Skiing and Wreath Making
This past week we’ve been partaking in some fun activities like early season skiing and wreath making. We’ve received enough natural snow over the past few days to make many of the trails skiable (with rock skis). My morning ski a few days ago was simply stunning with cold temps, fresh powder, and a clear sky. I felt like I was skiing through a winter wonderland!
Great skiing even on un-groomed trails
In addition to the natural snow, we have plenty of man-made snow. A few days ago we were able to do 30-second intervals along a short stretch of trail. Now, thanks to a lot of hard work, we have deep cover on a full 1.5K loop which enables us to test some of our new race skis.
Blowing snow in the upper soccer field
The pile of man-made snow in the lower soccer field
The PistenBully spreading freshly blown snow
This morning we did a skate sprint time trial in preparation for the SuperTour in West Yellowstone. We were joined by some of the Craftsbury juniors, GRP rowers, and Dublin High School skiers. We did a qualifier followed by four rounds of heats in which everyone took part. There were three people in each heat and the first finisher moved up a heat bracket while the third finisher moved down. It was an exciting format because we ended up racing against different people in almost every heat. Tomorrow we’ll be doing a 10/15K classic time trial.
In between our workouts on Wednesday many GRP athletes and staff made wreaths for the Center under the guidance of wreath making pros, Pam and Amy. There was plenty of balsam, spruce, and cedar to choose from as well as a variety of decorations so each wreath was a unique work of art. It’s harder than it might seem to create a decent-looking wreath. The wreath making process involves grouping bunches of greenery and attaching them every few inches with wire to a circular metal frame. I started off making rather dense greenery bundles for the relative size of my frame and had to do some adjusting so that my wreath didn’t turn into a circular green blob!
Pam and Caitlin making wreaths
Caitlin’s wreath
Liz modeling my wreath
Well, that’s all for now. The GRP skiers are off to West Yellowstone on Tuesday for the first races of the season and the biathletes have already left for Canmore. We’re excited for the season to start!