Lillehammer

I said my goodbyes to Muonio and traveled to Norway yesterday.  While it was great to be able to do a big block of training on snow before the seasons started, after three weeks in Muonio, the darkness was setting in, and I was ready for a change of scenery.

Sunset in Muonio.  This picture was taken before 3pm.

The first World Cups of the season are this weekend in Sjusjoen, Norway.  There is not any snow here either so we will be racing on another short manmade loop of snow.  The organizing committee is doing everything they can to protect the snow so the loop is closed until the races with the exception of a three hour inspection period tomorrow.  Since there isn't any skiing here today the US team decided to stay as long as possible at the ski tunnel in Torsby, Sweden, where they are currently training and will not be arriving to Norway until later tonight.  I already had a ticket booked for yesterday and since I skied many kilometers around the track in Muonio, I knew it would be alright to have a day off from skiing and I was excited for a solo day in Lillehammer, where our team is staying for the weekend.


After eating as much delicious breakfast at the hotel buffet as I could hold this morning (soft boiled eggs, toast, brown cheese, yogurt, keifer, cereal, smoked salmon, pickled herring, crepes, and more!!) I was ready to go for a run.  By this time it was fully light outside and the sun was up and shining brightly OVER the hills.  I asked the lady at the front desk if there were running or ski trails nearby and she replied, "Of course, everywhere."  Stupid question, this is Norway.  I left the hotel, picked a random direction and didn't run more than a few hundred meters before I came across a single track path.


The trail headed uphill away from town and paralleled a rocky brook.  After being in Muonio, it felt so hilly here!  It was cold outside with a thick layer of frost but still no snow.

This pool looks a little too cold for an ice bath

It at least looks wintery

Which direction to choose?  I think I'll save Sjusjoen until tomorrow

Looking down over Lillehammer from above

I followed signs to Olympiaparken, site of the 1994 Olympics.  The building on the right is now NTG Lillehammer, one of Norway's ski academies.

They were blowing snow in the stadium and I made some fresh tracks (footprints I guess) through the "powder."

From Olympiaparken I followed signs to Sentrum and soon popped out in the center of town.  The main street was very touristy with shops, cafes, and restaurants.  There were a few vendors selling waffles which smelled delicious.

Normally I would feel weird running with poles and wearing spandex in a city center but it felt oddly normal here.

A park in town

A church I had glimpsed from above and wanted to check out.  

My camera batteries died at this point but it was also time to head back to the hotel.  

Racing gets going on Saturday with a 10km skate! 

C'mon winter

The warm weather in Muonio has continued and it feels a lot like April in Vermont.  The forecast had called for a fair amount of snow the past two days here but then the temperatures were a few degrees too warm and the precipitation came as rain.  Luckily they spread the manmade and saved snow thickly and it is holding up quite well.  The skiing remains solid even though it hasn’t even froze at night for the past few days, preventing any more snow from being blown.  Thus, each day the white ribbon of a trail develops a bit more of a brownish hue.

Reports from around Europe and especially Scandinavia make us feel quite lucky to have our 3km loop.  With incredibly few options for skiing anywhere on the continent, more and more skiers are travelling to Muonio in search of snow and ski races.  The Czech and Belarussian national teams are the latest arrivals and we’ve heard that the Germans, Swedes, and others are on the way.  Each day Muonio becomes a little busier.  The ski trail is packed and we were even throwing elbows in Muonio’s small gym yesterday afternoon.   On distance days I’ve realized it’s easiest to just  ski my own pace and not worry about all the people around me.  If someone wants to pass me, I keep going and let them go around and then do the same when passing other skiers.  It’s easy to get intimidated and jump out of the way for every approaching skier but that just makes for a lot of stopping and starting.

