Training Triathlon

Springtime's the best time in Alaska. Flowers and sunshine at sea level.  But still winter in the high country. When it comes to outdoor recreation at this time of year, you're only limited by your imagination.  Skippy raced in a triathlon last weekend and finished 25th. My friends and I did our own little triathlon yesterday, but we didn't keep score.

Crust skiing at Hatcher Pass

There's still plenty of snow.

We came across Jenna, Brandon, Skippy, Michaela and Hannah out training on the groomed trails.

Here's Brandon.

Quail and Hannah

Skippy

When we got home, we went out for a bike ride along Turnagain Arm.

And followed it up with a hike in the front range above Anchorage.

No Helicopter Necessary

The summer training conditions are good at Hatcher Pass, with Ed grooming the trails every Wednesday and Saturday. I know people who spend a lot of money for summer skiing on the glacier, and I see how itchy and impatient everyone is to get on snow in October and November on scratchy, thin snow, in the cold and dark. So I'm perpetually surprised by how few serious ski racers see fit to train on groomed trails that are accessible by car at this time of the year, in warm comfortable weather under sunny skies. There's a couple meters of snow on the ground, so there should be a couple more weeks of skiing before State Parks fires up the heavy equipment and plows the snow out to make way for the summer tourists.

Every time I go skiing, Berit Flora is there too. Every time!

Here's Gavin Kentch. Always one of the first to start skiing in the fall, and one of the last to put away the skis in the spring.

Rumours

Of course we all know that former Seawolves Marine and Erik are planning to get married on July 7 in the french alps (the ones in France).  

But perhaps not everyone knows that Pati is also back in town and she and her boyfriend Scott intend to get married soon, too!  Pati has managed to talk Alyeska Resort into putting her to work for this summer and beyond. Nobody really knows exactly when Pati and Scott are going to get married; they haven't decided on a date yet. But you can count on getting all the latest updates right here, on the most reliable of all the UAA Ski Team blogs.

Meanwhile, out on the mean streets of Hatcher Pass, there's a rumour floating around that there's yet another Seawolf planning her long-awaited return to Anchorage from Europe.  I don't want to spill the beans about it just yet, as it might be a little while before she's back in Anchorage. But you can count on this blog making a big announcement about it when the time is right!

A Snapshot in Time

The skiing is pretty good around here these days.

Here's Berit Flora trying out here new skintec skis.

Zacke and Brandon

Quail and Hannah

And by the time we left, it was starting to snow again.

And again, thanks to Ed Strabel and the Mat-Su Ski Club for the grooming!

Archangel

Looks like we won't need to bring the rollerskis out of storage anytime soon. Ed Strabel, Jeff Case and the Mat-Su crew usually keep grooming at Hatcher Pass until all the snow is melted away.  And we've gotten about three feet of new snow over the past week on top of the deep snow that was already there. When this new snow melts down or gets rained on, it's probably going to make for some great crust skiing at Hatcher later this spring!  And of course there will also be good groomed classic and skate skiing on the 15km out-and-back Archangel Road, regardless of the crust conditions.  Thanks, Ed!

On my way home from skiing, I dropped by the Bear Tooth Theatre to hear APU's Olympians talk about their experiences in South Korea.  Here's 2009 Seawolf (and 6th in the 2018 Overall World Cup rankings!) Sadie Bjornsen discussing how the team got ready for the relay. Not everyone on that stage was in the Olympics, but a lot of them were.