November 13, 2012 – I’m about to board my second of four flights taking me from home in AK to Northern Finland, “Munio.” It’s hard to see on this map but it’s to the left of “Lappi” …. you may notice this is WAY above the Arctic Circle. Don’t worry, I packed some neon to keep things bright and happy….

My favorite wax tech helping me travel wax skis. I had this pic on Facebook earlier and many people are surprised by the number of skis I have.  Reality is, everyone has this many to be competitive at the international level.  Each one is for different conditions… different cambers, stiffnesses, grinds, etc.

Fast and Female Anchorage (last weekend) is deserving of its own post. I’ll try to write an update later. Basically, it was AWESOME and we had over 200 girls. Thanks so much to everyone who pitched in and helped out!

After the main event we took the opportunity to get a bunch of Alaskan women influential in sports together for a social/pow-wow. Women shared incredible personal stories and also gave updates on the programs they are currently involved in. We had everyone from Nina Kemppal (4x XC Ski Olympian) to Deedee Jonrowe (30x Iditorod sled dog racer) to Margaret Timmerman in charge of Tuesday Night races to Joey Caterinichio – US Ski Team Nordic Program Director, Rosey Grundwaldt – 2006 Torino Bronze Medalist, etc, etc. I wish I had had a tape recorder on the conversation because it was amazing.

Rob dropped me off at the airport last night. Always hard to say goodbye. He’s my biggest supporter. (Thanks for the help babe!)

Opp! They’re calling my name to board! Next flight to Frankfurt, then to Helsinki, then to Rovanemi & finally, a drive to Munio. I have a long road ahead!

More soon!
Holly 😉

The day before my departure I got this in the mailbox. I’m excited to be writing an international column for the statewide Nordic Skier Newspaper. In case you live outside of Alaska or don’t receive the paper, I’ve included my article below….

From Alaska to Europe & Back
by Holly Brooks

Eight years ago I moved to Anchorage because I wanted to live in a ski town. After growing up in Seattle, I craved a place where roller skiers weren’t considered freaks and I could see snow outside the kitchen window. I was ecstatic to find friends who knew of Swix Extra Blue and a spider web of fabulous trails throughout the city, complete with lights for skiing at night. I made my rounds of the local ski scene working at Alaska Mountaineering and Hiking, serving as the head coach for West High, spent six years as a coach for the Alaska Junior Olympic team and finally, five years as a fulltime junior and master’s coach for the APU Nordic Ski Center.

I started out racing in the local Anchorage Cup series; the Hickok, Pia’s Classic, the Sven, the Oosik, the Tour. Then, in 2009, I entered the American Birkebeiner and “lost” the race by what some called a “toenail” in a photo finish. In many ways, that race was one of the defining moments that inspired me to focus on skiing at a new level. Luckily my commitment and hard work was rewarded when this past May, I was named as an official member of the US Cross Country Ski Team.

Last winter I unexpectedly spent almost five consecutive months in Europe racing the World Cup. Needless to say, this was quite the jump from the Alaska community racing scene where I frequented the coastal trail, had a “handful of skis” thrown into the back of my Subaru or spent Tuesday nights doing intervals at Hillside with my friends. In all, I traveled to & raced in ten different countries and accumulated 26 World Cup starts. There were highlights such as my contribution to the best women’s 4x5k team relay finish in history and there were certainly low lights as well. Christmas night I was running on an icy road, fell & broke my wrist just four days before the start of the infamous “Tour de Ski” stage race. (I foolishly competed anyways!) This winter promises to be full of more tales and adventures. I’m by no means a seasoned veteran of the World Cup but I’m not a rookie either.

As you may know, three of the six US Ski Team girls reside and train in Anchorage including Kikkan Randall, Sadie Bjornsen and myself. We represent the USA, the State of Alaska and APU Nordic Ski Center on the International stage. This year World Championships will be in Val di Fiemme, Italy and in less than two years we hope to be “toeing the start line” at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

When driving up the serpentine roads to the racing venue in Slovenia or landing a chartered plane on an obscure military base in Russia to compete it’s easy to feel far from home and far from the people, specifically the Alaskans, that helped us reach the World stage. Realizing that, I’m excited to be writing a monthly column for the Nordic Skier that will attempt to bring stories from the World Cup into your hands. While I may not spend much of the winter in Alaska anymore I spend the spring crust skiing at Portage, the summer running in the Chugach and the fall roller skiing at Kincaid. While I love being on the road, my heart is always at home. I hope you’ll join me for the adventure that is the 2012-2013 World Cup season

