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Good Afternoon:
First, Practice on Saturday, January 1 is CANCELED. I'm not afraid of the cold, but I want you to take two days off before we begin the second half of our season, which opens with three races next week. Rest up. Let you legs recover. Get a lot of sleep and eat healthy. You have been working incredibly hard. Many of you have been attending both sessions each day this week. You have improved. So, rest and recover. And tune your skis for Monday. Second, Race Volunteer Sign Up We have three races scheduled next week. We need to fill race volunteer positions for the two races at Hyland on Monday, January 3 and Friday, January 7. Please sign up if you are available to assist. 1/3: https://signup.com/go/EajFgfW 1/7: https://signup.com/go/zTkmkix I will be working on run orders for each race tomorrow afternoon. I will also be setting the run order for the race at Afton on January 5. Look for another flurry of emails this weekend. Afton Race (January 5) and Afton Waivers I am still waiting on Afton for information about any waivers we need parents to sign before Wednesday. Once I have the link to complete the waiver, I will send it to you. I am also waiting on more details about the Afton race from the race organizer. Sorry that I can not be more specific at this time. I am assuming a 4PM or 4:30PM start time. As information trickles in, I will update you. Thank you for your patience, or, pray for patience if this particular virtue has already been exhausted. Two practices remain: this afternoon at 5PM and tomorrow(Friday) morning at 7:45am. We will train Friday morning until 11am. Off the hill by 11:15am. We have lanes A, B and C. See you soon. Mark Last Call: Race Intentions for Jan 3, Jan 5, Jan 7 and Jan 28. Plus a few other announcements.12/29/2021
Good Afternoon MAST Athletes, Coaches and Parents:
Last Call For Race Intentions for Jan 3, 5, and 7. Please take a look at the attached spreadsheet of RACE INTENTIONS. Note that each race has its own tab. The RACE INTENTIONS are updated as of 2:55PM today for the races on Jan 3, 5 and 7.
https://www.mplsalpineski.org/race-day-sign-up.html TODAY IS THE DEADLINE TO STATE YOUR RACE INTENTIONS FOR JAN 3, 5 AND 7. Metro East Conference Race on Jan 5 at Afton At this point, I would like to bring 30 boys and 30 girls to compete at Afton on Wednesday, January 5. But we need more athletes to State Race Intentions for this race. I received notification today that we do have a bus to transport our squads to Afton on Wednesday, January 5. At this point, I plan to bring 60 athletes. We have two buses ordered--one to pick up from Washburn and the other from Southwest. South and Roosevelt families will need to car pool to get those athletes to Washburn or SW at the yet to be determined pick up time. Sorry. Unfortunately, we do not have trailers with the buses. Most likely, I will have you bring your skis to a designated location BEFORE school on the 5th for transport in the MAST trailer. More details to come. Don't Let The Cold Scare You Away! We had wonderful training this morning. Yes, it was cold but the cold made the snow hard which was great for carving turns. The rope swung into action a little after 9, so that helped keep the body warm. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and all was good with the world. At least at Hyland. Don't let the whimps who report the weather convince you that it is too cold to go outside. They must have all been born in San Diego. Just dress in layers. Coach Jack wore six layers today, as did I. Wear layers. We might look like stuffed teddy bears, but we are warm. Where To Deposit The Paper Backing From Your Toe Warmers? For some reason, I am always the last MAST person to leave the chalet after practice. Today, the chalet was clean EXCEPT that the floor was littered with the small paper backing that you peel off your toe warmers. I'm sure that none of those paper pieces came from a MAST athlete. Please remember that it is not acceptable to leave even a scrap of paper on a table or the floor. Waste receptacles are very close by. Thank you. Video and Sprongo I have been shooting video of your runs at every practice this week. And, I have been tagging athletes. I notice that we still have skiers who have not set up a Sprongo account. I sent fresh invitations to you this afternoon. If you do not have an account set up, get this done today. And be sure to watch your video. See you at 5PM today. Mark Tuesday, December 28, 2021
