At the time of this blog post, it is -12 degrees where I am staying in Anchorage. Today I skied at my new stomping grounds at Kincaid Park in what were easily some of the worst, coldest conditions that I have ever skied in: frozen fingers and toes, CH6 acting as a kickwax, a sprint course that is a 1.6k course, and huge gobs of frozen tears. To think that just over a week ago in Vail I was skiing on mulitgrade/violet, and had bomber kick and glide. I remember thinking as I was driving home through the SEVEN FEET OF SNOW VAIL GOT after Mother Earth cried champagne powder, "well, we should be set for a little while and AK will be a doozy."
What a difference a week can make. So what happened? Conditions were still spectacular at Vail on Tuesday! But then came the frigid temperatures on Wednesday, and cold again for Thursday and Friday, and then more cold temperatures, and negative teens over the weekend. Any Nordic skier reading this blog will commiserate with me here. The temperatures we had today are the kind that make you feel sick to your stomach when you walk outside on a December day. It was -32 degrees in norhern Siberia, which ties the previous record low for this date, and believe me when I say that it wasn't much warmer in my sleeping bag last night. The temperatures that I had last week evaporated faster than you could say "snafus."
I suppose I should be pulling my hair out right now... but I'm not. Why? It's December in Alaska, and one doesn't have to look far into the past to realize this is just a cold place. Chance of a slower snow for New Year's Eve? I hope not. Chance of a BIG snowstorm on Friday? Better than this damn cold. Give it another week, and I bet we'll be skiing on VR40 again in perfect tracks. All we have to do is train hard, keep the fire burning, and all will be well.
Keep on keepin' on, and pray for snow and warm(er) tempertaures than here!
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