Spring break stuff

So I had this vision that I would record all the stuff we did on Spring Break and make a great video and have this awesome blog entry.  Well, it turns out that may have been biting off a little more than I can chew right now.  Especially since I keep updating the blog because it seems like a worthwhile way to not finish doing our taxes.  Anyhow, I decided to use mostly still photos.  So here goes.

First we are going to Juneau at the end of the month so Spring Break was somewhat of a 'Staycation', but I told the kids we would visit a resort town anyhow...they weren't impressed.

So we headed on up the road to Fairbanks.  This was a trip put together by the ski team, there was no race in Fairbanks, just a different place to ski.  It turned out to be a lot of fun and we had a great day.  Of course it didn't hurt that the day we were there was the warmest day Fairbanks had seen since October!!  Kind of a fun area to ski, and instead of a chairlift they used buses to get you back to the top, a feature which would be really nice on a super cold day!

After the ski day we all headed over to the World Ice Sculpture Championships.  It was simply amazing.  Pictures don't do it justice, but its the best I have.  Plus they build all sorts of stuff for the kids to play on and slide down.

Its a giant ice Mosquito!!

We didn't feel like skiing for another day, especially since Sunday wasn't a nice warm blue sky day so we left a day early and headed home.  On the way we stopped in Nenana and bought tickets for the Ice Classic.  For $2.50 per ticket you get to try and guess when the ice will go out on the river.  Last year the winner got $350k!!!  They build a big tripod and put it in the river with a cable attached to a clock.  When the cable moves far enough, the clock is stopped and the closest guess (to the minute) wins.  The kids are all excited about what they are going to do with the money!!  Seems like they think they've already won.

Later in the week we went out to Hatcher Pass to do some sledding, dig some forts and just enjoy the outdoors in the mtns.

Friday was Max's Birthday, he was thrilled with all his presents and phone calls!!  His party is TBD!!

Saturday brought the 10 and under State Championship Ski Race, hosted at our local hill.  Both Alex and Max were eligible to race.  There was a Slalom, a Giant Slalom and a mini Super-G.  The kids had a great day.  Alex ended up 5th in all three events and earned enough points to be the 5th fastest 10 and under male skier in the state!!  They also break it down by age group for the individual events and Max got 2nd in the Super-G and the Giant Slalom and he is the State Champion in the Slalom for the 8 and under division!!!   They both had some fantastic runs and are already looking forward to next year.  Nick will be skiing in the 13 and under Championships in Juneau at the end of the month.

That's it for now.  Thanks for reading.

Race Day!

Finally, as promised I have pictures and video.  It only took a month!


Yesterday was the final race for the YSL, it was a slalom race held at Alyeska.  Unlike most of our races this was only one run.  It was a great day, with a good turnout.   Things have been heating up in all the age groups, and all the kids were very interested in their chances of winning and how they would place in the overall series championship.
  The course was set on a moderate to steep slope and with temps in the upper 30's the snow was somewhat clumpy and grabby.  Also with temps this warm the race course tends to get very rutted out and more difficult for the later racers, which doesn't bode well for Max as they race in order of age with the oldest first.  Also this was a slalom race and the boys are just starting to actually hit the gates rather than ski around them, unfortunately sometimes they concentrate so hard on hitting them that they actually sacrifice speed due to a poor line or bad form.

Nick's race went well.  You'll see in the video that his form improves towards the bottom of the course when he starts to relax and ski his line.  He ended up 3rd for the day and had enough points to take the overall championship!!  Several of the boys left before the awards ceremony which is why there are only 2 boys on the podium.  Nick was thrilled with his result and he definitely has a good chance to be on the podium at the state championships in Juneau later this month.  He'll have to be on his game though as all the top players will be there.

Alex has really had a break through lately and is skiing well.  Unfortunately during this race he scrubbed a lot of speed in the middle of the course and that cost him some time.  He ended up 6th for the day and 3rd in the overall championship.  He is delighted with his trophy!  His division is pretty heavily stacked with about 8 very competitive racers.  His State Championship race is in 2 weeks and he definitely has a good shot at the podium if he skis his best.

Max had a great race with only one little bobble that you can see on the video.  Unfortunately his main rival fell and was out of the running today.  They are very close on the race course, swapping wins each week.  After introducing them last week they've become big supporters of each other and you even see them exchange congratulations on the podium and shake hands!  Max ended up 1st for the day and 1st in the overall.  Max has a very good shot at a top podium spot in the State Championships, but any little mistake and his rival/friend Daniel will be all over it.  It will be fun and nerve wracking to watch since they are so close in ability.

I was hoping for a bright sunny day to film, but that didn't quite work out.  So we did what we could.

Plus some pictures too!  Enjoy and thanks for reading.

