Where: Bread Loaf Campus
What: A really super awesome team BBQ Banquet
When: 5pm onwards...

Burgers, dogs, and whiffle ball galore!

Tim Henderson has been studying abroad in Argentina since late February. Below is his latest email update complimented with photos taken by Lauren Fritz (nordic skier who's also in Argentina).

Hi everyone,
It’s been a while since I last wrote, mostly because I’ve been too lazy to sit down and write a group email. Because so much time has elapsed, I’m going to summarize a few things I’ve done in the past month in bullet points:
• Classes have finally started. They’re much more relaxed than in the states, and students are expected to work without much direction from the professor. Basically, there’s a bunch of reading, and you’re supposed to have it done, and attend lectures, before the test or paper. I miss living on campus with other students, not having to commute to class, being able to roll through the dining hall whenever I want, and all of the student services that Middlebury has.
• I’ve started my internship. I’m teaching English at a non-profit community center one block from one of the worst shantytowns in BsAs. It’s actually pretty fun, and it’s a great way to see people and a way of life that I would never see otherwise. We’re not allowed to walk outside of the center without being in a large group because we will get robbed.
• I went to see “Eva” the argentine musical about the life of Eva Perón. I liked it, I didn’t love it.
• I recently learned that my host mom became a political militant when she was fourteen, and was then hunted by the military after the coup of 1976 before being officially exiled. She came back to Argentina before the end of the junta with false documents from Spain, and a lot of her friends disappeared during the dictatorship. She now is a theater director and Chinese medicine practitioner; I think she’s mellowed out since her adolescence.
• Apparently I inherited my dad’s image of authority or knowledge or something, because I’ve had no fewer than six Argentines ask me for directions even though I’m one of the few blonde haired blue-eyed people in the city. I’ve been able to help them about half of the time.

Fritz and I just got back this morning from the province of Mendoza, which is the heart of the argentine wine industry and home to the biggest mountain in the Western Hemisphere, Aconcagua. We toured some of the vineyards in the town of Maipu by bike one day before taking a bus up to the outdoorsy town of Uspallata. Uspallata resembles a western mountain town situated in an arid valley ringed by the Andes and bisected by a swath of green courtesy of a tributary of the Río Mendoza. It’s the last real town before you get to the Parque Nacional de Aconcagua. We took a bus up to the park on Saturday and hiked a couple of kilometers up the valley, Valle Horcones, which leads to Acongagua. The beauty was staggering. On one side there was a dry wind-swept mountainous landscape that resembled the Moon, on another side there were small wetlands and pools, and across the valley were mountains that sported striations of purples, greens, reds, and grey. We hiked until we found a great view of Aconcagua and a patch of snow. The mountain is around 22,600 feet tall, more than 4,000 feet taller than any surrounding peak. It’s formidable to say the least.
After eating lunch and hiking down, we went to Puente del Inca, which is not really a town and constitutes the only form of civilization near the park. Puente used to be a mining camp, and its claim to fame is an astounding natural bridge over a rushing river. The bridge was formed by layers of mineral deposits and algae, which reacted with the mineral rich thermal waters to form a perfect link between two sides of a fairly deep chasm. Words really don’t do it justice.
After busing back to Mendoza, we met up with some Midd kids who are studying in Valparaíso, Chile for some Lebanese food before catching our overnight bus back to BA.
That’s all for now.

Join the Ski Team and hundreds of other Kelly Brush Foundation supporters in the Kelly Brush Century Ride on September 12th.

For more information click here

Congratulations to Mattie who finished her career with two second place finishes in the Eastern Cup Finals yesterday and today. With her finishes today, two Eastern Cup Slalom wins and a few other good slalom finishes this year, Mattie won the Eastern Cup Overall Slalom Title as well.
Yesterday was a perfect spring series race with sun and warm temperatures. Today was foggy doggy and rainy. Rain or shine Mattie skied brilliantly and earned the podium spots and the slalom title.
Nice job Mattie and congratulations on a fine career at Middlebury.

A group of Alpine Ski Team members braved the forcast for rain and stormy weather and hiked Camel's Hump on Friday afternoon

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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