races in which there wasn't much snow, necessitating multiple laps. And I didn't like the feeling of going over the hills on the first lap and knowing that I was going to have to do the same loop AGAIN!  What a drag it was when you had to do a loop multiple times! But now, almost all elite races (except sprints) require multiple laps around the same loop. Even a 5k race (when there's plenty of snow) might be two laps. I feel bad for the kids these days. They sure do a lot of laps!

One of the old split-timing buildings on the Hi Notch trail. Coming down from Hi Notch, the racing trail is steep, narrow, and has a sharp turn. In 1980, good downhillers could gain time on the competition by being able to snowplow less than the others, and crash less frequently than the others. Downhill speeds were much slower, so the crashes were more frequent and less severe than in the modern age.

The most famous, most historic World Cup ski race in the world, at Holmenkollen, used to be a one-lap 50km race. Then, for most of its history, it was twice around a 25km loop. But now it's six laps around an 8km loop. It's a very different undertaking. 

Trond and I were pretty excited to get out on the old Olympic trails. Every time we race here, we find some time to get out away from the new 5k race trail. Our old friend, Barney Hodges, took us out for a spin around the old trails, and University of Vermont coach Patrick Weaver joined us. I used to race against Barney and Patrick when we were all in elementary school. Barney from Middlebury, Vermont, Patrick from Lennox, Massachusetts, and me from Lancaster, New Hampshire. It was great to get out skiing together again after so many years!

Barney Hodges, Patrick Weaver, and Trond Flagstad

We're Going Racing!

 Finally!  We're going racing!

We've raced a few times this fall, but it's all been a warm-up for this.  Tomorrow's our first RMISA college race. It feels a little strange to me that our RMISA race is concurrent with the US National Championships. But nevertheless, here we are in Lake Placid, New York. We've done a lot of training to get ready for this. Let the RMISA racing season begin!

Changing planes in Seattle

When landing in New England, a Dunkin' Donuts highway stop for breakfast is mandatory.

We found a package waiting for us when we got to our team house in Lake Placid.

It was Christmas all over again!

Garrett and me.

My friend John Estle is in Italy, and was given a tour of the US Ski Team waxing truck, and he met Erling's dad, Per-Erik, who was slaving away over a thousand pairs of skis for the American team.

And here's Erling, opening Christmas presents from his family, delivered to our wax cabin by Alayna Sonnesyn, whose skis were being waxed in Europe by Erling's dad last week.

Pre-race planning at the women's team house in the evening.

Hey, look who showed up in Lake Placid!  It's friend-of-the-Seawolves Mark Paprocki!

------------------------------------------

Bonus photo:  I didn't manage to get this blog posted before today's race. Corbin was third RMISA skier today (10th overall). Congratulations, Corbin!

To The Arctic!

On my evening walk along the beach, in Utqiagvik, Alaska.

 One of the things I like most about being associated with this team is the opportunity to get to know so many different characters, who come to this organization from near and far. As skiers, we have a lot in common, but we also bring our different experiences and perspectives to the group. Sharing our varied cultures from the places where we spent our childhoods makes for interesting road-trip conversation.

This year, our roster is heavy on Norwegians from north of the Arctic Circle. I've never been to that part of the world myself, but I've long been curious about Troms and Finnmark. I've always wanted to see the place for myself, but never managed to get closer than Kiruna or Hattfjelldal. I'll probably get there someday. Or maybe not. 

Sunset at the cemetery

But Alaska's a northern place too, and a big portion of our state lies north of the Arctic Circle. My work frequently brings me to western parts of the state, but it's not often that I get a chance to go north of the Brooks Range. I've always been drawn to the north. Ever since I was young. Growing up in the northern Lower 48, near the Canadian border, I was always curious about what things were going on to the north of me. I was less curious about what was going on to the south of me. 

Skiing out onto the ice and going straight will get you to the North Pole.

A few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to travel to Utqiagvik, the northernmost town in America, for a work assignment. The town lies at around 71 degrees north latitude - around the same latitude as our teammates, Erling, Hermod, Henry and Hedda's homes in Norway.  I'd recently heard a few comments from them that they had never seen so much daylight in December as they'd seen in Anchorage, it being significantly south of their hometowns in Norway. 

Flying north to Utqiagvik, I was curious to see how dark it would be in mid-December at 71 degrees north. I travel around to rural and remote villages weekly for work, and I never get tired of seeing the places and meeting the people. But a trip to the Chukchi Sea coast was something I was genuinely really excited about. I hadn't been there since 2014, and even in just those few hours, the place had made an impression on me. I was excited to go back, and this time I would spend the night!

A polar bear hide leaned up against the public library.

Nothing says "Chukchi Sea" like whalebones and an umiaq.

Seawolves at the Olympics?

