Long Time No Blog 11/9

      Since the last post over 3 months ago (I know, my posting is infrequent and sporadic) a lot has happened. I had to say goodbye to Akeo, Ben, Riis, and Tyler as they headed out to college, checked out the Outdoor Retailer summer show to see next years toys, joined a handful of other junior skiers at the National Elite Group training camp in Park City, and overall had the best fall training of my career.

      This summer I had an amazing group of guys to train with. With such an exceptional group there was always someone pushing/pulling me, constantly motivating me to train harder, faster, and most importantly smarter. In August I sadly had to say goodbye to most of them as they departed to college. My main training partner now is Karsten, and although it is just the two of us out on most sessions we've worked hard to keep that push/pull dynamic going; resulting in a few of the best months of training I've had yet. 

Couldn't of asked for a better group to train with.
(Riis, Akeo, Tyler, Karsten, Grace, Olivia, Savanna, Jenae, Maddy, and Linday)

       To someone who loves the outdoors there is nothing closer to being a kid in a candy store than the Outdoor Retailer. Salt Lake hosts this massive outdoor industry expo bi-annually and it is the best spot to check out all the new goodies from hundreds of companies in the industry.

3 days isn't nearly enough time to see all of next years gear at the Outdoor Retailer

     As summer shifted to fall we put in some of the years biggest hour weeks, focusing on a mix of volume and intensity. Closer to race season we've moved more towards smaller hour weeks, exchanging some of the long workouts for shorter, much higher intensity sessions.

Striding it out with Tyler and Karsten

Getting fast the best way possible; chasing down those who are faster. 

Skating up Wolf Creek Pass with Tyler

Getting ready to run up Hermod's Hill this year

Double pole speeds at Sugar House Park

      The definitive highlight of my fall training was the National Elite Group training camp in PC, Utah. A few junior skiers from four regions were given the opportunity to spend a week in Park City training alongside the best skiers in the country. I had an amazing time getting to know my junior skiing peers from across the country a little better and chasing the nation's fastest.

Teammate Olivia skiing with Jessie Diggins and Hannah Halvorsen

Amazing colors in the trees as we head up American Fork Canyon

          The next couple of weeks will focus on preparing for the first races of the season; a skate sprint and skate distance race in West Yellowstone, MT and classic races the next week in Bozeman, MT. With such solid fall training under my belt I am very excited to finally start racing and sliding around on snow!

      Some bonus pictures:

One of many cool creatures you get to see when your out running

Uinta Trip and NoCo Springer Tournee 7/28-8/4

     For our low intensity week I decided to do a short backpacking trip in the High Uintas. With most of the team busy just Ben and I headed out Tuesday afternoon to the West Fork Whiterocks trailhead. Knowing we would be starting out late our first day was a quick 5 mile hike to Queant lake. The next morning we started out on a 17 mile loop that would take us up over the North Pole Pass, down to Fox Lake, and then back over the Fox-Queant Pass. For most of the hike it was raining, but not very cold so it was actually kind of nice. That night my mistake of not drinking and eating nearly enough on the hike and walking oddly due to two large heel blisters caught up with me, I felt ill and my lower legs ached badly. It was all worth is though when I woke up the next morning to a crystal clear sun rise over the misty lake.

Up at the North Pole Pass

Waking up to a beautiful misty lake.

     At the end of the week we got the opportunity to jump into the skate roller ski hill climb race of the nordic combined Springer Tournee. The race started at the bottom of Olympic Parkway and went to the top of the ski jumps. Looking forward to the hill climb, which I usually really enjoy, I was slightly disappointed when just 5 minutes in I was way over red-line and decided to take it as an easy ski the rest of the way. I was clearly not fully recovered from the dehydration and malnutrition of the hike.

Karsten, Tyler and I (in red shorts) trying to chase down some NoCo guys. 

Central Utah Mini-Camp and Twin Peaks Hike

      Finishing off the training block with a week of medium intensity and big hours made for a super fun time. Tyler, Riis, Adam, and myself headed out at the beginning of the week for Tyler's cabin just south of Torrey in central Utah. For three days we got to roller ski through red rock cliffs in Capital Reef National Park, run to ancient petroglyphs, and take in the amazing views.

Roller skiing through Capitol Reef

  Cooling off at a small irrigation reservoir

                                   

    Waking up after a quick afternoon recovery nap

A faint petroglyph of a goat, sadly many were badly defaced.

       Slot canyon exploring  

                                                                           

        For a bit of an adventure and great view we decided to hike up Broads Fork trail to Twin Peaks on Sunday. Clear skies and slightly cooler temperatures made for a perfect hike. The trail starts at the S-turn in Big Cottonwood canyon, the first half being easy terrain ending at a large meadow. The second half is much steeper, including some class 4 scrambles and steep terrain. Just before the peaks you reach the saddle of the ridge between Big and Little Cottonwood canyon. There is a slightly less 'entertaining' route on the south side of the ridge, but we decided to take the straight shot and straddle the spine of the ridge to the top of East Twin, then just another 100 meters to the West Twin summit.

Approaching the saddle, lots of boulder scrambling.

                                                   

Long way down!

West Twin summit

Amazing 360 view of the Salt Lake valley and Wasatch Range.