Skiwolf Challenge - Part One

Friday the 13th was looking like it was going to be a very unlucky day for everyone on the UAA Ski Team.  This was the day for the annual Skiwolf Challenge - a "skimeister" event to find out once and for all who is the best all-around skier on the team.  The "uphillers" would have to figure out how to get down a slalom course at Alyeska, and the alpine skiers would need to strap on the cross-country skis and drag themselves two laps around Moose Meadows.  The cross-country pursuit start format was calculated based on time behind the leader in the alpine race.  It was clear the chairlift-riders were going to have a big lead going into the cross-country portion, but how big would it be?

Nevio arriving in style:


Somehow, Galen doesn't look so tall and thin when wearing his xc gear...


You could tell Lukas wanted to race, but the doctor who fixed his broken wrist said, "No skiing!"


Here's Ida, showing how it's supposed to be done:


And Sean:


Brew:


Anais:


Halfdan:


Andreas:


Borg:


Can you tell which Seawolves are the XC skiers?  
Davis:


Brandon:


Lutz:


Galen:


Maya:


Laura:


Lasse:


Karina:


Andrew:


Adam:


Nordic skiers don't feel at home unless they can walk up the hill before coming back down:


Wait a sec... which side of the gates are we supposed to ski???






It was established on the alpine hill that the chairlift riders were a lot faster at getting down a slalom course than us Nordic skiers, but we also found out something else.  Among the cross-country skiers, our fastest athlete in the day's slalom grew up on a pancake-flat island in the Baltic Sea, in a city that gets more rain than snow during the winter.  I don't remember hearing anything about alpine skiing dream-vacations in Copenhagen.  Then again, Lindsey Vonn grew up in Minnesota...

So we went across the street to Moose Meadows for the pursuit-start cross-country race.  Several of the alpine skiers would be starting minutes ahead of the cross-country skiers, but the sense of trepidation among the alpiners was palpable when they realized there is no chairlift at Moose Meadows.  (to be continued...)

(And by the way, thank you to Taylor for all the great pictures!!!)

Back to Spencer Glacier

On Friday, my friend Kevin and I decided to go crust skiing in the morning instead of going to work.  It had been ten days since my previous trip to Spencer Glacier with the UAA skiers, and I assumed the sun and warm weather all week would have only made the ski conditions better.  I assumed right.

We weren't the only skiers in Placer Valley:

 A dog team, too:

Spencer Glacier:

 Icebergs frozen into the lake:

We couldn't resist the ice cave:

 

Kincaid Park

Lutz and Lasse thought it would be fun to go skiing at Kincaid Park this morning, and they asked if I wanted to join them. 

Here's the Lake Loop.  Usually this trail is groomed for classic skiing only.  But in the springtime, the club grooms it for skating instead.

We were about 20 minutes behind the grooming machine.

Lutz said his legs didn't get cold, but I noticed that he was careful not to crash when Lasse gave him a shove on one of the downhills.

The ski conditions couldn't have been any better.

Spencer Glacier

Sunny days; clear cool nights.  Time to go skiing.  So down Turnagain Arm we drove again - Andrew, Lasse, Lutz, Davis, Nevio, and me.  A tough choice between three good options at the head of Turnagain Arm:  Twentymile Valley, Portage Valley, or Placer Valley...?  Several of us had already spent last Tuesday in Portage, skiing up Burns Glacier.  Twentymile could be a beautiful adventure, but we also knew it would take some navigating through alders to get deep into the valley and  find the headwaters.  Placer Valley seemed easy enough: hard crust snow, two glaciers, one set of railroad tracks.  Simple enough...

Starting into the Placer Valley.  That's the end of the valley at the back of the photo.

 

Anybody want to rent a camper?




Lutz:

Here's Lutz catching a little air:

This is Davis on the same jump, realizing that his left ski broke just a milisecond ago:

These mountains are bigger than they look:

Spencer Glacier:

L-R: Andrew, Dog, Lutz, Nevio, Lasse.

Lasse, Lutz, me, and Nevio, in the glacier:

Just a moment before this photo was taken, Nevio found out that ice is slippery:

 Lasse:

Lutz:

Nevio: