Snow is here and RMYC trail work thanks to SWNSC and USFS!

 From Lynn B:
Yes, the Rocky Mountain Youth Corp experienced it [snow today, Oct 10th] first hand - blizzard conditions with lightening.  We finally had to call it a day around 2:00 PM. - but they plan to be back at it tomorrow.  The crew is rebuilding the trail from the top of Pajarito Mountain to the connection in Pajarito Canyon.  What a spectacular trail with incredible views - colorful aspens all white with snow.  If they can finish, it will be used for the Jemez 50 run next year.  This is all possible thanks to Clay for getting the contract established with RMYC and all the volunteer hours from the club and community that met the 50% match for the required funding. And a special thanks to Craig Martin who thrashed his way up and down the mountain designing and laying out the trail in advance.  The project went forward despite the government shut down, because it is administered through the SWNS Club.  
So thanks everyone for making this possible!
Think warm thoughts for the RMYC youth club who are camping at Camp May this week. 

Sandia Peak

Need people to volunteer to help to level some of the trails that Fredrik grooms in the Sandias.  The usfs doesn't allow earth moving up there so leveling means moving fallen timber to lower side of trails (most of the trails in the Sandias have a east-west slant due to the topography). Please send an email to me if interested (ronmccurley@comcast,net)

Ron

Nordic Trail Hike & Mushroom Hunt 8/25/2013

Happy August to everyone.  After posting something about the pending trail work this fall, but not having much of an idea of what the trails actually looked like, we decided to head up today for a family outing to look at the trails and see if we couldn't find any more mushrooms (edible) that have not yet been scavenged by the other European families living in town =)  Dang Russian and German families picking our American-grown mushrooms!

As it turns out, there were still a few to be found.

Anyway, there are a LOTTTT of aspens and locust to cut out.  We need to devise a strategy.  Also, a number of big(ish) trees down on TJ's, as well as a smattering of others along the rest of the trail system.

One cool thing is that we found that a good percentage of the trees we planted last spring have survived.  Some areas have fared better than others.

Here are some pictures of our outing.

Looking ahead to trail work items for this coming season.

Hi all,

Anybody seen the trails lately?  I haven't been up there as much this summer, but I'm sure that with this rain we've had, they're pretty badly "overgrown."  There are also several trees down and logs to be cut and moved.

The soft plants are not a problem, but the aspen shoots are going to be bad.  Further, we still have a few areas where the fire actually burned the ground (consisting of organic materials) and subsequent erosion resulted in a pretty significant loss of trail.

I plan on going over a maintenance/rehab plan with the Espanola Ranger District.  Hopefully, we will be able to do a little more mechanized trail reconstruction, but that is not for sure at this point.

At any rate, we will need to plan on doing some tree cutting and aspen shoot/brush clearing to get the trails in shape this fall.  Personally, I won't be planning on doing any "heavy" work until October, but might find some opportunities to go cut some aspen shoots.

We now have an "official" club-owned brush cutter that works like a weed-eater, but has a pretty serious blade on it that can cut up to about a 2" tree stalk.  If anyone is handy with that and wants to get a jump on things, we can meet to get it up and running.  I've used my own personal one for a few years now, and it can clear those aspen/locust shoots about 100 times faster than the hand loppers that we've all killed our backs while using over the years.

Over the next several weeks, I'll try to get some things organized for our annual fall work parties.  I'll also try to get a list of things we will need to do to get prepared for the season.

For sure, we have:

1. cut & clear the aspen/locusts

2. string up the ~1,500 meters of shade fencing

3. clear the downed trees from the trails

Those are the three primary things that we must get done.  Cutting the downed trees is not so much of a problem for the club, but the aspen shoots and fence hanging always take a lot more time and effort than we all realize.  We don't have to get it all accomplished all at once.  The fencing can be the last thing we do, sometime in November.

Hope you've all had fun, healthy and active summers.  Looks like we might be in for a somewhat improved winter.  Usually, if there is more active rains in the summer, then the winters are better...we'll see!

