Two thank you's and one apology

First, I want to apologize for standing everyone up at the meeting tonight. I had to be at a class for a certification I need, but was hoping to make it on time. Please believe that I would much rather have been with all of you.

Second, A related big thanks to Will and Britta for running the meeting, and doing a great job of it from what I heard. So far they have been really on top of things and enthusiastic.

Third, I would also like to thank everyone who helped out with the ski sale. Thanks to those of you who showed up on short notice and those of you who spent hours there. I'm especially sorry that I was not able to thank you publicly tonight.

Anders

Good Omens

Can't complain about a little early season snow, though I did when I was driving last night, guess it's time for the snow tires.
See you all at the meeting tonight. 7pm MUHS Gymnasium.

Drive Safe

Season 2010-2011

Welcome to the MUHS Ski blog for the new ski Season. Check out the training schedule for captains practices this November.
Looking forward to seeing everyone at the meeting on Tuesday November 9th @ 7pm.

Snow

Last Saturday's race at Jericho was pretty good. We had some great results despite some really tricky waxing. It was snowing on and off and hovering around 34 degrees. With the really wet stuff, the tracks were icy and slippery, but the new snow was clumping up on skis anytime we hopped out of the tracks. I think that the waxing was about as good as it could be. We had worse skis at practice one Tuesday, with really variable conditions as this new snow blew in. Kind of frustrating, but a reality of skiing in this type of weather and one that we will have to be prepared for at the state meet. The good thing about conditions like these is that everyone is pretty much in the same boat.

We canceled practice today, and there is talk of the state meet being postponed. I will update on that as soon as I know. But I guess its just a matter of being ready for anything.

It sure is pretty outside though.

Blueberry Hill Race

Well it was no easy course last night at Blueberry Hill, a good uphill climb over a 6km course, we had all of our skiers, Varsity and JV do the entire loop, and I think for everyone it was a good experience. Talking with George after the race, he said that the longer distance was hard for him, but the finish line surprised him, coming earlier than expected. Everyone looked strong up the final hill. It was a great day to be out and a really fun and easy race to get to. It was nice to have the convenience of an after-school race and be back before the sun was down. Thanks to Tony for hosting us there, and doing a fabulous job with the new snow, even regrooming the course mid way through for the middle school racers. And thanks to Brian Jerome for organizing the race.

This Weekend

Well,

we're looking ahead to a pretty fun weekend. The race Saturday should be a pretty good one. Which is to say, it will probably be a really good workout, I'm a little nervous about the waxing as the thermometer will be hanging right around 34 with some new snow forecast, that means some tricky conditions.

I think that the whole team is really looking forward to Sunday and Monday. Britta invited the team to make the Bread Loaf to Blueberry Hill ski on Sunday afternoon and then spend the night up there, have a big pasta feed, watch some movies, camp out on the floor. Britta is emailing out the details but the general plan is to take the 1pm shuttle from the green and hopefully be hitting the trail by about 2pm. We'll do it ski tour style with some backpacks with dry clothes and sleeping bags, but the food for dinner and breakfast can be put into Tony's Truck or my car and will magically arrive at the Inn.

Can't wait.

J2 Qualifiers

I'll write quickly about the J2 and Eastern High School qualifiers yesterday at Grafton Ponds. We only had a small handful of skiers there, but the day was pretty successful. It was an early morning and a bit of a long day with two races, but all in all things went pretty well. The coverage was great but the snow was pretty transformed, they haven't had any new snow in a while either, that made the waxing a little harder, but not too confusing. The guys probably ended up on a little slippery skis than I would have liked, but the girls kick seemed pretty dialed in.

For the skate race a little structure in the bases and some fast wax seemed to make for good skis. Everyone seemed pretty happy. Congrats to Will Conlon and Dominique who both qualified for the J2 team. Also Addison Tate and Britta who were named as alternates the the J2 and Eastern High School Teams respectively, both just missed qualifying outright by only a couple of seconds, and skied some really fabulous skate races to push themselves into solid contention.

All in all it was a nice day, sunny in the morning but getting colder throughout the day. By the time results were posted I think everyone was pretty antsy to get into warm cars.