Shifting Gears

My mom has always taught me to see the positives in everything, regardless of the situation. Although at first I was bummed about quarantine altering the end of the season and the entire spring, I am actually really thankful for my experiences during this odd situation we find ourselves in. This spring, I was home in Vermont with my parents for 3 months. When quarantine set into effect, I went from not being in a place longer than 10 days, to being settled in one place longer than I have in 5 years! Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am a social butterfly. I rarely prefer to do anything alone and I am always on the move, never sitting still in one place too long. So as you could imagine, this lifestyle change was a bit of a shock to what I am used to.

Positive side of being home: Family time!

Adventures with my Dad, always goofy and fun.

I would describe this spring as a period of personal growth and self discovery. Instead of relying on other people to do adventures with, I set out on my own solo adventures and discovered why I do it besides the social aspects. I spent the first few weeks chasing down any cross country and backcountry skiing I could, skiing for however long I wanted with no real plan. Normally by the end of the racing season I am so burnt out that I don’t go skiing even when there is still snow left, but this spring was different. I was more excited than ever to get out, I was not skiing to train or to become a faster skier but purely because it made me happy and I enjoyed doing it. Getting outside on solo adventures went from something I used to dread, to something that feels like a sweet escape. I love being in mountains and bagging summits, however big or small; nothing beats sitting on top of a mountain in my mind. These adventures have been an outlet for me to feel a sense of movement and clarity, a time when I feel like I can breathe fully and be perfectly content. I was able to explore my local environment, growing my appreciation for the upper valley even more. I kept it all local and safe on all of these adventures and discovered so many cool things I could do right out the door or a short drive away.

Mountain biking straight out the door with my best friend, my mountain bike :)

My favorite spring adventures: skinning until sunset!

Hot laps skinning in the sun because why not get in multiple runs?!

My happy place, playing in mountains.

In search of the last bit of snow, the long approach was very worth it! (May 24th)

Amongst my solo adventures, I actually ended up meeting a lot of new people (at a safe distance), I guess I can’t help myself from being social even in anti-social time! It turns out, when you do things alone, you are much more likely to engage with the people around you and I found it to be quite fun to branch out and meet a variety of different people while skiing and biking.

After finishing up my second to last term at Dartmouth (online this spring), I shifted gears to focusing full time on skiing. Despite the positives that have come out of my solo adventures, I am extremely excited to be in Stratton, training with my SMS T2 teammates again! I ended up being way more active this spring than usual, which built up a solid foundation of activity for me leading into the new training year. I finished up my first big block of training in Stratton and I am kicking off the second one this week. It has been a very hot and humid start, but thankfully having teammates around to push each other and keep company makes the tough days that much easier.

Hot and sweaty intervals made better with teammates (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Moving forward, I want to take these spring lessons and continue to find ways to incorporate big adventures into my ski training. It looks like I will be in Stratton at least until November, so I am making sure to mix things up and make some trips home to keep things fresh and exciting and avoid burn out. I have been on big biking kick (along with my team it seems), exploring new routes both on my mountain and gravel bike. I am still dealing with my frustrating IT band issues that started last August, so I guess I have lots of gear shifting in the near future. Thankfully I am have been STOKED on biking lately :)

Gravel biking with the team on the endless dirt roads in Vermont.

My Dad and I on a big Father's Day gravel ride together, featuring river cooling stops.

Endless perfect berms <3

Early morning fog paddle with my Dad!

I hope everyone is staying healthy and safe during these times! More to come soon...