If you would like to follow Holly’s ski adventures on a more regular basis, check out her blog @ www.hollyskis.blogspot.com

November 01, 2012 (Anchorage, AK) – Since getting back from Park City Camp, Anchorage has yet to get any snow. Of course, when every skier is looking for moisture, the sun finally decides to show in AK. With no snow, the temperatures haven’t hesitated to resemble the typical Alaskan weather at this time of year.

As temps dropped down into the single digits, rollerskiing gets less fun! Pounding freezing cold pavement isn’t exactly the nicest thing for your joints. But, with a little extra clothes, and a longer than usual warm up- we made it happen.

One day we were rollerskiing at a local park, where all the ducks have decided to reside around a half frozen pond. They also have chosen to poop all over the trail. So, aside from the trail being half frozen, our skis were also being stopped and tripped up by frozen pooo. It provided for some laughing, a little swearing, and fortunately only one fall that didn’t end up too bad.

Last weekend was also the annual APU ski swap, where all the elite athletes pass down our great equipment to the younger generation of skiers. This is one of the neatest qualities about this elite/junior/devo team. A great pair of skis never leaves the team as someone grows out of them, it just keeps living down the chain. The ski swap is also a time that Kikkan takes the opportunity to clear out her closet and raffle off all her stuff to the young kids.

This is one of the most exciting things I have ever watched. Kikkan manages to accumulate some pretty awesome gear, so the kids get called out by number, have 10 seconds to pick something on the table, and then the next person goes. It’s a pretty awesome thing Kikkan does- and I am sure that 90% of those kids mark the day on the calendar, it’s that exciting!!

On that same day we had one of the young devo team boys and Rob Whitney put on a fundraiser run for Mary Robicheaux, a young devo on our team that got hit by a car while she was biking. Mary has been in the hospitals for the past two months as she is learning to walk again. She suffered a fractured skull, many broken bones in both legs, a broken spine, and a tough road to recovery. She has been amazing though as she has continued to improve from day to day with a whole lot of heart.

Anyways, one of her friends, Luke Jager headed up a running race for the community. He set up a little 5k course that weaved over logs, through trees, around in circles… you name it. It was pretty fun. It was amazing to see the community come together, with around 300 participants, who managed to raise $14,000 for Mary’s recovery.

So, this leads to last weekend. On Wednesday last week, I headed up to Fairbanks for a little on-snow time. Since Fairbanks has about 3 inches of snow, our team was off to find it. This weekend is also the First Tracks Camp, where all the skiers of Alaska group together for the first “on-snow” camp of the season.

It is pretty awesome, they all get to chase all the elite skiers around during training, and then there are a bunch of talks set up from Nutritionists, Health Specialists, NCAA skiers and coaches, and the World Cup Team. With everyone in the same place, everyone gets to take advantage of the others around them. This is the first time I have attended one of these First Tracks Camp, but it is pretty amazing. Thanks Matt Hajdukavich and Challenge Life Alaska for an awesome time!

The final day, we celebrated Halloween and dressed up in costumes for our ski. I was doing intervals this day, so it meant throwing down pretty hard in a pink onesie suit with a white cotton t-shirt on top. It provided for some entertainment though for sure.

Kikkan and Holly also organized a “world-cup field” for the final day where they brought all their race suits from other countries they have accumulated, and then raffled off who got to wear them the final day. The kids also got to wear world cup bibs on top, so it was pretty hilarious to watch the “foreigners” skiing around.

So after four days of sweet skiing, we had to head home for some good “home time” before leaving for the winter. This is also the hardest part. Trying to get your life truly organized before being gone from your home for potentially five months!! Yikes. In the mean time, if you see me on the side of the road dancing… I am just doing the snow dance!! C’mon snow.

July 24, 2012 – Canada’s Alysson Marshall recently participated in a groundbreaking collaborative North American women’s cross-country ski training champ in Anchorage, AK, along with over dozen other athletes from Canada and the U.S., along with Finland’s Aino-Kaisa Saarinen. For the full report and photos from the camp that saw the athletes on rollerskis, in running shoes, skiing on the Eagle Glacier, and celebrating Canada Day in Anchorage, click HERE.

