December 2020
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D ECEMBER 2 0 2 0 , VOL . 2 2 , N O . 3 PICTURE PERFECT: Check out the super shots from the NSAA Photo Contest 4-5 ANCHORAGE: NSAA Solstice Tree Tour: Holiday tradition continues 2 STATEWIDE: Thanking special and tireless volunteers, Linderman and Brann 6&11 MAT-SU: Let’s get ready to Icicle Double! 9 STATEWIDE: Alaskans representing state, communities on U.S. Ski Team 14&16 Anchorage ...... 2 Eagle River ..... 12 Fairbanks ...... 13 Girdwood ....... 7 Kachemak ..... 10 PHOTO BY RUSSELL HOOD Mat-Su. 8 2 DECEMBER 2020 203 W. 15th Ave., #204 Anchorage, Alaska, 99501 Phone — 276-7609 Fax — 258-7609 Anchorage Nordic Skier Hotline — 248-6667 [email protected] Newsletter Of The Nordic Skiing Association Of Anchorage, Inc. The Alaska Ski for Women raises funds for non-profit BOARD MEMBERS AROUND THE BOWL organizations working to stop the cycle of domestic vio- PRESIDENT Safe, festive family fun lence and support survivors. Support an important cause Joey Caterinichio while helping us continue the great tradition of North VICE PRESIDENT at the upcoming Solstice Tree Tour Sara Miller America’s largest women-only cross-country ski event. SECRETARY The NSAA Solstice Tree Josh Niva Stay up to date on the latest event details by visiting Tour has become a popular TREASURER anchoragenordicski.com/events/alaska-ski-for-women/. Claire LeClair holiday tradition in Anchor- MEMBERS Interested in volunteering or supporting the event as a age. This year marks the 5th Tim Stone sponsor? Contact us at [email protected]. Chris Seaman anniversary of the tree-lighting Mike Miller Tim Miller and Winter Solstice celebration Upcoming NSAA Backcountry Ski Tours Will Earnhart at Kincaid Park. The event is Saturday, December 12 — Iditarod National Historic Trail, Turnagain Pass, still on for Sunday, December Kenai Mountains OFFICE STAFF Haley Johnston, Business Manager 13, and sponsors are gearing Tour leader: Mary Vavrik, 907-306-7686; [email protected] Sara Kamahele, Program Manager up their decorations and gen- Sunday, January 17 — Matanuska Glacier from Caribou Creek Heather Liller, Office & Program Admin Tour leader: Joe Meehan, 907-884-2994; [email protected] erators to bring you a festive OPERATIONS STAFF evening of family fun! Find a full schedule and learn more about specific tours Craig Norman at anchoragenordicski.com/programs/backcountry- Bill Brion For the safety of everyone involved, a COVID mitigation Jack Cummins plan is in place and there are changes this year: tours/. Annette Brion Matthew Pauli • The event is RSVP ONLY. Visit the www.anchor- NSAA CALENDAR Peter Zug agenordicski.com/solstice-tree-tour/ to RSVP your family Tyler Norman DECEMBER for a specific time slot. TRAILS • There will be no gathering and participants must stay Wednesday, December 2 — Junior Nordic Session #1 Starts Mike Miller Sunday, December 6 — Biathlon Race #1 moving while on the trail. COMMITTEE CHAIRS • Masks are mandatory. TBA — Ski Jumping: Winter Session Starts TBA — ASD High School Freestyle Snowball Race — Hillside ALASKA SKI FOR WOMEN • Physical distancing is mandatory. Saturday, December 12 — Backcountry Tours: Iditarod National Historic Molly Mylius • There will be no food or beverages provided at the Trail, Turnagain Pass, Kenai Mountains event. AMH ANCHORAGE CUP TBA — ASD High School Lynx Loppet — Kincaid Branden Fontana We want to bring you a festive opportunity for your fam- Sunday, December 13 — AMH Anchorage Cup — Freestyle ily to get outside this season. Please review the full event Sunday, December 13 — Solstice Tree Tour BACKCOUNTRY TOURS Mary Vavrik mitigation plan at anchoragenordicski.com/solstice-tree- Wednesday, December 16 — Biathlon Race #2 tour/ and we’ll see you on the trails! Saturday, December 19 — Besh Cup #1, Kincaid Park BESH CUPS RACE DIRECTOR Sunday, December 20 — Besh Cup #2, Kincaid Park Anson Moxness New season of NSAA Junior Nordics is on Saturday-Sunday, December 26-27 — Mat-Su Icicle Double track for safe skiing, learning, adventures BIATHLON JANUARY Joey Caterinichio, interim NSAA Junior Nordic is a go! Several of our Session One Saturday, January 2 — Biathlon Race #3 HIGH SCHOOL RACING and Session Two groups are at full capacity, including Anson Moxness Russian Jack’s new 4:30 p.m. group. (Check www.anchor- Sunday, January 3 — Biathlon Race #4 TB — Junior Nordic Gear Pick Up for 2nd Session agenordicski.com/junior-nordic/ to see which locations JUNIOR NORDIC Saturday, January 9 — Junior Nordic End of 1st Session Shannon Donley still have openings.) Junior Nordic coaches cannot wait to TBA — ASD High School Skiathlon — Kincaid get out on the trails beginning December 2! MIDDLE SCHOOL RACING TBA — Ski Jumping: Fun Club Competition Diane Moxness There are several changes this season to keep our Sunday, January 10 — AMH Anchorage Cup — Hickok Duathlon skiers and coaches safe and we will be following a strict Monday, January 11 — Junior Nordic Session #2 Starts RACE CHAIRMAN Tim Stone COVID mitigation plan. We will not have our usual “Cookie TBA — ASD High School Bartlett Relay — Bartlett Tour” to sort our skiers, although Great Harvest has Saturday, January 16 — Besh Cup #3, GPRA SCHOLARSHIPS graciously donated a Cookie Coupon for each skier. We’ve Saturday, January 16 — Triflake Winter Triathlon Dan Rosenberg hired additional coaches to ensure small groups, and each Sunday, January 17 — Besh Cup #4 — GPRA SKAN 24 of those groups will be meeting in designated outdoor Sunday, January 17 — NSAA Backcountry Tours: Matanuska Glacier from Geoff and Cathy Wright Caribou Creek areas, no indoor facilities will be available this season. In Wednesday, 20 — Biathlon Race #5 SKI 4 KIDS addition to our traditional Junior Nordic jackets and hats, TBA — Ski Jumping: Fun Club Competition Erin Whitney Witmer each skier will receive a free neck gator this year (which TBA — ASD High School Chugiak Stampede — Chugiak skiers can use as their mandatory face covering). All SKI JUMPING Sunday, January 24 — AMH Anchorage Cup — Classic Karen Compton and Vivienne Murray coaches, skiers and volunteers will be required to com- Saturday, January 30 — Besh Cup #5 — Fairbanks plete a Daily Covid Assessment prior to attending each SKI TRAIN Sunday, January 31 — Besh Cup #6 — Fairbanks Travis Taylor practice. Saturday practices will be staggered this season Find more events at anchoragenordicski.com/calen- to eliminate large groups of skiers. dar/. SOLSTICE TREE TOUR Sara Miller Although there are several changes this season, we have no doubt that we will still have a blast and will suc- TOUR OF ANCHORAGE cessfully achieve our mission which is to instill a lifelong Matias Saari love of cross-country skiing in Anchorage’s youth! NSAA OFFICE HOURS 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday Join us to celebrate the 25th anniversary BOARD MEETINGS of the Alaska Ski for Women Fourth Thursday of the month, The Ski for Women 6:15 P.M. at BP Energy Center is on for 2021! The 4K or NSAA office. Open to all. course will be marked for a weeklong period beginning February 7, 2021. Whether you are a competitive racer or a casual weekend skier, this event is for you. Skiers will have flexible options for safe and fun participation. In keeping with tradition, costumes will be encouraged. the ALASKA nordic skier DECEMBER 2020 ANCHORAGE 3 New season, new jumpers, same frequent nordicthe ALASKA skier flyers and enthusiasm to start the season EDITOR Josh Niva BY ZAK HAMMILL [email protected] NSAA JUMPING PROGRAM COACH NSAA’s Ski Jumping program registration is open, and LAYOUT with that comes new ski jumpers! Each season brings in Kevin Powell curious new skiers from around town who want to give [email protected] ski jumping a try. Cross-country skiers, alpine skiers, and everyone in between eventually gets curious about what AD REPRESENTATIVE it feels like to go off a ski jump. Who can blame them: a Michele Hansen chance to fly through the air with nothing but yourself and [email protected] two long skis. In order to get those new skiers ready for ski jumping LOCAL EDITORS we have to get snow on our jumps. Snowmaking is no easy ANCHORAGE task, and everyone pitches in to make it happen. For us, Josh Niva Hilltop Ski Area is an integral part of our ski community. [email protected] When we first purchased our snowmaking gun, Hilltop’s a luxury that is not often found in many U.S. skiing com- operations crew agreed to not only educate us on how to munities as there are currently less than 20 active ski EAGLE RIVER use it, but also share their water resources and water sys- jumping clubs. Moving into the new season we, at the ski Barbara Johnson tem. Each season they continue to aid us in our snowmak- jumps, are excited as ever to watch the new ski jumpers [email protected] take flight! ing endeavors, and we are very grateful for their support. FAIRBANKS Join us and learn more at anchoragenordicski.com/ Since our skiing community is so strong, we are able Eric Troyer to continue to expose new skiers to ski jumping. This is ski-jumping/. [email protected] JUNEAU Frankie Pillifant A shiny, new edition to NSAA’s grooming fleet: A PistenBully 400! [email protected] KACHEMAK Club and community rally Mike Gracz to bring a new groomer to [email protected] Southcentral trails MAT-SU Christmas is coming a little early Ed Strabel this year for NSAA. A brand new [email protected] PistenBully 400 snowcat will move into the Kincaid Bunker and take over SALCHA as the prime trail groomer. Jim Ostlind NSAA’s Operations team’s fleet is [email protected] aging, and we are planning to re- SEWARD home two of our ‘80s vintage PB 200 Julie Robinson machines.