With barely an inch on the ground, it would have been hard to scrape up enough to make a snowball. And yet there it was, 30k of remarkably groomed trails. The crazy thing about the Birch Hill Cross Country Ski Area in Fairbanks, Alaska is how little snow accumulation it takes for the skiing to be great. The trail surfaces are very smooth, and mostly covered with organic peat, so skis really only need a...
Anchorage has long been home to many of the country’s best nordic skiers. With elite teams like APU, Alaska Winter Stars, the University of Alaska Anchorage, several strong high school programs, and a thriving recreational and masters race scene, skiers couldn’t ask for a more supportive community. But biathletes? That was another story. “I started biathlon in 2003, back when the Kincaid [shooting] range was at its old location,” 2011 World Junior Championships team member...
Despite her small stature, Liz Stephen had a big season in 2011-2012. She had the best string of World Cup results in her young career, finishing in the top 30 three times over the course of the World Cup season. Stephen also had a strong performance at the World Championships in Oslo, finishing an impressive 16th in the 30 k freestyle, as well as 24th in the 15 k skiathlon. The diminutive 24 year old,...
In its 24-year existence, the Tour of Anchorage cross-country ski race, hosted by the Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage, has grown from just a few hundred participants to almost 2,000 ski- enthusiasts—making it one of the largest ski races in North America. This year’s event, slated for March 6th, will start at the foot of the Chugach Mountains and wind through beautiful birch and aspen forests, around the University of Anchorage campus, through Anchorage’s midtown...
For many of us, July 4th is a day to spend with friends and family, take in a parade, eat a lot of good food and maybe watch some stuff blow up, but in Alaska, Independence Day means one thing: Mount Marathon. Sunday marked the 83rd annual running of the grueling competition in which runners climb almost 3,000 feet in elevation over 3.5 miles before turning around to run back down. The race ends on...
With clear skies and decent snow conditions, organizers and skiers in Anchorage are primed to kick off the first day of racing tomorrow at the 2010 U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships. Just one thing threatens to hold them back: the temperature. With Friday’s readings struggling to break double digits, Saturday’s National Weather Service forecast calls for highs of ten above, with overnight lows of zero to ten. That’s close the FIS legal limit of -4,...
The training season is well underway, and North America’s best cross-country skiers are already well into their preparations for next winter. Over the course of the summer, FasterSkier will feature a weekly interview with elite American and Canadian athletes, following their training as they ready for the upcoming Olympic year. We first talked with James Southam, who races with the Alaska Pacific University Elite Team and placed 33rd in the 30k pursuit at the 2009...