CRMS/VMS Tele Weekend Extravaganza!

This weekend we re-wrote the record books in tele team history—largest student tele posse amassed on one mountain-- 60 students ripping on telemark skis!!! We invited the Vail Mountain School Telemark Team to join us for a weekend packed with a Highland bowl hike, mogul competition, high stakes broomball tournament, and sprint classic race at Sunlight Mtn. Also, born from the weekend were: potential longest human GS course known to man, a new standard in being ejected from the rappleche (banked turn) in sprint classic, hardest digger in front of a judging panel, most competitions completed with a tree branch as a pole, best shirtless run with a backpack in competition, a potential romance or two, and some new friendships.

The fun began on Friday at Highlands. We amassed in the morning for introductions and an explanation of the day. We were psyched for the opportunity to share some turns with not only VMS, but friends in our CRMS instructional tele groups as well. We soon broke into groups based on ability and desired terrain selection and hit it hard skiing all over the mountain in the morning. Some focused on bumps, others perfected their turns on groomers, and the hard-chargers decided to test their legs (and lungs) in the bowl.

It was exciting to share and show off our mountain to a new crew. Going up the lift, one of the VMSers kept asking, “Is that the bowl?” Nope. You see it at the top, and you’ll know when you see it. “Wow! Sweet!” As we got off the lift at the top of Loge Peak, it loomed before us. An impressive site even to those who have seen it a thousand times before. Today, flanked in blue sky and with fresh snow, recent enough to see each individual track on some aspects. With such a large group, we decided to forgo the first ten minutes of the cat and do the whole hike. What ensued was a surprisingly quick hike for such a large group on a gorgeous, bluebird day. No complaints from this crowd, as we all knew of the prize that lay ahead.

Gearin’ up and strippin’ down

Oh yeah!

Peter eyes the snowfield as others delayer

The VMS ladies begin the journey

Aisha falls into rhythm

JJ Worley and Peyton Heitzman admire the scenery

Meghan gives it her game face

The ladies, killin’ it!

Kelsey Bohanon proudly displays her hard work

with a well-executed snot-rocket

VMS all smiles!

Hannah Horn cools off before the final ascent

Woohoo!

The final push!

Grady and Aisha chill at the top

VMS coach Mike and his athletes

The crew at the summit with Pyramid Peak

and the Maroon Bells in the background

Charlie Boyne puts on his skis in front of

Mt. Hayden and the Five Fingers Ridge

We chose a continuous line in the G zone, straight down from the peak. The VMS crew charged! They set out in a tight pack—we were impressed! CRMS wasn’t far behind, either, as all of us yelped at the pure sickness of skiing chopped up pow in the bowl in a group of 23 young freeheelers.

VMS skiers charge the bowl

Grady Lenkin with a picture-perfect turn

After a quick lunch we regrouped for a mogul competition on Scarlett’s. Coaches from both teams judged all athletes on technique, continuity, and overall impression. Great skiing from everyone! In the end, sweet potato fry bribes to coaches at lunch ended up not actually being the deciding factor of the results. Female VMS skier Riley Evel emerged victorious with her consistent, energetic, beautiful skiing. Luke Falcone got huge props from the judges for his back flip but was unable to keep it together further down the course. Peter Madigan also skied impressively (bare-chested with a backpack) but amassed an ungodly amount of negative points for spraying the judges. Most impressive, however, were the efforts of our newer skiers, who showed determination and moments of brilliance on a long bump run.

Here’s Peter’s take on the afternoon:

Nom. Nom. Nom. Nom. Nom.

I scarfed down the over-priced lunch from the Merry-Go-Round Lodge and ate up a few assorted mushed snacks I found in my backpack, absolutely psyched for the FIRST ANNUAL CRMS VMS BUMP COMPETITION AT ASPEN HIGHLANDS. Well maybe not absolutely psyched. My legs ached from hiking and skiing the bowl, trying to keep up with the ripper VMS team and, to put it blatantly, who ever wants to ski bumps? The venue loomed over us as we ate, making me savor every deep-fried bite of chicken and every moment I wasn't using my legs.