Intervals on the busy trail become exciting and great practice for skiing in a pack.  Today we did some 2 minute hard classic intervals in the rain and right in the thick of the crowds.  We lucked out and the majority of people were skating today leaving the classic track a little more free for us.  Still, there was lots of passing and jumping in and out of the track necessary.  In the middle of one of my intervals, I was gaining quickly on another classic skier in the track ahead of me, another guy doing skating intervals was passing me and meanwhile we were all converging on a train of four Russian biathletes skiing distance with their guns.  The skater doing intervals and classic skier tangled and went down, one of the biathletes let out a surprised and high pitched scream while another yelled something loudly in Russian and by sheer luck I was able to scoot around the mess to the far right being careful to not fall off the raised ribbon of ski trail.

Here are some pictures Hannah took of our rainy, hard, but fun workout.  When winter does arrive, the hard extra blue tracks are going to seem just a bit too easy!

Ida

Tim

Pepa on the side of the trail

A Walk around Muonio

As Nordic ski racers, we are incredibly lucky and spend many months of the year travelling around the world, training and racing in faraway lands.  Most of the winter is spent living out of a suitcase and moving from place to place.  But with the focus centered squarely on racing fast, training and resting takes the priority over sightseeing on these trips.  It’s easy to get into the habit of seeing the only ski centers, hotels, and their connecting roads at each race location.  Visiting other places in the local area is often overlooked in favor of time off our feet, letting tired muscles recover.  However most times, these outings become refreshing breaks from the normal rigors and routine of training.  I promised my brother that I would take pictures of all the towns that I visit while travelling this season and I think I will be able to thank Eben for helping me get the full experience of this winter’s travels.

Yesterday afternoon I went for a long walk around the town of Muonio.  With warm temperatures and a sunny sky, it was hard not to go outside.  I didn’t even need my puffy coat and my biggest regret was forgetting to wear sunglasses!

The red area on the map shows the province of Munio which was established in 1575 and has a current population of around 2500 people. We are staying in the town of Muonio in this province and it's about 300km north of the Arctic circle and a couple of kilometers from the Swedish border.

Here are the Lomamaja Pekonen cabins, our home in Muonio. We are staying in the cabins on either side of the cars which happen to be the exact same cabins we rented last year.

One street that goes through town

And the other street in town

A very bright sun for northern Scandinavia. I boosted my immune system today with a healthy dose of Vitamin D.

This is the church that overlooks the town. There is a cemetery behind it that has candles next to each grave and makes for a neat after dark.

S-Market is one of two grocery stores in town. The other option, Kmarket, is somewhat visible in the background. Groceries are somewhat limited at this latitude so we've eaten a lot of meat, potatoes, beets, and other root vegetables. I was very surprised to see Ben&Jerry's ice cream in one of the stores here, but at alsmost 7Euro/ pint, it's a bit out of our budget.

The sport store in town caters almost exclusively to Nordic skiing, Nordic walking, and snowmobiling.

There is a wide river flowing through town with marshy sections like this one which is across the road from our cabins. There are also a lot of lakes in the area.

The ski area, Olos, is at the base of this hill. If you look closely you can see the big windmills that spin over our heads while we ski.

Reindeer Sightings

Last year in Mounio the warmest wax we used was in the blue range so this year’s packing list lacked many of the warmer waxes so the unseasonably warm weather here has quickly drained our small supply.  The ski shop in town is also not accustomed to stocking a lot of warm waxes at this time of the year and have been sold out all week.  Today Pepa, Clare, Hannah, and I drove to Levi, the nearest alpine ski area, approximately 60km to the south, in search of klister.  We were somewhat unsuccessful in this regard but were able to find Finnish souvenirs, a great coffee shop, and lots of reindeer!

Not long into the drive we saw the first few reindeer and immediately pulled over.

We got out of the car and Pepa eagerly chased after the reindeer hoping to get close enough for a good picture.

But we were a little too aggressive and scared them away

If only we had a bit more extra room in our luggage for the trip home...