Dear MAST Families: We have received a number of questions around recommended COVID exposure protocol. We have not received any guidance from MPS, but we are following CDC guidance. Below is a summary of recent guidance as interpreted by our resident infectious disease expert, Dimitri Drekonja M.D. Thank you Dr. Drekonja for taking the time to help us make sense of the new CDC guidance. Based on various vaccination statuses, below is what you should do following a known exposure to someone with COVID (defined as being within 6-feet of someone for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period). What should someone do who is fully vaccinated and boostered: No need to quarantine, should mask for 10 days and a test on day 5 is recommended (PCR or antigen). What should someone do who is fully vaccinated but not boostered (if within 6 months of last mRNA shot, or 2 months of a JJ shot): No need to quarantine, should mask for 10d and a test on day 5 is recommended (PCR or antigen). What should someone do who is fully vaccinated but not boostered (if more than 6 months from last mRNA shot, or 2 months from a JJ shot): Quarantine for 5 days, mask for an additional five days, a test on day 5 is recommended (PCR or antigen). What should someone do who is not fully vaccinated: Quarantine for 5 days, mask for an additional five days, a test on day 5 is recommended (PCR or antigen). What should someone do who is COVID positive but has not had any symptoms (tested because a family member or close contact tested positive)? Isolate for 5 days, can return to activity after that with masking for another 5 days. Dr. Drekonja: "CDC does not say so, but I and most others in the Infectious Disease field would say a negative antigen test (not PCR) should be obtained if trying to isolate for less than 10 days." What should someone do who was symptomatic, tested positive, but now is asymptomatic? Isolate for 5 days, can return to activity after that with masking for another 5 days. Dr. Drekonja: "CDC does not say so, but I and most others in the ID field would say a negative antigen test (not PCR) should be obtained if trying to isolate for less than 10 days." The main take aways:
I want to encourage everyone to remain vigilant. Please wear your mask in the chalet and the shuttle. Wash your hands. Keep your distance from unmasked people in the chalet. As I looked around the chalet tonight after practice, the only folks I saw masking were the MAST athletes and coaches. One other chalet observation: people are slobs, don’t be one yourself. Look around the chalet and notice the trash left on tables by people who can’t muster enough energy to take their trash to a recycling or trash container. Notice how clean the chalet is when we arrive at 7:30 in the morning and how disgusting other skiers have made it when we arrive at 4:45 for the second practice. How shameful. No one should ever have to clean up someone else’s garbage. Please, clean up after yourself. I have no reason to suspect that our athletes are leaving a mess on any tables, so thank you and keep being responsible human beings. Do not be like everyone else. Everyone else is a slob. See you bright and early... actually, before the sun has even risen. Mark MAST Update Week 7
Sunday, December 27, 2021 Dear MAST Athletes, Coaches and Parents: Hopefully all of you have had a wonderful holiday weekend. We have a terrific training block scheduled this week. Morning and afternoon practices Monday through Thursday, and morning training on Friday and Saturday. Here’s the full schedule for Week 7. Take advantage of this opportunity to ski a lot of gates. Push yourself. Get a lot of mileage in gates over the next six days. Be on time. Watch your video on Sprongo. Set goals for yourself. Work with your coaches to make daily improvements. Tune your skis every day. The training lanes are icy. You will need sharp edges and you want to keep those bases waxed. WEEK SEVEN ON SNOW TRAINING AND RACING Monday, Dec 27 7:45AM-10:30AM. All Pods--Lanes 3,4 5:00-7:15PM. All Pods--Lanes 1,2,3 Tuesday, Dec 28 7:45AM-10:30AM. All Pods--Lanes 1,2 5:00-7:15PM. All Pods--Lanes 3,4,5 Wednesday, Dec 29 7:45AM-10:30AM. All Pods--Lanes 5,6,7 5:00-7:15PM. All Pods--Lanes 1,2,3 Thursday, Dec 30 7:45AM-10:30. All Pods--Lanes 3,4 5:00-7:15PM. All Pods--Lanes 1,2,3 Friday, Dec 31 7:45AM-11:00. All Pods--Lanes A,B,C Saturday, Jan 1 7:45AM-10:30. All Pods--Lanes A,B,C Races Resume Week Eight: State Your Race Intentions We have three races scheduled in Week Eight:
