Hello from a frosty Anchorage, Alaska!  Two huge events takes place in Anchorage this month.  The first event is Alaska’s 50th Anniversay Celebration of Statehood.  It kicks off on Jan. 3rd at the Civic Center (check www.anchorage.net).  The second big event is the one I am most excited about:  US Senior Nationals.  

If you are coming to Nationals and you  haven’t started the travel yet, don’t forget your long underwear.  We are in the middle of a nasty cold front that is sitting over the entire state.   Let’s just be happy we will be racing in Anchorage and not Fairbanks.  As I write this post it is -42 degree F in Fairbanks, way too cold for xc ski racing!  

Several teams have already arrived and Kincaid park is full of skiers testing the courses and preparing for the races.  Conditions at the ski area are really nice with hard pack tracks, cold and humid snow.  Today VR30 kicked well and Zach Caldwell’s cold grind ZR1 worked really well.  Most weather forecast are calling for a brief warming this weekend with a high of 15 degrees F. That should feel like a heat wave after this cold spell!   

For the inside stuff on the Factory Team for Nationals, this is the lineup: Tad Elliot, Lars Flora, Mike Sinnott, Andrey Golovko, Justin Freeman, Kristina Strandberg, Evelyn Dong, and Kristina Trygstad-Saari.  All of us are looking forward to what should be a really good week of racing. 

The Saab/Salomon Factory Team wishes everybody a Happy New Year and we hope to see you out on the trails!