Three Weeks at Home
So far this winter, I have split time on the road racing in Canada, the midwest, and Europe and being in Craftsbury. Alex, Emily, and myself took a three week break from the IBU cup and were fortunate enough to have real winter to play in when we returned home. This is the first year that I have raced in Europe, and I can see why people are so excited to spend time across the pond, but also excited to be at home. Though much of January was bleak in Vermont snow-wise, we were greeted with perfect skiing upon our return in early February.
Hard to beat having this out our door.
Last winter, my first living in Craftsbury, was pretty grim in terms of snowfall, and the skiing was confined to the snowmaking loop for much of the time. This made it so I had tons of new trails to explore this year! I think I succeeded in skiing most of our trails, with the final one being a ski to the Common which I finally checked off the list the day before leaving.
A snowy Max’s Pond.
I don’t think a ski or day went by that I was home that I didn’t remark “It’s so pretty!” and feel quite lucky to be able to enjoy perfect skiing every day.
All smiles skiing with Mary!
It was great to see so many people out enjoying and skiing.
A very happy Amy because she didn’t have to be back at work till 10:30!
Hard not to be happy when this is the backdrop to our workouts.
Sun and snow.
Sparkly snow.
We did do some racing as well! We had back-to-back NorAm/ trials weekends in Lake Placid and Jericho.
Emily, myself, and Kait in Jericho (Deb Miller photo).
Lots of snow also means lots of snow removal. We got to do some shoveling that involved playing (carefully) on roofs.
Mary on the Hosmer Point dining hall roof.
Mike and Ethan on the Elinor’s roof. That snow pile was transformed into a snow fortress.
At the beginning of last week, the temperatures began to rise, which brought tons of melting snow and spring skiing conditions (and a thunder storm in February…).
The beginning of the melt. Fast skiing in the morning and slush in the afternoon.
Being at home also means time to spend coaching, both kids and adults. The Catamount crew is always a blast!
Catamounts playing stones. In Tshirts!
After a lovely three weeks in Craftsbury, now it’s off to Finland for me, Emily, and Alex!