https://www.mplsalpineski.org/race-day-sign-up.html You may also state your intentions for the remaining races on the schedule. Race Day Transportation Mpls Public Schools informed me last week that they are having trouble finding buses/drivers to transport our athletes to our AWAY races: Jan 5 at Afton, Jan 11 at Welch, Jan 17 at Wild, Jan 28 at Afton, Feb 3 at Welch, and Feb 9 at Wild. We may need parents to help transport athletes to and from these races. More to come. Giants Ridge Camp Refunds Thank you to everyone who elected to send a portion of your Giants Ridge Camp refund to Camp Chicagami. I sent a $1575.00 donation to Randy on Christmas Eve. Denise Wilkens, our accountant, and I will be sending refund checks sometime this week. If you would still like to make a donation to Camp Chicagami, here is the address: Camp Chicagami Attn: Randy 3755 Scout Camp Rd Eveleth, MN 55734 I received checks from several families just before we made the decision to cancel camp. These checks were never deposited. For this reason, I will rip up the following checks from the following families: Check # 7822: Geere Check # 7552: Heindl Check # 1486: Moldow Check # 7084: Renz Check # 1159: Rulf Check # 5299 and #5300: Vahhaji I am very disappointed that we had to cancel camp for a second year in a row. I believe it was the prudent thing to do however. We have already had more cases of COVID run through our team this year than we did all last season. And everyone is vaccinated. Fortunately, no one has been seriously ill, so the vaccines seem to be working. Please stay vigilant. Wear masks in your carpools and in the chalet. Let’s stay healthy MAST. See you at first light tomorrow. Mark Conway 612-275-8392 Good Afternoon MAST Families:
We have excellent training this week: no lift lines, lots of runs, great lanes on 1, 2 and 3. Our college alums are home and helping out... thank you MAST alumni and volunteers. We have afternoon practice today from 5-7:15pm and morning practice tomorrow from 7:45-10:30am. We are on lanes 4 and 5 this afternoon and A,B and C in the morning. No practice Friday-Sunday. Training returns on Monday, Dec 27 at 7:45am to 10:30am. We will also have afternoon practices next week. I will be updating the website this afternoon so check back for next week's full training schedule. Missing Gear-- Please Check Your Equipment Help! Please check your gear. We are missing Ava Lindseth’s skis and poles after practice last night - December 21 - at Hyland. Please check if you inadvertently grabbed Ava Lindseth’s Fischer 155 skis (black and yellow- used) and Leki poles (black and red - new) after evening practice December 21st. Her gear is labeled with her name. And skis have a Pierce Skate and Ski sticker on them. After evening practice, she leaned them against the fence -near ski racks at top of the stairs - by the Chalet. We notified Hyland Lost and Found this morning. There is a set of skis and poles in the Lost and Found - with the same features as Ava’s, but there is no name on them. Please contact Ava or her parents if you find that you inadvertently took the wrong gear. Kristin Benson 612-590-1527 [email protected] Erik Lindseth 613-695-6160 [email protected] Sprongo We shot video at practice this morning and will continue to do so regularly. If you do not have an account set up, please get one set up today. If you can't figure out how to do this, give me a call or send me an email at [email protected]. Then, watch your video and that of your teammates. See you on the hill. Mark MAST Update Week Six
Sunday, December 19, 2021 Dear MAST Athletes, Parents and Coaches: The MAST Board of Directors and I met tonight to discuss the latest developments in the spread of COVID and whether we can safely follow through with the Giants Ridge Camp. Given the current rate of COVID spread, the unknown danger of the Omicron variant, and the terrible strain on resources that our hospitals and emergency rooms are currently facing, we have decided that it is best to cancel camp this year. Giants Ridge Camp is an important MAST tradition, and it is painful for me to cancel camp for the second year in a row. Our Vision Statement reads: “Creating lifelong skiers and exceptional citizens.” All of us can be exceptional citizens right now simply by doing all we can to slow the spread of COVID. At a minimum, we should do everything we can to not add to the strain our health care system is under. MAST will be mailing refunds to all camp participants. If you paid by credit card, we will deduct the credit card fees incurred at registration. If