Prepping for Germany
Now I get some good down time in Anchorage to get ready to head over to Germany for U23 World Championships. I am doing a medium amount of hours, and am still recovering from Nationals. Some speedwork today helped my legs to feel better, and things are going well.
The photos are from a ski on the Coastal Trail a few days ago with Reese Hanneman and Nat Herz. We went out on the frozen mud-flat to the edge of the sea ice when we turned around near Kincaid. It was pretty amazing, although incredibly windy. Behind Reese and I in the shot below, you can just make out Foraker and Denali in the distance. They put in a pretty good showing, glowing a nice rosy pink in the distance. The mountains across the inlet were also spectacular as you can tell in the second photo with the running water and Reese pointing. The juxtaposition of the ice and flowing water was very interesting, as well as a bit scary. You definitely wouldn’t want to fall in there!
Reese and I are both headed to Germany for U23s. I am very excited for this trip! I have never been to Germany and I can’t wait to see what it’s like. We are also both involved with coaching Challenge Life ski camps. David Norris, who is also headed to Germany soon, was also one of the coaches at the recent Challenge Life camp in fairbanks. Even though it was planned a little last minute, there were still about 40 kids there every day. That was especially cool to see. I hope to get in another camp in the spring and summer because it was exceptionally fun to get to work with some younger skiers! Challenge Life does more basketball camps in rural villages in Alaska than ski camps, and their main focus is keeping kids healthy and out of trouble. Now they’re branching out into skiing, and I think it’s a really positive thing to be a part of!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Challenge Life sponsored US Nationals in Fairbanks last year, and Mike Hajdukovich (far right in the group photo) is kind of the driving force behind it. His kids are in FXC with my sisters, and he is incredibly enthusiastic about skiing!