One of APU's newest members, Chelsea Holmes explains what exactly she does for strength training and how she tackles her weaknesses. "My strength sessions often address numerous muscle groups and modes of training and development within a single session," she says.
A former VAMP, Nancy Fiddler takes a close look at one of the country's largest all-female masters nordic groups, Muffy Ritz's VAMPS program in Sun Valley, Idaho, which caps out at 130 participants each year.
The Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Gold Team is stressing quality over quantity this season, especially with three promising skiers out of college. Two-time NCAA champion Miles Havlik joins the team, along with Rose Kemp and Mary Rose. “Although we are a small squad, 3 men and 3 women, ambitions are high for this crew," Rodgers says.
This is the final piece of a four-part series on female nordic coaches in the U.S. Part IV gathers input from women who work with the little guys, the future of skiing, in thriving youth programs across the country. “It’s all about fun for the younger skiers," says Tamarack Gliders coach Marie French. "If we catch their interest year after year, even if it’s with a ride on the groomer or rolling around in the powder, they will love cross-country skiing and come back for more."
Mikey Sinnott takes stretching seriously, doing so at least 30 minutes six times a week. "For years, I pretended stretching was an overly silly, old man ritual," he says. Now, the Sun Valley skier has a special room for it to help ward off tightness and injuries.
When he last attempted to make the Olympics, Mikey Sinnott was four years younger and admittedly a step quicker. But the 28-year-old Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation skier is confident he can offset aging with accumulated experience and earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team for the first time in his career.
With new athletes headed to Craftsbury, Sun Valley, Stratton and Alaska, it looks like the SuperTour can expect a sizable incoming class next season.
Note: This is the eighth preview in a quick-and-dirty series on U.S. elite teams. We asked coaches to send their 2012/2013 rosters and tell us what’s new for the coming season. We will be publishing additional reports over the next few weeks. Teams are presented in no particular order. Team: Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) Gold Team Coaches: Colin Rodgers (head coach), Clarke Sullivan (service tech) Roster: Simi Hamilton (U.S. Ski Team), Mike Sinnott,...
Inside the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation center on Tuesday, Morgan Arritola made her usual rounds, visiting longtime friends and coaches and introducing them to her new addition – a puppy. A staple of the team for nearly a decade, the 25-year-old Olympian affectionately known as “Mo” wasn’t stopping in for training plans. She hadn’t just finished a workout and she wasn’t preparing to start one, either. Arritola was on a lunch break from her...
CRAFTSBURY, Vermont — Looking calm and relaxed as he finished the two-lap 3.2 k freestyle prologue on Saturday morning, Simi Hamilton (SVSEF/USST) skied to a comfortable win in the opening event of the SuperTour Finals at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center. He beat Sylvan Ellefson (Team HomeGrown) by 6.6 seconds, and in a tie for third, Noah Hoffman (Team HomeGrown/USST) and Erik Bjornsen (APU/USST) both claimed bronze (+11.5). Kris Freeman (USST), skiing for Team HomeGrown this...
“Perhaps it was the wine of the cool autumn breeze. Or perhaps as climbers sometimes we meet, we met. Rob Kiesel was an aggressive downhill racer. Perhaps it was his single-minded drive, which induced success. Nevertheless he was somewhat new to climbing and this would be no leisurely climb.” — Excerpt from Gregory Lowe’s “Half Dome in the Winter” as it appeared in The American Alpine Journal (Vol. 15, Issue 1) by the American Alpine Club. ***...
About halfway up Sun Valley’s Bald Mountain, Chelsea Holmes strained to see the top. Without much luck, she put her head down and poles forward, reciting a familiar mantra to push her to the finish. “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming,” a little fish sang out in her head. In her first time racing Idaho’s Baldy Hill Climb on Saturday, the 24-year-old Holmes wasn’t hallucinating. She actually felt pretty good scaling 3,140 vertical feet on...
The second annual National J2 Talent ID camp was held the first week of August at 6,000 feet in Sun Valley, Idaho. The top 43 14- and 15-year-olds from around the country descended upon the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) training facilities to learn from both their peers and the top coaches from around the country. Gavin Hess, a Pittsford, NY native, qualified to attend the camp by finishing the week at Junior Nationals...
Colin Rodgers, a longtime member of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation (SVSEF) Olympic Development Team (ODT), has been named its head coach. He is taking over for Travis Jones, who stepped down this spring after three years on the job. “I am very fortunate for this opportunity,” Rodgers told FasterSkier in an interview. “I am going to be able to work with some great athletes that I already know really well.” A native of...
TRUCKEE, California – “The hope is that in the future, this can become a team on par with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, CXC and XC Oregon,” said Ben Grasseschi, the head coach of the newly established Far West Senior Farm Team based in Truckee, California. The squad’s mission, to create a premium senior race team, is partly a personal goal for Grasseschi, who himself was left dangling after his collegiate skiing career. “I...
Champions may be made in the summer, but if Matt Gelso is any proof, they don’t have to be made on rollerskis. Gelso, the 2010 NCAA champion in the 10 k classic, detests rollerskiing. It’s dangerous, he says, and it can cause compartment syndrome. And it hurts his elbows. “If there’s one thing that’s going to make me quit skiing, it’s going to be too much rollerskiing in the summer,” Gelso said. But while collegiate...
Willie’s 5k Run for the Environment was held on a perfect clear crisp Saturday morning, Oct 17th. Organized in honor of Willie Neal, of Jackson Hole, WY, who lived in Sun Valley in 2008-09, training and racing as a Post Grad with SVSEF. Tragically, Willie was killed in June 2009 when hit by a car while roller skiing in Maine. In his memory, SVSEF Comp Team member Daniel Sundali organized this run as a school project. The...
Despite racing with a fractured right hand, Max Durtschi, 18 years old, raced to victory in both the road race and criterium in last weeks USA Junior National Championships. Durtschi earned the stars and stripes jersey in both events held in Bend, Oregon. On Thursday (7/30) Durtschi pummeled the field in the grueling 108K Road Race. Starting in 90 degree F. temperatures the thermometer topped 100 degrees F. by the end, forcing 28 racers to...
Mike Sinnott is in his third year out of Dartmouth College, skiing for Salomon and the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation. Last year, he was fourth in the sprint at U.S. Nationals in Anchorage, participated in the team sprint and classic sprint at the Whistler World Cups, and took a victory in the Noquemanon Ski Marathon. FasterSkier: Before we talk about the Olympics, stuff like that, I remember back to the winter of 2006-2007 when...
268 trail runners and off season Nordic Skiers turned out on a hot sunny summer morning for the annual Elephant’s Perch Backcountry Run(10 miles/16.5 miles), north of Ketchum. The runners traversed from Hulen Meadows through Adams Gulch on a trail with many steep climbs and long descents, mostly single track. Many SVSEF skiers were among the racers. Mike Sinnott, SVSEF ODT, won the Men’s 10 mile race, posting a time of 57.29, more than 3...