So, I’ve been in Buenos Aires for almost 2 months now, which is a bit frightening to believe, and quite a lot has happened in the 6 weeks or so since my last (and first) email. I started classes at the university here about 4 weeks after arriving, and it’s quite a shocking difference from Middlebury. I am taking 4 classes at USAL (Universidad del Salvador, or University of the Savior in English…it was founded by Jesuits), 1 Spanish writing class with the Midd program, and doing an internship with an environmental NGO called La Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina (FVSA) (translated as The Wildlife Foundation) which kind of has an affiliation with the World Wildlife Fund. My classes only meet once a week, however, for a period of about 2 hours maximum and are only Monday through Wednesday, and I go to my internship on Thursday, which leaves me with a 3-day weekend. Unfortunately, BA is extremely hard to escape—getting out of the city to go anywhere worthwhile takes anywhere between 5-8 hours. Given that, I may try and starting going to FVSA during the afternoons Mon-Wed so that I can go places for long weekends.

Classes are interesting, it’s not particularly difficult to understand the professors, but it becomes difficult when I’m are trying to pay close attention and frantically take notes at the same time because they talk a mile-a-minute and the rooms echo and the other Argentine students are constantly jabbering back and forth with the professor and if I stop paying attention for 10 seconds, I end up completely lost-in-transition in the conversation. I’m taking History of Art and Culture of the Americas and Argentina, “Tourist” Geography of Argentina (there is an entire major focused on tourism, which makes sense because it’s a large career field in Arg., but it’s kind of bizarre to be taught a subject with an emphasis on tourism), History of Argentina, and Geopolitics. All are interesting because it’s obviously a whole new field of information for me. There isn’t a lot of work, just readings, but it’s much more relaxed than Middlebury, which is a nice change of pace! I find myself with quite a bit of free time, often not knowing what to do because I’ve already seen and done all the “touristy” things in BA.

Other than classes, I have gotten out of the city a few times for some adventures/break from the city. In early March I crossed the border (read, the river, Rio de la Plata, which is the widest river in the world) and spent a weekend in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay with a few kids from the Midd program in BA. Montevideo is a city also, but WAY more laid-back than BA. The main avenue is equivalent to an average side-street in BA, and they have beaches surrounding the city that were wonderful to swim in, even in the latte-colored water (it’s technically still the river, not the ocean at that point. Check out a map to understand how incomprehensibly wide Rio Plata is). I also took a train out of the city to a smaller town about 45 min north that is on a big river delta. We took a water-taxi out into the delta to one of the islands to walk around and chill out for a while. All the islands in the delta are populated, but the only mode of transportation is by boat, which automatically makes it a much more relaxed environment than a town or city.

Last weekend was Easter, and being a highly Catholic country, we also got last Thursday and Friday off. So, Tim and I decided to REALLY get out of the city, and we took a 13-hour overnight bus Wednesday night to the city of Mendoza, which is basically due west of BA at the foot of the Andes Mountains and the border of Chile, ~1000km away. The bus ride wasn’t too bad since we had semi-beds, so we could kind of sleep. But the bus station the night we left was complete and utter chaos, like I have never seen before in my life. I felt like literally half the population of BA (a mere 13 million) was in the bus station to leave the city. Buses were leaving for every possible place in the country, and several buses would be leaving for the same exact place every 5 minutes, so you had to make sure you got on the right one! Total Madness. And when we returned Sunday night/Monday morning, it was the same thing; we arrived near the bus station on time, but it took almost an hour before we got off due to the line of hundreds of buses.

Mendoza is the 5th largest wine-producing region in the world, and there are vineyards/wineries everywhere, some small family-run ones, some huge ones that stretch on for several kilometers. When we arrived in Mendoza, after settling into our hostel, we did a bike tour of a few vineyards/wineries outside the city and got to taste a lot of wine for very cheap! We stayed in the city only one night, then took a bus up into the Andes ~100km to a small town and stayed for two nights there. It was the first time I had truly been out of a city, and it was blissful after two months in the dirty, noisy city. It was heaven to be surrounded by mountains and rivers and nothing else. The first day we just chilled out at the stream that was just outside of town, relishing the clear, clean and cool water and the DRY heat. Saturday we took another bus a little farther up to the entrance of the Provincial Park Aconcagua, where yes, Mt. Aconcagua is. Aconcagua is the highest peak in the world outside of the Himalayas, reaching 6,959meters (22,616feet). Where we were hiking was just over 10,000 ft in elevation, so we stuck to hiking leisurely rather than running, as we’d basically jumped from sea level to 10,000 in a span of 2 days.

