Interim Break--Loveland, Colorado

The team arrived back to campus safely Monday morning, just in time for class. One van with one unnamed driver took a "short cut" through Kansas City. "We wanted to take in the sights...check another state off the list," the driver explained when they realized they had driven about 3 hours out of the way. But not to worry, this van made the most of their experience, taking in the sites, and even avoiding some of the snowstorm along the way. Max Lund chanted, "TO OLD MAIN," for the last 3 hours of the trip, wanting so badly to make it to his first 8am Spanish class of the second semester. Not to worry...he did.

The freshmen were all participating in the tradition of the Tight Flight. One where all of the freshmen on the team are "strongly encouraged" to wear their GS suits on the ride home. Rules being they must 1) wear it the entire way, 2) accept any ridicule given by gas station workers or restaurant waiters (not to mention teammates), 3) keep it zipped up. The tradition has been kept alive for years now.


To the right is Joe Masciopinto, Alex Anderson, and Nate Hansen (left to right in GS suits) at Subway in Kansas. The Subway employees were so excited when Nate asked to have their photo taken with them that they wrote down their names and asked to be tagged on facebook. Famous.

To the left, Gordon Finnegan at a Subway/Gas station in the middle of Nebraska. This is before (or after) two gas-station-going-ladies told him he was "so cute!" and that they wished they could "take him home with them."

But even before we got to the ride home, we skied. Three full days of training, three days of racing for some, two for others, and some "steezing" and shredding of the gnar. Joe Paul, a coach from Afton who helped us out for the week, set some great courses and worked closely with all of us. We were able to get in a bunch of good training. Everyone felt like they improved quite a bit, and have lots of confidence going into the last month and a half of our season.

The group that traveled to Taos, New Mexico for the FIS-U race had a great experience. We learned a lot from watching these amazing athletes, and ripped through the rutts that accumulated at the back of the pack. Here are a couple of pictures from our time there...
The hill.

Max Lund.

Jeff Stamp. Kayla Johnson.

Genette Sekse. Joe Paul. Nick Stang.


Back at the USCSA race at Loveland, St. Olaf represented! A two day slalom race allowed us to hone in on our midwest specialty. Nate Hansen had a top ten finish on Saturday, and Genette Sekse a top five finish on Sunday. We enjoyed competing in a new field, and were pushed hard on the ice-injected hill and tough courses. The girls' team (sans Alex) celebrating a week's success both on and off the hill is captured below...


We appreciated the visits from 2009 alum Calista Anderson, who is currently living in Breckenridge, Colorado. The team loved being reunited with Cal, and learning all about her new park-going, steezing, tricky ways.

The team continues to get closer and closer both on and off the hill. We're spending this week preparing for Regionals next weekend at Marquette. The top two teams will continue on to Nationals at Sunday River, Maine the first week in March. We'll keep you posted on our results. Thanks for your continued support!