Quebec Ski Camp: Unintentional Video Documentation by Coach Sara

Yesterday afternoon we all piled into two vans back in Cambridge, filled the back with lots of thanksgiving food and such (side note: the U.S.S Party Van is obviously the superior van of the two. We have... a. Spice Girls, b. Whatcha say... and best of all c. Lady Gaga). Everyone got some much-needed sleep on the way up and Tor somehow managed to sleep the entire drive, except when we stopped for pizza (of course). Today we got on snow for the first time all year! It was amazing! The loop we're skiing on is pretty short, but snow nonetheless, and everybody had a great day with two long skis+lunch+some other technique and stuff. Here's some clips from the day, taken by sarah, who was decieved by my camera into thinking she was taking photos. We ended up with approximately 50 random videos from the viewpoint of sara getting chased by sharks. Here's a sampling:
First try at a Dave McCahill pose group shot (many more videos of this):
(also: Note kevin's tuck)

Played an awesome game of sharks and minnows (or Clare's more appropriate title: seals and polar bears):

Esther and I collided. Her effective tactic was to squish me into a fast-moving Audrey.

And Anika was the most skilled minnow of the bunch, she managed to make it to the final two twice and win once before we all decided to gang up on her, but she still evaded us somehow. I was impressed.

(note the impending crash at the end of this video)
some real photos coming soon,
Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!!!
alena

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!!!!
One day there were a lot of : (leaves) in New England instead of: (snow), so the Harvard Nordic team decided to participate in the World Championship Ski Erg!! The awesome (coaches) procured a spiffy ski erg. And the skiers suffered many kinds of exciting ski erg deaths :-). Like : (Kevin) beating the NH coach. And: (Claire) zipping around the world championship course. The Alaskan: (Esther) and the coldplay fan: (Audrey) [sorry everyone else who raced while I wasn't there] also double poled in the World Championships. Cheerio!

Starting the Season Off Right

So far the season has consisted of lots of running and rollerskiing and even more waking up way too early on weekends. Amazingly the latest we've gotten to wake up was for a little road race called the Brian Honan 5k. The team acquitted itself well in the face of hordes of local running junkies. Now to follow: PICTURES!!

Freshman Tony stretching well before the race

And They're Off!!


Me Finishing it off


Tony bringin' it home


Trevor checking his watch moments before the finish


The Mangan Fans watch as Chris and Alena battle to the very end


Audrey Kicking it to catch Chris and Alena

The team (+ a recruit and a gap yearer) after a successful day at the races

In other news, this week is testing. the week has started off right with 2 new team records in the 3k set by myself and freshman Esther. The year is looking up and is just going to get better. Keep checking for many more random and infrequent posts.

Tor

I don't even go to Harvard anymore...

... and therefore probably should have stopped posting months ago like I promised. But this is the only good way to let you all know that Harvard Nordic has no less than eight new team mascots:


Come visit soon!

-Schlutz

The downside to turning 21 overseas:

Your license expires without you realizing, just when you're done working and want to rent a car and travel around the country. But instead of realizing this when I was making a reservation with the rental company, I realized it yesterday, after getting up early and hitching a ride over the mountains to the next town over to pick it up from the airport. After pleading with the rental car lady for about 20 minutes and seriously wondering if I could get a New Zealand license for about 2, I decided to just make a day of it in Queenstown. I proceeded to enter lots of swanky shops wearing my sneakers, dirty jeans, carhartt, and backpacker pack, with which I knocked over several rich Australian tourists by the sale racks. Back in Wanaka last night, I frantically searched for cheap buses that could take me where I'd planned on going. So far I've only found a way to get to the west coast glaciers. The project for the rest of today is to find a way to get to most of the other places I wanted to go, including Arthur's Pass (of Lord of the Rings fame) and Mt. Cook. When I return on the 24th, I'll be getting on a plane back to Boston. I'm excited for the new year with a new team!

On the starting line at the Farm.

On a snowshoe expedition.

Rock climbing in skate boots.

-AM

Another beautiful day...

Thank you, and welcome.

After three moose, four bears, one flip, and a road trip across the country, I'm back on the East Coast. Summer training has been non-conventional (is that a word? I don't know...physicists are bad at English), and tons of fun.


Training....of sorts


Be sure to avoid the dead whale.


It's a rough life.


I succumbed to peer pressure...

Looking forward to seeing all of you in a few weeks. Let's rock things this year. Be sure to say hi to our new freshman when they arrive.

-TP

Life was good today.

Hey there Pterodactyls.

Hope that everyone is enjoying a most lovely summer. With this dreadful economy, typhoon-worthy precipitation, and fasterskier.com becoming harder to navigate than my income tax returns, I've managed to find some time to sit down and blog away.

Rather, I've compiled my summer into a video highlight reel:



For those of you who didn't appreciate country music, consider me your Missionary to the Church of Latter-Day Honkey Tonk.

My summer's been nice. Highlights have been:

1. Finally getting my resume laminated at Kinkos. They reported that it was the most professional looking document to me hand-written on the back of a KFC buffet menu.
2. World-record ascent of Whiteface via running shoes and mountain bike, Midnol-Midnol, 3:37:22. The folks at Guinness World Records have been rather lax in returning my repeated voicemail messages.
3. Coaching delightful kids. If you've never coached 6-12 year olds, do it. Just make sure to carry a bullhorn loudspeaker at all times, and wash your hands repeatedly.
   

I'll wager you all thought that graduating from college could never be so fun.




So be well, do good work and come back often.


D