A New Beginning

So, I have been having a lot of fun creating movies for the blog. Unfortunately, the video quality on this blog site is quite poor and it is difficult for you all to see the smiling faces of the team. Due to this, I will be changing blog sites. I am very sorry for the confusion and hope you are all looking forward to the clarity of the new site.

Here it is: http://williamsalpine.podbean.com/

See you there!

Kelsey

Middlebury Carnival

The Carnival was another fun event. We got to stay at The Marriot, a very fine establishment complete with a pool, hot tub and wonderful buffet breakfast. The first day of the carnival began with pouring rain and 55 degrees. The sun broke through for second run and the afternoon was awesome. No gloves or hats required.

The warm temperatures did provide the athletes with seriously soft snow and huge ruts. There was some great fighting out there though.

The GS was freezing and extremely windy. This provided a hard track and lots of opportunities for anyone who stepped up.

Special thanks to the Haddens for a wonderful dinner on the way home. We all enjoyed ourselves very much. My biggest regret of the weekend was not getting a picture of Will wearing bib number 64 standing next to Tim Kelly, number 8 in line for the second run of GS. It was a great moment.

Will is extremely happy to see his puppy

A Flavor for the Weekend

1:4

We have just arrived back from the Middlebury Carnival. I have much to report on that but first I thought I would give you a glimpse into the "normal life" around these parts. I want you to experience an important part of Williams College Ski Team Dinners: Jeff. He is known for both his intake speed and his mature take on a healthy diet.

32 Degrees and Sunny

As I described yesterday, Jiminy Peak has a tendency to require multiple hoods, goggles and handwarmers. Yet, the stars aligned and we were given 32 degrees and sunny. It was extremely difficult to know how to dress for the weather. Ed and I debated about baseball hats or winter hats. We went with winter hats. Sean and Jeff debated about boots and shin guards. They went with neither. Some of today's choices were better than others.

On our little drive to practice, we are greeted by this nice, little mountain.

The wind turbine is completely still.

Whirlaway looks spectacular. Under a dusting of soft snow, the surface is icy and hard.

This is where the girls will set up slalom training.

Ed, with his stunner shades. The courses are set, the snow is good. He is loving life here.

The men are on the foxes. The training course over here is spectacular, if I must say so myself. The men prepare for a day of very fast slalom. Alex R is feeling a little left out of the bromance blossoming beside him.

Congratulations to Will for having the fastest times of the day on the mens side.

Epic Day

"An epic GS day!" said freshman Alex Jerred. However, he is new this year so what he does not know it that the whipping northerly wind that was blowing straight up Whirlaway, glazing the surface is generally the norm around here. It felt like home standing on top of the trail with my tips pointed straight down the extremely steep pitch and moving nowhere due to the gusts.

We came out in the afternoon and the sun was shining and the trail was bulletproof. The course was fast and not very easy and yet everyone rose to the challenge. I definitely saw some of the best skiing I have seen from many people today.

I was quite busy videoing the runs so unfortunately did not get any pictures out on the hill but I do have this gem of the freshman boys. They got to ride home with Ed and I in the mini van and they were pretty excited.

John and Jerry

Happy Valentines Day

First of all, Happy Valentines Day!

We have now had back to back three-day-race weekends. The team is doing an excellent job keeping up their energy despite all the days on snow. During the ride home yesterday, the guys called Ed, requesting to have another day of training instead of a day off.

We came home with some more great successes from this fine weekend. Highlights go to Geordie Lonza for a third place in the GS and a fifth place in slalom, Laurel Carter for a fifth place in slalom and Shannon Campbell for twentieth in slalom as the third scorer to a third place day! The Ski Way provides very gentle terrain so the racers had to have a sensitive touch on the snow while skiing the aggressive line. This gave everyone an opportunity to dip into any speed skiing experience they had in their quiver.

William Hadden IV pulls into the GS start house at the Dartmouth Carnival.

Nic and Alex R leave the GS start house with serious aggression.

(Make sure you click the pictures - priceless facial expression)

Amy is doing her pre-race visualization. Clearly its game time.

Gangsta Gangsta

The Carters had us over to their wonderful Vermont home for a team dinner on Friday night.

Laurel's sister and mom, happy in front of the wood stove

They made their famous ice cream cake for desert with special decoration on top.

Jerry and Geordie

Geordie, Shannon, Sean, Eirik (last year's assistant coach), and Nic

Kristina and Shannon

Since Eirik is in grad school at Dartmouth and Emily wasn't too far away,

we had some of the old crew back together at the start of the slalom.

Skis are brushed and ready to go

Shannon rockets out of the start

The boys shake out their legs before run two of slalom

We are gearing up for awards - everyone is excited to see Geordie stand on the podium

A podium for Laurel last week and one for Geordie this week - not too shabby, girls!

