2011 Holiday Gift Guide: Under $20 Skinny Skis. 09: Cross Country Skier Pendant or Pin. Price: $60.00. Let the jewelry wearing skier on your list proudly publicize their love for our sport. Hand-carved and cast in sterling silver this one is sure to be a hit. Available online here. 05: Yurbuds Ironman Inspire Pro. Price: $59.99. If the person you’re shopping for likes to work out in all weather conditions and listen to music...
Off Camber is a new video series available only on FasterSkier. Conceived of and created by APU skiers Reese Hanneman and Erik Bjornsen, this series is made possible by the support of here. Off Camber, Episode 2 features highlights from the Bozeman, MT SuperTour. Our filmmakers encountered a sleeping moose, elves and a talking carrot to bring you this week’s entertainment.
Once again the FasterSkier staff has weighed in on their favorite gift ideas for the 2011 holiday season. Today’s installment of the Holiday Gift Guide features items priced from $20 to $50. Previous 2011 Holiday Gift Guide Suggestions: Sauce Headwear and Gear West. 08: Rubber Encased Dumbbells. Price: starting from ~$25.00. It’s winter so the days are short and it is hard enough to find time to get out for a long ski, let alone...
Two years ago, Austrian cross-country skier Christian Hoffmann removed himself from the international-racing scene by retiring. That didn’t keep him out of headlines. On Monday, Austria’s anti-doping agency, NADA, handed the world champion a six-year ban from the sport. The decision was retroactive from 2009, in which Hoffman had been suspended two years for being associated with a Vienna blood bank, Humanplasma. NADA most recently found the 36-year-old Hoffmann guilty of having his blood taken...
L.L. Bean. 09: Bag Balm. Price: starting from $5.00. Yup, we’re recommending you rub something that was created for the treatment of dry, cracked cow udders all over your face. Bag Balm works great to keep your face warm and frostbite-free! Keep a 10-ounce box of this in your ski bag for whenever sub-zero temperatures strike, plus it will give you a jolly glisten as you cruise down the trails. Available at most pharmacy/drug stores or online...
For some cross-country skiers on the World Cup circuit, the news that Saturday’s individual races would be shortened wasn’t all that disheartening. Sadie Bjornsen, who made her first World Cup podium in Sunday’s team sprint with U.S. teammate Kikkan Randall, tried to contain herself. Instead of a 15 k freestyle in Davos, Switzerland, the women will race 10 k. The men’s skate race was cut from 30 k to 15 k. “Sadie just did a...
Driving his uncooperative truck about 30 miles per hour on a highway shoulder, Bob Balk kept his spirits up. Sure, he had just spent about $900 to fix the vehicle, only to have the mechanics return it scratching their heads. Maybe it was bad gas; they couldn’t tell. But the seven-time Paralympian was used to challenges, so driving three hours roundtrip from his hometown in Moravia, N.Y., to Rochester didn’t phase him. Balk could empty...
With 44 competitors in front of him and six behind at the start of Saturday’s nordic combined 10 k, Taylor Fletcher knew he had his work cut out for him. Starting 2 minutes and 14 seconds behind the leader, Germany’s Tino Edelmann, the 21-year-old Fletcher took on the massive task of catching up after his provisional jump from Friday put him in 45th. Fletcher covered the difficult course, with about 4 inches of fresh snow...
DUSSELDORF, Germany — Kikkan Randall is a World Cup Overall threat. At least, that was the way it felt in the city of Dusseldorf Saturday afternoon, when Randall hammered around the 900-meter manmade loop on her way to her first World Cup victory of the season. In the freestyle sprint, Randall out-gunned Natalia Matveeva (RUS) in the rush for the line, while Laurien Van Der Graaf (SUI) picked up the bronze medal in her first-ever...
Janice Sibilia waited nearly two years for this. Most of the New England Nordic Ski Association had. Upon hearing the good word that the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) approved NENSA as a Community Olympic Development Program about two weeks ago, Sibilia wasn’t sure where to start. The competitive programs director will find out more at a phone-update meeting with USOC representatives on Tuesday. In the meantime, Sibilia could revisit all the ideas she came up...
