In a season of schedule changes and curveballs, it was nice to have confirmation of one final World Cup weekend after World Champs, and especially nice that it also meant the opportunity to visit the famed Engadin Valley in Switzerland (St. Moritz area). This place feels like the blueprint for every ski town in the American West, and I can see why places like Aspen would want to copy it! When we drove in, it was perfectly snowy and sunny, with so many trails along the valley.

Driving over the Julier pass to St. Moritz

Unfortunately, the night we arrived, our Covid test results from that morning came back with a positive for Sophie Caldwell. This sent the team into a scramble to figure out close contacts, which were luckily kept to a minimum by our team protocols. That next day, a bunch of us quarantined in our rooms until another covid test. We also learned that Sophie’s viral load was barely enough to trigger a positive result; and, in the next round of PCR tests, everyone on the team—including Sophie and Simi—tested negative. This was incredibly good news, but we soon learned that Sophie and Simi would still have to quarantine due to Swiss laws, and would spend their last weekend on the World Cup alone in separate hotel rooms. Our whole team, along with a ton of other friends on the World Cup, are so sad for them, as they were ready to enjoy some amazing final celebratory races in a beautiful location with so many teammates and friends. We did what we could to bring some light to them, from check-in texts to zoom team meeting performances (Ben and I showed a Family Guy clip, you’re welcome Caldwell-Hamiltons).

Simi and Sophie have been such amazing mentors this year, I’m so grateful they stuck around for one more season. I can’t speak too much for other people (although I know everyone enjoyed their company and atmosphere), but having them around was so important for me. I didn’t know this at the beginning of the year, but having Simi on the World Cup for my first year was going to just about double my road happiness and learning. For me, a huge theme of this year has been learning by absorbing, and being around Simi taught me so much I’m only realizing now. He also did an amazing job in explicitly teaching me things about racing and living away from home, which speaks a lot to his understanding as his place as a leader on this team. Obviously, all the stuff that happened at World Champs (see last blog) was a huge teaching moment for me, but looking back, I used Simi as a mentor and wealth of knowledge countless times throughout the season. Obviously there was a lot of talking about training and racing every weekend, but so much of what I learned from him was just being around him and observing his approach to life. I really respect his casual focus on race day, along with his level-headed approach to all the ups and downs of racing 30+ times in a winter. I hope in my career and life I can emulate all of his strengths, share them with the people around me, and pass them along when it’s my turn to be more of a teacher like him. Thanks Simi and Sophie! (If you ever get the chance, spend time with these two, you’ll only pick up good things.)

Gonna miss this, thanks for everything this year Simi <3

Alright enough of the actual thoughtful stuff, now to be boring and describe what I ate for breakfast every day. ;)

Crazy buildings along the course (Pontresina)

Also super cool streets to the hotel in Samedan

Still appreciating these amazing places, even if I’d rather be home

Testing classic skis at the 15km venue in Silvaplana

This guy has been so solid, hardworking, and effective all season. Thanks for helping me with fast skis Karel

And THIS guy is faking it. Lazy and not solid all season. Booooooo Kevin. Kidding…to be clear — And THIS guy is faking it. Lazy and not solid all season. Booooooo Kevin.
Kidding…to be clear

At the top of the last hill on the point-to-point. Notice how much nicer the snow is here than it was in the race, if you watched.

Part of the trail is down below on the lake

The races here were a 15k classic mass start and a 50k skate pursuit (based on the mass start) on the historic Engadin Marathon Trail. The Engadin is a massive race (10,000-12,000 people on a normal year), that starts in Maloja and ends in Schanf, following the valley down, mostly along lakes and fields to accommodate so many racers. They added a couple loops for us, because apparently the annual 38k course wasn’t enough…

All week it was super sunny and fast, and the day of the 50, we woke up to snow and a little wind. We watched the first half of the women’s race before we left, and it looked like pretty good conditions, definitely a little windy. As we drove up the valley to the start, the wind picked up more, and we passed some massive snow-nadoes kicking up on the lakes as we went by. It was going to be a different feel than the rest of our stay. I started 1:46 back in the pursuit, right around Hunter, Ben, and Scott, and right away we grouped up and started working together to catch the packs ahead of us. We did this by switching leads every 30-60 seconds, bike race style, so we could keep a fast pace into the headwind. It took us about 8k to catch the leaders, who had coagulated into one big pack of 40 because of no one wanting to lead. This was the most fun part of the race, as we could ski so easily in the draft but then hammer when it was our turn to lead. In hindsight, we definitely didn’t need to work that hard because the leaders were chilling, but there was no way for us to know that’s what was going on. From 8k to about 28k we skied in a pack of about 60, shoulder to shoulder going pretty slow, which I was FINE with. It was so nice to get some recovery from the first push, enjoy a little of the final race, and focus on technique and energy conservation (it wasn’t going to be easy the whole way…) Around 28k, a Russian made a little break, and that spread the pack out right as we hit the long straight airport section. For me, this section was the most important skiing in the race, as I was a little ways back in the pack during the break, and needed to bridge a few big, windy gaps to get back into the lead group. One jump I made alone, and it got me from the chase pack to the top 20 with about 10k to go. When I reattached I was so proud of myself and my skiing. I consciously thought that even if I totally bonked, that single effort made me happy with my performance. The chase group I had been in caught back up, but the pace picked up again, and I was able to hang on better because of more rest in the previous few minutes. I ended up at the back of the front pack for the last big hill, fighting as hard as I could in slow blowing snow. I had just enough energy to hang on, but couldn’t move up in that group. Crossing that finish line after 2 hours and 10 minutes of racing, along with finishing my World Cups season was such a good feeling, and it was made even better by having the 6th-fastest time of the day!

Letting it sink in…or maybe more just a fully empty body and head

I’ve had a bit of a tough last month of racing, and it was a big boost to prove to myself that I can still ski well, even if I’ve had some trouble putting the pieces for a good race together. There was a ton of other positive stuff at the end, with Jessie winning the Overall and Distance World Cups!!! Also Rosie had an amazing fight at the end, and finished in 4th in the Distance World Cup! Plus it was fun to have one more weekend with my teammates and friends. :)

Overall I’m super proud of my first season on the World Cup! It’s been amazing, and only made possible by an amazing team of skiers, coaches, wax techs, medical/PT staff, FIS organizers, and supporters from home!! We couldn’t do it without all of you guys, especially on a year like this. I’m incredibly grateful for the thousands of hours of work that went into making this season happen at all, the opportunities we got were not taken for granted.

I don’t have many pics of all the staff, but thankful to all of them for making the whole team click.

Now to go home finally (4 months!!!!) and hug my parents, siblings, friends, and dogs, eat my favorite food, and sleep in my own bed. Update on how that goes will come later. :)