Alaskan Adventures Part One

The GRP ski crew touched down in Anchorage last night after a long day of travel.  We are here in the far north to compete at the SuperTour Finals, the last hurrah of racing on the domestic elite circuit for the season.  While flying over Canada we were treated to some spectacular views through the cabin windows.

Big mountains in Canada.

Waking up this morning we were treated to a spectacular view of the city of Anchorage far below us, with the water and distant mountains further away on the horizon.

` The view in front of the house with downtown Anchorage far off on the right.

The sunsets here in Alaska are particularly spectacular as the sun moves across the sky a bit more slowly than further south in Vermont.  As such, the sun hangs on the horizon for a long time, painting some brilliant colors across the sky.  As I write this post now, at 8:30pm, the sky is still pink and quite light.

8:00pm in Alaska.

Tomorrow we travel to Kincaid Park to preview the sprint course.  Anchorage has been hit with the same curse that many previous SuperTour Finals venues have been subject to: high temperatures and fast melting snow.  The normal race venue at Kincaid is apparently quite low in snow, but the organizers are still trying to pull of at least some of the races there, while some of the longer events may be held at nearby Hillside Park.  I am going to try to post daily (or almost daily) updates about life in Alaska while we prep for and compete in the last races of the season, so keep checking back on the GRP blog!

–  Alex