There and Back Again: A Skiers Tale.

Alaska. Australia. New Zealand. Australia. Alaska.

It’s safe to say I got my fair share of flying in over the past few months.

I have to admit, I thought I had already written a blog for how the last part of my time in Australia and New Zealand went. I guess I was wrong. I was just too caught up in winter and forgot!

I don’t want to dwell too much on the past month or so, so I’ll keep it short. After the Hoppet, I flew to New Zealand with the Australian National Team. It was my first time to the Snow Farm so I was really excited to finally go and see what it was all about. I have to say, I was really impressed with the accomodation and food and I see why so many international teams go there. The only downside was the wind. It was so windy all the time while we were out skiing that it even gave Perisher a run for its money.

What felt like a fairly standard day at the Snow Farm. Note the position of the flags.

No sooner had the groomer gone out, than it would start just piling back up with snow drifts and wind-blown snow.

Early morning grooming at the Snow Farm. In general, the grooming was really good!

I had a lot of fun in New Zealand and some solid racing. I was hoping to knock a few races out of the park but I didn’t quite have those massive stand-out races. Both distances races went well but the classic sprint left a little to be desired. As it turned out, in both distances races I had a lot of close racing with Callum so it was really fun to take turns and work with him, especially in the mass start.

For the rest of New Zealand I’ll let photos do the talking…

Before we were hit with a storm at the Snow Farm there wasn’t a whole lot of snow.

Stoked to be skiing in the sun for once!

The Snow Farm after a decent snow storm and on what felt like a rare clear day. Not many trees in this place!

Not sure if you’d call this the front or back side of the Snow Farm but it’s the non-skiing side. You can faintly make out the valley which we drove up through.

The Men’s Australia and New Zealand Continental Cup Podium.

After New Zealand I stayed in Australia for a few more weeks to get some solid training in. I had a lot of really great sessions on some awesome snow. Perhaps a highlight was a sprint race we created out on the crust around bushes and a few creeks. Valerio set an awesome course and it made for a really high-quality race practice.

Skiing the High Plains.

Checking out some huts at Falls.

Aside from great skiing, it was also heating up in the valley so I got to spend a lot of time enjoying the sun and some warmer weather. I managed to get in a few awesome rides in at Bright mountain bike track. 

From there it was back on the plane and back to the US and Alaska.

Back with the Moose.

The training has been really solid back in Alaska since I returned. It can be hard in autumn when all the leaves fall, they blanket the paths so heavily that it makes roller skiing quite difficult. Between that and some rather rainy days it does make things tough but it seems like all of that is past now. We are into cold clear days where it doesn’t get above zero yet it’s still sunny and lovely out.

A few weeks ago I managed to climb a fairly remote mountain with a few friends. It isn’t the tallest mountain around but the approach and climb makes it difficult. We had to raft across a river and then bush whack for an hour before making it into the higher, clearer areas. In total it was a 6.5 hour day of some pretty fun adventuring with some rewarding views at the end!

Ferrying across the river so we could make our approach up the spine of Mt Alpenglow. This is a one person pack-raft so it was a little tippy with the two of us in there! Photo credit: Rob Whitney

On top of Alpenglow.

Mt Alpenglow peak.

It’s not all hard work hiking but it’s certainly not warm either. The views weren’t bad either…

I’m in Alaska for another few weeks before heading to Europe and I promise to get another blog written before then!

The Zombie Half Marathon. Seeing as it’s October, everything is Halloween-themed and hence the dress-ups. Hundreds of Zombies ran through town that morning. I got convinced to jump into the race by some friends (and convinced to paint my face…) and was pretty satisfied with a 1:17.11 for the race. Photo Credit: Todd List.

Climbing the last few metres with David. We weren’t very prepared to climb the final icy pitch. Still, fun adventures.

One of the reasons we were moving slowly, this is just half a meter from where Dave stood. A looooong drop.

Train hard. rest easy. live for the moment