'Tis the Season

June - it's the time of the year for weddings and babies. And I've got all your UAA skier wedding pics and baby pics right here at the UAA Ski Team Blog!

Sarah Studebaker and Zach Hall were married over the weekend in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho.  Here's Sarah with her dad.

Sarah and Zach.

Meanwhile, Jaime Bronga and Tim Samuelson were wed at Majestic Valley in the Talkeetna Mountains.

Hey, isn't that Laura Rombach on the left?! How does she always manage to sneak in and out of Alaska without me finding out about it?

Steffi, Karl, and young Matias Ludwig Schauer, hiking near their home in Mittenwald, Germany.

Congratulations to all!

Hyvä Tuomo!

Tuomo Latva-Kiskola raced for UAA ski team from 1988 until 1991, when he became an NCAA All-American at the NCAA Championships in Utah. I know this because I was in the race too. I was getting changed in the bathroom afterwards when Tuomo barged in and loudly announced, "Verrier, I may not be an American but today was my last college race and I raced my ass off and became an ALL-AMERICAN, HA HA HA!!!"  It was a moment I'll never forget, just like most other moments with Tuomo.

Yesterday, after living in Alaska for more than 20 years, Tuomo became an American citizen.  Congratulations, Tuomo!  We're glad to have you here.

The Downward Spiral

Well, that was that.  The longest day of the year is over. For the next half-year it's only going to get darker and colder. Less day and more night.  Less sunshine and more moonshine.

Davis, Etienne and I went out for a little spin around the hillside this week in the scorching (record-breaking) heat.

The last of the sun from my roof at 11pm tonight. We'll see less of it starting now.

Marathon Men

UAA skiers have been mobbing the Euro marathon circuits this summer.  

Lasse left the law office and went outdoors for a few hours recently - a rare occurrence lately - just long enough to run the Copenhagen Marathon in less than 3 hours. While a sub 3-hour marathon is nothing to sneeze at, it should be noted that former UAF skier Erik Soederstrom ran the race too, and was nice enough to wait around for 20 minutes at the finish line until Lasse arrived so they could take this picture together. Of course, it wasn't really an even race between the two.  Notice that Lasse was wearing a number in the 10,000's, while Erik was wearing a bib that said "Erik". They only give you a bib with your name on it if they think you're going to win.  So Erik had probably already run the first mile before Lasse got across the starting line.

Meanwhile, Clement left UAA and is now racing in the elite class on the French mountain running circuit for the Hoka One One shoe company. He recently raced the MaxiRace marathon in 3:59.  Not as fast as Lasse raced the Copenhagen marathon, but good enough for 3rd place! (It's my understanding that Copenhagen is not as hilly as the French Alps.)  Congratulations, Clement!

Better Late Than Never

It was a drag when we didn't get hardly any snow this past winter. It's nice to see winter has finally arrived in the mountains above Anchorage.

From Lake Hood

From an airplane.

The back-country running conditions in Iliamna are limitless.

Kaboom!

Etienne Richard isn't spending this summer in Quebec, as he's done his whole life. He's staying in Anchorage this summer, where he got a work internship here in town, related to his field of study. Alaska has always been known for its excellent fishing and its plentiful, large salmon and halibut. But that reputation may be about to come to an end because Etienne is catching and eating most of the fish in the rivers and sea, and those that aren't being caught and eaten by Etienne are swimming away from Alaska in panic.