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Greetings Middlebury Skiing,

At the conclusion of school I watch with enjoyment as students fill their vehicles to the brim with their room's belongings and essentially transform their car into a huge airbag-dirty laundry in the place of air, smelly, but nonetheless safe. I laugh at the flustered parents who mathematically attempt to fit a kingsized futon into a jetta, or try just one more time to get the couch through the door. Yes, it are times like these that make me proud to be a vermonter, proud of my ability to back my truck up to the dorm and carelessly huck my garbage bag enveloped laundry from the 3rd floor into the truck bed. The hour drive home is an added bonus, and unequivocally pronounces me the most carbon neutral member on the ski team, well besides Levins, but he drives golf carts in the off season so points off. I even wanted to best Mr.Momson's biking/blogging extravaganza of last year and bike the entirety of the 63 miles back to my house... on a Big Wheels, but I don't think AG would have realized the blogging and recruitment potential of such an escapade, I guess "day one: seven hours on the saddle, now reaching East Middlebury" doesn't necessarily exude athleticism.

So here I am, doing my best to avoid the strangling boredom which life in southern vermont usually results in. Been training a ton, fishing even more, and even dabbled in that whole reading craze. I try to do all my reading during the summer, there just isn't enough time during the school year. Been training with the local sms boys, and headed over to d-mouth for a franconia ridge run. What the dartmouth ski team locker room lacks in terms of exercise bikes and flatscreens they make up in blue decorum. (ben true, I will retaliate). So yep, looking forward to coming back to school, hitting the roads and trails and bleeding blue. G-R-D.

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Name: Noah Brautigam

Hometown: Huntington, VT

School: Green Mountain Valley School

Favorites:

Music- Michael Franti, State Radio, Billy Joel, Bob, Dylan, Rammstein

Books- A Confederacy of Dunces, The Brothers K, Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, Deep Economy, On the Road

Movies- Good Will Hunting, Finding Forester


How did you start cross country skiing?

I grew up on Camel’s Hump Nordic Center (pronounced “Camel ‘ump ski cen’er� in Huntington). I was on skis as soon as I could walk, and racing Bill Koch early on. I didn’t start training hard (or well) until halfway through high school.



What do you perceive as the toughest challenge you’ll face in college?

From what I hear, balancing an intense training load with an intense academic schedule gets to be pretty tough…


What goals do you have for next year?

I’d like to ski pretty damn fast in some big races.



What are your favorite race trails / venues?

Camel’s Hump! Other than that, Craftsbury has a kickass race course and puts on a good show.


Best race last season?

Best sprint was the team sprint at US Nationals with Dougy Debold (Midd frosh also), best distance was probably the EC Finals 15k Classic at Holderness.



Who do you know on the team currently and why?

Simi, Tim, Anders, Jimmy, Graham, Tom, Mommsen, Alexa, Kate, Robyn, Sophie… Ski racing is New England holds a tight crowd.

Thanks, Noah! See you in the fall.

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Happy Fourth of July everyone! Summer has been great so far. After a bit of a crazy and exhausting year at school, I was able to enjoy some much needed time off at home on the ocean in Cape Elizabeth, Maine where I'm living for the summer. Being in a legitimate season for exactly every single day I spend at Middlebury has been both one of the most rewarding and most difficult experiences I have had at school. It has proven to be less physical, but more of an emotional challenge for me to stay mentally "in the game," focused and pumped about what I am doing day in and day out. After all, if I wasn't completely in love with both sports (in completely different ways, don't ask me which I like better!¦someone could be reading this), I would never have lasted this long. But, what I can say, is this year I learned that sometimes it takes a serious amount of stamina to get out of bed every morning knowing that some coach out there has a plan to kick your ass and you have a team that's counting on you to do it with them. Luckily, its that team, and that sense of working our asses off together to reach a common goal that's keeping me hooked (winning UVM carnival was one of those reminding moments). Its hard to explain I guess, and its important to know I wouldn't trade this experience for the world, but I do know that I have learned a lot about myself as a person and an athlete this year as I began to feel the wear and tear of my dedication, and what sometimes felt like, obligation. Now that I'm finally that terrified senior who's watched best friends come and go through this roller coaster ride of 4 years, I can remember exactly why I'm a part of this team. So anyway, following some serious rest, recovery and a whole lot of fun, I have started work as a sailing instructor in Portland. I can't complain much, as it hardly feels like work when I'm sailing, catching crabs in tide pools, and swimming in the ocean almost every day for money. Besides work, I have been keeping very busy doing lots of training, surfing, strawberry picking and lobster eating. I also have a few triathlons, hiking trips and running races planned for the rest of the summer, along with hopefully a trip south in search of big waves. In the mean time, I'm going to continue lounging on the beach and sleeping on islands until I can think up my next adventure. Safe travels to all of you in far away lands and happy summer to everyone! Train hard, sleep well, believe.

