Staycation

The past two winters of little to no snow, brown ground, and misery have lowered my expectations to the point where, if I see a patch of ice in my yard I think I'm living in a winter wonderland. If I see a couple snowflakes fall from the sky I think it's a blizzard.

Ever since Christmas, I have felt like I'm on a ski vacation every time I wake up in the morning and look out the window of my home.  There's a couple feet of snow in the yard. I have to shovel my driveway every now and then.  My street is narrower because of the encroaching snowbanks along the edges. And when I go skiing, I don't even bother to put my rock skis in the car! It all seems so strange.

But yet it's somehow familiar. I remember a time when these conditions were what we in Anchorage simply called "winter". The other day, after I'd come home from yet another glorious day of skiing on deep snow and perfect conditions at Kincaid Park, I saw a weather report which said that Anchorage's winter snowfall was currently one inch above average. How could that be?  It seems we're buried in snow! It was then that I realized that after the past couple of winters, my standards have dropped so low that I'm ecstatic if there's any snow on the ground at all. Winters like this - average Alaska winters - are the reason I moved to Alaska 25 years ago. I'd forgotten how much I love an average Alaska winter!

Later this week, we'll be racing in Girdwood. Here's Sara discussing logistics with Peter Zug of the Girdwood Nordic Ski Club in preparation for our 4x5km mixed relay.

The nordic team spent last Friday working at Alyeska as course officials for the alpine events at the Seawolf Invitational. Here's Quail keeping track of  her gate judging responsibilities while visiting with Charley, Anna, and Maria. (Maria was self-conscious about her weird body position in this photo, so I promised her it would be on this blog.)

Michaela on slalom day.

Lunch at the Bake Shop. A Girdwood tradition. Herbert Von Bismarck and Hannah Rudd.

Giant slalom day at Alyeska. The xc team are lined up in position to slow any crashing skiers before they go into the B-netting. That's former Seawolf Lex Treinen on the far right.

Alix

(Am I the only one who sees a slight resemblance between Alix and Rodger?)

Charley

Hughey

Curtis

Tony

Ski touring in Anchorage

A little backcountry action in the Chugach.

Glacier Valley. It's nice to have a normal snow year!