I rode up the lift to the top of the venue with a few bits of my not-quite-finished lunch in my jacket. Rumors were spreading about the activities in store that night: butter churning, underwater-basket weaving, and sled building, to name a few. Once I got to the top for the pre-run, I could already feel my legs burning. I stopped part-way down to check out the jump and to see if the landing was fixable. Luke, Kayo, and I got to work digging and kicking out the moguls in the way. Then the shenanigans began.

Shirtless skiers, twisty-twisty-spreads, and cra-azy backflips, along with some gnarly bump lines, filled the rest of the day. Then the two teams put aside their differences and formed the world's biggest telemark human slalom ever attempted. All-in-all, a pretty sweet day.

Juan Pablo presides over the judges booth

Coach Dan Pittz looking for the perfect run

Former tele teamer Steve Roh holds court in the finish

Bump comp winner, Riley (left) and more of her VMS crew

Sunny and Jae Young enjoy the bump comp.

Below, Yang gets in on the action

Lynn and Bru make it out for the big event!

The best comic relief of the day belonged to VMS skier Nicole, when she caught an edge right in front of the judges. She augured into the snow pretty hard with this show-stopping move, but was a great sport and able to laugh it off! Finally, we finished off the day by amassing all 60 students and coaches for a human GS course that stretched from the Merry-Go-Round restaurant at mid-mountain all the way down to the bottom of the hill. Great practice for Saturday’s sprint classic!

The crowd gathers for the start of the human GS

Peter Madigan improvises for aerodynamics in the course

The day didn’t end there, however. After a quick dinner in the Bar Fork, VMS presented a summer program they have developed involving travel and service work. We then piled into Fat Boys (our busses, not a fat student, as a VMSer thought!) and hit the Carbondale ice rink for a huge broomball tournament, bonfire, and smores. (As Peter hinted at, we hadn’t previously told VMS what the evening’s activity was going to be). VMS then slept in our gym and joined us for the sprint classic on Saturday.

SUNLIGHT SPRINT CLASSIC!

Saturday morning seemed to arrive too soon for many! We were a tired crew after all of Friday’s excitement, but pulled it together for a strong showing at the Sunlight Mtn. Sprint Classic race. Wait, what’s sprint classic again? It’s a unique telemark event that is the only tele event to have a world cup circuit. It consists of a giant slalom course with a jump mid course, a 180 banked turn near the end, and an uphill skating section. Racers are required to clear a certain point off the jump and land in the telemark position, or they accrue 2 second penalties for both failing to clear the distance and for failing to land in the telemark turn. Athletes also accumulate 2 second penalties for every gate they do not telemark turn around.

The following is Luke Falcone's perspective on the day:

Spandex...check. Gates...check. Jump...check. Reipeløkke...what?

Along with our new VMS buddies the crew took on a Classic race. We may not have been decked out in the full gear some of the other racers were pulling off, but we were able pull out some pretty impressive results. Beyond a few scary moments (umm Peyton catching air off the turn... or Charlie and Gandalf) we had a lot of fun. For many of us this was our first introduction to this traditional event. Personally, I was a little intimidated. We all woke up, bright eyed and bushy tailed, to a blue bird day. All just ecstatic about our early start of course. Showed up on the venue only to see some National Team members absolutely slaying the course, launching probly the most ridiculous airs I have ever seen. These guys are nuts. The CRMS crew held their own, even in a field so strong, and had a great day in the sun. I think we all prefer the steeps to the gates, but no complaints here. It was great meeting up with so many people passionate about the sport and hanging out with the huge (and talented) VMS crew.