-Clay

Tree Planting Project is a GO for tomorrow and Saturday (April 12, 13)

From Clay:

I just spoke to Lynn Bjorklund of the Espanola Ranger District (SFNF), and she said that the big tree planting project up at Canada Bonita is definitely a "GO" for tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday.  They are planning on getting started at 9:00 AM both days.  

However, because of the snow, there are some issues with scheduling with one of the contractors working on forest rehab projects, so next week's scheduled days have to be postponed until the following weekend (Apr. 27, 28).

As a side:  we still have all of the shade fencing hanging, so it needs to be removed, rolled up, and stored away for the summer.  We can work on it a bit this weekend and throughout next week, or whenever we can get to it.  Last year, we had a good crew and lots of hands sure made it a lot quicker work.  The 3 or 4 years prior to that were rough with only a couple of folks out plus whatever kids I could wrangle into helping me on week nights.  

The fencing is probably our biggest job task all year, and is crucial to the whole operation.  Please consider setting aside some time to help us take it down and store it away. 

If you do make it out to the planting project, please wear sturdy clothes, footwear, gloves, sunglasses, etc.  Also bring water and snacks.  Same goes for the fence take-down work.  Since the fencing is strung up with plastic zip ties, I bring up little wire snips and or needle-nose pliers to snap them off and then I put them into a plastic shopping bag for disposal.  A Leatherman works well too.

Hope to see you all out for some spring projects!

Ski Season is Over =( Trail Report for 3/14/2013

Dave went up to attempt one last grooming, but the last couple of days (and the ubiquitous lack of deep base) were just too much for our poor trails.  Here is Dave's very detailed and descriptive report:

Ski season is over, burned out patches everywhere

So, that is a wrap for the grooming.  There may be some late snowstorms (...wishful thinking, especially this year!), but we won't groom anymore.  Thanks for all the support, and we hope you got out on some of the good days we did have this year.  There were quite a few good days, but it just didn't stay that way this year.  This is the third (relatively) bad ski year in a row!  I'm starting to notice a pattern, unfortunately.

The good thing is that we did a lot of great trail work that kept things in good shape for much longer than they would have otherwise.  With a bit more work to the trails, especially in the burn area, we can improve on these low-snow years by quite a bit.

Don't forget about the tree planting coming up in April.  That will help immensely!!!

New Snow, Trails Groomed 3/9/13 & 3/10/13

Whew...  Just in time!  We were saved by 8" to 9" of new snow.  Last week's meltdown was stopped and we got one of the best storms (I know, that's sad...) of the year Friday and Saturday.

Groomers were having trouble motivating and wondering what to do, but the snow was substantial and had a lot of water in it, with cold temps, so it turned out to be a good weekend for skiing.

Trails were rolled Saturday, then groomed on Sunday morning.  It was cold on Saturday, but the sun came out on Sunday, making the burn area a bit mushy.  Above that, it was like mid-winter.  It didn't get all that warm, but the loss of base in the burn area sure makes the ground warm up this time of the year if the sun comes out.

We just never built up a good base down low this season, so it dies a quick death when the sun comes out in March.  Too bad -- the snow up above the burn area is still good.

Maybe one more re-groom this week, then it'll be time to fold up the equipment and call it.  It's a bit early, but that has been our fate this year.  Overall, we had some terrific skiing at times this season, especially early on with the long cold snap we had.  Too bad it had to end early.

Still great skiing up at Enchanted Forest.  Check their website and go ski there these last couple of weeks that they're open.

We'll need some help with post-season trail cleanup, sometime in early April.  Mainly, we'll need to remove all the shade fencing, roll it up, and then store it away.

Here are some pictures of Mila and me out skiing yesterday:

At the big curve on TJ's - with the very large Douglas Fir in the background

At Point C - it was a tough day to ski the loop with the state of the trails through the burn area, but she was happy once we got onto TJ's loop.  

