Talk about weird . . .

I am visiting my mother and yes I love her dearly and one would never expect her to change—ever. I must respect all that is Mom as she is after all Mom. It takes everything I can do to listen to talk radio and Fox News! Talk about an endurance contest!  Yikes!  I do feel these forms of media have made her an angry, upset, and agruementive person.  I have have no respect for their news and will be glad once I am home on the tundra!

The cool news is I have a new iPad to travel with and I think I am falling in love with iPad—-yahoo!

Mission Accomplished----Ski Season 2018 is DONE!

Nothing like bring s ski season to a close (as far as skiing with the WolfPack Team)!  Many of us are still skiing and by the looks of our snow and current temperatures we will be skiing for weeks to come---YES!

Our ski season has been great!  The races went well, our skiers showed great growth, and our race team skiers are nothing but a stellar group of young up and coming athletes.  I have never been so pleased with our race team skiers as this year.

We just completed our elementary ski race which brings practices to an end.  Christian and I will keep skiing.  Some of our skiers request to keep skis for a bit longer to get out and ski more in our near perfect conditions.

We wrapped this weekend of racing with two visiting Olympic Nordic Skiers!  Tyler Kornfield and Rosie Brennan.  Skiku an organization that promotes Nordic skiing in rural Alaska sent out these two Olympians to help with the Bering Strait School Districts elementary ski races over the weekend.  We all had an absolute blast!  I can not say enough about what great role models Tyler and Rosie are for cross-country skiing and the Olympic spirit---THANK YOU!

Rosie and Tyler with some elementary racers.

Cheering on a young Wolfpack athlete.

After all the races a group of us went out for a ski.

We even got out the local American Ninja Warrior Nick Hanson.

Rosie encouraging a young racer.

Unalakleet in the background. Skiers get ready to head down "Worm's Wild Ride."

Nick just got on skis and joined this group of skiers.  He is an amazing athlete!

Tyler just cranking it around the turns.

Rosie not holding back at all and loving the groomed trails.

Two great athletes Rosie and Tyler--Thank you!

Posters and signatures for the fans! 

Rosie and Tyler heading up To The Top or Picnic Hill.

One of our skiers who loves "Worm's Wild Ride."

Tyler and Rosie with one of their many fans.

Three coaches with Tyler and Rosie.

Thursday's ski practice with the Wolfpack.

 

WolfPack Skiers with Olympians

Tyler Kornfield sharing ski tips.

Talk about fast!

Fans! One of our race team members with her mom.

WolfPack Skiers

Any experienced skiers who show up for our local ski races are always initiated into WolfPack skiing by waxing skis! 

The best kind of Spring!

Most people think of spring as flowers popping up, soil starting to smell alive, buds on trees, bird songs, and their world is turning green.  I think of spring as warmer days, a huge blue sky, a night sky full of stars, shorter hours of darkness, longer days of sunshine, sea ice starting to break up, and the best of all SPRING SKIING!  What skiers wait for all year are glorious days full of great skiing, all under a HUGE blue sky! 

Today was one of those days!  We went out for a nice ski. I have been gone the last two weekends at ski races.  I got home last night and started the wash, ate dinner, hit the shower, and then a sound sleep in my bed.  Today we were up and out skiing on the touring gear after copious amounts of coffee.  Christian didn't want to groom which was fine with me.  We all had a great ski together!

Christian and Tally getting ready for the tea break on top of Picnic Hill.

Sadie really hoping there is another treat in that pack for her!

A nice flavorful tropical black tea and my own made-up dark chocolate decadence.

In the far distance is sea ice.  It is broken up and moving about these days.  The skiing is stellar.  We skied today in almost no wind and under a huge blue sky--life is perfect! 

The girls and I enjoying a very nice break from my ski coaching & racing schedule.  

SKIING

I started to write this post in early March.  The only issue is that nothing happened, or should I say a lot happened which is why I am writing this post a few weeks later.

Skiing!  

Tally and I cruising home from a wonderful tundra ski today. I love to classic ski and ski tour.