The coaches were incredibly impressed with the team’s effort today and the overall comfort every athlete showed in the course. This is certainly a discipline in which we don’t often train. Luke missed the podium by four hundredths of a second in his age division and Gracyn placed third in the older women’s division. The team also convinced Meghan to race. As an ex-alpine racer she had quite a competitive advantage and ended up posting the fastest women’s time of the day.

A huge thanks to all the athletes and coaches from both teams for making this such an unforgettable weekend! The CRMS athletes were gracious hosts and VMS went out of their way to make the trip and approached the weekend with full enthusiasm! Hopefully this is the beginning of a new telemark team tradition!

A pretty mellow scene at the start

Peter visualizing his run… or maybe sleeping?

Jared Carlson… the finish line so close!

Luke Falcone styles the rappleche

Peter polling hard for the finish

Kelsey Bohanon starting to feel the leg burn about now

Aisha eyes the last few turning gates

Kelsey Freebird gets some sprint air!

Hannah lines up the jump

Meghan proves flair can be fast

Gracyn looking smooth

Weaver and Charlie put the “team” in

tele team and finish together

Weaver arcin’ it

Charlie, aka Gandolf, shredding through the Shire….

…distinguishable by his friend “Woody Allen”

Juan P comin’ in hot!

Peyton and JJ enjoy the spectator scene

Thorne shows nice technique in the gates

Meghan and Gracyn share the podium

RESULTS:

Athlete, Time (Place)

Women’s Age 13-17 Division

Riley Evel (VMS) 3:08.06 (1)

Nicole Byrne (VMS) 3:33.86 (5)

Sydney Idzikowski (VMS) 3:41.15 (6)

Elizabeth Graves (VMS) 3:49.81 (7)
Emily Vandoni (VMS) 3:50.49 (8)

Ellen Edgerton (VMS) 3:50.85 (9)

Kelsey Bohanon 3:52.97 (10)

Aisha Weinhold 3:54.37 (11)

JJ Worley 4:06.48 (12)

Sierra Brill (VMS) 4:07.38 (13)

Rebecca Wirth (VMS) 4:08.34 (14)

Hannah Horn 4:24.06 (15)

Peyton Heitzman DNF (shortcut over rappleche didn’t work out)

Kelsey Freeman DSQ (outsmarted timing system)

Women’s 18-45 (Cougars) Division

Meghan Detering (CRMS) 2:59.68 (1)

Ellie Knust (VMS) 3:37.33 (2)

Gracyn Overstreet (CRMS) 4:30.87 (3)

Men’s Age 13-17 Division

Jordan Goldstein (VMS) 2:43.88 (2)

Luke Falcone 2:46.56 (4)

Peter Madigan 3:03.02 (6)

Grady Lenkin 3:23.54 (7)

Simon Knobel (VMS) 3:26.65 (8)

Jared Carlson 3:34.35 (9)

Marshall Thompson (VMS) 3:34.88 (10)

Ian Reed (VMS) 3:40.14 (11)

Charlie Boyne 3:44.71 (12)

Thorne Warner 3:49.41 (13)

Tanner Shelden (VMS) 3:57.50 (14)

Andrew Wright (VMS) 3:58.38 (15)

Drew Verratti (VMS) 4:01.23 (16)

Chase Hansen (VMS) 4:01.38 (17)

Weaver Froelicher 4:10.41 (18)

Connor Peck (VMS) 4:14.73 (19)

Men’s Age 18-45 Division

Juan Pablo Alcocer 4:43.06 (7)

Silverton!

Some kind of Telemark Team adventure every season is a MUST. The last two years it has be the Salomon Extreme Freeride Series in Taos. At other times it has been Telemare Extreme Freeride Nationals in Crested Butte. Going farther back it has been USTSA Extremes in Jackson Hole Wyoming, or the year we did a competitive Telemark interim to compete big mountain in Utah and then fly to the Mad River Glen Telemark Festival in Vermont.