Everyone has been saying that there’s going to be an Olympics next February, and that it’s going to be in Italy. So it’s natural for people to wonder if there will be any Skiwolves at the Olympics. And of course the answer is: Of course!  Why wouldn’t there be?  There are always Skiwolves at the Winter Olympics; it’s only a question of which ones.  What follows is speculation about which Skiwolves will, might, or won’t be at this winter’s Olympic Games. These characters are listed in no particular order. Or, more accurately, they are listed in the order that they popped into my head.

----------

Will Magnus Norøy be at the Olympics?

Yes.  After graduating from UAA a year and a half ago with some kind of a degree related to business and property management, Maggie spent a lot of his time last winter traveling the world as a ski technician with the Canadian national team. He’s been fortunate to work closely with Alain Masson, who is probably the best kick-waxer I know personally (besides Trond, of course). When he skied for the Seawolves, Maggie always wanted kick wax that was two or three steps warmer, and thicker, than anyone else on the team. If it was super cold and we were all using a thin layer of Rex Mäntyranta, Maggie would try a thick layer of Rode violet, and then come back and ask us for more kick. The Canadians have had some huge successes with their kick-waxing on classic race days in recent years (think Planica, Slovenia, and Schilpario, Italy) presumably because Alain Masson has been involved. Magnus Norøy was in the thick of it all last year on the World Cup circuit. Magnus Norøy will be waxing for the Canadians at the Olympics.

---------- 

Will Tuva Bygrave be at the Olympics? 

Probably.  Our friend Tuva has been skiing for Australia at multiple World Championships over the years. She hasn’t been in the Olympics yet. That’s likely to change this winter. Since graduating from UAA in 2024, Tuva has been in Norway, training at all the best training spots in Lommedalen, and the word on the mean streets of Bærum is that she’ll most likely be representing Australia at the Olympics. 

---------- 

Will Lukas Ebner be at the Olympics?

No. I spoke with him a few weeks ago, and he told me that despite the fact that he’s improving the lives of the people of Switzerland by bringing them better cell phone service than they've ever had before, it's not like he can take unlimited time off from his day job so he can work as a ski technician for the Australian national team, as he’s done at previous World Championships.  This year, he wants to use his annual allotment of vacation time to hang out with friends and family instead of spending it hunkered down in a smoky wax bunker in Val de Fiemme next February.  Sounds pretty reasonable to me.

-----------

Will Pascale Paradis be at the Olympics? 

To me, it seems very likely. After graduating from UAA in 2024, Pascale spent last winter on the World Cup biathlon circuit, competing for Canada. She’s been training non-stop this summer, shooting and skiing, skiing and shooting. Will she compete in the Olympics?  If World Cup participation is any clue, then it would seem likely she’ll be in the Olympics, because she’s been on the starting line of a heck of a lot of World Cup biathlon races recently.

---------- 

Will Andrew Kastning be at the Olympics?

 

I think it’s unlikely. UAA’s former ski coach has been the voice of the World Cup for American viewers the past couple of years on SkiAndSnowboardLive.com. And I’m assuming he’s providing commentary again this winter for the network. But I have a feeling that when it comes to the Olympics, the commentary jobs are going to go to the regulars: Chad Salmela and Kikkan Randall. My guess is that Andrew Kastning will not be at the Olympics.

----------

Will JC Schoonmaker be at the Olympics? 

 

If our friend JC is not at the Olympics, it’ll be shocking, and not in a good way. JC has been on the World Cup podium before. He’s among the best in the world in sprinting. JC Schoonmaker will probably be at the Olympics. And he will be trying to win a medal.

---------- 

Will Erik Flora be at the Olympics?

Yes, Erik Flora will be at the Olympics. I saw him out skiing the other day, and he told me he’ll be at the Olympics. Some people know Erik as the head coach of the Alaska Pacific University ski team. Others know him as Marit Flora’s dad.  Or as the son-in-law of Rob Pfisterer, the former president of the Anchorage Teacher’s Union. But I know him as the former two-time All-American Skiwolf from the mid-1990’s. Because he’s the coach of many of the skiers who will be on this year’s Olympic team, Erik Flora will be in Italy, coaching his athletes.

---------- 

Will Peter Hinds be at the Olympics?

 

Hey, did you know that Peter Hinds is half-Slovakian? Though Peter grew up right here in Anchorage, his mom is originally from Slovakia. After Peter graduated from UAA last spring with an engineering degree, he moved to Slovakia, and lately he’s been spending all his time rollerskiing and running in the mountains with the Slovakian national ski team. How many Slovakians will be on the Olympic Ski Team?  What are their qualifying standards? I really don’t know. But if you ask me if Peter Hinds will be in the Olympics, the uninformed, ill-researched answer I’m going to give you is: 50% chance he’ll be in the Olympics. I could contact Peter today and ask him what his chances are of making the Slovakian Olympic Team, and I know he'd give me a well-supported, reasonable, honest answer. But that would spoil the fun and anticipation. It’s way more fun to guess. So I’m hedging my bets and saying there’s a 50% chance that Peter Hinds will be in the Olympics in February.