Looking up the big "Doug" - so glad it didn't burn all  the way!

Near the "new" coat tree at Point C - it's current arrangement reminds me of the season we've had this year...

Tree Planting on our trails April 12-13th, 19-20th.

From Lynn B:

Tree planting is coming in April for 56 acres of severe burn around the Nordic Ski trails near Pajarito Mountain.  We have set dates for tree planting, so feel free to sign up for one or more.  The dates are April 12-13 and April 19-20.  Both are Friday, Saturday dates.  Hours are 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM.  Meeting place is the far west end of the Pajarito Ski Hill parking lot. 

I actually had Jennifer's email incorrect in the first message.  You can sign up with her at jasublett@fs.fed.us.  You can also reply directly to this email and sign up that way.  We need to get an email list of all who are interested in case of changes to the schedule due to unexpected weather.  

I think we have about a 50-50 chance of actually getting all 10,000 trees planted on those days without weather cancelling at least one day.  The little Douglas fir trees are very particular.  It has to be above 40 degrees with no snow on the ground, some moisture in the soil, but not too much, and it can't be windy.  Does that sound like a typical April day?  If there are one or more days cancelled due to weather, we will then open up reservations for the next weekend which will be April 26-27, again a Friday, Saturday.

Everyone who signs up will be volunteering for the Southwest Nordic Ski Club.  This will enable us to bank more hours in order to meet the match for continuing contract work to repair trails taken out by the Las Conchas fire.  This season we are targeting Guaje Canyon trail from Guaje Reservoir to Pipeline Road and the Caballo Mountain trails. 

If you have additional questions or wish to sign up by phone, please call the Espanola Ranger District at 505 753-7331 and ask for Jennifer or Lynn.

Sign up soon to reserve your spot with the planting teams.   

Sandia Peak

Fredrik set classic tracks on the service road, the lower section of switchback trail, most of the UNM loop except where a tree has fallen and blocked the trail and also on a new section of trail from the just north of the rock quarry to the parking lot and just below the service road.  The service road was also groomed for skating.

Ron

Trails Groomed 2/25/13

Dave groomed the entire trail system for skate, and most of the upper trails for classic. It skied GREAT at lunch today 2/26, you could ski the entire front hill and all of the burn zone. The lower part of the trail will probably have ample bare spots by wednesday, but the upper trails should be good until the weekend. There is a mid meadow trail and a real loop on the NEW caldera part of the trail. Go and get some great skiing while it is still cold. There is at least one tree that was down and left some serious detritus on the trail, may be more with the winds. Watch the drifiting in the meadow, portions of the mid meadow and caldera trails are pretty soft. etc. etc. Great skiing while we got it, get some...

Lunch ski 2/26, from the Caldera portion of our trails:

Pagosa Quad Challenge 2012 race report

below are photos and race summary from the 2012 Pagosa Springs Quad Challenge event. This is copied directly from The Pagosa Springs Journal entry by Norm Vance. Original url is http://pagosasprings.com/?p=23606

Special Sunday Edition – The Pagosa Quad, New Mexico Shines!

After a day of snow, Saturday began clear and 10 degree cold at the West Fork Ski Trail.

Clay Moseley of Los Alamos won the solo division (10k skate) overall leading from the start in the skate race. He said he worked pretty hard on the run to make some time on Steve Ilg of Durango who was racing as part of a relay and started with a 5k classic ski. After the run Clay took it somewhat easier on the bike to avoid any injuries having not biked much during ski season. Steve Ilg had great ski and run legs handing off to his teammate Randy Stueve of Durango for the bike and swim. Randy left everyone in the dust during the bike leg to hold the win for the team division.

 

Sanna Sevanto of Los Alamos was leading the women’s race well into the bike leg when she finally got caught by Molly Hummel of Durango, a long time cycling pro who has turned triathlon pro in the last 5 years as well. Molly killed on the bike for the win but Sanna held on for 2nd. Lynn Bjorklund of Los Alamos (who holds multiple women’s running records, including female course record for Pikes Peak Marathon) finished a strong 3rd in the women in her first multisport event which she had to take swim lessons for (they clearly paid off!!). 

