Eagle Glacier

It's that time of year again... It's summer in  Alaska, and as an APU skier that means glacier season! Every summer since 2001 (minus one), I've trained on the Eagle Glacier at APU's Thomas Training Center. Most of the time I go up there three times a summer for a week at a time.  Not only is the glacier a place for consistent, focused training on snow during the summer- a rarity in itself for most skiers- it's also located in one of the most beautiful places in Alaska.

The Thomas Training Center is situated on a ridge above the Eagle Glacier and overlooks the small town of Girdwood, Alaska below.  It's a five minute helicopter ride or strenuous 3+ hour hike up to the facility.  Our food, gear and supplies are flown in by helicopter, and our mode of arrival (and departure) varies from camp-to-camp due to weather.

APU coaches and staff work tremendously hard all summer to prepare and maintain the glacier facility.  Safety is their number one concern, and they take many precautions to insure the safety of everyone who trains on the glacier and travels to and from the facility.  Every day a previously designed, wanded and probed loop is groomed by piston bully, making for some of the highest quality summer skiing available anywhere in the world.

In between twice daily sessions, athletes recover in the Thomas training center, spending time eating, stretching, sleeping, and watching video from prior sessions (to work on technique). As seen above and below, the views from the facility are breathtaking. Often the first thing you wake up to when you roll over in bed and glance out the window are mountains as far as the eye can see...

 

This year marks my eighth season training on Eagle, as I've been going since the summer after my freshman year in high school.  I've attended camps with many different athletes and several different coaches/staff members (as seen from prior camp photos below).

2006 Summer (perhaps?)

2007 Summer

2008 Summer

While many of the camps have blended together in my mind- in fact I have no idea exactly how many weeks of my life I've spent up there- one thing's for sure, the Eagle Glacier is a world class training facility.  I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to ski right out my "backdoor."

So today marks summer glacier season #8. After a morning rollerski, we're headed up to Eagle this afternoon/evening.  I'm looking forward to (among other things): the feeling of snow beneath my skis; the second-home-familiarity of the training center bunk rooms; sticky klister fingers jammed into ski gloves every day; making desserts large enough to feed two dozen hungry athletes; the incredible, wonderful feeling of satisfaction that can only come from the fatigue of training a lot (sometimes long, sometimes hard, sometimes both); and, last but not least, the beautiful summer evenings that can only be experienced on Eagle Glacier.

Bend Wrap-up

The Bend, Oregon portion of the May 2009 US Ski Team Camp is coming to a close as we pack our bags and the team vans for a four hour drive to the coast.  I skied at Mt. Bachelor eight days, with one recovery day off snow (also our golf day, pictured below) during the middle portion of the camp.  Of all those sessions, only one day did we encounter less-than-perfect weather.  Mt. Bachelor surely didn't disappoint and neither did Bend, with both proving to be great places to train this time of year.  I look forward to training here again in the future!

Below are a few shot from the ten days I've spent here...  Thanks to Chris Grover and Jason Adams for providing the pictures.  I was too preoccupied skiing, golfing, and enjoying the surroundings to get many good photos of my own.

  

Last Thursday we spent the afternoon golfing.  The team (pictured above) dressed for the occasion standing in front of one of the lava tubes on one of the courses.

Prior to golfing we checked out the lava tubes.

On Sunday we crust skied back to the bowl below Broken Top Mountain.  Lots of other skiers training here in Bend joined us for this 3 hour adventure.

The approach (pictured above) involved skiing down the trails from the Mt. Bachelor Nordic Area, through the forest, across a lake, and up a steep hill, before we made it out onto the flat open expanse in the foreground of Broken Top.  It was a beautiful day.

So that's the news from Bend.  My trip is almost over now, with just a few more workouts with the team before heading back to Alaska.  It's been great spending time in a new place.  Thanks to all the people who have made this camp possible, generously inviting us to BBQs, arranging for the great skiing/grooming, etc., etc.

Golfing?!?

Yep, you read correctly!  Today we went golfing at "one of the best courses on the West Coast."  It was our recovery day, so after a easy morning run, breakfast, a walk around downtown Bend and a trip to Whole Foods Market, followed by lunch, we all piled into the cars and went...golfing!  A local Bend skier (and golfer) went out of his way to get us a free round of golf and rentals at the beautiful Prong Horn Club outside of Bend.  We started at 3pm and played "best ball" for 9 holes, finishing just after 6pm.  It was a warm, sunny day out on the green and a very nice course for me to try my hand at my first few swings.  I was in a group with Koos, Whitcomb, and Kuzzy and really appreciated the coaching and encouragement from each of them.  I'm happy to report that there was significant improvement- although that's perhaps to be expected when you've never swung a golf club.  I had no problem making contact with the ball; sending it in the right direction to a specific distance was another story.  My shots were pretty haphazard, but it made for some good laughs...I think there might have been a few instances of beginners lucky, and I avoided losing my ball to the pond, but there's still plenty of room for improvement next time!

