Gearing Up for Fall

A few final days of summer for fall trip ...






















But the snow is coming!











Time to clean up the skis!

Fall Training Camp

Fall Training Camp in Aspen with the rest of the RMD Division! Perfect fall weather, and great to have others to train with! Also a good check-in for athletes from around the region to catch up with each other, and motivate for the last block of training!

Roller Ski Trail!

2 Hour roller ski on the New path this afternoon! Beautiful summer day to officially enter into the fall! Nice to have something with hills, turns, smooth pavement and no cars! And close to campus!

JO Team!

Junior Gus Griffin raced Thursday and Friday at the regional semi finals in Steamboat winning himself a spot on the JO team!!! Wow!

Gus will be training and racing during the next couple weeks in Maine!

The results from the 5k skate race at states in Frisco are as follows:

Girls: Jaq 11th, Maria 32nd, Florentina 32nd

Boys: Gus 8th, Sam 44th

Wahoo!

Stepin' It Up at States- Frisco

Wednesday afternoon members of the CRMS campus sent our Nordic and Alpine Teams on their way to Frisco where they'll spend Thursday and Friday racing against many of the top high school skiers in the state. Coaches Nick Brown and Max Stevens did a special report on the event for the local Post Independent, during which they expressed the great amount of pride and excitement that the whole school has for these skiers. The link can be found at:

The 2010 nordic state team consists of Gug, Sam, Maggie, Florentina, and Maria. While Gus, Sam and Maggie have skied past seasons, competing in States is quite an accomplishment for Maria and Florentina who both just started competitively sking this season.

The classic race was held at 2pm today which undoubtably made for an interesting adventure in ski waxing for our beloved coaches Nick and Elliot.

The Women's Team earned 7th place for the classic race with Jacqueline in 19th, Maria in 33 and Maggie in 41st.

The Men's Team earned 12th place partially as a result of having only two skiers to earn points. Gus had an excellent race, coming in 5th for classic, and Sam finished 37th.

Hoping to have some photos to upload soon and results for the skate race tomorrow afternoon!

Final CHSSA Race of the Season

We finished off an excellent season of CHSSA racing on Saturday in Aspen. The team was especially excited to see some of the professional skiers competing in the Super Tour and Owl Creek Chase cheering them on. For many, Nordic Skiing climbed the "cool scale" a couple notches at least. It was exhilarating to Sam and Emily come in oh so hot- with their best races of the season. Emily EVEN HAD FUN! We were happy to introduce the visiting Dr. Bonyo Bonyo, originally from Kenya, and his children to the sport. A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to the Kaufmans who had us over to their beautiful house after the race. Panninis, tomato soup, pez candy, and a blizzard. All in a day up at Aspen.

Kate Whitcomb, all-star nordic skier from Sun Valley came to ski with the team on Tuesday. Despite having walking pneumonia Kate challenged our guys and girls to take those turns fast, give up their fear of falling, and push V2 technique through our mid-week pickups. She keeps a blog at: http://sunvalleyonline.com/links/2010/02/15/watching-the-owl

It was a pleasure to have Kate ski with us. We took these photos expressly to send to our greatly-missed Hannes in SV.

Nordic in the News, Dress- up, Fundraisers

There have been a lot of Nordic happenings during the past week that require acknowledgment.

• CRMS alum Robel Teklemarian plans to compete in the Winter Olympics next week for the Ethopian Nordic Team! Here's a great article about his training time at Spring Gulch, past olympic experience, and goals for the future. Also notable, the excellent interview with CRMS coach Mark Clark. http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/139142

• Our CRMS team raced last Thursday in Steamboat. The 5k skate course was challenging yet rewarding for many of our skiers. The complete list of results can be found in the important links below.

• An especially motivated group of CRMS nordies decided to follow the Steamboat race with a 10k tour in Crested Butte on Saturday. As clearly depicted by the accompanying photos (graciously contributed by Sandy Deveny) the Ally Loop was filled with silliness and adventure. What fun to ski down Mainstreet! Faculty spouse Shannon Myer also skiied the Ally Loop and upped the annie with the 30k course. Rumor has it that she did quite well!

• CRMS Coaches participated, along with about 80 others, in the Ski for Sisu fundraiser at Spring Gulch on Sunday. Heavy snows failed to deter those eager to crank out some laps and the dedicated SGNC volunteers kept serving up brownies and warm drinks throughout the day. Especially impressive was Lina's 25 k ski (2 laps) with her father Tripp. Nice work Lina!
  

• This Tuesday we set out for an afternoon practice with an extra special mission. Ski from the snowmobile trails of Sunlight Mtn. in Glenwood, past Williams Peak, down through Marion Gulch and across the Perry's Fields. All in all- 4 hrs 30 minutes of great wipeouts, powder skiing, beautiful views of the Elk Mountains, and warm winter sun. At dinner- a huge sense of accomplishment and a large appetite.

• Aaaannnddd finally, this Saturday we have our last CHSSA race for the season at Aspen Highschool. This event is sandwhiched between the Super Tour and Owl Creek Chase on Saturday and Sunday. Our skiers will head out around 1:20 pm on Saturday so come be part of the cheer squad! If you make it to the OCC, also make sure to cheer for Tommy as he races the 10k.
  

Taking on Devil's Thumb

Devil's Thumb will never be the same after the CRMS team's visit to the area last weekend. We rolled in hot and left them begging for more!

