November 11, 2005 – Trying to decide what to write about is difficult when you can’t even decide what you want to eat. Last week I visited the doctor to get a flue shot before getting on a plane for Alaska. Murphy’s law and one week later, and I am in bed for 2 days nursing 1 liter bottles of pedialite and a jar of dill pickles. When I’m sick I only have an appetite for salty acidic food. Being sick is never fun, it’s even worse when you are away from home. Lying in my bed here in Fairbanks, I still find myself wishing I was home with my mom taking care of me. For some reason, when I yell for Drew, he doesn’t come to my rescue as quickly or as often as my mom did.

With my plug for sympathy out of the way, it is again that time of year when everyone is trying to find the best possible early season skiing. There is no shortage of propaganda out there, many half truths and some outright lies as skiers try and play mind games on one another. Well, I’m not going to do that here. I don’t sugar coat ski conditions. I’ll be the first one to complain if the skiing sucks, but equally appreciative of great conditions. I’m a bit of a fair-weather skier. I’m rarely out there pounding in a track on the local golf course, and I won’t delicately slide and stumble my way around a half covered rock garden either. Which is kind of what has brought me here to Fairbanks, Alaska.

Nothing is ever as it appears here in Fairbanks. For years now, Fairbanks has been the popular early season destination for racers from both the U.S and Canadian ski teams. For most Nordic enthusiasts, the major concern this time of year is where’s the snow? Fortunately for us few lucky ski team members, we board a plane on our way to a wintry northern wonderland. That is until the plane lands and our major concern returns t where’s the snow? This is my third time here now, and I have yet to encounter a snow pack exceeding 10 cm, and 10 cm is being generous. The upside is this is perhaps the only Nordic center where you can ski on 2cm, and 5cm means the use of good skis.

My first year we spent two weeks battling sub –20 Celsius temperatures, darkness and limited snow. My second we rollerskied and pole ran for two days until the snow gods blessed us with a skiff on which we skied for a week in rain and sleet before the conditions finally forced us to leave. This year has thus far been a return to similar conditions of year one. Landing at 12:30 in the morning last Sunday, which translated into 3:30 in the morning from where I came, I peered out the window of the plane, performing a quick snow depth calculation in my mind. Although I didn’t have Phil Widmer’s jenga counting skills by my side to help with the final tally, the result was about what I was expecting. No matter how many times I’ve been here, I still can’t believe that it is impossible for it not to snow more. It’s not because of a lack a cold. It appears that one snowfall of fewer than 10 cm is all they ever get. That is until a week after I’ll get home and I’ll see the piston bully flying by the Birch Hill Web cam. It is also shocking that you can get away with good skis here. There is never a shortage of leaves, roots and frozen earth poking through the snow, and no matter how much debris you hit, your skis are always scratch free. Even in February when there are a few feet of snow on the ground, I always seem to hit something nasty, but I have never received a nasty scratch at the Birch Hill Trails. But without fail, every year at the first hint of snow, out comes the ski-doo and roller and they are set. They are also able to miraculously set a classic track, which they leave as is for two weeks and then race on it. Last time we got early season snow in Canmore, I believe it required over a foot before a track was set.



But regardless of the snow pack, the real reason we come here on a regular basis is for the consistent temperatures. Although they only receive a limited amount of snow, they do manage to hold on to it. And how do they do that? With day after day of sub –20 Celsius temperatures. Back home, pockets of snow can be found throughout the country this time of year, the problem is that rain and warm temperatures usually follow the snow. The cold here can be unrelenting. So far this year the temperature has slowly dropped each day, culminating with a Saturday morning temperature of –30 Celsius. I just watched Beckie Scott race her sprint prologue in her warm-ups. After the duathlon, Drew took off his underwear top to see that he had frozen a patch of skin on his stomach the entire width of his body. Skiing just isn’t as enjoyable when it is painfully cold out. The combination of cold and old snow also translates into a very compact trail. It’s almost like skiing on asphalt. It reminds me of the winter I spent in Edmonton where it we didn’t get any new snow for over a month of –25 Celsius weather. I don’t think they re-groomed it once during that time. Needless to say, my ability to ski on a flat ski that year was superb. But that said, it’s great to be skiing. And considering all the Nordic staff here has to overcome, they always manage to put together dependable training and great racing. I think I speak for all when I say I’m looking forward however to getting on some new, soft snow and giving my shins a rest.



From here the team leaves on Thursday to Canmore for a few quick days to do laundry and get organized before moving our center of operation to Silver Star. It’s a tough schedule from now until Christmas for ski racers in Canada. Between the Nor-Ams and World Cup races, coupled with early season high volume, I already have my eyes set on some down time come the holidays. Until then, I wish everyone some great early season conditions and training, and look forward to reuniting with my fellow racers in the Okanagan.