Winter

Well, winter is finally in full swing...only 3 months late this year!  We have lots of snow on the ground and the skiing and snowmobiling are excellent.  During February all our life consists of is kids going to school, doing homework, and skiing (both Nordic and Alpine).  So the posts on the blog are pretty boring as they all say the same thing.  Don't worry Spring Break will provide some new stuff (I hope).  My picture taking has been a huge failure at the races so far.  As one of the coaches, I am now the primary starter for the races.  Which is okay as I get see all my kids right before they go and give them a pep talk, but doesn't leave much time or opportunity for photos.  Hence more narrative and no pics again this week.  Next week will be different I promise!!
  The kids had a YSL (Youth Ski League) race this weekend at their home hill.  It was a Slalom (SL) race, not their favorite, but they are starting to like it better.
  Nick did real well and took home 1st place in the U12 male category, he also had the fastest time on the hill overall.  He's been doing great this year and is looking to carry that momentum into the state meet later in March.
  Alex had an amazing race and won 1st place in the U10 male category!!  For 2 years Alex has been trying to beat another boy (Liam) on our team, and today he finally succeeded.  He was so excited, he's been watching both his brothers dominate their age groups while he's been consistently 2nd or 3rd.  But not today!!  His smile on the podium lit up the room.  Nick, Alex, Max and Liam all rat pack around together so its a friendly rivalry (well so far anyhow).  Liam was extremely gracious and a model of good sportsmanship when Alex finally beat him.  There is also a boy from Alyeska in the U10 class that is very competitive, so this coming weekends race at Alyeska will be very interesting.  Go Alex!!
  Max also has a rival in his age group, U8.  Daniel is on the Alyeska Ski Team and in 4 races Max has won 2 and Daniel has won 2.  Until now they've never met, just raced against each other, but as fate would have it, Saturday they sat right next to us in the chalet.  It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up, so I introduced myself and had Max and Daniel meet.  Daniel's parents were great and a lot of fun to talk to and they were excited to see the kids meet as well.  The boys were very polite to each other and I see a friendship in the future.  On the first run Max beat Daniel by .2 seconds, however on the second run Max ran into some misfortune and fell twice during the run.  Daniel skied clean and came away in first place and Max still managed a second place in the U8 class.  But on the podium it was very cool to see Max congratulate Daniel on his win and see Daniel tell Max that he was sorry Max fell.  We've been working very hard on sportsmanship and podium etiquette and it looks like some of our efforts are paying off.  Its easy to be a good sport when you win, the real character builder is when you lose.
  A very successful weekend and this coming Sunday we have the final YSL race of the year at Alyeska.  It promises to be challenging, we'll see how it goes.  After that we have the 9 and under State Championships for Alex and Max on 16 March and then the 13 and unders on the 30th and 31st in Juneau for Nick.
   As if that weren't enough skiing, we also have been racing on Thursday nights at our local hill.  Its just for fun and great practice for the boys, plus I also get to race which I certainly enjoy.  The  boys race as a team of 3 and right now they are in third place, behind 2 teams made up of all adults.  Last week Nick beat me fair and square on a SL run 33.83 to 33.84 !!!  He was thrilled!  I think its pretty awesome too.  This week was a little rougher for Nick as Alex beat him on 2 consecutive runs!!!  Alex is really coming alive and putting the pressure on.  Nick hasn't had his dominance of his brothers ever tested before and the test of sportsmanship when you lose to your brother did not go as smoothly as it could have.  Alex didn't gloat or rub it in, but he was definitely pretty proud of himself, as he should be.  Just one more thing to really make the next race interesting.

I've been snowmobiling a bit and did get some video of that if anyone is interested.  Its mostly of my buddies, I'm in the green jacket and red pants.

Thanks for reading

Alyeska Cup

Well, this post was supposed to be full of pics and video of Nick racing in the Alyeska Cup.  However, I ended up being the coach assigned to the start area of the race course....not good for filming as I could only see about 4 of the 41 gates.  The other coaches promised they would get me some video....they failed.  So it will be mostly narrative.  Sorry!!

Normally the kids race in the YSL, which is the Youth Ski Racing League.  All kids under 18 are eligible to race in theYSL, however the majority of racers are 14 or under.  Most of the really competitive kids that are 13 or older race on the Junior circuit.  Since the YSL caters to younger kids, the races are set up accordingly, 15 -18 gates and 30-45 seconds to complete the run on moderately steep slopes.  Challenging, yet still fun.
  The Alyeska Cup is a different animal.  It is an FIS points race and Junior qualifier for kids to get on the National teams.  Todays race had 41 gates with 38 direction changes,  it covered over 1000 ft of vertical drop and the first 10 gates were on a double black pitch.  It was impressive and intimidating!  Since Nick is only 11 we actually had to get approval for him to race, this isn't super unusual and there ended up being 8 boys in the Under 12 age group.  Its pretty fun to watch the 16-18 year olds race, but as Nick noticed, not that fun to compete against them.

  The first 2 days were both Slalom (SL), which means lots of short tight gates where the larger racers actually knock over all the gates as they go by.  Its very technical and difficult, and was very rutted out and icy...not Nicks favorite for sure.  In fact 14 of the original 48 male racers ended up crashing out or missing gates. But Nick hit it hard and ended up in 3rd in his age group on the first day.  Day two was a little less successful as he hooked a gate with his ski on the first run and had to hike back up the hill about 10 feet to get himself around the gate.  He did manage to complete both runs and it was a great learning experience.  Day three was Giant Slalom (GS), which is much faster and longer, with fewer gates.  My favorite race, and Nick's too.  For those keeping track there is also a Super Giant Slalom (Super G), and of course the Olympic favorite, the Downhill.  The kids can't race Super G until they are 14 and downhill wasn't even offered at the Alyeska Cup.  The GS went great for Nick, he completed both runs cleanly and came away with a 2nd place finish in his age group.  Of the original 48 males, 18 of them failed to complete the course due to missing gates.  A very successful weekend for Nick, with lots of experience which will (hopefully) serve him well in the next few years.  He even got his name in the paper!  I promise to have more pics and video soon.