Navy Seals train with Girdwood snowmobile tour operator
Glacier City Snowmobile Tours has put together a training course that certifies Navy Seals in survival and safety training in the Alaskan Backcountry using a snowmachine. This certification will enable the seals to be issued their own military snowmachine in the future.
Glacier City has just finished its second group of seal training and has had a very positive response from all of them.
Owner/operator Chris Roberts “Twirl” is using his 21 years of backcountry snowmobile experience to pass on every bit of knowledge to help the seals deal with a vast array of infield problem solving using a snowmachine.
The Alaskan Backcountry can throw a lot of dangerous situations if one is not prepared. Twirl and his guides Matt Moscosso and Ryan Belanger discuss with the Navy Seals there own experiences from route finding techniques, Avalanche awareness, engine trouble shooting, getting unstuck in deep snow, how to properly tow a broken down snowmachine, ice safety, checking weather, what to carry in your back pack and how to use it.
Aggressive riding techniques for deep powder, side hilling, water skips, and more are covered out in the field while on their own snowmobiles.
“We try and show them every McGyver trick that we have ever learned to better adapt them to any situation out in the backcountry,” said Twirl. “This training course makes all of us at Glacier City proud to be a small part of something as big and as important as the Navy Seals.”
Girdwood's Keegan Messing places 4th at World Junior Championships
Girdwood figure skater Keegan Messing turned in a strong performance at the World Junior Championships, placing 4th.
Messing, 18, was a last minute addition to the U.S. three-member squad that participated in the junior men's competition held at The Hague, Netherlands the week of March 8-14.
His score of 197.03 was only 2.16 from a bronze medal.
Messing placed second in the short program and fourth in the free skate to finish fourth overall.
Japan's Yuzuri Hanyu took the gold with 216.10 points. Nan Song of China took grabbed the silver medal with a score of 205.25, and Russia's Artur Gachinski placed third with 199.19 points.
Messing replaced U.S. reigning U.S. junior champion Ross Miner, who withdrew because of an ankle injury. He turned 18 in January and has two junior-level medals from the national championships.
Photo courtesy of Alyeska Ski Club
Alyeska Ski Club's Freeride Team qualified six skiers to compete at the USSA Freestyle Skiing Junior Olympics in Waterville Valley, N.H. March 9-14. From left to right: Kelly Hume, Kory Cain, Grant Burke, Zach Halverson, Travis Oen and Drew Petrie (front).
Alaska's Freeride Skiers Qualify for USSA Junior Olympics
Alyeska Ski Club's Freeride Team qualified six skiers to compete at the USSA Freestyle Skiing Junior Olympics in Waterville Valley, N.H. March 9-14. Five out of those six qualifiers will be making the trip East to compete in slopestyle and halfpipe contests.
Slopestyle athletes competing at Junior Olympics are Grant Burke, Drew Petrie, Travis Oen and Kelly Hume. Halfpipe athletes competing at Junior Olympics are Drew Petrie, Grant Burke, Kory Cain and Kelly Hume.
In order to qualify for Junior Olympics, skiers competed in three USSA-sanctioned freeride contests at Alyeska Resort's Refinery Terrain Park and the Pipeline Super Pipe at Chair 7. This is the first year that Alaska has held USSA-sanctioned freeride skiing contests and, with up to 20 skiers competing, the season has been a great success.
Girdwood standouts this year include Spencer Jonas' second place overall at USSA Freeride Contest #2 and Girdwood resident Zach Halverson, who qualified to represent Team Alaska at JOs, but declined his spot in order to compete in MSI's Big Mountain Competition Series. Other Alyeska Ski Club participants include Brent Carse, Sam Daniel, Sage Dudick, Nicole Eldred, Wilton Farmwald, Gibson Gamel, Alex Graham, Ethan Harlig, Jay Huvar, Logan Huvar, Tucker Jonas, Zach Miller, Will Parry, Stuart Parry, Jonathan Wenger and Natalie Sward.
In the world of freestyle skiing there are two different types of skiers. Freestyle, although sometimes used to refer to all disciplines in freestyle is generally used for skiers competing in the more traditional disciplines of moguls and aerials. Freeride skiers compete in the newer disciplines of halfpipe and slopestyle.
The term Freeride can also be used for skiers competing in Big Mountain competitions. This is the second year that Alyeska Ski Club has organized a freeride ski team and the number of skiers participating has doubled since the 2008-09 season. The program was started by Alex Wilson, former U.S. Freestyle Ski Team member and 1998 Olympian (Moguls). When Wilson moved to Alaska four years ago he immediately saw the potential for both a team and a new USSA freestyle division in Alaska.
“The Alyeska Ski Club has a great location at the base of the resort. Members here are eager to provide new opportunities for local skiers to engage freestyle skiing on a competitive level,” said Wilson. Wilson is determined to keep building the program by educating freestyle skiing coaches, judges and volunteers and providing more opportunities for Alaska freeride skiers to train both locally and Outside.
Wilson is excited about the potential of Alaska's future freeride athletes.
“The combination of Alyeska Resort's challenging skiing and Terrain Park and the commitment of the Alyeska Ski Club will provide a platform for freestyle skiers to prosper and move on to the highest levels of freeride skiing,” he said.
For more information on both the Alyeska Ski Club Freeride Ski Team and USSA Freeride Contests at Alyeska Resort contact: Alyeska Ski Club at 783-2166.