We also visited a national historical natural monument, a really cool geologic phenomenon called Puente del Inca (Bridge of the Inca) which is an amazing formation of calcium and iron sediments that met with natural thermal water and created this huge deposition on this old bridge in the middle of the Andes. There were tons of tourists around, but it was worth braving the crowds to see it. We spent another low-key night in the little town and witnessed a spectacular moonrise over the mountains, with a full moon, which was one of the most beautiful and pure sights I think I have ever seen. To be in the middle of a huge mountain range, practically alone (the town was tiny, and had no light pollution at night) in the dark, and have everything suddenly illuminated by a full moon, it was indescribable. Sunday was a looong day, first bussing 2 hours back down to Mendoza, hanging out for a few hours in the city (we met up with a group of kids from Middlebury studying in Chile who were in Mendoza for the weekend) before the 13 hour bus ride back to BA.

So, if you’ve made it to here, congratulations. I apologize for this being so long, and I hope to get more frequent and shorter updates out from here on out. I have photos posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/aklaurenfritz and just about everything I’ve mentioned in this email can be found in photos, plus some. If you aren’t too busy, I’d love to hear from people about what they’re up to these days too. Take care!

The following is an account by one Nate Larsen, a good friend of my brother-in-law, Sam Damon. It is about falling through a floor ceiling. Like everything else, apply it to skiing.

well i think that life is trying to teach me a lesson or that's how it appears, but let me try that again...

i fell through the ceiling, but that makes it sounds like i was traveling upwards, so no i fell through the floor, but the floor was the ceiling. and don't get all like "whoa the floor IS the ceiling, man," because that is not the lesson i think life is trying to teach me. and to step further back into the story, these squirrels live in my eaves and that in and of itself is fitting because i determined a while back that squirrels were my spirt animal and have even been known to have said "i don't think i could live somewhere that squirrels don't," but i didn't mean it literally. but squirrels literally do live where i live and so i wanted to see what kind of a door squirrels use to come into my house and i was wondering if maybe they had a doormat that says "welcome squiends" or something clever like that because those seem to be in fashion and almost always with a goose who is wearing a bonnet and carrying a basket. i don't know why. but i never made it to the squirrel door because i knew what was happening a split second before it did happen and this is not the only known instance of my clairvoyance, sometimes i know what i will say even before i say it, but my right leg burst through years of old wood and plaster and many hues of paint and my left leg hesitated like wile e. coyote in the air for a second before following suit (and pardon me for just realizing that expression has to do with card games!)

if you were in the kitchen, and i wish you were, because i like having company, you would have heard some tentative footsteps followed by nothing, because there is a noiseless vacuum that precedes any calamity. then the levy of ceiling, holding back the mass of me would have burst forth, peppering you with plaster, showering you with splinters, pelting you with years and years of accumulated paint and not unlike the fabled yellowstone eruption that blanketed the modern day bible belt with ash and pumice, there was grit and plaster and dust on every shelf, plate and appliance, and definitely unlike the fabled yellowstone eruption, two hairy and bloodied legs protruded from the smoldering caldera.

i don't know how many of you have tried to extricate yourselves upward from a jagged hole of splinters and rusty nails and fiberglass insulation. and never mind the squirrel audience. i know that i didn't want to drag the rest of me down it, the hole i mean, because the ten feet of air beneath me scared me more than the scrapes, and it wasn't the added pressure from having that added air above me that concerned me because i generally tolerate being in the kitchen very well. in fact it is one of my favorite places to spend my time. and so i decided to go down there the conventional way, since i like being there so much and i didn't have a whole lot better to do at that very moment, but i had to climb out of the hole first. and what is really funny and what you don't usually think about when you're walking around in any upstairs anywhere is i had no idea what i was above, no idea which ceiling exactly i had fallen through, so one of my first thoughts after i had a chance to inspect my handy work was "huh, i thought i was closer to that wall."

now i have fallen more than my fair share and that is why i am supposed to learn a lesson, but i want to take a moment to tally for you the times i have fallen, but good. i fell in a manhole, the cover dropped out from under me. i fell off a chairlift, because the bar went up and i was little and i just got off. i fell off a balcony that i was trying to climb down because the railing came off. now i have fallen through the ceiling, because squirrels. the culprit each time is complacency, they all happened because i took something for granted, that what i was walking on was solid, that the railing wasn't rotten, that when your dad puts the bar up, it is ok to dismount. and, oh, i could extend my realization to so many other literal events in my life, but the real temptation for me is to think that all of my metaphorical falls are a result of my complacency, and at first glance that might seem to be true, but it isn't and it can't be, because there is just no way that every negative event that affects me is my own fault. that is too buddhist.

so the first thing i did when i got into the kitchen was pick up two broken slats and a piece of plaster and a shard of wood and i nailed the wood to the wall in my studio and i nailed the plaster to wall in there too. and the shard of wood. and i painted a skull on the plaster and crossbones on the slats and wrote "fear complacency" on the shard. and that is my lesson, and the word fear might count as hyperbole, but i couldn't fit "beware complacency", though now i see i should have tried. you should always try.

