Jaime talks about school, skiing, and helping people

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo-hkvQvRjk

Alaska Ski Racers

Here's an article from today's newspaper about the state of Alaska ski racing:
http://www.adn.com/2012/03/26/2392536/a-great-season-on-snow-for-alaskans.html

Ski Train

When you fill a train with skiers, there's a good chance there's going to be a party.  This year was the fortieth annual Nordic Ski Club ski train to Curry, a four hour train ride north of Anchorage.  There was good weather, lots of snow, and fun as always:

Bering Sea

I had to miss UAA Ski Team practice yesterday so I could fly out to Unalaska in the Aleutian Islands.  All the cold air that is absent from the Lower 48 this winter must have come to Alaska.  In fourteen years of travels around the Bering Sea region, I've never seen so much sea ice as is out there now.  If you're thinking of taking a ski trip across theBering Sea ice from Alaska to Siberia, this is the year to do it:

Unalaska Island:

Chigmit Mountains:

My mobile office.  I get more work done here than anywhere else. 

RMISA Regionals

Bozeman, through Davis' eyes.
Three weeks after the fact. 
It took me that long to find it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRvHfxr4Z-k&feature=share

Oosik Classic

I missed it because I was riding my bike in California, but you can hear the radio broadcast about it and see pictures of it here:

http://ktna.org/

http://www.shutterfly.com/progal/gallery.jsp?gid=768a5498ce7e8026fd79

SoCal Cycling

As soon as we get 2.2 more inches of snow, Anchorage will set an all-time record for annual snowfall.  We've already gotten eleven feet of snow this winter, and it seems clear that without some kind of major meltdown in the next month or so, we're going to be skiing at Kincaid Park and Hillside until early May.  It seemed like a good time to go to southern California for a week of cycling "training camp" in Solvang, just north of Santa Barbara.  My first five days of cycling in 2012 equaled more than 30 hours in the saddle.  Although my ass was pretty sore after day two, I was feeling pretty good by day five.  These were, by far, my favorite five days of cycling, ever.

Now I'm ready for another couple more months of skiing.

Conclusion of NCAA's

Thank you alpine skiers!!!

Yesterday was our final day of competition at the NCAA Championships in Montana.  The week ended with the men’s and women’s slalom races, and the alpine skiers came through for us in a big way.  After our Nordic races on Friday, we had slipped to seventh place in the overall team standings, but all of our alpine skiers skied with no mistakes and pulled us back up to fifth overall at the end of the week. 

Alexandra Parker and Sean Alexander, NCAA All-Americans:

Sean Alexander:

Alex Parker:

It was great weather for spectators at the slalom race:

The weather was also good for cleaning skis after the races:

Seniors Steffi Hiemer, Jaime Bronga and Laura Rombach after their last-ever college ski race:

I never get tired of the sight of the Chugach Mountains when descending into Anchorage.  That's Eagle Glacier, APU's summer ski traing center in the middle of the picture:

 Chugach Mountains close to Anchorage:

 Anchorage:

Giant Slalom

Today was the first day of alpine racing - giant slalom.  UAA had two NCAA All-Americans today: Andreas Adde in sixth place and Vanessa Berther in eighth.  Congratulations! 

Thank you to the alpine skiers for pulling us up from eighth place in the overall team standings after yesterday's cross-country races to fifth place overall after today!

Some of the nordic team went up to the race hill to watch, after testing our classic skis for tomorrow's cross-country races.

Niko Harmanen

Sean Alexander:

Niko, Vanessa, Andreas, Nevio and Lukas between men's first and second GS runs:

Andreas Adde and Vanessa Berther:

Tomorrow's a new day for the cross-country team - 15k classic for the women and 20k for the men - mass start.  That means another late night of waxing in the UAA Mobile Ski Prep Unit. Tomorrow's going to be the last college ski race ever for seniors Steffi, Laura and Jaime.  We want to make sure their skis are fast.

