Backcountry spring skating (or Adventure Skating, as I like to call it) is underway out here in the Sierra, albeit in fits and spurts in between storm systems and snow and drizzle. It’s not fully corned up yet, but occasionally we can sneak out and get in some awesome backcountry skating. More photos available on
The Susitna 100 is a 100 mile race through the frozen Alaskan wilderness. Competitors can choose their own mode of travel: ski, bike, or run/snowshoe. When I first heard about this race, shortly after moving to Alaska, I knew that I had to do it. I just love crazy adventures like this. Last year, I did the shorter version of the Su 100, called the Little Su 50K. I treated that race as a test...
FasterSkier.com has featured a number of ultramarathon ski races in recent days. Now we are declaring today to be Official Ultramarathon Day on FasterSkier.com, and we are bringing you a few more articles about extremely long races. A number of these races are claiming to be the longest ski race in the world. But which one is the longest? For instance, there is the Defi Boreal ( http://www.fasterskier.com/racing2128.html 2003 Leadville 100 Preview: http://www.fasterskier.com/racing350.html And in...
Skate skiing for 100 miles? Am I nuts? At 10,500 feet? With vastly changing snow conditions? All in a 18 hour time limit? Well, that’s exactly the point—I am nuts. This is the 3rd annual Leadville ski 100 put on by race director Bill Perkins, the longest Nordic ski race in the World. No flash, no hype, no crowds, no megaphones….only you against four 25 mile laps with 1,600 feet of climbing in each with...
A typical training day for us at Fasterskier.com living in Park City, Utah is skiing at the Olympic venue on the perfectly groomed trails of Soldier Hollow. Here are some photos from a different workout. Mill Creek Canyon only 15-20 minutes from downtown Salt Lake City is where we go skiing when we are “tired†of Soldier Hollow Olympic course’s perfectly groomed trails and instead want “real winter feelingâ€, lots of powder snow, big pine...
Around these parts, one of the most famous races used to be something called the Nakkerloppet. About 15 or 20 years ago, it might have been described as one of the “the big three' of Ottawa area ski races, along with the Canadian Ski Marathon, and the Gatineau 55 (now the Keskinada). The Nakkeloppet does still exist, but only as an organized tour, not as a race. What made the Nakkerloppet special was that it...
After the high school race on Friday at Northstar (Tahoe), Mark Nadell took a bunch of fun photos of the skiers in the terrain park. These pictures show how XC skiing can compete with all the alpine fun and games, and still give you a workout too.
The training benefits of trapping rats have yet to be discovered by the Nordic ski world. However, I believe that this new found means of building muscle, bee venom tolerance, and endurance, while having fun and getting paid will soon become an integral part of every serious ski racer’s training plan. Woodrats are about the size of white lab rats, but much cuter, with silky gray fur and large black eyes, and constitute the primary...
The US Ski Team is currently training in sunny San Diego, and the eastern US had a warm dose of summer over the weekend, but other parts of the United States have been starting to look a lot like winter in the past few days. We received the following pictures from Nordic Combined coach Dave Jarrett, taken last Friday. Dave's comments: The picture was taken on Bruce's Trail which is on Rabbit Ears Pass above...
These days I ski race for the fun of it. I train because I enjoy it. Still, there is a part of me that misses the days when I was a full-time ski racer. One thing I miss most is training camp. I loved being able to get away from my daily routine of work and training for a week or two, solely to focus on skiing and becoming a faster skier. It was mentally...
On evening training runs I occasionally find things. Sometimes it's a hat, water bottle or sport glasses that someone lost. A couple times I've found lost car keys or wallets. Occasionally I've found a semi-lost hiker or a lost dog. And once I found a radio-controlled airplane someone lost control of. But recently I topped all of my after-work, evening run finds. I found a lost ski area on a deserted island! Before I explain...
There have been some cool articles on fasterskier.com lately. Several articles have given us views of adventurous cross-training activities unique to various areas of the US and Canada. It's interesting to learn what our ski brethren do for ambitious fun and training in the off-season. Things like crust skiing in the High Sierra, in Utah and on Mt Ranier, and canoeing and backcountry skiing in remote Canada. The bottom line is – every place has...
Martin Koukal, the 50-kilometer World Champion from Val di Fiemme in 2003 has climbed the Cho Oyo Mountain in the Himalayas. http://www.radekjaros.cz/fotogalerie/
Mt Rainier has been the training ground for the first American ascents of Everest and K2. Skiing Mt Rainier usually brings to mind heavy alpine touring or telemark gear. On April 25th having dispaired at low quality of the snow at lower elevations, two of us Seattle skiers have gone to explore how far 4 cm wide racing boards would take us. The answer: to about 7000 ft, or 2000 feet up from Paradise Inn....
Last weekend I was out canoeing and it occurred to me that while quite a few cross-country skiers do some canoeing or kayaking during the summer, little has been written about its benefits. Paddling of any kind is a great upper body workout, with cardiovascular benefits as well. Like other cross-training activities, it also can provide a welcome diversion from all the rollerskiing and running that we typically do. Finally, it is a good way...
Crust Cruising the High Country on the Lightest of Skis It’s always a source of amusement for my skiing friends and I to read about the springtime “exploits†of our cross country ski brethren east of the Rocky Mountains. Their season often doesn’t start until the middle of December, and then by the end of February (or whatever day comes immediately after the American Birkebeiner), internet newsgroups are filled with questions about roller skiing, along...
The last of the snow is melting off your ski trails. Skiers around the country are putting the storage wax on their skis while simultaneously eying the rising mercury of their thermometers. As the warm spring days beckon us outside, too many skiers step out their front door and into a trap. The “spring-time trap” has hit most of us in our training at one time or another. Feeling fit from a year of training,...
About three years ago, members of the xcottawa.ca racing team made a trip to the Chic Choc Mountains, in the Gaspe Peninsula of Quebec for some spring skiing. We piled 5 people and all our gear into a rusty old car and kept our fingers crossed for the 12 hr. drive from Ottawa. Interestingly enough, the transmission that replaced the one we managed to ruin on that trip, belonging to my parents’ 1990 Mercury wagon,...
While most people have put away their skis and taken out their bikes and running shoes, here in Alaska we still have some great skiing. Even in town Anchorage we had great skiing up until this week. Nice views! Tearing up the downhill Notice the skier in the lower right Perfect tracks on April 23! Prince William Sound is another thing you might see on a crust ski. For even more great Alaska crust ski...
JoAnn Hanowski has been one of the top female skiers on Team Rossignol for the past 15 years. She resides in Duluth, MN and is an avian ecologist at the University of MN Duluth. It seemed like a simple plan, after 5 marathons in 8 weeks, I would end my ski season by skiing across Finland. No race entries and travel logistics, no flourocarbon waxes, no worries about mass starts and snow conditions. The idea...