Muonio Skiing and School Visit

Yesterday we had blue skies here in Muonio, Finland. The sun never hits our side of the mountain. (The mountain is not very big, but the sun doesn’t get high in the sky north of the arctic circle.) Some of the ski trails go around the mountain, and there was some sun on the other side. The temperature has been in the teens and twenties. The skiing is awesome. Here’s my teammate Holly Brooks coming back from LUNCH!

All of the men: Kris Freeman, Tad Elliott, Andy Newell, Simi Hamilton, Sylvan Ellefson, and myself are in one three bedroom, one bathroom cabin. It’s very nice and comfortable.

Sylvan and Simi are sleeping up in the loft. Here’s Sylvan:

Today was a little more overcast. Here’s Kris heading out for a ski:

And here’s Liz Stephen leading Ida Sargent and Jason Cork:

The scene is a little grey around here.

After skiing most of the team headed into town.

We stopped by the local middle school to meet the kids.

The kids were a little shy at first when we were up in front talking to them.

But they were more involved one on one.

We got to know them a little bit. I imagine growing up in Muonio could be tough at times.

It was a big group.

We signed some autograph cards for them.

I also collected their signatures.

And Sylvan signed some foreheads:

I signed some forearms.

And we took some pictures with them.

After we went to the grocery store. Newell enjoyed the kids section.