 

The women’s winning relay was made up of a fast Pagosan, Emily Dietz, for the frigid run/bike legs and Dina Pesenson of Los Alamos for the ski/swim legs. Last year’s women’s winner and local, Chantelle Kay, had a strong 4th place finish in the ladies despite the whole new level of competition this year with more participants.

 

The temperatures at race start were around 8 F requiring some creative dressing especially for the bike leg. After the event most participants agreed they fared much better on the bike than expected, with only some cold toes at the end of the bike ride, which were nicely remedied by the hot springs pool finish and post-race soaking. 

 

Huge thanks to Pagosa Nordic and friends for putting this on!! As you can imagine, this was a very work intensive event for volunteers and organizers, distributing and picking up gear from all transitions, shuttling racers etc. They were all amazing sports and clearly enjoyed themselves – what a great bunch of people! As with all low-key events like this one, the volunteers outnumbered participants and the sense of community and everyone having a blast, just could not be beat. It was great to see many folks coming out to this event from Durango, Chama and surrounding area. 

 

It’s definitely a great event to start your season with to remind yourself what multisport is all about!

The track was groomed and fast as the pack left the start.

Some were  happy just to be skiing in this beautiful environment.

Back from the first leg...

a quick change of gear was in order..

and the run up and out of the West Fork Valley on a sheet of ice was a challenge.

.

Once on the highway a loop up to Treasure Falls and back down  to the chain-up area was the running distance.

.

After the run, its on to bikes for the downhill ride to Pagosa.

After skiing and running, “down” is a pleasure.

First into town!

At The Springs Resort ten laps of the pool finished the event.

To win the Pagosa Quad it helps to be in shape!

. 

Steve Ilg, right, and Randy Stueve won the team class. 

Clay Mosley won the individual class.

Congratulations to all who raced, you all won!

Short URL: http://pagosasprings.com/?p=23606

Masters World Championship 2013, Asiago, Italy PART V

Posting for Sanna:

Hi All,

Our internet connection at the hotel went really patchy with last nights snowfall, so I could not write about Paul's long distance race then. Now things are working better and I'll start with a spectatoer report from yesterday.

Paul coming up the last hill in the falling snow

Already in the morning we had light snow fall. It did not change waxing much but made some uphills a bit soft. Paul chose again my skies as they glide better than his new ones that we bought from here. Had a good hard wax as base and a high fluor coating to help with the moisture. Paul's start was at 10:25, and the cut off time for starting the last loop was at 12:45. If he went as at the middle distance race, he should have no trouble making it (30km in 2h4min), but this was a new race, slightly slower snow and a lot longer distance. We practiced technique a little on the race day and were hoping that would make a difference too. In the beginning of the race I was runnig from spot to spot trying to follow Paul's progress, taking video and photoes. We had planned that I would give feeds and drinks on top of a hill where the loop passed three times. First time when Paul came in there were a lot of people there and everyone cheering. His technique looked good, skiing was easy and the first 10km had not taken too long. Right after he passed that spot, the wind picked up and it started snowing more heavily. I could see various parts of the course from the hill and Paul seemed to start the second 15km loop very well. He didn't look too tired and was gliding well. At that point there were lots of skiers on the course and the women were hitting the last 5km of their 30km race. So, I decided to see them finish before Paul would be passing again. In my age group the gaps were clear. The Russian who skied the last leg in their relay was winning F1 and a Finn was clearly in the lead for F2. Slightly after the women had finished the youngest men passed my spot for the first time. They were going very fast. One of the interests in Paul's race was also whether  his age group winners would lap him. When he came to the feeding station again, he was still clearly ahead of them, and also ahead of another man he had been racing with in the 10km race (lost by 10s). Technique worked still well and he was gliding the uphills easy. In the last uphill before the end of the second loop he finally was passed by the three leaders of his age group, who were racing for the finish. But Paul made it to the third loop some 15min before the cut out time, so he was allowed to finish. The man he had lost to in 10km did not make it. At this time the spectator grouds started to thin out. There were only me and a canadian cupport crew on the hill any more. I tried to cheer all teh skiers as they started to look more and more tired. Some women could not glide up the hills anymore, but had to herring-bone. It started snowing more and more, and the trail got very soft, as less and less skiers were passing. When Paul came , he looked tired, but he was still keeping the technique going. He was with one F4 and one F3, who passed him at the feeding. But next time he came up, they were not too far ahead. One of them had to stop at the hill, and Paul got closer. In quite heavy snowfall Paul finished his race in 3h15min. He was the last that got a result (passed the cut off) in his age group, but there were those who did not make it. He wasn't too eager to go for a cool down. So, we headed home straight away.