More reindeer on the way home

We were those tourists that stop in the middle of the road and take animal pictures

Pepa really wanted a picture with one of reindeer but my photography skills aren't great. You can kind of see a reindeer butt in the trees behind her.

And it begins!

The winter season has begun!  Two days ago I travelled with the rest of my Craftsbury Green Racing Project teammates from Vermont to Muonio, Finland.  The travel was easy and I quickly felt myself adjusted to the time change and the European lifestyle.  We flew to Roveniemi, Finland which is situated on the Arctic Circle and drove an additional 3 hours north to the town of Muonio so we are very far north right now.  Having been here last year I was bracing myself for cold but was surprised to see the sun and not feel chilled to the bone.  I should probably savor the daylight though as we are losing at least nine minutes of it a day.  Apparently it has also been an unseasonably warm fall so there isn't any natural snow yet.  Luckily the local ski area, Olos, saves huge piles of snow under sawdust all summer and rolls it out in the middle of October.  There is a 3km ribbon of snow looping through the woods and we are SKIING!  The loop is busy with lots of skiers from across Scandinavia and Russia but conditions are actually great.  Hopefully it will cool off soon so that it either snows or they can blow more snow and expand the loop.  But at the moment I'm just so excited to be skiing again, that the short loop is a million times less boring than any of our normal rollerski roads!  I'll post more stories here and there will be additional updates of our travels from my teammates found at www.greenracingproject.com.

Ready to ski

Yesterday I picked up all my new Fischer skis from Caldwell Sport in Putney.  Zach and the guys at Fischer have put together a great fleet for me and now I just can't wait to test them all out!  I've worked with Zach in years past but when he was living in Boulder it was tricky to find time to connect.  Now that Zach and Amy have moved back to Vermont, I'm looking forward to the opportunity to work very closely with them for ski selection and service this season!

In the spring, we sat down and assessed what I currently had for skis and what needed to be added.  I had a handful of classic skis that I was very confident in but my skate ski selection was not as strong.  Then in June, Zach went to the Fischer factory in Austria and with the help of the reps there, picked skis which would fill in the gaps in my fleet.  It's going to be a long season of being on snow in northern Finland in October to the last races at home in Craftsbury in April and I'm going to see lots in of very different race venues.  To be prepared for all these varying snow conditions, one needs a lot of skis!

Travelling with this many skis is only beneficial if you know when to use each of these.  In the past as my ski fleet has grown, I've found myself overwhelmed and end up repeatedly using a single pair of skis race after race while the rest sit untouched in my ski bag.  This year though, Zach developed an idiot proof system, designed to help me become very familiar with each pair of skis and then pick the best possible ones for each race.  

This is the fleet report of my skis and is separated into classic and skate skis and then color coded according to grind and snow or wax conditions.  All of my skis are also labeling with the corresponding tags.  I still have a lot of work to do testing the skis, trying them against each other and in different conditions, and logging many kilometers on each pair, but that's the fun part! 

Fall at home

Fall has arrived and it's great to be home.  I can't think of a better place to be in September and October than in Vermont.  It's not quite peak foliage but each day a few more shades of reds, oranges, and yellows shine through.  I love shuffling through the fallen leaves while running on the trails.  I swam in Big Hosmer Pond after my workout this morning and it was definitely refreshing.  Almost everything has been harvested from the garden and we've had fun making applesauce, pickles, and pumpkin bread with the last of the crops.  And of course the cold nights and crisp morning air is an exciting reminder that winter is on the way.

The US team is currently together in Park City for the last training camp of the off season.  While I have really enjoyed going to the camps this summer, I opted to skip the camp and instead stay in Craftsbury and train with Pepa and the GRP.  Travelling to new places and training with different teammates is awesome but it also makes me appreciate being at home.  We have a great training setup here with quiet roads for rollerskiing, lots of great trails and single track for running and biking, a lake for sculling, and a gym that barely anyone else uses.  We are also lucky to be part of a very supportive and active community.  Yesterday evening I did a short recover rollerski on a loop around the town and I was honked at by four different cars.  However, these were not the "Get the hell off the road" type of honks that rollerskiers are accustomed to but were instead the "Hello! Good job! Keep up the good work!" kind of honks that were accompanied by a smile and a wave.  They deepened my excitement to be in Craftsbury for the next month while making the final preparations before the start of the season!

