Monday, August 15, 2011

Finally an Alaska update

My view for the last week and a bit has looked a lot like this:

Needless to say that is the reason that I haven't been doing much blogging, but I'm back from vacationing, and have compiled some photos and words from our two week women's camp in Alaska.

10 Reasons Alaska was an Amazing Camp:

1- 20 girls all rollerskiing together with similar mindsets and goals. I’m pretty sure I had never previously rollerskied with a group of 10 girls, so 20 was really mind-blowing.

2- Everyone else took lots of photos and shared them, so despite the fact that I didn’t take any, I still have an album labeled Alaska on my computer, and have some visual aids for my blogging. Thanks Matt, Lauren & Holly!

3- Eric came with us, and helped us stay focused on what we were trying to accomplish- he also did his best to get an Alaskan tan while on the glacier.

4- Chandra and I got to show off our sweet new One Way gear!

5- Salmon fishing season! Generous Alaskans were sending fish our way, and Matt and Liz sure knew how to cook it with an Alder branch and a BBQ.

6- They have snow machines on the Eagle Glacier! If the Haig had these, the “Glacier Dude” job would be even more highly coveted than it is already.
7- We all got to know each other a lot better, after spending two weeks living and training together I think we will all have a few new friends on whatever circuit we are on next winter.

8- Kikkan made us sweatshirts! NAWTA = North American Women’s Training Alliance. Look out! (especially for those hoodlums in the front row)

9- We got a couple of wicked helicopter rides from Alpine Air.


10- I finally got to see this place that Kikkan talks about all the time, and it is pretty sweet. More rollerski paths than you can cover in a week of training, a glacier just a short jaunt over a ridge, and fresh salmon just about everywhere you look.

Thanks to everyone for making this such a great camp, especially Erik Flora and the APU gang for hosting us, and the USST coaches, Matt and Grover. It was a wicked productive camp. Lets do it again sometime!