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Check it out:

Fasterskier Article

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To sum up my job this summer, I suppose you could say that I am backpacking across rural Mexico every week. However, it is quite a lot more than any ordinary backpacking trip. When I arrived a few weeks ago, I had a couple of days to tour around Oaxaca city with some of my fellow supervisors. On my first day, I went on an amazing hike up to these ancient temple ruins on a mountain over looking the entire valley. You could see the entire valley and all of the surrounding mountains. The ruins date back to 200AD and was a temple site for some of the indigenous communities that still have influence in the area today. We also went to see this tree that is 2000 years old and 52m in diameter. That was all before I even started working.

My first week of work consisted of going out to visit rural towns by myself. I was showed where the towns were on a map and essentially told to go to the bus station and figure out how to get there. Once I managed to find the actual town, I had to go talk with the municipal government and find host families, meal plans and emergency procedures. Needless to say walking into a community for the first time when your language skills are rather rusty and you have no idea what to expect or if they will even know what the hell you are doing is a rather unnerving experience. However, everything turned out pretty well and I can definitely say that it was a very empowering experience. Being welcomed into the home of a complete stranger for the night and treated with such respect is a very humanizing experience. After my 4 days of wandering to towns, we had to prepare for the volunteers’ arrival. I was one of the lucky ones to go to Mexico City to pick them up. This consisted of leaving at 11pm on a Tuesday night and arriving in Mexico City at 7 the next morning. We then herded all of the volunteers onto the bus and rode back to Oaxaca.

After we managed to get all of the volunteers to community, it is my job to go out every week and check on them. This has involved some interesting adventures. My first day visiting one of the towns, I was attacked by a dog and still have the imprint of a dog mouth on the back of my leg. I also had the pleasure of dealing with sick volunteers. However, while all of that was not so fun, it is incredibly rewarding to meet and talk with all of the people in these communities. I have also gotten to go on some amazing runs and hikes. There is a marathon runner who lives in one of my communities and every week I go running with him. Last week was particularly memorable as we ran up to the top of some amazing mountains and could see the majority of the Oaxacan valley and all the way to the next mountain range. The hikes between some of my communities are also pleasant although trekking through the semi arid high desert at 3 in the afternoon is not necessarily recommended. So I will continue to trek across the Mexican country side for the next couple of weeks before I make my way to the beach for a vacation afterward. Hope everyone’s’ summers are treating them well and I can’t wait to see you all in the fall.

Links and Resources

Head Nordic Coach

Andrew Gardner

Andrew Gardner enters his third season at the helm of the men's and women's nordic ski teams in the winter of '08-'09. He cames to Middlebury from Colorado Rocky Mountain School (CRMS) in Carbondale, Colo., where he served as the nordic coach since 2000 and nordic program director since 2003. Prior to his arrival at CRMS, Gardner worked as a trainer for the world junior biathlon team. A former Bates College, Gardner graduated from Bates cum laude in June of 2000, earning a degree in literature. He has also spent a pair of summers working on a master's degree in English at Middlebury's Bread Loaf School of English.

agardner@middlebury.edu

o: 802.443.5963

Assistant Nordic Coach

Patty Ross

Now entering her 22nd year as a full-time coach of Middlebury nordic skiing, Patty came to the College after four years of world-class competition. She was one of five American women nordic skiers to compete in the Sarajevo Olympics in 1984; she also competed internationally with the U.S. national team from 1983 to 1986. Patty graduated from the University of New Hampshire, where she was an All-East collegiate skier and captain of the Wildcat team. While at UNH, Patty competed in the World University Games in Sofia, Bulgaria. As a coach for the International Special Olympic Games, Patty received a Distinguished Service Award in 1984. Recently, she was a member of the coaching staff for the 2008 U23 / World Junior Championships held in Wiesl, Poland.

o: 802.443.5006

Team Archives