On the Lift

Just like in XC skiing, rudimentary drills are necessary at the start of the season.

Everyone knows that alpine skiers like to do their sport on a tilted sheet of boilerplate ice. Powder days?  No thank you. If it does snow, they plow the new snow off to the side so they can get back down to the ice again, and they ski on that. In alpine ski racing, they call that sheet of ice a "good surface". 

Ski lessons are in session.

It started snowing heavily in Anchorage last week, and now we're in the midst of setting a new all-time November record for snowfall in Anchorage. Several feet of snow now clog Anchorage's roads and provide dreamy ski conditions on our nordic ski trails. But we UAA alpiners knew immediately what to do last week when we saw all that snow coming. We loaded up the trucks and drove to a place without any snow on the ground. And so here we are in our secret fall training spot, without any of the school closures and piles of snow that are causing all the trouble in Anchorage, as they struggle to get the snow plowed and reopen schools and businesses.

Caeden Carruthers

It doesn't matter that our secret training location doesn't have more than around an inch or two of snow on the ground. There is snowmaking here, and our team is raving about the "good surface" at the ski hill. As every year, we continue to say that this is the best place for us to spend the second half of November. Several of our athletes are reporting significant improvements in their skiing so far this week, and they're attributing it, in part, to the quality of the skiing here. 

Ella Bromee

As for me, I'm having a great time, and thankful that the alpine skiers and coaches agreed to let me come along with them again to our secret fall training spot in the Klondike.

Sparky Anderson and Carmen Nielssen.

Fred

Last March, about a half-hour after the award ceremony at the NCAA Championships in Lake Placid, as Toomas and I were cleaning and packing up the wax cabin after a long week, Trond burst in with a giddy smile on his face and said, "Hey Adam! Your hero, Fred Fayette, is right outside the door! You should go out and say hello." And of course I did, but it was a little hard to get a private audience with him at that particular moment, because others had also noticed that Fred was in the parking lot, and lots of folks wanted to come over and chat with him, since he hadn't been seen around the venue all week. Nevertheless, we got a chance to catch up on the latest, and to agree about how privileged we both were to be able to hang around the college ski circuit for so many years. I left our conversation feeling a little bit refreshed after a disappointing race week, and I was already looking forward to the next time our paths would cross. But Fred died the following month, on April 26.

Fred Fayette was the volunteer assistant coach at the University of Vermont for what seemed like forever. He graduated from UVM in 1969, and as far as I can tell, he started working as a volunteer assistant right after graduation. By the time I was a high school skier in New Hampshire in the 1980’s, he’d been a volunteer assistant coach at UVM for quite a few years. By the time I was a college ski racer, at the University of Wyoming, I was getting pretty well accustomed to seeing him beside the trail or in the parking lot at the race venue whenever UVM was in attendance. And during my races, I could always count on hearing something nice from Fred as I passed by his spot beside the trail, whether it was a reliable, accurate split, or just an encouraging word.

Over the years, I grew more and more fond of seeing Fred at ski races. It started to become a highlight of my college skiing experience, first as a racer but then, more so, as a volunteer assistant coach myself. Because it was then that I started to see Fred as a role model that I could learn from and try to emulate to some small degree in my own involvement with the sport.

There was no question that Fred’s approach to his role with UVM was the ideal that I was aiming for, whenever possible, as my role with UAA has gradually expanded and deepened. His skill set and mine are not particularly similar, but it was his approach to his role – his sincerity – that really inspired me. I guess my appreciation for Fred’s involvement with UVM hasn’t gone unnoticed by the UAA coaches; many is the time former UAA coach Andrew Kastning or current (and past) UAA coach Trond Flagstad have made comments to the effect that maybe someday, if I play my cards right, I could be a volunteer assistant coach in the mold of Fred Fayette. And I’ve always found those offhand comments from Andrew and Trond to be inspiring.

The University of Vermont Ski Team in particular will feel his absence. I recommend you take a moment to read a little more about Fred’s role with UVM here and here. Or you can hear from Fred himself here: Fred Fayette Video. This is a man who made his part of the world a better place. And a lot of people bettered themselves by crossing paths with Fred Fayette.

Dryland Training Has Ended

After this week's snowstorm, it's pretty safe to say that dryland training has ended for the year. We're glad to be on snow now. But just in case you want a little more rollerski action, here are a few shots from a month ago.