Note: This is the first of a “quick workout” series, which will break down one ski-specific exercise at a time in a how-to format. We start with Canadian national team member Perianne Jones, who demonstrated a double-pole technique in her hometown fitness center.) *** If you woke up this morning hoping to see several inches of white stuff and instead met a blanket of balmy air, you’re not alone. Skiers around the world are scratching...
With her strong 23rd-place showing in the Ruka Triple last weekend in Kuusamo, Finland, Holly Brooks and U.S. Ski Team (USST) coaches have begun discussing the possibility of her racing the Tour de Ski, which begins December 29. “Obviously Holly had a great mini-tour in Kuusamo,” said USST head coach Chris Grover. “She’s an athlete we’re seriously considering [for the Tour]…she will most likely be invited, for sure.” The U.S. has more than enough room...
The North Americans on the World Cup circuit had plenty to look forward to as they flew to Davos, Switzerland. After three straight days of races in Kuusamo, Finland, the cross-country skiers would have a chance to kick back, train and enjoy the sun. What many didn’t think about was the snow. The Canadians first set eyes on the green landscape before the Americans, as they drove from the airport to Davos on Monday. As...
After her first World Cup in Drammen, Norway last winter, which immediately preceded World Championships, Jessie Diggins came to a realization about professional ski racing. “I get it now — why people work so hard, train for so many years, push themselves right to the edge in races,” she wrote. From the tone of her writing, Diggins is clearly having a blast being a professional skier. Her enthusiasm for the sport is palpable; it’s as...
“For the ladies, overall, a really great day.” – Head USST Coach, Chris Grover *** Going into the last stage of the Ruka-Triple mini tour, the US women kept their expectations high and did not disappoint. Grover told FasterSkier in a phone interview that Holly Brooks, Liz Stephen, and Ida Sargent all had personal best classic results today: Brooks posting 23rd, while Stephen and Sargent broke into the 30’s. To top it off, Kikkan...
Marit Bjørgen thought today’s win was “possible”, but her 17 second head start in today’s classic pursuit over teammate Vibeke Skofterud was not enough to give her complete confidence in a win. Bjørgen blasted out of the start with a speed fitting of a 1km sprint, trying to gain even greater cushion from the very first of 10 kilometers. Racing against only the clock, with the thought of her strong competitors and teammates chasing...
The “Ruka Triple” is a three day, three race mini-tour held in Kuusamo, Finland. The excitement started today with a classic sprint, 1.4 km for the men and 1.2 km for the women. The tracks were icy and fast, the kick a straightforward klister, and both men and women’s top finish times posted in the 2:40’s. In the women’s sprint, Vibeke Skofterud of Norway took the top qualifying time, less than one second ahead of...
After months of suffering through approximations of nordic skiing that certifiably suck most of the time, real snow is upon us. Every Thanksgiving, what seems like the entire American ski universe descends upon a tiny town on the border of Montana and Wyoming to experience the official start of the season we all worship. This is the West Yellowstone Ski Festival. I’ve spent every November since I was 16 wishing I could be amongst those...
Boulder Nordic Sport (BNS) took us through their West Yellowstone prep on Saturday afternoon, the day before they began the 800+ mile drive to Montana. With a 40-pair test fleet, drawers full of wax gear and about 150 pairs of freshly-ground skis to deliver back to customers, they’ve got a full trailer. Wheels went up on Sunday at 8:00 am, and after spending the night in Bozeman, MT, the crew should arrive in Yellowstone on...
From the start, the U.S. men appeared ready to roll with the best of their World Cup competition at the 4×10 k relays in Sjusjøen, Norway, on Sunday. It wasn’t looks so much as action. Andy Newell jumped out to a first quick lap on the 2.5-k loop, working outside the icy track to position himself in fifth. As he found out, he wasn’t the only one working hard — most of the men he...