A Aston Martin: Spotted one out on the roads today. Huh? Pretty fancy car for pretty crappy roads? Oh wait, there goes Petter!
B Blue: As in blue sky! OMG….. we almost gave up on good weather. It was only a tiny bit of blue, but appreciated immensely.
C Cash: $89,420. Marit Bjoergen’s cash winnings this season. Therese and Justyna are way back in the $40,000 range….
D Duct Tape: Many racers had it on their boots today. Just cause Northug did it a few days ago doesn’t mean that everyone has to copy him. C’mon! Lol …
E Euro: The Euro. Much stronger than the US dollar……what is wrong with the US economy anyways?
F FB: The laugh, the belly, the language, the guy. This is an inside joke….. gotta be a ‘ski groupy’ to understand.
G Gluhwein: A fantastic German beverage served warm. Popular stuff in town and at the venue(s).
H Hungover: Pretty sure more than just a few fans were suffering from the par-tay the night before….
I Internet: An addiction. How hard is it to get a decent connection around here!
J Jello: A feature dish at the German new year’s breakfast yesterday. Strange.
K Klinik: Ivan and Holly, please stay out of that place. No more!
L Lauglauf: German for skiing. Last time we’ll be hearing that….on to Sci di Fondo.
M Magnar: (Dalen) Head coach of the Finnish Team. Hands down, gets the ‘biggest belly’ award at the Tour de Ski. Jochen Behle is a close second.
N Nun-chucks: What the media thinks Petter will bring to the next stage to beat Dario into submission.
O Oberstdorf. Good bye…. Moving on to O’Toblachif (land of rain???).
P Patience: Petter and Marit have shown incredible patience thus far in the Tour.
Q Quips: (a quote)…. Justyna describing last hill on the course: “It’s a problem!”
R Rest: (day) …..tomorrow. Thank goodness. Is this better for the athletes or for the support staff/press/volunteers/organizers?
S Stop: Lukas Bauer immediately after he won the second classic preem on the monster hill. He sprinted and won, and promptly stopped and walked on his skis, due to sheer exhaustion.
T Three: Degrees Celsius at race time of the men’s race.
U Up & Over: We are surely going up and over a few mountain passes en route to Toblach. Not sure which ones, but we’ll let the annoying GPS voice take care of that.
V Voodoo: Apparently Petter Northug keeps a ‘voodoo’ doll of Dario Cologna in his room at home.
W Wrist: Ivan Babikov’s crash on the downhill finish. Initial report’s were he broke it, but x-rays negative. Haven’t we had enough wrist injuries? Brooks first, now Ivan. Both went in for x-rays today, Ivan’s urgent, Holly’s overdue. Enough, no more, please!
X Xtreme: The BMW ‘driving course’ set up the valley. Go to the BMW test and supposedly one can take a demo Beemer up the valley and rally it.
Y Yawn: Everyone is tired.
Z Zeller: “The leap into the quarterfinal was a nice financial statement!” Quoted from the sprint race on day 3.
Nathaniel Herz
Nat Herz is an Alaska-based journalist who moonlights for FasterSkier as an occasional reporter and podcast host. He was FasterSkier's full-time reporter in 2010 and 2011.