pretty race venue after the snow fall

It continued to snow the whole night and we got a good 10-15cm of new powder. That changed the kickwax scenario quite a bit, but in the morning it was sunny and my start being at 10:10am, I was afraid that the track would glaze during the race. So, I played it safe and put a soft layer of Power Grip under covering with Rode blue. At the testing area it worked very well, and teh trails were nice and hard there. At the start everyting went well now. No pushing and grippy track. In the first downhill, however, I notriced that I wasn't gliding as well as the fastest. The first uphill was very soft and the trail was completely beaten up already. The next uphill was even worse and there was no chance of doing anythign else but run it up. At the next flatter part I had to stride where I had bee double-poling all other races. The track was so soft and my wax was draging. The Belarussian lady who was second in the middle distance race passed me slightly after that, and I had no way of going as fast as her. My skis just did not glide that well. Had to make a quick change of strategy. Now it was all about trying to find the least skied, hardest track, where I had best glide. I just kept going, running the smasched uphills and trying to fiind better glide. In the steeper downhills I wasn't too bad, but on the flats it was just dragged. I was doing fairly alright physically and still ahead of the norwegian F1 skier that had beaten me slightly in all the other races. Once lapping, I noticed that my skies started to work a bit better. The track started to glaze more and my glide improved. Felt strong still and just tried to push, passing a lot of older women and being passed by some men. My glide continued improving, although it was still a bit bad on the flats.  In the last uphills I could finally ski up nicely as my wax did not grip too much anymore, and I think my finish was quite strong. So, I was second in my age group, some 4min behind the belarussian lady. Paul said that the first lap she was gaining time on me all the time, but the second lap our distance kept the same. All in all, I felt I had a good race. Was physically strong all the time. I just could not ski faster today. Must say that it felt a bit sour not to be able to really race with the other lady, but this made the middle distance glod taste a lot sweeter.

Sanna on the podium with silver

The awards for today were given at the race venue, as the big tent is prepared for the banquet. So, next we heading there.

Best Conditions of the Year!!! 2/21/2013

posted on behalf of Clay, SWNSC club prez:

What a difference a storm can make.  That was some much needed heavy snow.

Ken and Dave just got done grooming everything out to perfection, and added the anticipated Canada Bonita drainage trail (the outer meadow) from the top of the Valles Caldera section, down to the Point M intersection.  That is the best trail we have when we can get it in.  It is groomed for both skate and classic.  That puts the trail system up to about 15 kilometers!

Get up there and get in some of the best skiing of the year.  Hopefully we'll be able to hold out until at least mid-March.

Ahem, hat in hand here... if you haven't renewed your membership or made a donation to the club, please think of us.  We're trying to keep things running on bailing wire and duct tape most of the time, and it would be nice to upgrade some of our grooming equipment.  Everything we have is so old and worn out.  The guys are still making it work, though. Click here to renew membership and/or make your tax deductible donation now - you can request an electronic tax deductible receipt with it. Just click through registration and choose donation amount instead of membership fees from the required category dropdown menu.

Thanks, and here's to our best skiing of the season!

