Arctic Training

Sunrise today was at 10:21am and a mere three hours and forty-one minutes later at 2:02pm, the sun officially set.  And between those times there was not a lot of daylight as the sun barely rises above the horizon and never shines over the mountain behind the ski area.  Muonio is over 250km north of the Arctic Circle in Finland and close to the Swedish border.  The darkness could sound depressing but it hasn't felt that way yet.  Just as a rainy day can makes a sunny day feel extra special, the darkness enhances the light here.  Sunrises last all day, slowly morphing into a sunset which eases out over the hours of dusk.  This is my fourth trip to Muonio and I'm probably in the minority for skiers, but I really like it here.  It's simple and relaxing.  We stay in cabins on the ski trails and just a short walk from meals.  There isn't anything to do but ski, eat and sleep so it's the perfect place to recover from the jetlag of international travel and prepare for the upcoming ski season.  Despite the darkness it is surprisingly beautiful here, the Arctic light reflecting on the snow in a unique way.  There isn't a lot of natural snow but there are 6km of manmade tracks which have been excellent, providing more than enough terrain for great training.  Tomorrow we are driving to Ruka, Finland and the World Cup season opens this weekend!

Muonio on the map.  Head north and keep going!

Arctic light

Sunrise or sunset?

An ice fog settled in and we even got some new snow this morning.  This photo almost looks like it is taken in black and white but it's full color today

Northern lights over our condos one evening.  It was incredible!  (Matt Whitcomb photo)

Kikkan is psyched to go back to school!  We visited the Muonio elementary school which was a tradition started by my GRP teammate Clare Egan during a Craftsbury trip to Muonio.  We shared videos of our team training and racing and the kids were excited to meet us.  Finnish school seemed pretty similar to American except everyone takes off their shoes before coming inside.

The beginning of the season means lots of new skis to test.  Here is my fleet of Fischers as well as Matt's coat rack.  On top of being the women's team coach, Matt is my wax tech.  He has done an awesome job preparing skis, cleaning skis and helping me test.  It's important to have skis for every snow condition and course profile but too many skis can be overwhelming so we have put in a lot of work testing and getting to know the different skis in the fleet.  Thanks Matt!

   

Last Days at Home

My last week in the US was a frantic and busy week.  I balanced packing, cleaning, training, and running the last minute errands necessary before leaving the country for over four months with also wanting to spend as much time as possible with friends and family who I wouldn't see over the winter. It felt surprisingly relaxing to sink into my airplane seat for a 28 hour travel day from northern VT to northern Finland after all the craziness of getting ready to leave.  Leaving was bittersweet with a mix of saying goodbyes and enjoying the last few nights in my own bed played against the excitement to be back on the road at the start of the season.  Here are some pictures from my last week or so at home.

A frosty early morning in Craftsbury on Little Hosmer Pond

Sunrise at home! The shorter days have provided some wonderful sunrises and sunsets!

A little snow before I left was the perfect transition to winter.  The Craftsbury Outdoor Center turned on the snow guns as well to stockpiling even more than the natural dustings.

It's always fun to wake up to a white blanket outside! 

The breakfast nook in my cottage.  Coffee, yogurt, and views of snow are the perfect way to start the day!

GRP girls dinner before we head our separate ways to Finland, Norway, West Yellowstone, and Canmore.  We missed Clare but it was a great chance to get the rest of the team together.

Snow on the side of the road (and a little in the road too) for our last rollerski of the year

Eben came home for hunting season and luckily our paths crossed for one day!  It was fun to share stories of recent adventures and travels.

That's a lot of stuff!  Two ski bags, a duffel bag, and a big backpack for the winter travels.

It took about 28 hours from to get from Barton, Vermont to our little cabins in Muonio, Finland which is about 250km north of the Arctic Circle.  It was surprisingly sunny for our ski this morning and fun to ski under the lights this afternoon.

Winter!

Frozen Thunder!

As the first flakes have fallen here in Craftsbury,  winter is just around the corner.  I was lucky to already have a little taste of winter in the form of a 2km ribbon of snow saved from last winter in Canmore, Alberta.  Every year the Canmore Nordic Center buries a pile of snow under a mound of wood chips and digs it up in mid-October to spread around a loop, aptly named Frozen Thunder.  The 2km track takes anywhere from 6-8 minutes to ski depending on how fast the snow conditions are that day.  Since we would usually ski for two to three hours every morning, it was important to find technique or pacing cues to focus on or a good friend to chat with, anything to keep the mind active and distracted from counting laps or looking at your watch as we skied round and round.  In years past we have had colder weather and have had some natural snow or at least new manmade snow added to freshen the track.  This year, though, the temperatures were warm and it rained a few days so many days Frozen Thunder was not very frozen. Over the eight days that we were there, the depth of the snow decreased noticeably and certain sections of the track were much less elevated from the ground than they were at the start.  But a huge thank you needs to go out to the grooming staff for an awesome job maintaining the snow and the ski conditions were awesome all week despite the unseasonably warm weather.

Since I had skied in September in Ramsau, Austria with my Craftsbury teammates, the transition back to snow was remarkably easy.  I was very grateful to have had the glacier skiing just a month earlier because skiing felt natural almost instantly in Canmore, rather than having the normal few days spent trying to navigate the awkward skis which feel helplessly long compared to rollerskis.  Most of the skiing we did in Canmore was just distance training but Cross Country Canada also organized a couple races  which were a really fun opportunity to put on a bib and go hard.  The lung burn and tired legs were a quick reminder of what racing actually feels like but made me more excited than ever for the World Cup season to start at the end of the month!

I didn’t take any pictures this week so I stole some from Noah’s blog.  Thanks Hoff J!  I have a couple weeks of training in Craftsbury now before leaving for Europe so I’m taking advantage of my last bit of time at home before hitting the road!  Happy trails and don’t forget to do your snow dances!

Sunrise at the Canmore Nordic Center

Canmore is one of my favorite places to train and race!

Noah got artsy with his skiing shots and I think this is a cool image of me skiing over the top of the hill

Some one pole skiing to work on technique early in the season.  

I had a great time hanging out with my Canadian friends!  We had dinner at the homes of Chandra and Perianne who both live in town and each of the evenings was a highlight of the camp.  Here's a picture of dinner at Chandra's house where she cooked a delicious feast of four lasganas, two giant salads and a couple amazing carrot cakes.

Since we will be in northern Finland for Thanksgiving probably eating fish and reindeer, we celebrated early and cooked a Thanksgiving feast except with chickens instead of turkeys as we couldn't find turkeys at the store.  It took all the stoves and ovens from the four different team apartments with tiny kitchenettes to create the feast as well as several hours of chopping and prep but was worth the effort for the fun evening with the team.

Racing!  The Classic Sprint was organized in the King's Court format so everyone did all four rounds and moved up or down in the seeding based on their placing in the previous heat.  The other fun twist was that guys and girls were combined so I raced most of my heats with guys but had fun skiing one of the rounds with Peri.