you paid by check or account credits, your payment will be refunded in full. This last-minute cancelation creates hardship for the many businesses and services on the Iron Range that we utilize during camp. In particular, Camp Chicagami has been an invaluable partner with us over the years. When I called Randy tonight to tell him that we had to cancel our reservation, he became noticeably sad. He truly enjoys our group and was looking forward to seeing all of us again. But MAST also helps serve his larger mission, which is to provide an affordable summer camping experience to the youth living on the Iron Range. The groups that utilize camp in the winter months help keep the camp financially afloat. Randy’s winter reservations were already down this year due to COVID. Our cancelation just makes his effort to fulfill the camp’s mission that much more difficult. To help sustain Camp Chicagami through the pandemic, I will be sending Randy a donation before the end of the year. If you would like to join me, you can send Randy a check directly at: Camp Chicagami / 3755 Scout Camp Road/ Eveleth, MN 55734, or you can donate a portion of your refund. Just send me an email with the amount you would like to donate. I will pool any donations we receive and send them to Randy as a group donation without attribution. We have a full slate of training available at Hyland over break. Please consult our website for the most up to date schedule. www.mplsalpineski.org This week, we will train in the morning Monday through Thursday, and in the afternoon Monday through Wednesday. I encourage you to attend the morning session and if you want additional training, to also attend the afternoon session. If you can’t make the morning session, then certainly come to the afternoon training at 5PM. I will update the website tomorrow with the training schedule for week seven (Dec. 27-Jan. 1). Monday, Dec 20 9:30AM-Noon. All Pods--Lanes 1,2,3 5:00-7:15PM. All Pods--Lane 4 Tuesday, Dec 21 9:30AM-Noon. All Pods--Lanes 1,2,3 5:00-7:15PM. All Pods--Lane 3 Wednesday, Dec 22 7:45AM-10:30AM. All Pods--Lanes 1,2,3 5:00-7:15PM. All Pods--Lane 4,5 Thursday, Dec 23 7:45AM-10:30. All Pods--Lanes A,B,C Friday, Dec 24-Sunday, Dec 26: OFF My hope is that we can watch video together over break (virtually), either in small groups or in pods. I am also hoping to offer a ski tuning webinar during break as well. We cannot replace camp, but we can keep training hard. More to come. Please, continue to wear your mask indoors, limit your social contacts, and stay out of public indoor spaces as much as possible over the next two weeks. By taking every precaution possible, we stand a better chance of making it through the end of the season safely and without the need to quarantine. See you on the hill. Mark Good Evening MAST Families:
We had a fun race today at Wild and the results are in. Washburn Girls: 1st overall out of 23 teams. Washburn Boys: 3rd overall out of 23 teams. Southwest Boys: 5th overall. Technically and tactically they looked very good. It was to our advantage that all six skiers included in the scoring , rather than just four as is usually the case. I like the fact that the fifth and sixth skiers can boost a team up in the standings. Practice in the morning. Be on the hill before the lifts spin at 8am. We will attempt to train until about 10:45am tomorrow and then clean up. Wear rope tow gloves. We are in lanes 6,7 and 8. See you bright and early. Mark Good Morning MAST!
1. NO PRACTICE TODAY. It pains me to cancel a practice, but the forecast for this afternoon is not getting any better. The snow did not freeze last night so the conditions will be very soft and a bit dangerous for training in gates. And most of you do not have proper rain gear for training in the rain. And there is a chance of thunderstorms. Need any more reasons for cancelling. Be sure to take the opportunity to catch up/get ahead on homework AND tune your skis. You will need SHARP edges starting Friday when all this moisture turns the hill into an ice sheet. 2. For those of you going to Wild Mt on Friday: We do have a bus. Meet at Washburn at 6:05. The bus is scheduled to arrive at 6:15 so I want us ready to load before then so we can get on the road asap after that. Be sure to eat breakfast before you arrive. 3. To know which lanes we have for a given practice and to know whether to wear your rope tow gloves, consult the home page of our website. Lane assignments for each practice are listed there. See you on Thursday. Mark Good Evening MAST!