After a long afternoon we were warmly welcomed to a BBQ/potluck hosted by one of the ski clubs in town.  It was great to put faces to the numerous Bend-skier names I've heard, but never met.  Vordenberg gave slide show full of artist and motivating ski photos, and we enjoyed some wonderful food.  These experiences are the reason the Bend ski community has made a lasting impression.  It's great to see so many people up skiing at Mt. Bachelor, and it's inspiring to see so many people involved and loving skiing.   Thanks to Bend for being such a good host!

More to come...(and maybe even some golf photos!)

More good training at Mt. Bachelor

US Ski Team ladies jump for joy at the prospect of another Mt. Bachelor ski day.  

(Photo credit: Pete Vordenberg)

Today was day #3 skiing at Mt. Bachelor, and like the first day, it was absolutely beautiful weather.  The rainy/snowy, windy, foggy weather we skied through yesterday made me appreciate the perfect conditions today that much more.  We arrived to firm trails dusted in a light layer of new snow and were joined by many other racers and local skiers out enjoying the great late spring training.  It feels good to be logging kilometers on snow, seeing friends from around the country, and interacting with my US teammates and coaches.  There's nothing better than on-snow skiing year-round...  Next stop (next week), the Oregon Coast, followed by a brief Salt Lake visit, and a little over a week after arriving home, I head up to the glacier with my APU team for even more time on the snow!

 

Bend Camp

Yesterday I arrived in Bend, Oregon for my first US Ski Team camp of the new season.  Mt. Bachelor still has quite a bit of snow, so we're skiing every morning up high and dryland training in Bend in the afternoon.  Today was my first day back on snow in a few weeks, and my first time classic skiing since Distance Nationals in Fairbanks, and it was a great day to get back at it!  We arrived to blue skies, sunshine and firm tracks that quickly broke down into great soft klister skiing.  In addition to my other US teammates, there was a large XC Oregon contingent and numerous other racers from around the country out on the trails at Bachelor today.

So I've been back into training in Anchorage with APU, my club team, since April 27th, and I feel as though I've already made some good gains since then, but it's always fun to travel to a new place for a while.  It's my first time in Bend, and so far I'm quite impressed with the quality of "summer" skiing and the great weather up at Mt. Bachelor.  Stay tuned for more updates, and, hopefully, some pictures to come! 

A New Beginning

Yesterday I typed the last entry in my 2008-2009 training log...

(Photo credit: Heather Thamm)

And today is the commencement of a new training year.

A year in life of a skier is 13 "months," each of which is composed of 4 weeks.  During each of these "periods," as well as longer blocks of specified time, we concentrate on certain types of training while also paying attention to overall fitness and the larger picture.  Sometimes our training is more volume (or time) specific, meaning we're working on distance workouts and longer sessions.  Other times the training is intensity-focused, and we do more harder efforts than normal to work on speed and race pace work.

Yesterday was the last day of the last week of the 13th month of my training year, and today, April 27, 2009 is the first day of the first week of the first month of the 2009-2010 season!

The last four week "month" of every training year is basically our only down time of the season. After the last race of the season, which for me was US Distance Nationals in Fairbanks, my team, and all the other skiers I know, take a break from structured training.  I listen to my body and my mind and am as active (or inactive) as I like.  Some years I need some time to recover, both mentally and physically.  Other years all I want to do is keep training hard.  No matter what, I always give myself a little break, and I do activities that I will have less time to do come "normal" training.

This spring I took one week pretty much off (with a few short runs here and there).  After that I went on a short vacation to Southern Utah where I camped and experienced the beauty of the desert on foot.  I visited my grandparents in St. George, Utah and saw as much of Snow Canyon State Park and Zion National Park as I could.  I finished the trip with a stop in Seattle to catch up my best childhood friend.

Camping in Zion National Park

Hiking in Snow Canyon State Park.

Now normal training has resumed, and I am happy to be back to business.  I like the cyclical nature of my life as an athlete.  I love the gratification of a season completed, but I also relish the opportunity to start fresh with a new season ahead.  2008-2009 is now in the past, and 2009-2010 is here!

APU Women ski at Hatcher Pass, Alaska.

(Photo credit: Heather Thamm)

Spring

From tele skiing in Eagle River...

To hiking in Snow Canyon, UT...

Spring is a good time to unwind.