This year that adventure was to be California but it fell through due to the high price of the comp. To replace it we thought we would pave some new terrane and put together an epic adventure that was non-competitive. The result: Take the crew to Silverton during the guided skiing season and snow camp the night before. This would provide the ultimate big mountain skiing experience while also giving the team a window into backcountry skiing techniques and avalanche awareness in a controlled setting.

We began preparing at the beginning of the week with an intro to why Avalanches occur and what to do if you are caught in one on Monday. On Tuesday we spent the day working on steep skiing skills at Highlands. Wednesday was an avalanche recovery demo by Meghan and myself and then time to pack and prepare, and Thursday was more steep skiing skills and a beacon recovery contest. Working with the guides at Silverton will provide the window into avalanche minimization, terraine choice, and group management in the backcountry.

Of the Week Leading to Silverton Aisha Says:
href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1SOQN5NW2VQ/S1OnB7qTllI/AAAAAAAAGEU/Wf4jbZnsPCA/s1600-h/DSC_0034.JPG">
"Wow...I sure hope that we dont get caught in any avanlanches!
For the last couple days we have been learning everything about avalanches from the hoars that live in them to how to use a beacon to find our friends. We started off watching Meghan and Kayo find our long-time pal “Larry” who was unfortunate enough to be buried in the CRMS soccer field under a freak avalanche from Red Hill. Luckily, we were able to find him quickly and in style (as always).

Besides the soccer field drills, weve have some on mountain training too. On Tuesday we shredded the gnar gnar and on Thursday we were fortunate enough to do some more avalanche training along with some CRAZY skiing. My group definitly found our avalanche victim first!

Peter Madigan, JJ Whorley, and Kelsey Lewis pinpoint their victim.

Kelsey Bohannon, Peyton Heitzman, and Juan Pablo Alcozer racing against the clock.

Hannah Horn searching for a signal.

We are all SUPER stoked to ski Silverton though. Very few of us have ever done anything like this before so we'll all just jump in with both feet and hope for the best. But I dont know if were more excited about sleeping in a snow cave or the actual skiing..."

Friday 1/15/10 Kayo Writes:
"The adventure begins Friday morning. We all meet in the Barfork at 8, eat breakfast, pack lunches, pack the bus and Suburban, drop Amelie off at school, and head to Hell Roaring Ranch for firewood. I manage to immediately get the bus stuck in driveway. As most of the crew works on getting the bus unstuck, the crew in the Suburban chops firewood. When we get back down to the bus, it is still deeply stuck so I take the suburban back up to the ranch to get a chain. As I get in to come back to the bus, the suburban won't start. Oh man... is this trip going to be a disaster? We spend another 20 minutes trouble shooting this with my dad. He quickly improvises by poring gas directly in the carberator to give it a bit of fuel to get started and we finally get it going. At the crack of 10:30 we leave the ranch, Silverton bound!"

Red Mountain Pass... the final stretch.

Kelsey Freeman Writes:
"If getting a fatboy stuck in a snow bank was a fun experience, we could tell this was going to be a fun trip. After a four hour long bus ride, in which everyone slept in various positions, played all kinds of music from bluegrass to hiphop, and did homework quietly (hmm... not really), we found ourselves a spot to build our snow city.


A local fur trapper.

Charlie Boyne prepares for battle.

Can I kick it...YES YOU CAN

The plan was to build a snow trench that would fit all 19 of us, and much to my surprise, it actually worked. Our “Hilton Inn” was about five feet tall with skis, poles and tarps for a roof.


"We shall build here."

Laying out the foundation.

The Living Room and Kitchen

Packing the foundation of the Chalet.

Since the snow pack is thin and we can't just did in, we begin to pile.

Gracyn Overstreet digging in.

Kelsey Bohannon using a Jedi Mind trick to keep a sugar snow block from disintigrating.

Finished Pile! We line up to make sure it will sleep 20.

Excavating the center in the last light.



After construction, we had time to snuggle up by our fire and eat some dinner. Of course, we had intense rounds of the frog game, telephone, and a particularly heated game of mafia.