---------- 

Will Derek Dueling be in the Olympics?

 

I think it’s possible Derek could be in the Olympics. But I think it may be an uphill battle. Derek was on the Canadian national team while he was at UAA. He graduated from UAA last spring. He’s still on the Canadian national team. He was recently an Under-23 World Champion, along with his relay teammates, in Planica, Slovenia. He continues to get faster each year. But these recent successes do not guarantee a spot on the Olympic Team. Maybe Derek will be in the Olympics. I sure hope so!  But Derek would need to have a very good series of results between now and February if he is to be selected for the Olympic Team. 

---------- 

Will Hailey Swirbul be at the Olympics?

 

Oh boy, here we go. Hailey is this year’s Olympic wild card. Hailey was recruited to UAA as the best junior skier in the USA. I remember rollerskiing with her (and the rest of the Seawolves) one autumn day when she was a freshman in college, and we came across Kikkan Randall, who was planning some rollerski sprints at Kincaid’s biathlon range as part of her workout. Kikkan casually invited Hailey to join in for a few sprints. Hailey wondered whether it was a good idea to do some sprints when it wasn’t part of the written plan for the day, and my answer was that if you are a junior skier who's invited to do a few casual sprints with a  3-time World Cup Overall Sprint World Cup Crystal Globe winner, you should not pass up the opportunity. (This was after Kikkan had won the overall Sprint World Cup three years, but before she won an Olympic gold medal.) I remember Hailey unleashing some serious firepower in those sprints, and the three of us witnesses (Kikkan, her husband Jeff, and I) feeling like we’d seen some next-level athleticism in the way Hailey was able to put power down to the pavement with her "whippy" style of double-poling! Anyway, Hailey went on to achieve a World Cup podium, and compete in the Olympics. And then, a couple years ago, she announced that she was ready to move on to other interests and was retiring from elite-level ski racing. She’s been working as a coach for Alaska Pacific University ever since. But a couple of months ago, she showed up at the US Ski Team’s training camp in Utah and won the team’s rollerski race. Then she announced that she plans to get back into elite ski racing this winter. I was out for a bike ride last month and saw her out coaching her group of APU junior skiers. As I passed Hailey, I asked if it’s true she’s going to do “all the races” this winter, and she said “yup”.  Will Hailey Swirbul be at the Olympics this winter?  I’m going to leave it to you to speculate. But I will say this: as of this writing, Hailey has 990 FIS points. Of all the people in the world who have 990 FIS points right now, I believe Hailey Swirbul has the best chance of being in the Olympics.

---------- 

Will Toomas Kollo be at the Olympics?

 

Probably. After spending four years on the UAA Ski Team and then another four years as the Seawolf graduate assistant coach, Toomas moved on to simultaneous full-time positions as a mechanical engineer and as an appraiser of remote Alaska real estate, scurrying back and forth between two mid-town office buildings. He also picked up occasional side-gigs as a ski technician for hire when elite-level pro teams came through town and needed local expertise. I don't know how he did it. By and by, he left the mechanical engineering work to others, and now he has a somewhat more flexible schedule, as he's only working one full-time job. Everybody is saying that Toomas will be spending February in Italy, working as a ski technician for the Canadian Olympic Team. And I believe them.

----------------

Will Nevio Zeni be at the Olympics?

 

Yes. Unless he goes on vacation somewhere else. Because Nevio is recently married, and lives in Val di Fiemme, the town where he grew up, with his wife. I don't know how Nevio will be involved in the Olympics, but I'm sure he'll be in the thick of it, somehow. If you are going to the Olympics, ask around town for Nevio Zeni. I promise you: you will have a good time! Nevio will know where the party is, and he will be on his way there. You should tag along.

---------- 

Will Murphy Kimball be at the Olympics? 

I think I might have read somewhere last year that Murphy Kimball was the youngest American male XC skier ever to compete in a World Cup race. Now Murphy's on the US Ski Team. At the moment, Murphy's specialty is sprint races. Will Murphy be in the Olympics? There are only so many sprint spots available on that Olympic Team, and we have some pretty good sprinters that are already full-time World-Cuppers. I'm talking about JC Schoonmaker, Gus Schumacher, Ben Ogden, Jack Young... It won't be easy for Murphy to make that Olympic Team. It's not out of the question, though.

----------

A major component of Olympic qualifying begins tomorrow: the SuperTour series. This is the top-level North American race series. If you want to make the American Olympic Team, you do it with World Cup results.  But US Skiing won't enter you in any World Cup races until you win some SuperTour races. We have four SuperTour races happening here in Anchorage over the next week. Anybody who wants to go to the Olympics, but isn't currently on the World Cup circuit, will be here. Let the games begin.