Hello from Overtornia, Sweden!!  We had a very busy day of traveling and skiing at some amazing places that we will see later on this week for the races.  After leaving Yllas and its 300km of trails we drove south along the Tornio River Valley that borders Sweden.  About half way down the road we arrived at Pello which will be our 3^rd race in our 4 race series.  The race organizers plowed a huge area for the spectators and the 600+ racers that will be there.  We classic skied the course but soon realized that we had the technique wrong.  We had thought that it would be classic classic skate skate for the 4 days respectively but it was reversed. Once we had that clarified we continued to classic.  The course will be amazing.  There is a lot of rolling terrain and curvy screaming downhills. After our ski in Pello we continued south to our current town, Overtornia and we checked into our little cabins that we have rented.  With the cars unloaded and skis packed into our entry way we headed off to the race venue in on the other side of the river in Finland where we will be racing on Monday.  All the courses and ordering are beginning to blend together but our race tomorrow is the only unfamiliar course so it’s nice having some memory of the races ahead.  The course here in Overtornia is a 2.5km course that the guys will ski 4 times and the girls twice.  It should be thrilling yet very very tiring, but luckily it is the last race and the last race for the entire ski season!!!! Its amazing to think about that the 2012 ski season is almost over. What an incredible time I have had with some amazing people.  We have a busy day tomorrow, that’s all from Sweden!

Wish us luck!

-Neill Toelle  

Crossing the Arctic Circle for the third time. 

Kira in the "wax area" at our third location. We are now staying in Overtornia.

Neill lunging the line in stadium in Overtornia- location of last race.

Day 8- April 4^th, 2012  - A day on the “slopes”

               Today was my favorite day so far on our trip. We are still in Yllas, Finland enjoying the 300k + of trails at our leisure. After an exciting night of sparking last night we were ready for more adventures. Waking up a little groggy, we drove our three cars and ten people to the bottom of the down-hill slopes to start our easy classic ski. The trail head we started at sits at the base of the tree-line in very Alaska looking trees (small and wimpy.) We started climbing right away and wound our way around the mountain a little and up above tree line. The view was simply breathtaking and well worth the climb. The best part still to come through.

We reached the top, regrouped and prepared for our trip down the other side. My nerves were starting to act up a bit, but I have always loved down-hill skiing, so it couldn’t be much different than that right? Boy, was I wrong. The down-hill started gradually, winding through a snow crevasse – bordered by avalanche warnings, always a good sign… We all took it pretty hesitantly then the very steep part came, it was all open and pretty much a straight bomb run on down-hill skis- but to our luck, cross-country skis lack proper edges. Just slight, fast curves brought us to the bottom in what seemed less than ten seconds. It was a pretty fun run and we all waited at the bottom. Then Nick came down and told us to do it again, good practice for the races. Some of us were not as excited as others about repeating the experience. After my first run I was indifferent.

We headed back up, doing quite an impressive duck walk I must say. At the top we took a breather, and we headed back down. I was the first to go, eager to go faster than the last time. I tucked the whole top portion, gaining speed quickly and dropped off the edge to the “luge” portion of the steep down-hill. I flew past Nick taking pictures on the side of the trail, and was getting too much speed. At this point snow plowing would only make me fall so I just kept on going. I went screaming past Erica and Jenny on one of the curves and got too close to the edge of the trail and the soft snow pulled me right in. I was going down and there was nothing I could do about it. My knees sank first, then my hips, then my face was the next point of contact to the snow. I was in full force white wash and snow went up everywhere creating the illusion of swimming in snow- somewhat violently. When I came to my resting spot, I climbed out of the hole I had made for myself and looked around. Erica and Jenny were laughing so hard, Eliza was heading down behind me snow plowing and I had come to stop ten feet in front of a Finish couple who had looks of terror on their faces.

I could not stop laughing and was cheering the rest of my team on as they came down the hill. We all regrouped at the bottom and I was giddy with laughter. Absolutely best part of any ski I have ever been on. Full on down-hill skiing wipe out and it was great. I again led the way down the rest of the hills. Weaving in and out of beautiful trees and scenery while working on our downhill skills on somewhat more gradual slope while still very exciting. We stopped at a café to re-wax our skis and skied the 6k back to our apartment. The ski was exciting, good practice, and one that I will remember for a very long time.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning, packing, prep waxing our skis and relaxing for our travel day tomorrow. Yllas has been a great host to us these past four days. The trails have been amazing and we only wish that we could spend even more time here. 

Neill, Kira and Eliza at the top.

Linky representing!

The hill!!!! 

Ema looking great on her way down

Neill enjoying the view

heading back up for round two

Claire heading down

Linky working on her down hill skills

Pictures for Eliza's blog, sorry the internet here in Yllas is not the best and keeps quitting on us.

On our long ski home from the down-hill slope. Which way is home??

The cafe we stopped at on our way home.

Sitting around the fire with our hot coco and pancakes 

Erica and Mikayla went down-hill skiing

Erica

Tree monsters...

Reindeer Neill

Sparking, greatest sport ever. Ema and Eliza

Neill and Kira Sparking in the parking lot.

Pictures for Ema's Blog

Checking out the start and finish for one of the races in Yllas.  Ema, Claire, Kira, and Eliza

Wax removal after the Classic Sprint In Kallix

Claire on top of our roof

Yllas Down-hill and cross-country ski trails

Claire and Kira- Classic Sprint- Kalix, Sweden

Neill meeting his lunge across the line competitor. 

Enjoy!!

Day 6 4/2/12

We are now in Akaslompolo Finland which is right near Yllas. We arrived last night and the six athletes which now includes Eliza are staying in a cabin right off the ski trails. There are over 300Km of ski trails here that go from town to town and have trail side cafes all along them. You could pretty much ski anywhere here! Unfortunately this was our off day so only Nick and Eliza got to go skiing. Nick said this was one of the five best skies of his life, so we are all excited for skiing tomorrow. We spent the afternoon exploring Yllas which is a small, kind of spread out, touristy, both downhill and cross country ski town. Our big excitement for the day was finding a reindeer Farm and trying to communicate with the owner that we were from Alaska and were looking for a reindeer halter for Neill’s reindeer. He didn’t speak any English and we don’t know any Finnish so he called a friend and she translated for us. In the end he ended up just giving Neill an old one of his to take home. We all thanked him profusely in Finnish which is pretty much all I can say so far. Today was just a relaxing day hanging out doing some homework and exploring a new town. It was a bit sad being in such a big ski town and not going skiing, but now we will all be extra enthusiastic about exploring the new trails tomorrow.

-Ema

Quote of the day- “Ice cream isn’t dairy, it’s a dessert.”  Jenny

Day 7:  A day to explore the trails!

Today was the first training and exploring day for most of the team on the trails of Yllas! We woke up and first thing headed out to the cross country race trails at the Yllas downhill ski resort. After looking around a bit and flying down a pretty speedy and long downhill, Nick reasoned that our race was most likely in the other direction (the course wasn’t marked), and that the killer downhill was in fact an almost 3k uphill. We got pretty pumped! After finishing what we thought would most likely be the course, which had some sweet and not too technical downhills as well as the the major uphill, we headed out on the trails to meet up with Erica, Jenny, and my mom Sue, at a nice little trailside café. We enjoyed some Finnish pancakes and hot cocoa at the fire pit outside. It was a busy place, where some professionals had set up some benches and were reapplying kick wax to those who please, for pay. We decided we would think of setting one of those café’s and waxing benches up at the bottom of white bear. After a nice break, we headed back to the apartment via the ski trails, which brought us right back home. The trails were very busy the entire time, but not too overcrowded. It was really exciting to see the great combination of younger and older people alike enjoying the amazing trails and great weather! Everyone here seems to naturally know how to ski!             

After a longer afternoon break, which some of us used as homework time, we went out for a short afternoon ski, starting fright off from our apartment. It was snowing and less crowded, making for a pleasant ski! As we puttered along, Neill found a connection with his spirit animal, the Reindeer, and went prancing through the woods near the trail in a perfect imitation. We had the luck to catch this rare Neill Reindeer on camera! It was pretty much the highlight of the ski. Since we were all pretty tired, we headed back relatively soon. But it was a nice ski nonetheless.