Kelsey Lewis and Kelsey Bohannon serving up some mean burritos.







ORMS!

CRMS!

The Theory of Relativity?


When it came time to load up all of our warm layers and inhabit the snow cave, everyone seemed fairly excited. Contrary to what we might have imagined, it looked like we were actually going to be warm. And the tea candles that we arranged along the walls added heat as well as a decorative ambionce. So we snuggled up in our sleeping bags, ready to shred some gnarliness in the morning."

Thorne Warner, Kelsey Lewis, and Adam Hobby hunkered in "the south end" of the Chalet.

A view of the rest of the cave. The walls are lit up with tea candles, which would also raise the ambient temp. The roof consists of ski beams, ski pole cross hatches, and a tarp cover.


Saturday 1/16 Kayo writes:
Out of fear of my watch freezing, I kept it on my wrist rather than hanging it from the top of the snow cave and as a result I never heard the 6 AM alarm Saturday morning. We all got 45 minutes of extra sleep as a result and at 6:45 we scrambled out of the cave, broke down camp and bought the two bakeries in Silverton out of all breakfast burritos and baked goods and proceeded up to the base of Silverton mountain.

For many, this adventure would serve as an introduction to big mountain and steep skiing so we divided up the crew into two groups: a less experienced crew and a more experienced crew. Sadly, two folks had to drop out at that point: Adam Hobby's subluxed knee had given out for a third time as we tried to get the bus unstuck at the ranch, and Jared Carlson who had begun feeling sick the night before. Both were great sports and hunkered into the bus and the base yurt for the day.

For the experienced crew the day would revolve around one big hike to get out to terrain that had yet to see ski tracks. Basically we would hike into terrain that normally only gets acessed by heli drop. To get their we hiked about 15 minutes up the main peak above the chair and droppped into a south/east facing coular called disaster. Dropping into what would by far be the most technical terrain of the day opened some eyes and raised some hairs. The crew, which consited of Kelsey Bohanon, Kelsey Lewis, Aisha Weinhold, Luke Falcone, Peter Madigan, Thorne Warner, Meghan Detering and myself, skiied the mostly still frozen, just starting to corn, “hasn't snowed for a month” rocked pocked coular with remarkable style. It was fantastic to see people dialing in the upper body position and putting all the hop turn drills to work.

Thorne Warner buckling his seatbelt.

Nothing like warming up on the most technical terrain of the day. Aisha Weinhold navigating "Disaster" in fine form...

...and is all smiles as her adrenaline subsides at the bottom.


Did I mention that it was bluebird and HOT? At the bottom of the bowl we stripped down (some of us all the way) to prepare for the two hour hike up the the other side.

Peter Madigan in his ascent attire.

Kelsey Bohannon prepares for the 2 hour climb.


Our ascent began in the trees, wove through a stunning bowl and up on to a windblown ridge for the final push. Aisha said this would be the first Telemark ascent of Everest, and we dubbed each aspect of the climb with Everest land marks.

The Khumbu Ice Fall

The Hillary Step



The summit ridge.

Leaving Base Camp 4

The Final Push


We topped out at about 13,500 feet, snacked in the sun, ate the Beanie Weanies that Dan had surrupticiously put in my pack, and then traversed an upper bowl into a lovely fall-line that had seen no tracks.

Aisha Weinhold, Kelsey Lewis, and peaks of the San Juans make up Luke Falcone's view.

"I knew my pack felt heavy"

Processed chicken and beef parts always taste better when eaten off a sunscreen bottle at 13,500'.

You know you've come to the right place when your guide looks like this.

BD would be proud.


For some, this would serve as Intro to Untracked Powder 101 and we began to drop into the gladed gully one at a time. This was it. This is why we ski, why we hike. The snow, although somewhat tricky as month old snow is prone to be, was mostly like BUTTER. After everyone had schralped the upper glade we enjoyed some gladed trees down to the bottom of the bowl.