NCAA Championship Day 1

The Results:
Women:

PL BIB NAME TEAM TIME PTS

1 35 GRAEFNINGS, Maria UU 14:05.9 50.0

2 39 PATTERSON, Caitlin UVM 14:25.8 47.0

3 37 CALDWELL, Sophie DAR 14:31.0 44.0

4 29 GARREC, Lucy UVM 14:31.8 41.0

5 38 BRONGA, Jaime UAA 14:40.8 39.0

6 33 REID, Joanne CU 14:48.4 37.0

7 30 FLOWERS, Erika DAR 14:50.9 35.0

8 28 GLEN, Amy UVM 15:02.8 33.0

9 25 HART, Annie DAR 15:08.1 31.0

10 34 SODERMAN, Marie-helen NMU 15:10.5 30.0

11 14 CARLSON, Ase MSU 15:16.3 29.0

12 27 CHAUVET, Clara UNM 15:20.9 28.0

13 21 DOLAN, Kate DU 15:23.0 27.0

14 36 HAJKOVA, Eliska CU 15:24.6 26.0

15 8 CAPPEL, Makalya DU 15:25.5 25.0

16 20 CARPENTER, Caroline SLU 15:27.8 24.0

17 11 YEATON, Jessica MSU 15:28.6 23.0

18 31 MARKVARDSEN, Monica NMU 15:34.8 22.0

19 22 TAYLOR, Beth BAT 15:35.1 21.0

20 5 TYLER, Parker UU 15:35.8 20.0

21 17 HIEMER, Steffi UAA 15:37.0 19.0

22 9 KUTZ, Casey MSU 15:37.1 18.0

23 19 ROMBACH, Laura UAA 15:47.3 17.0

24 32 KLAESSON, Linn UNM 15:47.8 16.0

25 12 POKORNY, Annie MID 15:50.7 15.0

26 26 BURGER, Molly NMU 15:53.4 14.0

27 18 TOFTE, Alena HAR 15:56.4 13.0

28 3 NORD, Anni UNM 16:00.0 12.0

29 16 IRWIN, Deedra MTU 16:06.8 11.0

30 15 GUINEY, Elizabeth UNH 16:08.5 10.0

31 1 ROSE, Mary CU 16:08.9 9.0

32 10 GROSSMAN, Hallie BAT 16:11.4 8.0

33 23 SIEBER, Raphaela UAF 16:22.7 7.0

34 7 IZZO, Elizabeth UNH 16:31.4 6.0

35 13 RJABOV, Marit UAF 16:37.9 5.0

36 24 KEMP, Rose UU 16:42.9 4.0

37 4 MCCLELLAND, Sophie MID 16:44.8 3.0

38 2 RAMEY, Tristan UNH 16:50.8 2.0

39 6 PITNEY, Crystal UAF 17:14.8 1.0
------------------
Men:

PL BIB NAME TEAM TIME PTS

1 33 SODERMAN, Erik NMU 25:20.2 50.0

2 36 HAVLICK, Miles UU 25:45.2 47.0

3 34 TARLING, Sam DAR 25:53.6 44.0

4 24 SCHALLINGER, Michael MSU 25:53.8 41.0

5 35 OEDEGAARD, Rune CU 25:57.6 39.0

6 31 SMITH, Didrik UU 26:03.1 37.0

7 29 NORRIS, David MSU 26:03.9 35.0

8 30 PACKER, Eric DAR 26:09.9 33.0

9 39 MARKSET, Kjell-christian NMU 26:10.9 31.0

10 37 REINKING, Tyler MSU 26:12.3 30.0

11 32 BERNSTEIN, Franz UVM 26:15.8 29.0

12 27 DOUGHERTY, Andrew DU 26:19.9 28.0

13 22 VERMEER, Gordon DAR 26:26.6 27.0

14 19 KJOELHAMAR, Vegard CU 26:34.4 26.0

15 13 SCHOMMER, Paul CSS 26:39.8 25.0

16 23 HECKER, Jeremy CSS 26:43.2 24.0

17 28 HOWE, Alexander UVM 26:46.1 23.0

18 6 BREVIK, Jorgen DU 26:55.5 22.0

19 21 SMITH, Tom UU 26:58.4 21.0

20 38 JOHNSON, Patrick MID 26:58.7 20.0

21 15 EBNER, Lukas UAA 27:01.4 19.0

22 26 HANNEMAN, Logan UAF 27:01.8 18.0

23 18 HOYE, Andreas CU 27:02.6 17.0

24 12 MARKSET, Trygve DU 27:03.5 16.0

25 8 WICHERSKI, Will WIL 27:05.3 15.0

26 10 MOLGAARD-NIELSEN, Lasse UAA 27:12.6 14.0

27 11 MARSTON, Chase MID 27:19.7 13.0

28 9 OTTO, Christian UNM 27:20.9 12.0

29 25 BUETOW, Jordan BAT 27:21.1 11.0

30 20 GRALD, Dylan UVM 27:28.7 10.0

31 17 LUSTGARTEN, Ben MID 27:29.4 9.0

32 14 BARTON, Jake CBC 27:35.4 8.0

33 4 BOWLER, Chris NMU 27:40.2 7.0

34 1 PRESTSEATER, Sjur UNM 27:51.1 6.0

35 5 LUTHI, Dimitri WIL 27:52.2 5.0

36 3 ZENI, Nevio UAA 27:59.3 4.0

37 16 KORNFIELD, Tyler UAF 28:26.3 3.0

38 7 HARJU, Mikko MTU 28:54.7 2.0

39 2 LINDGREN, Erik UNH 29:02.1 1.0
-----------------
Team Scores:

1 DARTMOUTH COLLEGE 104 110 0 0 0 0 0 0 104.0 110.0 214.0

2 UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT 62 121 0 0 0 0 0 0 62.0 121.0 183.0

3 UNIVERSITY OF UTAH 105 74 0 0 0 0 0 0 105.0 74.0 179.0

4 MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY 106 70 0 0 0 0 0 0 106.0 70.0 176.0

5 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO 82 72 0 0 0 0 0 0 82.0 72.0 154.0

6 NORTHERN MICHIGAN UNIV 88 66 0 0 0 0 0 0 88.0 66.0 154.0

7 UNIVERSITY OF DENVER 66 52 0 0 0 0 0 0 66.0 52.0 118.0

8 UNIV OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE 37 75 0 0 0 0 0 0 37.0 75.0 112.0

9 UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO 18 56 0 0 0 0 0 0 18.0 56.0 74.0

10 MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE 42 18 0 0 0 0 0 0 42.0 18.0 60.0

11 COLLEGE OF ST SCHOLASTICA 49 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 49.0 0.0 49.0

12 BATES COLLEGE 11 29 0 0 0 0 0 0 11.0 29.0 40.0

13 UNIV OF ALASKA FAIRBANKS 21 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 21.0 13.0 34.0

14 ST LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 24.0 24.0

15 WILLIAMS COLLEGE 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 20.0 0.0 20.0

16 UNIV OF NEW HAMPSHIRE 1 18 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.0 18.0 19.0

17 HARVARD UNIVERSITY 0 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 13.0 13.0

18 MICHIGAN TECH UNIVERSITY 2 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.0 11.0 13.0

19 COLBY COLLEGE 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8.0 0.0 8.0
---------------------

Lasse:

Lukas:

Jaime, Steffi and Laura:

Nevio, Lasse, Lukas:

The coaches:  Andrew, Calisa, and Tor:

The alpine team made it out to the cross-country trails to support the UAA men.
Coaches Sparky and Morten:

Women's podium - Jaime was fifth today, second from the right:

The Calm Before the Storm...

Lasse's mom would be so proud:

The UAA Ski Team, alpine and nordic, at the NCAA banquet tonight:
Laura, Alex, Jaime, Niko, Vanessa, Nevio, Steffi, Lukas, Anais, Andreas, Lasse, Sean

The fun begins tomorrow morning at 9:00 Mountain Time.   You can follow it here:

http://www.ncaa.com/liveschedule

T minus one day

Today, the weather changed to snow.  We spent the morning testing skis and preparing for tomorrow's race - 5km for women and 10km for men, individual start.

Lukas:

Jaime:

Lasse:

Nevio:

On the way home from the ski trails, bumpin' to DJ Nevio.

Trivial Pursuit

Tonight was Trivia Night here at the UAA Ski Team Bozeman Field Office.  The alpine skiers came over for a night of togetherness with the cross-country skiers before we all get busy the rest of the week with ski racing.

Andrew was the Game Show Host:

The jubilant winners:  Sean, Nevio and Lasse:

The cross-country skiers showed their tenacity.  After the alpine skiers had left for home, they persisted long into the night with their argument that the answer was actually 2x pi, and that they had answered question 24 correctly after all...