The Team is Getting Into Training

Every year, some of our skiers graduate and new athletes arrive and take their place. Though ski racing is generally considered an "individual" sport, it's very much a team sport on the NCAA circuit, and we all have more success when we work as a cohesive team - men, women, alpine and nordic. It's a lot easier to work effectively as a team if you know your teammates. But the alpine skiers train differently than we do on the nordic side, and consequently we don't always see that much of each other, even though we're on the same team working toward the same goals. In an effort to get better acquainted with our teammates, the team went to the Girdwood, Portage and Placer valleys this weekend for some team bonding, some exercise and some camping.

We started with a hike up the north face of Alyeska Mountain for an hour of yoga in the upper tram station. Whenever I start feeling sporty and athletic, all I need is a little yoga to reveal how weak and unbalanced I truly am. I am always impressed by how much we can learn about our bodies with a few simple yoga poses. The team thanks Julia Von Imhof and Tonya Parsons for the yoga session as well as the hot drinks and snacks! It was a special workout in a special location and we really appreciate their efforts in making this a really unique team workout!

Yoga at the top of Alyeska.

The UAA Ski Team at the top of Alyeska

Loaded into the tram for the return trip

From tram to train.  On the Alaska Railroad to Spencer Glacier.

Offloading boats and gear at Spencer.

Spencer Lake.

In the raft. Anna thought we were on the Titanic

Sean, Sparky, me, Anna, David, Brandon.

David explaining everything about glacial ice. 

I'd call us "happy campers" but none of actually camped tonight.

Spencer Glacier

Most of the team camped overnight, and they'll go hiking tomorrow morning before coming back out on the train. Here's Pati, Manon, Brandon, Clement and Marion.

Alex and John.

Bella and Etienne

The ones who couldn't stay overnight - Brandon, Anna, Sparky, Sean and David.  Catching the train back out.