Masters World Championships 2013, Asiago, Italy, PART IV

Posting for Sanna:

Hi All,

 

Today was the relay day. The night was cold again, but it was foggy and the snow glazed very fast in the morning. The first starts were at 10am, but women started only at 11:40am. By that time the tracks were already very shiny, so glide was no problem. I actually had the best gilde I've had here so far. But that was also partially due to that I nailed the kickwax now, thanks to Clay's Power Grip, and had less kickwax I've ever had in a race. The course was fairly flat too, which allowed little kick. Had to run the little knolls next to the track, but I think it was a good choice in this race.

 

The relay format was 4x5km. First two legs classic and last two free style. The classic loop was the beginning of the 15km race course and the skating loop the last 5km of the same course. The skaters had all the hills. I skied the first leg in the youngest women agegroup. To get enough teams the age categories for women were now groupped in 10-year increments, and we were a total of six teams in my age group: Russia, Canada, France, Finland, Italy and USA. 

 

We started together with the second youngest age group and there were some 15 teams lined up. I had a bad start. Somehow my lane was very sticky and I did not get going that fast. In the first turn some 50m to the course before the first downhill there was some pushing going on and one racer literally forced me out of the track by changing lane on my skies. Anyway, we got going and no-one fell. I managed to pass a few teams in the first little knoll. Had a good glide in the downhill and when the double-poling sections started I passed more teams. There was the russian team in front of me but she slid and fell in the next little uphill. Nevertheless after a while she had passed a few teams and I tried to not let the distance increase too much. I was skiing behind a Finnish team from the other age group. The lady in their team had been about 4 min faster than me in the 10km race and I just tried to keep up. Then came the gradual up hill and I was able to pass her with kick-double-poling. In the last curve before last uphill I did a small lining mistake and there she passed me again and came to finish 5 seconds before. But I was quite happy that I didn't loose any more. In our own agen group I was third, 30s behind Russia and 19s behind Canada. Marie skied our second leg, and she had too hard wax as the tracks changes so much even during my leg. So, she was slipping in the uphills and had to double-pole some hills where striding would have been a lot faster. But she did well in any case. Passed Canada, but had to let France and Italy pass her. Beth skied the first skating leg and did such a good job that she passed Italy right in teh beginning and France in the last long uphill. Russia had already gone along ago, but the time difference between second and fourth team was less that 45s and Finland was catching everyone up with their very strong skaters. Inge skied our last leg and was some 5-10 s ahead of France until the last long uphill. The French skier caught some time on her in the downhills, but she was able to pull way a bit in the uphills. Finland was flying behind and visibly catching everyone. The victory went to Russia with a clear gap, but after that it was exciting. In the last uphill Inge pulled away from France, but Finland was still getting closer. In the end, Inge finished second, but Finland passed France in the finish line and got third.  

 

So, it was awards tonight again. Other US teams did well too. We got silver in the oldest women's age group and at least one male team got a medal.    

 

Tomorrow is long distace free style race, and I have a rest day. Will be out there cheering Paul on his record long ski ever.

 

In the photo we are from the left: Beth, Marie, Sanna, Inge.

Trails Groomed 2/18/2013

Well, we're still hanging on despite the frequent warm spells.  I got out last evening to grind up all the ice and debris that had formed and collected over the long weekend.  There is no classic track anymore; some places got just a bit too thin for it on the edge of the trail.  Instead, I focused on grinding up the trail and shoveling (and hauling) snow around to patch those few thin and eroding areas.  Most of the trail looked quite good above the "new" Point B (B2).  Above that, only around the "Rock" and that short portion below Point J looked bad, plus that very short section on the wooded downhill out of the lower meadow, just above Point O.  I hauled snow to those points and shoveled what I could in anticipation of some new snow later this week.  If it snows on what is on there now, it'll hold a lot better and extend the skiing for a while.  Right now, skiing is continuous above Point A, but rather rough in the burn area.  The front hill started off pretty good over the weekend, but looked pretty cooked by late yesterday.