Peter Madigan busts out the bag-pipes.

Kelsey Lewis finds the perfect venue for 182 Verdicts.

Face Shots for Aisha Weinhold

Peter Madigan busting out some Beanie Weanie powered turns.

Luke Falcone leaving his fat skied, raised tip signature on the slope.

Kelsey Bohannon milking the last few turns into the valley bottom.

Meghan Detering using the trees to get back to her ski racing roots.


Our group finished the day with one last painful lap up the chair and then down one of the avalanche gullies. By that time we could hardly stand up.

The hike and ski in the background. Left to Right: Luke Falcone, our guide John, Kelsey Bohannon, Peter Madigan, Thorne Warner, Aisha Weinhold, Kelsey Lewis, Aisha Weinhold, Kelsey Lewis, Meghan Detering.

Kelsey Bohannon about to get her tongue frozen to some RAW IRON.


Of her first big mountain skiing adventure JJ Worley Says:
"Looking over the edge of our fist run at Silverston sent a shot of addreneline through my viens. Just like jumping off the divingboard for the first time, you had to commit to the run. Once we dropped in, there was no turning back. Although the snow was maybe not what you would call “prime conditions,” I can say that skiing at Silverton was some of the best skiing I have ever had; certainly it was the most challenging. Looking back up at the run with my legs burning and my entire body aching from numerous crashes, I was super excited to have made it down the rocky, bumpy, and choppy slopes of Silverton (how ever ungracefully)."

Kelsey Freeman inspects a new world record packing job.


The CREW.

CRMS Telemark Crushes the Red Hill Time Trial!

The dryland season came to an end with the 3rd annual Red Hill Time Trial. It was a beautiful bluebird day with a winter chill in the air and snow on the north facing slopes... the perfect setting to step into the hurt locker and get fired up for the winter season.

The men's record of 20.02 was CRUSHED by 2 and 1/2 minutes this year by Luke Falcone!

On the women's front, Aisha Weinhold snuck ahead of record holder Jacklyn LaRoche to take this years women's title.

Across the board the Telemark team gave it their all and ended the dryland season in flying colors.

2009 Results:

Luke Falcone, Telemark 17:30
Max Stevens, Alpine Coach, 18:16
Gus Griffin, Nordic 18:30
Peter Madigan, Telemark 21:09
Ludwig Ragnarsson 21:52
Joy 22:53
Charlie Boyne, Telemark 23:08
Sam Kaufman, Nordic 23:28
Grady Lenkin, Telemark 23:44
Aisha Weinhold, Telemark 23:51
acqueline Larouche, Alpine 24:00
Middle Schooler (Sorry I forgot her name) 24:33
Meghan Detering, Telemark Coach 25:57
Florentina Arthuber, Alpine 26:00
Kelsey Freeman, Telemark 26:05
JJ Whorley, Telemark 27:07
Sam Bell, Alpine 27:34
Peyton Heitzman, Telemark 30:11
Catherine Masters, Alpine 31:07
Emily Bartlomiejczuk, Nordic 31:22
Lilly Reed, Alpine 31:22
Mima Strong, Nordic 31:46
Maggie Devany, Nordic 31:46
Aubrey Mason, Alpine 34:06
Tamsin Pargiter, Nordic 34:18
Michaela Craig, Nordic 34:20
Julia Williams, Alpine 35:04
Coleman Spence, Nordic 36:42

Foam and Plastic are the New Powder

This year we thought we would take a different approach to preseason training by taking advantage of the aerial facility in Copper.

The crew getting an introduction to the facility.


Woodward combines trampolines, ramps, and foampits as a venue to learn the aerial aspects of skiing in a benign way.

Escaping the pits of dispair.


It was a skiers equivalent of Disnyland, and the excitement of the crew was tremendous as we made the transition from skiing Copper Mountain to Woodward.

Getting a feel for skiing on carpet.

Luke Falcone about to drop in on the big ramp.



