In the words of Rose “my real name is Anne” Doda, “I don’t think there isn’t anything we didn’t get to do in Yellowstone…not.” Or something along those lines. In all seriousness, the 2016 Thanksgiving St. Olaf Nordic Trip was the stuff of dreams—an unrelenting parade of adventure, food, laughter, and skiing. Keep on reading for our best attempt to capture the week in words.
Thanks to Liza’s unmatched organizational skills and Google Sheets prowess, the team booked a phenomenal cabin, ordered trail passes, and loaded Shelby’s cavernous coolers with cafeteria pack-outs (Cooked pasta? Mmm-hmm. Bagels on bagels on bagels? You know it. A hundred mustard packets? Duh.) We eagerly packed up the cars on Friday the 18th, but a wicked storm descended on Minnesota and iced up the highways, so we decided to hit the sack and depart at 4am the following morning. Groggy-eyed and bagel-mouthed, we began our 20-hour journey to heaven aka West Yellowstone, MT. We made it all the way there with no complications.
I lied. Of course there were complications. This is St. Olaf Nordic, after all. In Western MN, Molly hit an icy patch and skidded into the ditch. Fortunately, nobody was injured, the car was unscathed, they got themselves out in under a half hour, and all three vehicles safely made it the rest of the trip. In Bozeman, we picked up Bri, who flew in straight from her semester abroad in New Zealand. At midnight, we finally arrived, and after a brief struggle to locate the key, we settled into our warm and spacious cabin.
The next six days were loaded with 24 hours of phenomenal training. Early in the week, the snow at the Rendezvous Trails was rather thin, but a midweek storm freshened them up. Many long, easy hours on the trails were perfect for building our endurance base and getting our muscles attuned to the nuances of skiing on snow. Some highlights were an overdistance ski into Yellowstone National Park on Thanksgiving Day, another long ski up the South Plateau, a hike up Hebgen Mountain led by resident mountaineer Rebecca, trying our hands at shooting at the biathlon clinic, and a crazy night ski on our final day.
Martha Stewart would be envious of our Thanksgiving dinner. We divided and conquered, filling the table with turkey, potatoes, gravy, green beans, creamed corn, bread, Ben’s stellar cranberry sauce, Mitchell’s even more stellar Ocean Spray canned cranberry sauce, and Ethan’s soupy-licious apple pie. We were even fortunate enough to have alumni Nate LaFond and Jake Brown join us for the evening. And what better way to end the night than with a classic game of bowls?
On Saturday the 26th, we grudgingly headed back to beige MN to finish out our last few weeks of the semester. We were treated to good dose of the white stuff in early December, allowing us to put in some good training at home in Northfield. We also enjoyed our annual Elf Party, complete with candy-ladened spaghetti and hilarious secret skier gifts. This year the party was held in the Art Barn, and our alpine cousins even joined in on the festivities. Last week, a few Oles got in their first races at the Elm Creek Wednesday Night Series. In the 5K Skate, Spencer flew to second overall. Matt was 11th, and Daisy and Laura placed 4th and 5th for the women. In the 5K Classic, Daisy and Laura were the number one and two women (and 2nd and 3rd overall). We are looking forward for more great racing to come in January!
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