Switzerland, Latvia, Estonia? YES please!!

I arrived yesterday back in Salt Lake after a 2 week trip to Whistler, British Columbia and Canmore, Alberta. The races in Whistler were qualifiers to travel with the Canadian team to OPA and Scandinavian Cup races in Campra, Switzerland (Feb 3-5), Madonna, Latvia (Feb 8-9) and Albu, Estonia (Feb 11-12). My 4th in the 15km pursuit and 3rd in the 10km classic earned me a spot on the team! The trip leaves on Sunday for two weeks and I'll be traveling with 2 other girls and 4 guys. I'm psyched! A huge thanks to the Rocky Mountain Racers crew who took me on as one of their own, looked out for me, made my skis wicked fast and gave me bomber kick!

One of the many fun things about ski racing...the friends you make from all over the world!

10km skate podium, Canmore, AB

10km skate, Canmore, AB

Speed skating at the Olympic oval in Calgary instead of skiing in the -35C outside temps, brrrrrr

Check back for updates. While I'm in Europe the rest of the Stella girls will be ripping it up at the Boulder Mountain Tour in Sun Valley, ID and Owl Creek Chase in Aspen, CO!

- Zoë

Teton Ridge Classic

Three of the Stella girls made a trip up to Driggs, ID for an awesome weekend of skiing and racing.

Evelyn, Katie, and Morgan
photo credit: Emma Garrard

We drove up Friday night and previewed the 13k classic only loop at Teton Valley Ranch. It was incredible! Not only was it REAL snow but it was also longer than 3k!!! We wanted to keep skiing into the darkness..

photo: Emma Garrard

Saturday was an action packed day of racing! Katie won the women's 14k and Evelyn and Morgan took 1-2 in the 28k. There was a huge crew from Park City up from the race and so there were lots of racers. Katie's fiance Justin gets a special mention for entering the "touring" class... not only was it his first time on classic skis but he also wore a pair of Katie's glittery purple tights!

Sunday we all went for a really nice ski up Teton Canyon. Highly recommend this ski as it looks at the Grand Teton almost the whole time!

Check back soon =)

Morgan

New Years Relay, Mt. Bachelor

The New Years Relay at Mt. Bachelor is definitely the first most important race kicking off the 2012 calendar. And when it comes down to it, everybody knows that winning the costume contest is as, if not more important than winning the race. So I'd just like to throw it out there that Fred and Wilma Flintstone's stellar outfits took home the costume prize! My teammate Skyler, a junior who skis for MBSEF, killed it as Fred and did an awesome job on his skate leg!

~ Zoë

Wilma... please notice her golf ball sized pearls....

Fred and Wilma Flintstone!

Daniel's Summit

Daniel's Summit not only gets "best snow in town" award but also the best ski of the year!!! The area is normally groomed for snowobiles but these days you see more lycra clad skiers taking advantage of 30 miles of *snow covered* groomed trail!

New Suits!!!

Check it out....

Stay tuned for more pics and a real update in the next few days...

Oh Canada....

After Zoe aced her exams and Evelyn turned a few rookie skiers into pros giving lessons at White Pine Touring, we hopped in the car for the 13.5 hour trek over the edge of the border to Rossland, BC for a weekend of NorAm racing. Long drive, but now we know the words to ‘Dirt Road Anthem’ by heart, so it was good for something! Don’t ask us for a rendition, we’re going to break it out at the next karaoke night…

Women's 10km skate podium

The first day was a skate sprint on a sweet course with good ups, fun downs and sharp curves, a little bit of everything. Both Zoe and Evelyn were unfortunately eliminated in hard fought quarterfinals. To put it in Evelyn’s words, “I was a loser, but I wasn’t lucky…” The next day was a 10k mass start skate that made for exciting racing. It came down to a sprint showdown in which Evelyn nabbed 4^th. Zoe ended up 12^th.

Evelyn testing out her new mug

 All in all, a solid weekend of racing. Thanks to Black Jack Ski Club for putting on some good races! Zoe and Evelyn are both in Bend for Christmas, Zoe to hang out with her family and Evelyn to visit her old stomping grounds.

Zoe perfecting the ski fan

Drink break anyone?

Life in the slow lane at sunny Mt. Bachelor...

Where is Stella?!

These days StellaRacing is spread around North America. Zoe and Evelyn have been rippin it up on the NorAm circuit in Rossland, BC and Morgan and Katie have been holding down the fort in Utah. So here's a brief update...

Rossland- Zoe and Evelyn demonstrated their strength in the distance events with Evelyn taking 4th after duking it out in the lead pack (minus Diggins who crushed everyone). Full results here.

Wasatch Citizen Series - Saturday was the first WSC race ofthe year at Soldier Hollow. We raced on a short man made loop with 150+ people!!! It was so fun to see people of all ages and abilities come out for the 10k classic. Morgan finished second behind Rosie Brennan of APU. The best part was getting to duke it out with the boys... results here.

White Pine Touring Local's Day - Sunday was WPT Local's Day AND our StellaRacing suits arrived just in time to make a debut at the Ski With Stella clinic. Katie and I were psyched to see such a huge turn out!!! We kicked the lesson off with some tag and then broke into groups for technique and tips. Next year we might have to have a fun Stella relay at the end... pair up novice skiers with experienced? what do you think?!

There is a little break in the action for the holidays but check back soon for pics and updates! Oh yeah, and do a snow dance ;)

-Morgan