Another beautiful day at Soldier Hollow, Utah. On Wednesday’s mass starts you always knew where you stood and when to pace with the group and where to recover. With today’s Interval starts, every 15 seconds for the Classic distance races, each racer races themselves, never knowing where they are placing in the race until the last skier comes in. The Utah Nordic Alliance

Click here for Women’s J1/OJ 5k Classic video

Click here for Women’s J2 5k Classic video

Click here for Men’s J1/OJ 10k Classic video

Click here for Men’s J2 5k Classic video

As the storm cleared the skiers headed up the hollow in the lingering wind and clouds at Soldier Hollow, Utah. Using a modified Olympic 5k course, racers found their own on the climbs and descents of this brutal course. Although not quite true, the line around here is that to ski Soldier Hollow, all you need are a strong V1 and a deep tuck  -  and the lungs of a Tibetan yak.

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Click here for Men’s and Women’s OJ 15/10k Skate video

Click here for Women’s and Men’s J1 10k Skate video

Click here for Women’s and Men’s J2 10k Skate video

Soldier Hollow hosted the Classic Sprint rounds on an outstanding spring day in the mountains Utah. Over 400 skiers from across the country merged the club teams into regional teams into one national event this week. Sprint elimination heats were held in the afternoon – video to come.

Highlights of the classic sprint qualifying rounds and heats as can be added:

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Click here for Women’s J1/OJ Sprint Qualifier

Click here for Men’s J1/OJ Sprint Qualifier

Click here for Women’s and Men’s J2 Sprint Qualifier

Click here for Men’s J1/OJ/J2 Sprint Heats

Click here for Men’s Women’s J2 Sprint Heats

Click here for Women’s J1/OJ Sprint Heats

The frontal passage at race start dropped the temperature 15 degrees and brought 25/30 mph winds with new snow, smashing skier’s hopes of setting course personal bests. The downhill corners went from too fast to hold onto during warm-up to requiring skating just to move through the turn to keep going. Favorite overheard comments include Jeremy Teela, about to finish with a three minute lead, turning to the timing crew (or was it his ride home?) on his pass before the stadium loop “Be there in a sec.” …another, “The video makes people look happy; it wasn’t nice out there.” Sit-skier, Lisa Chandler “Wind and icy snow blew in hard. This was my second time sitting in the higher frame, the wind knocked me over twice. Bonus we all got free facials…”

Jeremy Teela (Heber, Utah, US Biathlon) took the lead, followed by Park City’s Tyler Smith (USST NoCo) and third, Fabien Beanfils, Team Azun, France. (Aram Hajiyan, Armenia & Solitude Nordic, posted the third fastest time winning his age group division.) The top women were  Park City’s Roxanne Toly and Stacey McCooey followed by Jen Santoro of Salt Lake City.

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Click here for Wasatch Citizens’ #5 Masters-J3 21k video

Click here for Wasatch Citizens’ #5 J6-J4 and Sit Skiers

21k of WINTER. White Pine of Park City’s “Farm” was groomed just in time for the finale of the Wasatch Citizens’ Series, race #5. A race of heroic skiing into or across the wind. Congratulations to all who competed in the race and in the season’s series. Big congratulations to Ernie’s timing crew and Dave’s organizers. The Utah Nordic Alliance

The Sun Valley Nordic Ski Festival surrounded the Boulder Mountain Tour. The day following the race many TUNA skiers found their way to the Sun Valley Resort trails. Follow these skiers  along the Trail Creek trails as they relax following race day at the BMT.

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Click here for Sun Valley Nordic Ski Festival Skiing

A Hotly contested classic race at White Pine, Park City brought out nearly 200 skiers on a rather dry winter. The track was filled and groomed then filled with skiers. Watch the J3 through Masters compete in a classic race.

Top Men Bill Demong, Barry Makarewics, Fabien Beaufils; Women Katie Ronsse, Emma Garrard, Kelly Milligan

P.S. diagonal skate is not a classic technique.

Click here for Wasatch Citizens’ #4 Masters-J3 11k Classic video

Click here for M&W J6-J4 Sit skiers’ distance races

The Utah Nordic Alliance skiers shifted north to Idaho for the Boulder Mountain Tour. Clear skies allowed for a morning low of -12F leaving cold sharp snow on the track. The Boulder Mountain Tour out of Ketchum is an American Ski Marathon Series race drawing over 900 racers.  Each state combines the top ten skiers from their state and the states compete for the lowest combined time.  Utah was second to Idaho. Top Men: Matt Liebsch, Lars Flora, Nils Koons; Top Women Rebecca Dussault, Morgan Arritola, Chelsea Holmes. Many TUNA skiers visited the Sun Valley Nordic Ski Festival following the race.

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Click here for the 2012 Boulder Mountain Tour video

Click here for Sun Valley Nordic Ski Festival Skiing

Soldier Hollow, Utah hosted the Super Junior National Qualifier races with The Intermountain, Pacific Northwest, Far West, High Plains, and Rocky Mountain Divisions of USSA. Spectacular skiing, venue, and weather. Join in the mega-events by watching:

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Click here for Men’s 15k distance race

Click here for Women’s 10k distance race

Click here for M&W J2 5k distance race

Click here for M&W J6-J3 distance races

Click here for Men’s Sprint Elimination race

Click here for Women’s Sprint Elimination race

Click here for J6-J3 Sprints

More videos …

Click here for W J2/J1/OJ Semi & Final Sprint Heats

Click here for W J2/J1/OJ Quarter Final Sprint Heats

Click here for M J2/J1/OJ Semi & Final Sprint Heats

Click here for M J2/J1/OJ Quarter Final Sprint Heats

This past week-end, Soldier Hollow hosted three sets of races in one day – first time since 2002. The morning 10-starting-waves Wasatch Citizens’ Series race #3 raced in rain then 3 inches of snow, most of which melted inside everyone’s boots. Large structure or wet stonegrinds were the order of the day. Kids and adults both had frozen faces and frozen fingers. A bloody US Nordic Combined skier took a pole plant through his foot adding color to the finish zone. Fletcher, Hendrickson, and Vallet topped the men’s open; Santoro, Garrard, and Toly the women’s open.

The National Guard Western Regional Biathlon Championship followed the Wasatch race in the early afternoon. One TUNA skier skied both races, two other TUNA members skied the biathlon, one for the first time.  A junior Nordic Combined race followed the NG Biathlon, though there is no video for those kids (sorry). 

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Click here for NG Western Regional Biathlon Championship video

Click here for Wasatch Citizens’ #3 Masters-J3 12k Skate video

Click here for Wasatch Citizens’ #3 J6-J4 and Sit Skiers

Beautiful grooming and skiing in the unmatched terrain of West Yellowstone. The Intermountain Division of the USSA held their first Jr. National Qualifier this past week-end. The Utah Nordic Alliance’s young team raced two days of J6 through J1 Sprint Freestyle and Classic distance races. These videos cover the qualifier, quarter, semi, and finals of the Freestyle sprints and highlights of the Classic distance races:  [after each video, hit your browser's return arrow to return to this FasterSkier Blog site and another video - and thanks for watching!]

Click here for J1/OJ Sprint Heats

Click here for J2 Sprint Heats

Click here for J2/J1/OJ Sprint Qualifier

Click here for J3-J6 Sprints

Click here for J2-J1-OJ 5k-10k Classic

Click here for J3-J6 Classic 1k-3k