I wish I could write like a well-polished writer and could express myself clearly with great details . . . hmmm . . .  I will just muddle through with this challenge!  As you know, if you stop here even randomly, you will picked up that I love to ski!  There is no greater joy to be able to glide effortlessly on skis through the snow.  Whether it is skiing in the mountains, across the tundra, hills, through a forest, the pure peacefulness of being on nordic ski gear is just part of me!  After injuring my knee last July I was terrified I may never get to enjoy this love of mine again: Nordic skiing.   Every time I put on my skis I am grateful beyond words!  

Ski practice running the hoops!

Ski practice playing polar bears and seals.

Our Community Ski Race that we hold during spring break and the Iditarod.

The fans during our Comunity Ski Race.

Skiku coaches and our skiers.

One very special gal who is from White Mountain was here playing basketball and is a skier at heart.  She joined us for a ski practice!

Died bugs after skiing up Picnic Hill.  

Our evening S'more picnic this week.  We had families, skiers, Skiku coaches, and a ton of fun on skis!

Today's ski . . . sunshine, fresh snow, and groomed trails thanks to this great guy!

The snow that fell straight down that was not blown away at 40+mph winds!

Snack time for us all!

A nice tropical tea a friend sent me that came from Hawaii----yummy!

Heading home after our tea break.  Look at that northern latitude blue sky!

It was 0ºF so the dogs have on their Ruffwear jackets and their traditional dog mushing booties.  

Life is wonderful on skis!

The Last Teams at the Unalakleet checkpoint for 2018 Iditarod

Yesterday I was out for a ski with my wonderful husband, who had just groomed the ski trails, and our dogs.  As we were walking home from skiing we saw a few of our teaching friends heading to the checkpoint to welcome Steve Watkins and Tara Cicatello to Unalakleet.  I came in the house got out of my ski boots for the 2nd time for the day.  My husband said, "You had better get to the checkpoint for the knitters and get some photos!"  Boots went back on as I know I could get down there faster on skis than if I walked the whole way.

I am glad I did put in the effort.  Steve Watkins was so nice to chat with about his dogs, running the Iditarod, and he is a friend of one of my favorite mushers Lizbet Norris.  I didn't talk with Tara much but just a few words as she was working with the vets and feeding her dogs.  Steve chatted a lot and I took more photos as he asked, "Would you post them on facebook so my mom can see me?"  How can anyone say no to that request!

Once home later I saw on facebook from the Insider this news release:

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Iditarod Trail Committee 
50 mins · 
We are at this time, reporting 2 withdrawn mushers. Steve Watkins, Tara Cicatello withdrawn from 2018 Iditarod - Anchorage, Alaska –– Veteran Iditarod musher Steve Watkins (bib #59), of Topeka, Kansas, and rookie Iditarod musher Tara Cicatello (bib #44), of Buffalo, New York, were withdrawn from the 2018 Iditarod race at 7:05 p.m. today at the Unalakleet checkpoint. While both Watkins and Cicatello wished to continue the race, race marshal Mark Nordman made the decision based on rule 36 of the official Iditarod race rules regarding competitiveness. Both mushers and their race teams are in good health. Watkins had 12 dogs in his team and Cicatello had 13 dogs in her team at the time of the withdraw.

“Both Tara and Steve faced very tough conditions along the Yukon River, which led to them falling behind in the race field,” said Iditarod race marshal Mark Nordman. “Due to this distance behind the rest of the field, it unfortunately was not feasible to keep the infrastructure in place to support their race efforts going forward.”

Watkins and Cicatello are spending the night at the Unalakleet checkpoint and being well taken care of by the local Unalakleet community.

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Withdrawing teams may be hard for some people who don't live on the trail to understand, but it is honestly a good thing.  The logistics out here are hard to fathom at times.  Plus, the volunteers/locals have given up so much and asking them to all keep checkpoints open is a challenge at best.  Plus these two teams are at a hub airport and this is the best time to pull them from the trail. 

Below are photos from the last two teams to arrive in Unalakleet March 15th.

Steve Watkins

Getting a high fat snack ready for his team.

Tara tending her dogs.

Eyes on Tara as her team waited for food.

One of Tara's cute dogs.

Loved these two dogs from Steve's team all snuggled up and one is being used as the kitchen table.

Enjoying a nice rest as they await dinner.

The never-ending job of a musher . . . dogs first.

Early evening light and long shadows starting to form. Just before these two teams were called off the trail.  The community had brought down food and welcomed them to Unalakleet.