Owl Creek Chase

On Saturday, we went upvalley to watch Owl Creek Chase, part of the Aspen Nordic Festival. For our new skiers, this was a great chance to see some high-caliber racers doing their thing. It was a beautiful Colorado day. Exciting racing, good snow, smiles all around.

The top men's Elite class finishers. 

Sam and Hannes showing their joy at seeing these races.

Mima, Tamsin, and Maggie soaking up the sun's rays (and watching the races between snowball fights.)

Tromping.

Last week, the esteemed Elliot Norquist took the team on a tour through the Marion Gulch and Aspen Gulch areas behind Spring Gulch. We followed a trail broken in by Elliot and Will Perry, who lives on his ranch just down the road. We parked at the snowmobilers parking lot at Marion and waxed up our classic skis with a bit of special violet (on the sticky side, so as to get good grip tromping through the woods). Though the way was windy and meanandered, we ended up all in one piece on the Finlandia trail. From there, we skied south on Finlandia and had an epic downhill session on Big Dipper. Snow, skis, smiles.


Waxing up at the TH. Sam (on the left) decided that he should go against convention and use his skate skis for a classic tour. Whatever.

Tromping through the woods. At this point is was unclear where we were headed, but smiles still prevailed.

At the old coke ovens (mining history, anybody?) below Aspen Gulch.


Mima beaming with Sopris shining. Elliot, on the right: our trusty guide.

Thanks everybody!

Nordic Season 2008-2009! A new year.

Welcome to the new season, dearest friends of the nordic persuasion. I apologize for not getting the blog rolling sooner, but there have been:
1. Camera troubles (and nobody likes a blog without pictures)
2. Too many good skiing days and not enough good blogging days
3. A busy [and awesome] year so far

Well, it's begun. Two returning skiers and a healthy batch of newbies make up our team this year. We are on a path of exploration, on a journey of seeking out the best nordic ski racing has to offer. Spring gulch is skiing as well as I have ever seen it, the sun is shining, and our skis are in good shape.

Except for a few broken poles (thanks, Tamsin) and a broken binding or two, we are running at 100%. Stay tuned.
-Hannes