Seems like we just can't catch a break with a good dump of snow to overcome the ever-increasing warm spells and ubiquitous thin base we've managed all season.  But, looks like something is in the pipeline for tomorrow evening, through late next week.  We'll keep our fingers crossed and hope it keeps us going into March sometime.  It seems like up to now, we've had an average of one good week, then one bad week, and repeat.  Unfortunately, the bad interval seems to have increased a bit.

Quite often, this is a time of year that we get frequent wet storms that keep the skiing pretty good.  The last couple of years, however, have not been good this time of the year.  I think we got our last good storm around the first of March last season, only to have a nuclear meltdown within a few days.  I hope that is not the case this season.

As I was out grooming and shoveling those bad places last evening, I had a strong sense of deja vu back to last season.  It is almost identical.  I hope we part with last year's pattern starting this week!

Anyway, the skiing will actually be quite good today with the trail all freshened and ground up.  The meadows will be especially nice, just be careful on that short little spot on the lower meadow where it breaks over before descending into the woods.  There are some big rocks there and I had a hard time shoveling there.  The "snow" on the side of the trail there was so hard and crusty that I couldn't get any scoops out without breaking the shovel.  Plus, it just skittered off the hard-pack anyway.

Think snow!

Clay

Masters World Championships 2013, Asiago, Italy PART III

posting for Sanna

RACES 3&4:

Today we had the short distance races. 10km classic in the morning for me and 10km skating in the afternoon for Paul. The gap between the races was too short for us to return to accommodation, so we had a long day at the event center.

 

The night was cold and it snowed a little, which changed the tracks quite a bit and made it somewhat slower skiing than yesterday. I had the same Power Grip base, but now covered it with Rode blue. Had very good grip, even a little too much as I was left behind in the first down hill by some 15m by the russian younger ladies. The age groups go from 1 to 12 with 5 year increments 1 being 30-34 year-olds, and generally all age groups start separate, but F1 and F2 (F for female) categories are so small that we always start together even if we don't compete with each other.

 

I think I had a good start. There was a Finnish lady in my age group coming down the hill next to me, but then I did not see her again. Skied with a Norwegian F1 skier. She had slightly better glide than me, but now I did well in the kick-double-pole sections and uphills, and in the finish she was only 20m ahead. Overall the race went technically better than yesterday, and I could even speed up a little towards the end of the last uphill. The course was the same as in the 15km race excluding the last 5km, which contains all the nice hills. So,it was quite flat. No hard climbs, but no rest either. Finished first in my age group, fourth in my start and ~2.5 min behind the russians.

 

The award seremony was very similar to yesterdays. They showed again the Italian olympic relay win from Lillehammer on the big screen and now the awards were given by Silvio Fauner, the last leg skier in that big moment for Italians. Yesterday it was Giorgio Vanzetta. I did not get to shake hands with Silvio Fauner however, as he was saved for the skate races and classic race awards were given by some FIS representative.

 

The snow conditions changed completely for the skate race as the weather warmed up. It snowed slightly every now and then, but not enough to make any trouble for the glide. The trail glazed again and generally people had a very good glide. So much so that skiers with less balance and ability to maintain nice flat ski, had some trouble with slipping sideways. The fastest skaters did the 10km in 22 min! Paul did well too. He managed to push a bit harder and finished in 38min.

 

Tomorrow is a rest day and we plan on a trip to Campomulo, the near by mountain ski area.

Master's World Championships 2013, Asiago, Italy PART II

more from Sanna:
DAY 2:

Today we had the 15km classic. It was very moist and started snowing right before my start. Struggled a bit with the wax. Had Rex power grip under covered by SkiGo red, but needed something softer for the glazed parts. Layered with SkiGo yellow, but that froze. Went back to SkiGo red and called it good. It worked well in uphills that were not glazed, but kick-double-pole did not really work that well as the tracks were really icy and wet at flat parts. But it did not freeze either, so I should be quite happy.

