Saturday, August 27, 2011

Alaska Glacier Camp and Camping Trip

There are so many pictures from our camp, I can't possibly post them all, but I need to start somewhere. Below are some pictures from our week at Eagle Glacier and Chandra and my post Glacier camping trip in Seward. We had an awesome camp, the first Women's Training Camp I have ever been a part of, and the skiing on the glacier was great. Thanks to the USST Coaches who were a part of making this happen and to APU and Eric Flora for hosting it! More photos coming, but here is installment #1.



















It's a girls camp, so yeah, we got along pretty well!












Skiing on the glacier was incredible. The grooming was bomber every day thanks to the endless work of Casey and Mike.














HELICOPTER!!!! Thats the beauty that flew us up to the glacier. Keith and Deb, the owners of Alpine Air and their employees are so friendly and are an incredibly amazing group of people. Chandra and I actually got stranded in Girdwood, AK on our way back from camping in Seward the following week and ended up spending a night in the hangar! So cool! Keith even took us out to Sushi! Talk about hospitality!














Corey and I really enjoying our first helicopter ride!!!












And Sadie, really enjoying some chocolate bread pudding!














Hard not to smile on a sunny day up here. It is really, really beautiful.












Dance party lead by Jessie Digging and Chandra Crawford. Kikkan won the award for most into it, though, I'd have to say. I mean, look at that party outfit you see all the way at the end of the line! DAMN GIRL!














Chandra and Matt putting on a little sing-a-long for us non musicians.














A bit hard to see, but the glacier is pretty big. There are about 8K of trails with good climbs and fun downhills.















After the glacier, most of the group headed down the next night to camp on a gravel bar at the bottom of a glacier in Seward. We checked out Mt. Marathon with the champion from this year, our very own Kikkan Randall, and oh how I wish I had pictures to show you all. It was the craziest uphill scramble I have ever been on and an even crazier decent. I would try to describe it, but I will have to just post a video when I get one, because you wont understand the amount of crazy you have to be to race this race. No offense Kik, but seriously. After a great night of camping with the team and checking out the glacier in the morning, Chandra and I headed out on a rainy run called Lost Lake. It was beautiful, despite the cold drizzle and at times downpour, and we even made it back a minute before the gym showers closed!!! YES!!!



















Chandra and I stayed a night at a place called Kayakers Cove, which was a 45 minute ferry ride off the coast of Seward. It was one of the most relaxing days I have spent anywhere in a long time. We arrived in the pouring rain to these cute little cabins and after meeting the other guests and caretakers, decided a short lay down would be good. We ended up taking a 2 hour nap, which is basically unheard of from me, but rain on a tin roof is the ticket to relaxation, for sure. When we woke, we decided to fire up the wood fired sauna with the caretakers and ran back and forth from the ocean to the sauna for the better part of an hour. It was amazing.














We did a cool Kayak tour of the shoreline the next morning, and it actually stopped raining for most of the time we were out, which was a nice bonus. Such beautiful sights, the water was tropical blue colored and the cliff walls were enormous, not to mention the waterfalls. I'd come back here in a heartbeat, but next time with a fishing pole, as our caretaker showed us how easy it was to catch a salmon from her kayak!