click to enlarge Timmy gettin girled by Nicole-io. ouch.

EISA skiers have been picketing all week - they claim "we need a weekend off," "we're sooo tired," "my legs are dead"......

So here we are, sans Carnival.

Instead of racing a Carnival this weekend, we decided to race a Duel. Unfortunately, the coldest temps EVER to hit Vermont were recorded atop the "camerooon," forcing the race arena to shut down early. (my fingers were frozen and the gates looked too cold to be out there)

We did get some good, fun runs in and then helped out the Snow Bowl staff with a record shattering netting of lower Allen.

All in all, we had a really fun, cold, productive, carnival-less day.

Check out some Video from the day -

Cyber Space - Hello????? Middlebury Duel Day from abigail copeland on Vimeo.

click to enlarge thank you snow makers.

The Snow Bowl Staff and employees have fired up the snow guns again to touch up some areas on the mountain that are a little thin on snow. They work tirelessly so that our team has great snow for training and racing, and so that the public has a surface that is fun and safe to ski and ride on. Very few of us that ski at the bowl day in and day out, or even as weekend warriors remember to say thank you. Snowmaking is a tough job involving hiking up and down the trails, sweating and freezing at the same time , and staying up all night to ensure that the snow is good at the bowl.
The skiing is actually quite good up there despite the monsoon on Monday. A little new snow is mixed in with the old and it is a good surface. Get up there this weekend and enjoy it. Forecast calls for some more snow this afternoon- evening.

click to enlarge

Turn your volume up for this one!

Enjoy!

Untitled from abigail copeland on Vimeo.

click to enlarge Jake Lund. Photo Credit Lincoln Benedict

Any of you faithful Middlebury fans who sit diligently in front of your computers watching live timing had to wonder why so many athletes from all of the competing schools moved from the front page after fast first runs to the back page, or the DNF column.
Slalom can be a frustrating event. Bobby, Jon, Jake and Andrew all had strong first runs and Middlebury looked poised for a potentially brilliant day. UVM, Dartmouth and UNH were sitting in similar situations. It was a tight race after first run. Then as the race started it became apparent that the middle of the course was very fast and sent racers into a turny section with unmanageable speed. The first few athletes fell victim to the speed followed by turns. Then the coaches got word to the athletes at the top that the course was super fast in the middle and to be prepared for the following turns. Some athletes responded well and dropped their intensity and barely made it through, and those that skied that middle section flawlessly with aggression, exploded or ended up skiing out of the course. The result was numerous DNF's and many athletes that had to hike back up the hill to make a missed gate. This was the case for all of the schools. Colby faired the best of us all and put three guys in the finish without having to score a hiker. Middlebury, Dartmouth and UVM all had one or two fast guys (For us it was Bobby in second) and used a "hiker" or two for their second and or third scorers. It was not an ideal way for the race to pan out but that is the way slalom can be at the college level.

As far as our team went. Bobby was third after first run and skied the top section fast and then toned it down a bit in the middle and then crushed the bottom in the second run. In the course report from Stever he was instructed to tone down the middle where most of the field was blowing up, and he executed it brilliantly. That is not easy for an athlete to hear and more difficult to accomplish. By no means was this an undeserved podium. Bobby skied super well both runs and deserves every bit of credit for his skiing on Saturday. Additionally it was an important strong second slalom performance to help him qualify for NCAA's.
Brian Swartz made the same adjustment in his second run and moved up a huge number of spots from the first run. His individual effort kept the men’s team score from falling below 90. Jon Hunter was our third scorer and should be credited for being the fastest hiker of the day, also saving valuable points. Thanks guys for the team effort.

click to enlarge Bryan Shpall at Whiteface last weekend. Tomorrow he will attempt to find the pace that allowed him to win the second run in the St. Lawrence slalom.

It was a Colorado like day today with blue sky and plenty of sun. Colorado native and first year alpiner Bryan Shpall finished on the podium again today at the St Michael’s Carnival GS. His second place finish is one place better than last weekend where he was third at Whiteface. Adding to the men’s team score was Bobby Poehling in 8th and Andrew McNealus in 13th. The men finished second again this weekend in the GS behind UNH.
On the girls side our small crew of 4 girls collected enough points to tie Williams for fourth place. Nicole Dvorak skied up from 14th in the first run to 8th after the second run. Lindsay Kraft and Leah McLaughry finished in the top 20 as the other two Middlebury scorers.

Tomorrow the guys and girls race slalom. The hill is challenging with a steep upper section with an abrupt transition to flat. The flats can be a difficult as the steeps to ski fast. We have prepared for both steeps and flats and the team is confident to better the results of today.

Links and Resources

Head Alpine Coach

Stever Bartlett

Bartlett enters his fifth season as the Head Coach of the Middlebury College Alpine Ski Team in the winter of '10-'11. In his four years as head coach, Bartlett has worked hard to continue the success of Middlebury Skiing. On the circuit this past season the team collected a handful of carnival podiums and numerous eastern cup wins. In 2008 Bartlett was awarded the EISA Coach of the Year award and led the team to a 5th place finish at the 2008 NCAA Championships. In 2010 The alpine men finished 3rd in the nation in slalom and 4th in the nation in GS at the Championships hosted by the University Colorado. In 2008 they were 2nd in the nation in slalom and 3rd in the nation in GS. Bartlett came to Middlebury after working with the U.S. Ski Team in Park City, Utah. He most recently worked as a World Cup assistant coach for the alpine women's team during the winter of 2005-2006. Bartlett has also served as the head Europa coach, a Development Team coach and as a strength and conditioning coach with the program. Bartlett was a staff member at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics, where he worked as a coach for gold medalist Julia Mancuso. In 2002 Bartlett was awarded the VARA (Vermont Alpine Ski Racing Assoc.)"Coach of the Year" award while working as the head coach of the Killington Mountain School. Bartlett is a 1996 graduate of St. Lawrence University, where he was captain and member of the alpine team. He earned his degree in environmental biology, with a minor in sports science.

shbartle@middlebury.edu

802.443.5845

Assistant Alpine Coach

Abigail Copeland

Copeland will be entering her second season as the alpine assistant coach. Copeland was an integral part of the teams success in 2009/2010 and brought much energy and dedication to the team. As well as a valuable on hill coach she also took on many of the strength and conditioning duties. Copeland comes to Middlebury from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, where she worked as the assistant men's and women's coach from 2007-2009. Copeland graduated from St. Lawrence University in 2006, where she was a four-time member of the alpine ski team and field hockey team. She graduated with a degree in Fine Arts and received her masters degree in Education Administration in the Spring of 2009. Prior to her education at St. Lawrence, she attended the Mount Mansfield Winter Academy in Stowe, Vermont.

acopeland@middlebury.edu

802 443 5270

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