 

The start went well I was second off the stadium thanks to double poling. Then I struggled with technique for a while and the russian F1s passed. I skied a long time behind a canadian F1. She had a bit better kick and went the uphills better, I caught her on the flats with double-poling. At half way I got the breathing trouble a little again and struggled for a while. In the last long downhill it eased up a bit, but the canadian was then gone and I was alone. I really enjoyed the long gradual final climb, but then got the breathing trouble again and could not hammer the last steeper uphill as well as I would have wanted. Managed to ski it up in any case and do the planned kick-double-pole to the finish. Was 3min 56s behind the F1 winner, but 58s ahead the second F2.

 

Sanna in first place :)))

So, it was awards tonight. The ceremony was actually quite grand in Italian style, and the awards were given by a former Italian team member, whose name I just forgot. Clay would probably know his name. It was familiar to me too. Will tell you if it pops up. Got a big heavy medal and a bottle of dry, strong champagne. It may end up with Liza when she comes to visit.

 

Here are some pictures from today. My posture was still a bit too far back as one can clearly see from the photo and the skiing wasn't light.

 

Master's World Championships 2013, Asiago, Italy PART I

Posting contents of Sanna's emails as they come in. Sanna S and Paul P are SWNSC club members representing us at this awesome event [personal comment from me - we are SO bummed not to be able to make it to this MWC. Italians really know how to put on great events...of course! :) Well, maybe Finland MWC 2015 will work out for us.] Btw, if you click the photos you can see them larger.

PRE-RACE:

Had a first ski round on the race course today. It's a fairly easy course with a flat start and some really nice hills, both up and down, in the end. Finishing is uphill. The Russians are all over everywhere, we met some Australians and saw a few Americans, but as I don't really know any of them and they don't know me, didn't talk with anyone yet.

It snowed here on Mon-Tue a good 1-2ft. So, the snow is really nice and plenty. Weather is now sunny and the trails were starting to glaze already today. Had a little trouble with kickwax as Swix white was freezing in the shady spots but not kicking in the sunny. It worked well until noon though, which should be the time my races finish in any case. The new snow is surprisingly dry, but if the sun keeps shining, it may be klister in any case.

Bought a new pair of classic skis too and might even race with them. They have felt very easy to ski. We'll have a ski testing day tomorrow, and I'll test a few different kick waxing scenarios. Then on Sat it is Paul's first race and on Sun mine.  

FIRST RACE and OPENING CEREMONY: 

Today was the first race day. Paul did his second ever 30km ski (he's never done anything longer either), and was going very well. His time was 2h and 3min, and he said he could have done one more lap on the 15km course. Looks good for the long distance.

I was the support team with feeds and cheering. Stood in one corner and cheered for everyone. It was very touching how many thanked for cheering when passing.

Here attached a few pictures from the race (Paul is #6003) and opening ceremony. They had the local ice hockey team bring in the flags and local ice skaters then performed little programs. I was very happy that they included also the very youngest in the show. And, then there were a lot of speeches, of course, and one welcome by Bjorn Daehlie. He was supposed to race today, but I did not spot him and the announcers did not highlight, so I assume, maybe he did not.

Tomorrow is my race. It starts late and the weather has a chance of turning tricky for waxing with drizzle or new snow. So far the Power Grip has been great, but have to see tomorrow what happens.

We have been enjoying the time here very much. The food is good. Paul's cooking is as good as always, and it is easy to get local fresh ingredients. Before the races we went up to the mountains to ski. It was very beautiful, and hopefully we'll be able to make a trip there on the rest day again. Don't have any pictures from there yet, as I did not bring my camera.

Italians are very friendly and I was really impressed how the spectators forced people out from the ski trail while the race was going on. During races  no-one should be skiing there, but of course people go to "cool down" etc. But even the toughest, ignorant and deaf-playing guys could not stay with all the boo-ing.

The sunsets are also almost as beautiful as in New Mexico! The last picture is from our balcony while I was waxing skis tonight.