Unfortunately the day would not finish with out tradgedy. It was heartbreaking to see one of the most enthusiastic members of the team, Evan Marcus, dislokate his knee, and in doing so tear almost every ligament, on a trampoline.

Medals Testing!

Medals Testing is a fitness test and set of criteria set by the US Ski team that allows athletes to monitor growth in fitness and also simply creates a couple days of great work outs.

The test includes:
40 yards sprint (100% = 4.4 sec)
440 (100% = 1 min)
Mile (100% = 6 mins)
Hex Jumps
Box Jumps ( 100% = 110 in 90 seconds )
Sit Ups (100%=65 in 60 seconds)
Push Ups (100% = 90 before breaking rythm)

Previous CRMS Telemark Team Records:
40
440
Mile
Hex Jumps: Men 17.19 sec, Jake Sakson, Women, 21.43, Meghan Detering
Box Jumps : Men 83, Jake Sakson, Women, 57, Meghan Detering
Sit Ups
Push Ups

2009 Results (new records are indicated in pink):

40
Luke Falcone
Kelsey Bohannon
Kelsey Freeman
Weaver Frelicher
Kelsey Lewis
Even Marcus
Aisha Weinhold
Juan Pablo Alcocer
JJ Worley
Charlie Boyne
Peton Heitzman
Peter Madigan
Gracyn Overstreet
Adam Hobby
Hannah Horn
Thorne Warner
Jared Carlson
Grady Lenkin
Meghan Detering

440
Luke Falcone
Kelsey Bohannon
Kelsey Freeman
Weaver Frelicher
Kelsey Lewis
Even Marcus
Aisha Weinhold
Juan Pablo Alcocer
JJ Worley
Charlie Boyne
Peton Heitzman
Peter Madigan
Gracyn Overstreet
Adam Hobby
Hannah Horn
Thorne Warner
Jared Carlson
Grady Lenkin
Meghan Detering

Mile
Luke Falcone
Kelsey Bohannon
Kelsey Freeman
Weaver Frelicher
Kelsey Lewis
Even Marcus
Aisha Weinhold
Juan Pablo Alcocer
JJ Worley
Charlie Boyne
Peton Heitzman
Peter Madigan
Gracyn Overstreet
Adam Hobby
Hannah Horn
Thorne Warner
Jared Carlson
Grady Lenkin
Meghan Detering

Hex Jumps
Luke Falcone 17.56
Kelsey Freeman 26.62
Weaver Froelicher 22.20
Even Marcus 18.56
Aisha Weinhold 20.27
JJ Worley 27.11
Charlie Boyne 17.00
Peton Heitzman 20.10
Peter Madigan 16.47
Adam Hobby 18.97
Jared Carlson 18.17
Grady Lenkin 18.40
Meghan Detering 19.18

Box Jumps
Luke Falcone 83 (tie for record)
Kelsey Freeman 38
Weaver Frelicher 46
Even Marcus 56
Aisha Weinhold 56
Charlie Boyne 60
Peyton Heitzman 30
Peter Madigan 75
Adam Hobby 50
Jared Carlson 61
Grady Lenkin 50
Meghan Detering 68

Sit Ups
Luke Falcone 55
Kelsey Freeman 39
Even Marcus 39
Aisha Weinhold 38
JJ Worley 41
Grady Lenkin 42
Meghan Detering 41

Push Ups
Luke Falcone 30
Kelsey Freeman 21
Even Marcus 27
Aisha Weinhold 10
JJ Worley 40
Charlie Boyne 40
Peyton Heitzman 23
Peter Madigan 41
Jared Carlson 17
Grady Lenkin 55
Meghan Detering 34

Tabata!!!!
(and other visits to the Pain Cave from Week 2 of dryland)

The tabata is a new form of torture that Meghan introduced to the telemark team last season. She learned the work-out her senior year at Bowdoin College from hockey coach Terry Meagher and her own personal telemark consultant, Matt O'Donnell. Simply put, the tabata is brutal. It hits balance, aerobic, and strength conditioning all at once. It might be the fastest route to the pain cave known to man.