It's spring at Middlebury. I'm writing plans, thank you notes and figuring out the next big steps. Time to reload for 09 /10. Got ideas, suggestions, insights, leave a comment or shoot me a note: agardner@middlebury.edu

The trip out to Truckee, CA went pretty smoothly, besides a few minor
setbacks including a broken Thule key and a large screwdriver, and
maybe the drive from Reno could have been a little more comfortable
for my sister, Keely. We all stayed well hydrated, anticipating 70
degree temps and altitude where oxygen is considered . Graham and I
both had our theories as to how we could improve our performance and
red blood cell count (anything short of doping, that is), but I'm
pretty sure these were pretty futile. After arriving on site, we met
up and skied with former captain Matt Johnson, who later said he would
only contribute to this post if he was paid for it. The snow out there
was incredible, the snowbanks must have been 20 ft high in the parking
lot, and the skiing was perfect, not too slow, not too fast. The
weather was also amazing, rarely a cloud in the sky, 35-45 degrees
most days and beautiful skiing. Let's just say we weren't in Rumford.
The sprints started off pretty well for all of us, unfortunately
Graham and I finished 3rd in our heats and didn't make the semis.
Dougie Fresh took home the victory with Chase in fourth, not a bad
day. I felt some burn in the lungs, but all in all wasn't feeling a
lot from the altitude. That changed a little in the 15K mass start
skate. It started out pretty easy, nobody wanted to blow up, and a
pretty big pack formed at the front. Eventually, things started to
split up and I lost contact with the front. Chase and Graham headed up
the New England boys in the lead pack, and finished one-two, pretty
awesome stuff.
Next came the classic race on Friday. I was feeling great on the
first lap, maybe a little too good because then I started feeling it
real hard. That was a painful last 3K. Doug had probably his best
distance race this year, Chase finished second and Graham 5th. Another
pretty dominant day for Midd. The relays put all four of us on the
podium, with Graham, Chase and some man-child who's going to Dartmouth
winning it, Doug and the Midwest boys in second and Evan Dethier, D
Grald and me in third. Another spectacular day of skiing. Then we were
off to the dance, which Graham easily won, despite the DJ's apparently
lacking knowledge of modern hip-hop.
New England ended up winning the Alaska Cup, dominating the last two
days. A lot of credit for our success has to go to the wax techs,
which included Midd Alum Justin Beckwith. Those were some sweet skis!
All in all it was an amazing experience and awesome place to ski. It
was a great way to end the year.


A bit more...

When we got back from NCAA's, I had the usual business of recovering my sanity, cleaning up, etc. While in a committee meeting, I got an email from one of the New England coaches who included in the subject line: "Please pass on:" Now coaching college kids makes you suspicious, so I was expecting to pass on a few words of disappointment in my athletes choice to drink at the dance or to expose themselves to an impressionable J2. Fortunately, that was NOT the case. This was what was written:

Jimmy, Chase, and Graham were in J1/OJ group. They all brought amazing leadership. Chase was his usual self, a great team player and performer. Jimmy skied his butt off, leaving it all out on the course and being a rock for his peers. Graham was the vocal leader of the group. As an age group coach, I tried to keep things simple and I wanted to avoid telling the kids what to do and how to race. They're on the trip, they know what they're doing. It was hard for me to hold back, luckily Graham spoke up at every meeting giving valuable insight on how to kick ass. If a coach tried to offer that same insight, it would have looked silly. Graham's words had a great affect on the team.

I couldn't be more proud. -AG

A huge thank you to the folks that supported the crew up in Fairbanks. From the Winterstar & Sun Valley Crowd, to the Johnsons, it was great that these guys had a chance to rock a few races after NCAAs

From Peter Johnson:

Patrick skied most of the 50 Km with Max Treinen and David Norris slowly picking off and dropping older more experienced skiers. They skied a really smart race together. David dropped back in the last lap, and Max passed Patrick in the last couple of K's and had just a bit more in the tank. Matt waxed skis for Patrick and organized feeds. Joy helped with some of the feeds and I took pictures - a family affair.

Simi looked a bit tired but kept in good form throughout the race. The course was brutal (I call it Estel's Revenge). Over 6000 feet of climb!

Patrick and Simi managed to fly out during a gap in Redoubt Volcano's eruption cycle. The flights were canceled until mid afternoon on Sunday due to volcanic ash.

Lots of snow here mixed with a little ash.

Sim closing it out in the 50k. (Peter Johnson photo.)

Sim closing it out in the 50k. (Peter Johnson photo.)

Links and Resources

Head Nordic Coach

Andrew Gardner

Gardner enters his fourth season at the helm of the men's and women's nordic ski teams. He came to Middlebury from Colorado Rocky Mountain School (CRMS) in Carbondale, Colo where he was Nordic Program Director. Since coming to New England, he acted as the wax tech for the 2008 Junior National Team, a coach at regional development camps and serves on the U23 NENSA board. Gardner is the coordinator for sustainability in athletics, serving on the college's environmental council. In the summer he enjoys road racing for the MetLife cycling team.

agardner@middlebury.edu

o: 802.443.5963

Assistant Nordic Coach

Patty Ross

Now entering her 23rd 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. She acted as a coach for the U23/ World Junior Championships in Italy in 2008.

o: 802.443.5006

Team Archives