Instead of skiing with us, Mikayla and Erica decided to hit the Finnish slopes at the resort near the race trails from the morning. It was after long deliberation, but they chose to take advantage of the foreign ski experience. Because the rest of the group didn’t downhill ski, nick treated us to some sparking! (It was a sort of bribe, which Mikayla didn’t fall for). Sparking, is just using a fin sled, which is like a dog sled, to kick and glide along with or without a passenger. Since it is very popular here in Europe, and it was difficult to find two to rent, which were available at the adults hotel. We got to ride them to dinner from our apartment! It was really exciting! Down the icy driveway, Claire and I picked up speed, and went side- ways into the snow bank more than once. It was very worth the risk! After arriving at the pizza place for dinner, where we all got different European pizzas (which are very different than American pizza, but very delicious), Mikayla and Erica met up with us. We were all very stuffed after, and took advantage of the sparking to work off the dinner, while making sure not to over exert ourselves and risk it all coming back up! Then, when playtime was done, we settled down after a long day with some yoga thanks to Erica. It was a peaceful way to end an exciting and busy day! Now off to bed to rest up for another exciting day tomorrow!

-Eliza

Quote of the day: “Nick, talk in an American accent.”  …   “Howdy Partner!”

Day 5: Race Day! April 1, 2012

Hello everyone! Greetings from Yllas, Finland. We have just settled in after a long, productive, fun day of travelling and racing. This morning, we left Gallivare this morning a bit before seven, with overloaded cars and athletes packed into the back seats. We drove to Kalix, Sweden (about 2.5 hours) and arrived in a small town where cars were literally parked on an ice rink outside the ski stadium.

               We were warmly welcomed by the skiers of Kalix to their tiny town race, and jumped on our klistered skis to warm up. The 1K sprint course rocked and we all had a really great time skiing against some tough Swedish competition. The first round in the day was an interval start qualifying round. Even after the first three minute race, we were aware of some incredible athletes Sweden has the ability to produce. The races were very small. The girls J1 race had 7 girls in it, including our three. Claire placed 5^th, Mikayla 6^th, and Ema 3^rd!! The OJ girls had three competitors including myself and I am pleased to inform everyone that I got a solid third! In Neill’s bracket there were two OJ boys, and Neill placed second with a beautiful sprint and photo finish!! Linky won her single senior bracket! Yay!

               We have heard many stories of the fun, eccentric Swedish town races, and were pleased with our experience. The people were friendly and were very happy to have us there. Neill’s buddy, Mattias (whom Neill outsprinted in the finish) came up and chatted to us after the race. He was very curious as to why we chose Kalix to visit and told us: “why would you come here, this is the most boring place on Earth.” We had to disagree. The trails were nice, and the sun was shining. Coming from Fairbanks, we really couldn’t complain.

               We were all very impressed with their awards ceremony (hint hint NSCF…) as they had an entire table full of prizes (water belts, thermoses, backpacks, bags, and even axes!) which were given to all the racers. Nick has told us stories of people winning goats at these races, so we weren’t surprised to see multiple axes up for grabs. Although the axes probably wouldn’t make it through security… so we got plenty of thermoses to go around!

               After the race, we loaded up the cars (and were joined by the lovely Eliza and Sue!) and headed towards Finland. We are now staying near Yllas, and are excited to get out and explore the 330K of trails outside our front door.

               Sorry for the delay, we have had trouble accessing internet at the new accommodations. Anyways, off to a Sauna and bed!

-Kira

Just half of the 38 pairs of skis we brought...

Nick's car loaded down with all the skis.

Kira before her race

Neill double-polling strong

Link at the start

Nick applying Klister- not very fun

Mikayla in her heat

Ema tucking on the first down-hill

Claire and Mikayla coming in to the finish

The J1 heat- Classic Sprint - Girls

The team in Kalix Ski Stadium- Race venue