Great days to be a skier

Happy Holidays everyone! I know it's Christmas Eve, but all I can think about is being outside. My Grandparents are visiting, and they like it warm. My dad cranked up the fire in the furnace and the thermostat reads...hang on...81 degrees in here. I might pass out from heat stroke. Luckily, there's tons of snow outside for me despite the tropical conditions in my living room. A pretty good amount of VT ski areas were open when we got back for break, but the past few days have seen some nice fluffy powder and great skiing almost anywhere you choose. Steve came up for the Bolton Opener last Sunday (results HERE. I put SLU on my club but apparently it wasn't listed on the results?). I had been skiing there for 2 days prior and though conditions were great with wicked hard-packed skating, it looked like nobody would show up for the race. I was proved wrong on race day when a whole host of guys showed up from Team Rossi, UVM, Craftsbury and even CXC. The most well-represented crew though? Team SLUSKI, with Wolcott, Steve, Teo and myself, along with recent alums Issac Noyes and Angus McCusker. The race went well, and the next day Steve and I went to my home base, Sleepy Hollow, for some training on the St. Mikes Carnival courses. Should be a wicked steep hill and chaos for the classic sprint relay. Conditions were mediocre, but the next few days brought good snowfall. Yesterday I headed up to Trapps for some classic intervals. The plan called for 7 minutes: 6 being level 3 pace, with a 1-minute pickup of level 4 sandwiched in the middle. My goal was to practice the race course for the UVM carnival. The terrain worked out perfectly; I strode out the first level 3 effort on the gradual climbs at the low point of the course, hit level four as I hammered up the biggest, longest hill (if you raced it you know where I'm referring to), and kept it back to level 3 as I finished the climb and ended coming out of the woods into the stadium. After resting up and eating some lunch I went out again, this time with my summer training buddies/high school rivals Jared Supple (Colby) and Pete Hegman (UVM). We cruised around and I'm sure blinded some of the touring holiday guests with our vibrant displays of red, blue and green spandex from our respective schools. Different attitudes toward the sport, but it was obvious everyone was just psyched to be out skiing.


Tried out the self-timer on my parents camera at Bolton. Good skiing on Sunday, and even better conditions now I'm sure.