The skies were blue, the snow fast, and the cookies aplenty. We enjoyed a great night planning Risk and Connect Four in Granby at the Stein Cabin.

Although the trip had many highlights, we were especially excited about Sam Kaufman's 17th place finish in the Boy's 5k and our own CRMS coach Nick Brown finishing 2nd for the Men's 15k
in the annual Governor's Cup. Additionally,
we would like to extend a special congrats
to CRMS grad, Mia Gaw '03, who
finished 5th in the Women's 30k.
See the "important links" side bar to
the right to view the official results.

Our team continues to steam roll through February with a Thursday race in Steamboat, a special appearance at the Crested Butte Ally Loop, and some long distance skiing at Ski for Sisu on Sunday.

Surviving January

The third week in January is always a check-in point for me.

We've had cold temperatures for couple months now, my Sorrells are permanently damp, the icicles are starting to take over our house, and I realize that we're only half way through the winter season in Colorado. Each year around this time I ask myself : "Can I make it?" "Where did that giant jar of hot chocolate go?" "What's Costa Rica like this time of year?"

For me, being part of the Nordic community and skiing with a competitive team ensures a 97% winter survival rate. (I figure the only way I won't make it to April this year is if one of the icicles threatening my house eventually breaks through the window and shoots straight into my heart. You should see them- definitely a 3% chance of happening).

Skiing with the CRMS nordic team gives us a chance to sweat, laugh, travel, and sometimes most importantly-work hard! This winter ritual, and the special moments along the way, are what keep me skiing until the last snow melts away. Here's a list of some treasures from the past couple weeks.

1) Nordic Team Superhero Friday (or in my case Saturday- see the photo below)

2) Skiing on Thompson Creek last Tuesday with Will and Judy Perry

3) Lina Sutro's second place finish in the Middle School 3k classic race at Vail on Saturday

4) Feeling the winter sun on my face while skiing up to Finlandia

5) Lady GaGa's "Poker Face"

6) The determination of Tamsin and Emily to finish the races at Vail despite injuries and taking a hit to their pride

7) The group of 5 skiers and Nick who represented CRMS at the RMD race in Durango on Jan 14.

8) Watching former CRMS ski coach Rob Stein ski with the team once again during last weekend's Saturday practice and time trial.

9) The Reese's candy hearts that Elliot always surprises us with after a long ski.

10) Watching wipe-outs on the steep downhills and wiping-out myself on steep downhills


The Vail race results can be found through a link on the right. A big thank you to Sandy Deveny for the great photos included with this post. We're headed off this Friday to Devil's Thumb (Winter Park area) for our next CHSSA race. More details to follow.

CRMS Hosts at Spring Gulch

A BIG Thank You to everyone who came out to cheer on the racers this past Saturday. Despite the very chilly days leading up to the race, Saturday brought blue bird skies, 40* conditions, and lots of smiles to the Alpine Bank Classic at Spring Gulch.

We are also very appreciative of all the hard work put in by the SGNC, SG groomers, and other volunteers. At the end of it all, we sent about 300 middle school and high school skiers out on course. It was also a special treat to have two CRMS alumni return to forerun the race, Julia Hedman and Elissa Rodman, pictured in the photograph above.

Our CRMS skiers took advantage of racing on their home course; finishing with some great times. Of special note are Gus Griffin who finished 1st for the boys, in 11th, and Jacqueline Larouche who finshed first for the girls in 23rd. As a team the boys finished in 10th place and the girls finished in 8th place. After a little clean up and some play time on the megafone we headed to the Deveny's house in Carbondale for a well deserved Chili lunch! Mmmmm...

This weekend some of our skiers head to Durango for a RMD race, while others will stay to do a time trial at Spring Gulch and work on some downhill technique. Who knows... a trip to Snowmass may be in order.

CRMS Race at Spring Gulch 11:00 AM SAT JAN 9

Preparing for our home race at Spring Gulch has been an exciting way to begin the second semester. It's been a couple seasons since CRMS last hosted a CHSSA race but race coordinator Elliot Norquist has pulled everything together very nicely. We are very appreciative of all the effort that he, Mehgan Larson, and the Spring Gulch Nordic Council have put into this race. I skied the course this morning as some big, wet snowflakes began to fall. Spring Gulch is at it's best right now!

As I mentioned to the team yesterday, for some reason many nordic races have a hard time drawing large crowds of spectators. Maybe its the spandex that scares them away; or perhaps the possibility of frostbite and the overzealous coaches running around with klister and torches. I haven't figured it out. But, I do know that races are one of the few opportunities that our highschool racers have a chance to show-off all the hard work that they have put into their training. And if you are worried that there won't be enough excitement for you I have a couple ideas:
1) Stand at the top of a long uphill and try to get a racer to smile. (This may require ridiculous costumes, offers of free hugs, etc.)

2) Stand at the bottom of a steep downhill and make bets on the biggest pile-up to occur.

3) Bring a grill, music, and lots of extra food. You will make lots of nordi friends very quickly.

Whatever it takes, get out there and cheer on the nordies!

SUPPORT OUR TEAM AND OTHERS THIS SATURDAY, JAN 9th. The highschool races begin at 11am and should finish up around 12:45pm. Treat yourself to a ski around the course once they've finished.