Race to the Top of Vermont

4.3 miles in 44:42...Yikes!!
One really tough race to the top of Mt Mansfield!

My second place finish makes me now officially a professional athlete!  Results at http://www.racetiming.com/11%20Catamount%20Run%20Overall.htm.

Photo credit: www.catatmounttrail.org

Mt. Baker

On my way home from Alaska, I made a stop in Seattle for some family time.  In the past couple years it has been hard to get our whole family together at the same time so we wanted to make sure it happened this summer.  Eben and Elsa both live in Seattle , it was an easy place to convene.  After a hard training camp in Alaska, this was supposed to be my recovery week but I knew that was likely to be the case.  Since nobody in our family is very good at sitting still, family vacations have always been filled with lots of hiking, biking, skiing, canoeing, and other adventures.  My mom’s fears of skin cancer limited our time spent lying on a beach and this timewas instead replaced by finding another mountain to climb.  This vacation was no different and the highlight of the trip was climbing Mt. Baker in the North Cascades.

Here’s the family at the start of the hike.  We did the trip in three days instead of the normal two which allowed for a more leisurely hike and more time at the campsite.  This also made for very heavy packs at the start as we were going to be camping in style with lots of very delicious food and drink.

Eben was an awesome guide for the hike!  He does a lot of mountaineering and climbing so it was great to see him in his element.

The Cascades are still really snowy at this time of the year so we hit the snow very early into the hike and had the ice axes out before we reached camp the first day.  Here we are approaching our campsite and Sherman Peak is in the background.  Mt. Baker is hidden from view at this point behind Sherman but you can see part of our route on the left side of the peak.

Elsa and her boyfriend Linden found a flat spot on some heather to pitch a tent.

Blaze stands watch over the camp.  A family friend, Gary Schillhammer, joined us as well for the hike.  His dog, Blaze, was amazing and probably covered enough ground to have summitted three or four times over the course of our hike.

The sibling time was great!  Eben and Elsa spend a lot of time together and send me pictures of the trips like this one, which they do together almost every weekend so I was excited to be able to join for once!

My new MSR tent and a slightly staged photograph

This was my first time sleeping out on the snow and the first time sleeping on a glacier.   But I slept amazingly while wearing lots of clothes (including a down jacket) inside my sleeping bag.

Eben used his MSR fry-bake to make blueberry muffins and lemon poppyseed cake for breakfast.  That with lots of coffee got us going for the big day.

Morning clouds burned off for clear skies for the climb.

We roped in and navigated around the crevasses on the Squawk and Easton glaciers.

Linden with a sea of clouds below

Eben and I stopped to checking out some of the interesting volcanic rock formations

My mom, the courageous photographer, got quite close to the edge for some of these pictures.  She really enjoyed being roped as close as possible to Eben for this trip.

My dad had his sights set on the summit of Mt. Baker for quite some time so thanks to Eben for making this trip happen!

My big sis was very impressive and helped me along during a tough point in the Roman Wall, a steep face where my fear of heights kicked in.  As my best friend and role model we are usually very similar and she always knows what to say to make me feel better.  But at that moment when I was trying not to freak out and just take another little step, I knew we were different people when she said, “Isn’t this more fun than intervals?”

Looking down on Sherman peak which from the campsite had looked so high and far away

Getting organized for the final push to the summit

It actually flattened at the top and was actually an easy stroll for the last few hundred meters.

The Sargents on top!  It was very windy and cold so we only hung out long enough to snap a good Christmas picture.

And then it was back down the same route towards camp

Awesome trip and looking forward to the next mountain!