The Bogburn

Once again, Bob Haydock got lucky with the snow conditions and that nice storm last week provided about 7 more inches of perfect snow just in time for the Bogburn.  It was a cold day, but calm and sunny and so with some extra thick gloves, a buff, and good long underwear it was a perfect day.  The skiing was to die for.  Several CSUers made the trek to Pomfret, VT for the 30th edition of the race.  Leah Brams won the women's race in fine fashion, followed closely by Kathy Maddock in 3rd, Alex Jospe in 6th, Sonya Jampel in 14th, Allie Skahen in 38th, and alum Kaytie Innamorati 47th.  On the men's side CSU alum Chris Stock was the overall winner, another CSU alum Ian Moore was 5th, now skiing for GMVS and yet another alum Ian Meyer was 9th.   Then came Frank Feist, sking smoothly even at the end as always, in 12th, Ari Ofsevit 19th, Andy Milne 24th, Albert Innamorati 34th, your humble author in 35th, Victor 40th, Tom Simon 47th, Wes Denering 53rd, and William Rieders 62nd.  Not a bad showing for CSU! 

Bob and I skied around the course the next morning.  To see what you missed, here are the Bogburn Downhills:

Working? Hardly!

This is what happens when I'm not keeping a close watch on our head coach.  He starts walking around resorts, in public, with those skinny legs in his bathrobe.  What kind of example is that setting?  You can't take him anywhere!  I thought he was stuck in a wax room in Utah, not a resort!  Life is tough......

MSA Pursuit TT Photos

Thanks to the Jampels and Eric Bucher for some photos of the time trial:

MSA Monday

This morning the sun came out at MSA in brilliant fashion and I joined the Red Group on a delightful classic ski on 38 for a warmup followed by Lac St. Hilaire to 22 and some super fun downhills.  Not a bad way to spend a morning.  Every group skied one of the race trails with several doing 24 and 22.  The snow was PERFECT and the grooming even better so hopping in those tracks for the bobsled rides was way too much fun.  After all that I finally felt lively enough to ski back to the condos.  Does skiing get any better than this?  I seriously doubt it!  Good morning........

Trail 38

Trail 22

MSA Time Trial Results

This year's edition of the annual MSA continuous pursuit time was nice and cold....I mean really cold.  It was about -10C, the wind came up, the snow started to fall and people ran for their jackets, vests, balaclavas, buffs and whatever else would keep them warm.  This year we also had Justin Freeman join us for the freeze fest and of course, as expected, he prevailed.  Many thanks to Hank Yoder for volunteering to organize the race and round up volunteers!  Thanks! 

Place Name Classic Split Total Time

1 Justin 13:06:00 26:42

2 Gavin 13:19:00     27:27:00

3 Lewis 14:09:00     27:55:00

4 Chris B. 14:00:00 28:25:00

5 Jacob M. 14:11:00 28:33:00

6 Joey   14:46:00 28:36:00

7 Will R. 14:57:00 29:48:00

8 Leah  15:27:00 30:26:00

9 Rob    15:49:00 31:12:00

10 Cate B. 15:26:00 31:36:00

11 Chris K. 15:31:00 31:54:00

12 Alex J. 16:27:00 32:11:00

13 Zoe    16:25:00 32:15:00

14 Adam (Ford Sayre) 16:44:00 32:35:00

15 Kathie M. 16:28:00 32:38:00

16 Rebecca 15:41:00 33:05:00

17 Bob    16:38:00 33:08:00

18 Jacob J. 16:52:00 33:17:00

19 Hadley 16:32:00 33:26:00

20 Eli B. 16:11:00 33:34:00

21 Clara C. 17:10:00 33:54:00

22 Tess S. 17:09:00 34:01:00

23 Rosmary 16:53:00 34:05:00

24 Meggie 17:02:00 34:15:00

25 Tyler  17:12:00 34:16:00

26 Jordan 16:41:00 34:18:00

27 Sonya 16:59:00 34:19:00

28 Charlotte 16:54:00 34:21:00

29 Jamie 18:25:00 35:18:00

30 Sydney 17:15:00 35:21:00

31 Katrin 19:04:00 36:09:00

32 Jeanelle 19:06:00 37:01:00

33 Liza   19:27:00 38:33:00

34 Carina 19:08:00 39:07:00

35 Allie   19:43:00 39:11:00

36 Gabby 20:14:00 39:14:00

37 Phoebe 20:15:00 39:34:00

38 Hannah 19:27:00 40:21:00

39 Madelin 20:15:00 40:22:00

40 Claire 20:14:00 41:38:00

41 Lilly 20:16:00 41:52:00

42 Valentina 21:38:00 43:01:00

43 Lydia 22:16:00 44:43:00

44 Julia H.     22:54:00 45:39:00

James 16:46:00

Oliver 16:47:00

Eric 16:48:00

Izzy 19:04:00

Haley 21:19:00

Lucy  30:21:00

Classic on Trail 24

This morning I skied with the Green Group for a classic OD workout so we headed up Lac St. Hilaire to get on the 2nd part of Trail 24.  That skips a lot of climbing, but certainly not all of it and so there was a long line chugging uphill for a long time.  However, once you get to the Refuge the real fun begins with some lonnngggggg, fast downhills that turn your sweat to icicles.  Everyone had a great time screaming (sometimes literally) down the hills back to the stadium.  I hit 35.3 mph on one of them according to my GPS, so clearly we were humming along in the perfect powder snow conditions, the first classic skiers in the tracks for the day.  It was niceeeeee!  Then the obligatory race back to the Chalet St. Julien, but the coach said go only when it was to his advantage.  Sweet victory.  Sydney gets to say go this afternoon.  A few team photos:

Trail 24, on the backside of the mountain

Trail disappearing down the first long downhill

Sydney had a problem staying on her feet

MSA - 1st Morning

What a way to start the week here at MSA....a nice classic headlamp ski along the river last night and this morning blue sky, nice temps, immaculate grooming, great snow and an enthusiastic bunch of skiers!  CSU has something like 37 skiers here plus various alumni and family skiing with us and helping out including Calvin and Carina.  Everyone survived the OD skate session this morning in fine style and this afternoon we'll get in some classic technique work. 

Gold Group - Lily, Izzy, Janelle, Alie, Haley, Hannah, Claire

Bowing down to the gods of good skiing