Snowed In, In Houghton

Miscellaneous

Jan 13

As I’m writing this, the GRP ski crew is currently about halfway through Canada on our long road trip back to Vermont from snowy Houghton, Michigan. Houghton last hosted US Nationals in 2008, and quite a few of us were returning after a long hiatus to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, famous for its friendly Yoopers (the affectionate name for those who come from the U.P.), its snowmobilers, and the pasty, a meat and veggie filled pastry pocket that all Yoopers swear by.

We had a successful week in Houghton in spite of challenging weather conditions. It started snowing the day after we arrived, and it really didn’t stop the entire time. Combined with blustery winds, plunging temperatures, and a complete absence of sun, I can’t really say it was the most enjoyable week of skiing in my life, but it was certainly wintery! Luckily the race organizers did a fantastic job of prepping the course and we had almost perfect skiing every day (when the groomers are able to re-groom in between the qualifier and heats of a sprint and produce perfect tracks, you know they have it together).

Check out the GRP website for a full news report of the week, but there were many highlights and top 10 performances. Caitlin started the week with a 4th in the 10k freestyle, and followed that up with a personal best 2nd in the 20k mass start and then 8th in the freestyle sprint. I had my first Nationals podium in the classic sprint and then took 6th and 10th in the mass start and skate sprint. Kaitlynn Miller also had a solid 13th place finish in the mass start. On the men’s side, Gordon kept it consistent and placed in the top 20 in all 4 races, while Andrew was 17th in the 30k mass start and Alex Howe was 17th in the freestyle sprint. Overall, I think we were happy with the week and looking forward to the rest of the season. We have almost three weeks in Craftsbury until the SuperTour travels there the last weekend of January, so we’ll be competing in Eastern Cups and college races until then.

Most of the photos from the races are from www.skinnyski.com, plus a few extra! There are a ton of pictures, so don’t feel like you have to scroll through all of them, but it’s rare to have a few race photographers taking shots of every race, so might as well take advantage. We’ll post even more on the GRP Facebook Page, check back soon!