The camera can barely capture Aisha's blazing speed at box jumps

Let's paint the scene here for a minute: a large group, spread all over the fitness room, throwing balls against the wall, slamming them into the floor, lunging, doing push-ups, crunches on a bigger ball, balanced squats on a half-ball, and the dreaded box jumps and burpees. Burpees are the demise of us all. They're where the telemark athlete's legs go to die. Laying on the floor on your stomach, jumping as high in the air as possilbe, then hitting the deck only to repeat it all over again. As a team, we've been know to look like we're collectively performing different actions of a simple machine. But on a personal level, it's much more complicated. You start to feel it in the first few sets. Eventually twenty seconds seems like an eternity, but then ten seconds becomes the blink of an eye. It's all about digging deep and not giving up, making the most of the last few reps of every set, as MC Hammer or some bluegrass version of an Ozzy Osbourne song blares in the background. (Different students come up w/ the tabata playlist each week!) All the while, the fitness room gets a little bit warmer and a little bit stinkier with each new exercise.

Tele Team alums Dillon Smith and Sam Stevens show their

love for tabata (and each other) with buddy lunges

But, the telemark team is killing it! We perform 8 different movements at separate stations. Each person stays at a station for 4-8 sets and does 20 seconds on, 10 seconds resting for each movement. We started week 1 with 4 sets and hit 6 sets this week. We'll do one more week of 6 before finishing the dryland season with 8. It's always great to have just finished the first day of it (4 sets), barely being able to stand up, and then hear, "Congratulations! By the end of dryland, you'll do that-- but double!!!" Oh yea, and there's a good chance you'll be sore for the next few days. The tabata is the ultimate sufferfest, but we love it!

In other news this week: SNOW! Lots of it. Probably 5 inches on the ground Tuesday, making for a lovely, wintry, aerobic romp around tick ridge, followed by push-up pyramids in the silent auction tent, and Grady's Abs of Steel work-out in the library. Don't worry, everyone passed the ab test at the end. Kayo dropped a book on everyone's chest and they all bounced a foot in air! We rounded out the week with an equipment fitting session at Bristlecone and game of ultimate in the snow with the alpine team. Our group was bit larger this week, but we're anxiously awaiting the return of our soccer players once their season is over.

Alumni Fueling the Fire...

There are CRMS Telemark Team Alumns out there killing it is so many passionate ways. Here a few on the immediate radar:

Luke Lubchenko, along with help from Nick Malik, Sam Stevens, and Dylan Smith, have started Fort Lewis college's first ever Telemark Club. Rumor has it that 80 people showed interest in signing up. Check them out on Facebook: Fort Lewis Pinheads Telemark Club

Max Mancini is featured again this year in Warren Miller's 60th aniversary movie Dynasty. Also check out a stunning recent article on Max:

http://espn.go.com/action/freeskiing/news/story?id=4527311

In the article is his remarkable recovery from his tragic car accident as well as the story of him starting Life Turns (a program to provide kids -- orphans, cancer patients and paraplegics, among others a week of skiing in Crested Butte).

Nick DeVore continues to make tremendous wakes in the global Telemark world. He is featured again this year in Powder Whore's Flakes (Just got the Telemark Team copy in the mail, we'll be watching it soon!), as well as Sweetgrass Productions movie Signatures.

Jake Sakson makes his debut in the ski movie world in both of these films as well, and he has created quite a buzz as the "New Up and Comer" in the professional Telemark world. We'll be throwing our popcorn at the screen and cheering him on as watch these new flicks as a team.

Thanks to all these folks for fueling the fire on the front lines, but also heartfelt vibes to the hordes of CRMS Telemark Team alumns out there using artistry in Telemark skiing as an analogy for living outstanding, deliberate, and passionate lives.