Adventure

After a hard week of training on the glacier, a recovery week was much needed. I took advantage of an easier week and went on some fun adventures in Alaska with my sister, Kristy. We drove 7 hours East of Anchorage to the McCarthy Kennecott area, located at the foot of the Wrangell Mountains. The drive there is not an easy one, seeing as it takes over 2 hours to drive the last 50 miles. We loaded down the car with bikes, backpacks, rain gear, tent, food, water, and everything else we thought we might need for the next five days.


In order to get to McCarthy, you have to park at the end of the road, cross a foot bridge and walk or bike 1.5 miles. Even though the town is quite small with a population of about 40-50, it is a popular tourist destination in the summer. Five miles up the road is Kennecott mine. This area is full of artifacts and history from its mining days in the early 1900's. Copper was discovered in Kennecott in 1900 and the mines and the town of Kennecott were built quickly after the discovery. By 1938 the copper deposits in the mountain were gone and the town was completely abandoned. Over the 30 years that the mine was up and running, $200 million in ore was extracted, making it the richest concentration of copper in the world!


We had fun exploring the old mining town and reading about the history from that time. We ventured out on some cool hikes that took us to a couple of the mining sights. As you can see from the pictures, several artifacts were left by the miners long ago.


Despite some pretty wet, rainy weather and a few run-ins with bears, we had a great time!

During my time in AK, I went on several hikes in the Anchorage area. It does not take long to drive out of the city and be in the middle of nowhere. Kristy and I took advantage of a beautiful sunny day and ran back to a lake called symphony lake. The views are always beautiful there, rain or shine.


I am back in Ketchum and looking forward to a 10 day training camp with the U.S. Ski Team in a week. Fortunately, the team is coming to Sun Valley to take advantage of the great facilities and the endless trails we have in this area. Looking forward to some good training! I'll keep you updated!

A Big Week of Skiing!

I just finished up a 26 hour week of skiing on Eagle Glacier! The glacier is located just outside of Girdwood, Alaska and sits at 5,500 feet. Thanks to Alaska Pacific University Ski Team, I and a few other guest athletes were invited to train at their August camp. We spent the week focusing on skiing and skiing only. Days were spent skiing twice a day, reviewing technique, resting, eating (a lot!), and sleeping. The accommodations were nothing fancy...25 people bunking in one moderately sized building with one kitchen, and two bathrooms. But I do have to say that we ate like kings and queens up there!

The skiing was great! In August the snow is usually a bit wet and slow and crevasses become visible. These conditions are not always the most fun to ski in, but it is good to practice in because you never know when you will have to race in them! (The conditions were similar to those found in Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics.) Our first couple days were filled with sunshine, but that quickly changed to clouds, fog, rain and wind. The weather changes very quickly up there...you might begin a workout in the sun but it might change to rain and fog by the end. While the sunny days were fewer than the rainy and foggy days, it was those sunny days that made up for the less pleasant ones. I have to say that it is one of my favorite places to be on a nice day!

A great advantage of going up to the glacier is getting the opportunity to train with new people and a different team. It is always interesting to see how other teams train and to try new things. APU has a great team of very talented athletes, so it was fun for me to get to train both easy and hard with the girls.

After being surrounded by white snow and lots of white clouds for a week, it is fun to hike down into the lush green forests. A two hour hike across the glacier, down scree, glassading on snow, and bush-wacking through thick brush brings you to Crow Creek road.

Overall the week up the glacier was very successful. Many hours of good hard training were put in the bank. I am sticking around Alaska for another 10 days to enjoy some fun adventures and to spend time with friends and family.

Up to the Glacier I Go!

I flew into Anchorage Thursday evening and I am headed up to Eagle Glacier this afternoon to ski for the next week. It is always nice to spend a week or two on snow during the summer. In the midst of all the summer time roller skiing and training, getting on snow is a good reminder of what I do and why I do it.

It sounds like conditions are good up there and hopefully the weather will cooperate! On a sunny day it is the most beautiful place in the world....if the wind, rain and fog set in, it can get a little old.

Sorry for the briefness of this blog, but I will be sure to give a full update with lots of pictures when I return in a week!

Looking out over the glacier