And Kristina sets off for World Championships Today!

We will keep you posted - have fun and get it, girl!

On The Ace

"Delighted" was how Alex Reeves described his emotions upon waking up this morning to the sun shining into his window. There has been so much snow this winter that every sunny day is cherished and today was no exception.

Van Debacle:

When the team arrived at the gym, two vans were in the loading dock. One of them looked a little bit different than our usual van but we contemplated very much whether we were supposed to drive this "new" van to the mountain. The regular van was nowhere to be found so we could only come to such a conclusion. Once we found nordic skis inside however, we decided that we had better find our trusty old van in the parking lot - which we did, with a little extra inspection. You nordics out there - you are lucky we were feeling so happy and generous!

The trail of the day was the Ace of Spades!

Ed sets up the timing

The hill is ready for skiers

The sun sinks low by the end of the session.

Great clear day

after the blizzard that moved through yesterday!

From the Gym to the Races

It takes a lot of work to be ready to put your best skiing on the hill for the races. That means intense gym time, serious tuning sessions and a healthy diet. The Williams team is putting it all out on the line. Check out their game faces with this video!

Prep For Dartmouth Carnival

We have had both sunshine and blizzards for training over the past few sessions. Ed claims this has been the snowiest winter he can remember. The snowbanks are very high all around town so I believe him. We have fun in the snow but it does call for some extra slip runs on the track of the training course. Today we trained slalom on Grand Slam - a first for the season. Here are a few clips from some recent training sessions - enjoy!

Getting you up to speed - Ladies Racing

Like the men, the ladies have been pushing each other throughout the season and making their mark on the Carnival Circuit. Between Laurel, Geordie and Annie L, we have collected a plethora of top ten finishes, a podium and a winning run! Kristina and Shannon have made their moves into the top fifteen and we have also seen a lot of fight and good skiing from Annie H, Marissa and Amy.

At Whiteface, Geordie is dressed in formal Williams attire at the start.

Annie L waits at the top to carry down the boys' jackets.

Geordie, me and Laurel in the Sugarloaf base lodge

We had some kodak moments in the finish area at Killington that needed to be captured!

Marissa and Shannon - Canadian Pride!

Annie H, Annie L and Kristina

Deb and Laurel - family time!

Amy and Geordie

The Girls

STOWE - Down on Mainstreet

The Women Take First in the Slalom!

It is the first women's victory in the history of Williams Skiing!!!

Annie H and Laurel are so happy about the sunshine at Stowe!

Laurel finishes up the day with second place!

Annie H ends up the day with tears of pride and happiness at the W victory.

I'm pretty happy about the weather too!

Annie H is waiting for her chance on the course - mirror lenses were definitely the lense of choice for the day.

Shannon - the third scorer in the victorious day!

Annie L, planning out her run. If anyone had told her at this point that she was about to ski the winning run (by a second!!), I'm not sure she would have believed it - but she sure did!

Kristina at the start. She had a solid day as well, just three spots behind Shannon.

Geordie was in fourth after first run. After a slight mistake in the second run she was trying to pin a little more than the course would allow. She ended up going uphill for a bit but there was still some very fast skiing from her this weekend!

After the win, we celebrate in the lodge a little bit.

And the champions head back to the van.

This is a day none of us will be forgetting soon!

Well done, ladies!

Annie L, 5th place

Laurel, 2nd place

Kristina, 14th place and Shannon, 12th place

Getting you up to speed - Men's Racing

We are halfway through the carnivals now and it has been lots of fun this year. Sean and Jeff have both made it in the flip multiple times and the guys' finishing rate is climbing. This is exactly what we are looking for out of these guys. Will has been jumping about 25 spots each run. Alex R is coming off of a shoulder injury but is completing courses and crushing training. Whitney, Nic and John keep pushing each other, with a very close race at Killington and in training every day. John has his eyes set on beating Ligety by the end of the season so keep a lookout for him on the world cup. Jerry is pushing the older guys - he had a smoking first run at Sugarloaf and we are sure he will match two of those for a full result soon. The men are all close, often hundredths off each other which keeps everyone gunning.

At the Colby Carnival start at Sugarloaf:

Jeff in the gate, Sean on deck and Will in the hole.

Whitney busts onto the carnival scene at Stowe for the UVM carnival.

Sean is happy to be out racing!

After a good USSA race at Killington, Will shows off his Blue Steel look.

Great weather moved in at Stowe and it was a bustling start and a very pleasant place to hang out.

Alex R has his game face on. He went on to put two solid runs together, something he had been looking for all season. Good work, Alex.

While Alex R maintains his focus, Will stretches like the a champion, imitating the race leader in his pre-race routine.

Jerry is checking out the racers as they go down.

And he is really excited about his own, upcoming run!

The men pack up the van after a fun weekend at Stowe.