I did not do any rollerskiing for the first eight days of our Norway vacation. That changed dramatically to three sessions in a row after I had made arrangements to get together on August 1st for some rollerski workouts with FIS marathon cup skier and leading authority on double-poling, Fredrik Aukland. Since I live and train at 2000 meters (6500 feet) in the Utah mountains, I felt I should do some fast double-poling for a...
Kristen Skjeldal is doing an exotic summer trip. – My wife has worked with an aid-project for street children in Mongolia for five years. She is going back to visit children and colleagues in Ulan Bator, the capitol. I want to go with her and it’s possible to train by running, biking and doing strength there. I’m going to stay in shape, says Skjeldal. Skjeldal got married on May 22 and the couple is calling...
The second set of my vacation photos are from a running and sightseeing session on some of the trails I used to run daily when I was a kid, training for track, cross country running and skiing. The myth: A rock to the Viking Queen ensures good luck The first stop was after only a few kilometers to “throw a rock to the old Viking Queen†in order to ensure good luck. This is a...
New photo mini-series: I grew up in a small sleepy town called Langesund, on the coast of Telemark, Norway. The population is roughly 3000 and I’m currently “back in the old country†on summer vacation for three weeks. Not much is putting this place on the nation’s map or in the headlines except the music scene. A few years ago, Bob Dylan performed a half a kilometer from my parent’s house and a few weeks...
Cross-Country ski racing will begin this weekend in Australia with excellent snow conditions heralding the beginning of what could be an exciting season of racing. In the last two weeks over a metre of snow has fallen on Australian XC trails, leaving mid-winter like conditions for the beginning of the season! Down south at Falls Creek, the home of the Kangaroo Hoppet, it will be slap on the stick wax or klister for the Birkebeiner...
Editor: This article, by David Susong, Cross-Country master skier, husband of Olympic skier Kelly Milligan, and President of The Utah Nordic Alliance (TUNA) in Salt Lake City, Utah, was first published in The TUNA News (see
Editor: This article, by David Susong, Cross-Country master skier, husband of Olympic skier Kelly Milligan, and President of The Utah Nordic Alliance (TUNA) in Salt Lake City, Utah, was first published in The TUNA News (see
Over the past fifteen years I have raced and trained on cross-country ski trails all over North America. From Fort Kent, Maine to Fairbanks, Alaska, I feel I have skied a sizeable chunk of what the U.S. and Canada have to offer. With the 2003-2004 ski season now behind me I decided to come up with a list of my all-time favorite ski trails. Some of these trails are racing trails, others are touring trails,...
SEELEY, Wisconsin. It has been a good 18-20 years since I have raced the Birkie, so this is basically a new experience for me. What’s more, I am not only seeing it through my own eyes, but my wife Karen and I have brought along our three budding Nordic skiers, ages 5, 7 and 9. I think that I am enjoying their perceptions and reactions to this event as much as my own. Yesterday, our...
Mark Nadell, the Far West Nordic Coordinator dropped us some lines and some photos. The Far West is the West Coast of USA and Mark is located in Truckee, California. Fasterskier.com readers, especially Europeans might mostly associate California with beaches, surfing, Hollywood and Los Angeles. The reality is in fact that the California Mountains especially in the Lake Tahoe, Truckee area receives some of the heaviest snowfalls in World. Fasterskier.com staff has skied at numerous...
A few of our US readers (about 250) are flying to Norway next month to participate in the World Masters’ Cross-Country Championship – the equivalent of the World Championship for age group skiers. Depending on where in the US we’re living, Norway is 6 – 9 timezones (or hours) ahead of us. It is well known and documented that flying across this many timezones may create negative physical and mental consequences – often referred to...
West Yellowstone Fall Camp kicks into high gear this week and the skiing is great. Here is the grooming report for today: Friday, November 21, 2003 Trails groomed today: Rendezvous, Dead Dog, Volunteer, Washburn, Spencer's, Meadow, Deja View, Treeline, Range, Sprint Loop, Folsum, Grizzly Single track with skate lane. 6″ of new snow last night. Skiing is excellent! In addition, the Riverside ski trail is groomed, Double tracked for classic to the Madison River in...
The following is a collection of what we've heard about skiing in select places around the continent. Keep in mind that this is not a comprehnsive ski report, just a sampling from some of our readers. Clearly, the place to be for early season skiing this year is the west. The first big storm of the year hit the Rocky Mountains at the end of October and many place have been skiing ever since. West...
During the month of November West Yellowstone starts its winter Nordic ski season with the Fall training camp. The Rendezvous Ski Trails come alive with skiers from all over the country looking to get that early on-snow advantage. A typical snow year in West Yellowstone About the Ski Clinics: The 2003 Yellowstone Nordic ski clinics will be conducted during Thanksgiving week. Participants may choose from 3 different clinics: the traditional 3-day clinic will be November...
New for 2004, FasterSkier introduces its Resort Listings. This service will help our readers to gather information on some of the best ski areas in North American. Make sure your resort or ski area is one of them! FasterSkier is currently getting about 1,100 unique visitors a day, and we expect that number to double by mid-winter. You can put your resort in front of them for an entire six months, for less than a...
In the years before high altitude glacier-skiing became popular, Ushuaia, Argentina, was an occasional summer sparring grounds of international skiers and biathletes. Now, though the cross-country skiing remains some of the best in the Southern Hemisphere, the area is relatively unknown to the outside world. After all, who would believe that cross country skiing could possibly exist in Argentina—a land known for its polo, cattle and gauchos? Though even more obscure a sport in Argentina...
Just as the ski season was starting last November, U.S. world masters director Dick Hunt asked if I was interested in joining him and about 10 other folks from Bend on a 2-week bicycle tour around the Provence region of France. After many xc races over the winter months, long trips and dedicated training, a spring vacation is always refreshing.  The price was reasonable and having never been to France, the chance to see a beautiful area by bike...
It was August 31st in New England. The nights were starting to get cool and the first leaves were beginning to turn light shades of orange and yellow. If Linda and I were going to be living in XC Town USA by the first snowfall, we had a lot to do in about two months. First we had to decide which town would come out on top in our extensive search. Being the computer geek...
As I mentioned last time, finding a great place to ski in the east is not hard. The problem is finding a great town near the great ski trails. Last time we looked at Maine and New Hampshire. During our exploratory jaunt through the east, we also had a chance to investigate Vermont and upstate New York. So lets venture over the Connecticut River into Vermont. Because of their proximity and similarities, Vermont and New...
Our long time friend, pal, idol, cycling & ski guru, speed skating Olympian, and 1988 Korean Olympic Team coach Dick Hunt, from Bend Oregon, told me a few days ago that he was leaving for Scandinavia on March 3rd to Ski Across Finland! Dick Hunt, right, is still going strong Ski Across Finland? What the heck are you talking about – you should be getting ready to be doing spring time gardening, tune up your...