| Nordic Skier Kati Christoffel Blogs her New Zealand Experience |
| Wednesday, 21 October 2009 05:22 |
 Freshman Kati Christoffel This summer has been a great skiing summer for me. I traveled all over to train, and had a great time. In mid-July, I flew from Boston to Presque Isle, and stayed at the Farmhouse in Caribou for a week while I trained with Will Sweetser and Maine Winter Sports Center. While not exactly a five-star hotel, the Farmhouse was still a fun place to stay; it’s got a lot of character. The first night I was there,Will, some of the other MWSC athletes, and I all went swimming in a lake somewhere up near Caribou, then did some excellent yoga led by Sarah, Will’s wife. The rest of the week’s training consisted of lots of rollerskiing with technique work, running and hill bounding, and strength work. The days fell into a good routine: wake up, eat, go train in the morning, then come back to the Farmhouse and shower and eat lunch. In the afternoons we chilled out by watching a movie, napping, or going to Wal-Mart to buy more Poptarts, then at 4 it was back outside for some strength training. The last day that I was in Maine, I traveled down to Acadia National Park and did some hiking with Hannah, Chandra, and Justin. We hiked Beehive Mountain, which wasn’t a very long hike but it was still really cool. Parts of it we were actually non-technical rock climbing! They say Acadia is really beautiful. I’m sure it was, but it was such a foggy day that all we could see was miles of fog. We’ll have to go back to take in those spectacular views! I learned a lot, and met some really great people, and had a great time. Northern Maine is a beautiful place to be, and I can’t wait to go back! After a week or so at home, I packed up my spandex and skis and jetted off to Wanaka, New Zealand for two weeks of pristine on-snow training at the Snow Farm. New Zealand is an absolutely incredible place. I’m completely surrounded by huge, rugged mountains everywhere I look. The people here are so nice, and the food is delicious! The Snowfarm is a really cool place to ski. First of all, they’ve got snow in the middle of summer! And the snow is incredible. Generally perfect blue-extra kick all the time! It’s a very different place to ski than anywhere back in the Northeast, though. It’s on top of a mountain, so to get there you have to drive up a really gnarly dirt road that switchbacks crazily up the mountain. The trails are only marked with fences- there are no trees anywhere in sight! The first few days that I was there, so was the US Ski team! It was really cool skiing by Andy Newell and Liz Stephen. I actually got to meet Kris Freeman, and watched TV with Newell! They’ve left now, but there’s still a lot of world-class athletes staying and skiing here. There are every level of nordic skier here, from first-time skiers to junior development kids to master-blasters to Olympic athletes. I’m so lucky to be able to be here and share the trails with everyone. Right now, it’s raining in Wanaka, so hopefully that means that it’s snowing up at the Snowfarm. The weather is kind of strange down here too. The Snowfarm is so much higher in elevation than Wanaka, so their weather is totally different. As you’re driving up the access road, it looks like fall or snow-less winter, and then you hit the snow line and boom! it’s winter! They hardly ever get snow in town, only up in the mountains. I’ve got a week left here before I have to sit on an airplane forever and go home, and along with skiing, I’m hoping to do some crazy New Zealand things, such as bungee jumping! Then I’ll be back up in Maine for the start of school. |