This is primarily for parents and athletes who will be attending the Wild Invitational race this Friday – but feel free to pitch in if you feel like taking a leisurely ride to Wild Mountain at 6AM Friday! 1. Volunteer Sign-ups: Our responsibilities are different for Invitational races than other races. Generally, the host team covers the race functions, so our attention shifts to “athlete support.” With this in mind, there are a number of roles that need filling for Friday’s race. Please see sign-up link below if you are a parent of Wild Invite racer and pitch in if you can. https://signup.com/go/NznPXBu 2. Camp Chairs: If you plan to attend the race, please bring a folding camp chair (Or two. Or a sideline bench) for your athlete. These come in handy to sit down for lunch, adjust boots, warm up by the camp fire. Athletes can’t bring them on the bus, so throw them in your car if you’re heading to the race to support. 3. Athlete Bag Storage: Wild Mt has asked us to store our bags in a cubby on the lower level of the lodge. When your parents arrive you might want to move your bags to their car. Wild Mtn wants to keep tables clear for all guest use. 4. Transportation Home: The coach bus (loading at 6:05AM at Washburn) is one-way transportation, so you will need to arrange for a ride home for your athlete. If you don’t have one coordinated and need help, reach out to Aaron Cherveny ([email protected]) and he can help line you up with someone who can get your athlete home or back to Washburn safely. On that note, please reach out TO Aaron if you know you’ll have extra space to spare for an athlete in need of a ride. Thanks! Mark Hello Again MAST Families:
A couple of quick updates. 1. Attached is a roster of athletes who are registered for GR. If everyone stays the course, we are full in the girls' cabin and nearly full in the boys'. If anyone decides that they would like to attend camp, please reach out to me. I will start a waiting list for the girls and can probably add two more boys at this point. I always have more male coaches attending and we need coaches so I may be more limited on bed space on the boys' side than I am on the girls' side. 2. Fundraising account credits have been entered into your SportsSignUp accounts. If you were waiting to pay for camp using account credits you should be able to do this yourself. If you have trouble doing it, give me a call or email me. I can help, or I can just do it for you. https://minneapolisalpineskiteam.sportssignup.com/ 3. We are trying to charter a coach bus on our own to transport athletes to Wild Mt. I will let you know if and when this is confirmed. It looks promising. Athletes will need to catch a ride home with their own parents or with someone else's parent. 4. If your name was on the list of competitors or alternates for the Wild Invite, please let me know if you are UNABLE to attend the race. I may also be asking you to tell me how you will be getting home from Wild if we follow through with the bus charter TO Wild. More to come. 5. MN SKI AREA ASSOCIATION COMPETITION WAIVER Some time ago I asked everyone to go online and complete a competition waiver for the MN Ski Areas Association. Attached is a team roster that is tracking which athletes and coaches have completed the waiver. If you are going to Wild Mt on Friday, you need to have a YES next to your name in Column C. If you do not have a YES next to your name, then please complete the waiver today. Race Waiver link If you are not going to Wild Mt, you may be racing at one of the two races we have at Welch this year. If you do not have a YES next to your name, please complete the waiver today. Welch Waiver Link If the waiver asks for you to list your team name, enter Mpls Alpine Ski Team. I am told by the Wild Mt staff that the Wild waiver is recognized at Welch, and that the Welch waiver is recognized at Wild. Let's hope that is true. Thank you for getting this done. Coaches, please fill this out as well. Even if your name is not listed in the spreadsheet. My guess is that this will need to be completed in order to compete at Wild in January. Warning: there will be yet another waiver to complete if you are competing at Afton. Vail corporation has its own unique waiver. Wait 'til you read it. No contingency is missed. I think there is a clause in there that covers Vail if an asteroid strikes you during competition or training. As you can see, the life of a head ski coach is not glamorous and seems to be straying further and further away from actual coaching every year. See you soon, where I get to do what I enjoy doing most... making you an awesome skier. Mark |
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