April 11, 2012 (Anchorage, AK) – After spending five months racing and training in Europe, USST member and 2011/12 FIS WCup XC Sprint champion Kikkan Randall, 29,  finally returned to her home in Anchorage, Alaska. This was the first time Randall committed to staying in Europe for the entire season and it paid off big for the US star as she took home the Sprint Cup globe. But as we all know there’s no place like home as she recently tweeted… So nice to be back in my kitchen. Home cooked Tex Mex with my hubby.

February 10, 2012 (Anchorage/Girdwood, AK) – Top-ranked Utah sits in familiar position atop the team standings after the first day of the Seawolf Invitational. But it was anything but a normal day on the hill for the RMISA schools here at Kincaid Park (Nordic) and Alyeska Ski Resort (alpine).

In a day where the Nordic and alpine teams competed a mere 40 miles from each other, the conditions could’ve have been more opposite. The Nordic freestyle races were held under ideal conditions while the giant slalom races were cancelled due to poor snow conditions.

Rain throughout the day Wednesday and mild temperatures overnight left about a six inch crust of hard snow at the Alyeska Ski Resort and conditions worsened throughout the day. The women completed one run and the men made it through about 20 skiers before race officials cancelled the remainder of the first run and both second runs.

Because the first run of the women’s race was completed, it will count as a race both for team scoring and NCAA qualification purposes. Because the men’s race was cancelled before the first run was complete, for the scoring of the Seawolf Invitational, Saturday’s slalom race will be doubled.

Utah’s Jamie Dupratt became the fifth different skier to win a GS race wih her first run time of 1:03.00. She beat out Alaska Anchorage’s Anais Urbain, who took second in a time of 1:03.44. Utah racked up 135 out of a possible 141 points by then finishing third and fourth as Julie Bordeau took third in 1:03.73 and Tii-Maria Romar fourth in 1:03.81. Colorado’s Erika Ghent rounded out the top five in a time of 1:03.87.

Utah’s 135 points topped host Alaska Anchorage’s total of 115 as the only two teams in triple digits. New Mexico (89), Colorado (86) and Denver (82) were all then within seven points while Montana State (73) edged out Westminster College (71) by two points.

Meanwhile in Anchorage, the women’s 5K interval start freestyle race started the days action and Colorado won the race impressively taking the top two spots individually. Eliska Hajkova won by 20 seconds over her teammate Joanne Reid with a time of 13:52.5 compared to Reid’s clocking of 14:12.8. Reid edged out UAA’s Jaime Bronga by six seconds as her time of 14:18.8 closed out the podium finishers. New Mexico’s Clara Chauvet (14:21.5) finished fourth while Utah’s Maria Graefnings rounded out the top five in a time of 14:30.6.

The Buffs tallied 120 points while Utah (105) and New Mexico (103) both hit triple digits and Alaska (98) just missed the mark. Montana State (90) and Denver (75) rounded out the team scoring.

On the men’s side in the 10K freestyle race, Montana State’s David Norris completed a successful double loop of the course in a time of 24:28.6, topping Colorado’s Rune Oedegaard by about 14 seconds (24:42.5). Oedegaard edged out Utah’s Miles Havlick, who closed out the podium in a time of 24:47.5. Denver’s Andrew Dougherty finished fourth in 25:12.9 with Montana State’s  earning fith place in a time of 25:19.1.

Montana State edged Utah in the team scoring for the race, 119-116, with Colorado (107) right on their heels. Denver (92), UAA (84) and New Mexico (73) rounded out the team scoring.

In a meeting of alpine coaches after the conclusion of the crazy day, it was decided that an extra qualifier race will take place in Montana ahead of the RMISA Championships. The men will get a make-up race while the women will earn a seventh race to help qualify for NCAA Championships.

The schedule in Montana will now begin on Wednesday, February 22, with slalom races that were originally scheduled for the following day. Those RMISA Qualifier races along with Thursday’s giant slalom make up races will both be FIS-U sanctioned. The RMISA Championships will then begin Friday with giant slalom races and conclude Saturday with slalom races. The RMISA Championships are not an FIS-U race but are sanctioned by the USSA.

Full results HERE.