Chile Arrival!

Hello!  We have safely arrived in Chile and are getting settled in.  Our connections in La Parva have helped us out and we have been upgraded to some really nice condos that are a bit more spacious then we expected!  We are a few bags shy of complete but we will have them tomorrow.  Everyone is excited to ski and we just received some fresh snow, should be an epic ski day!

Our cargo truck

View of La Parva from the condos

NZ: Day 3

The Girls in front of the blue water of the Rakaia River.

The Girls being goofy, this time behind the blue water.

Today we switched to GS free skiing. The snow was pretty pristine and the weather was very deceiving. At the bottom of the hill it was a beautiful blue-sky day, however when we got up to the mountain it was immersed in the clouds. Luckily by the end of the day the clouds had decided to disperse. We then headed down to Methven where we all walked around town and stopped to chow down at the local cafés.

In the afternoon we headed down to the Rakaia River where we were thoroughly entertained by rock fields, skipping rocks and exploring caves. To further fulfill our childish hearts, four of the girls (Audrey and the seniors) jumped into the water off of the extremely terrifying one-foot cliff. Fortunately, the water was not as cold as we were expecting so the goose bumps were very minimal. We started to slowly head back to the van after taking what seems like one million photos. Some girls got a little spooked on the little hike/trail walk back. The screams could be heard from the other side of the trail!

After we returned home, we had about 45 minutes of relaxation time, the longest yet! Dinner was excellent as usual, tonight was lasagna with apple pie. Our group gained one in number as Stacey Bolger from Boston College had dinner with us. He is going to be skiing with us for the next couple of days while he is down here. Harlow is happy now that he has some testosterone in the group. Now we are star-fished out on our beds, taking in the heat from our electric blankets, utterly exhausted.

Until next time J

Roomies 4 Life (AKA Coley and Sarg)

(Late edit: We are slowly getting video up on Sprongo. The connection here is not fast, but we are trying. Please be patient. For the Men's FIS Parents: The connection in NZ is slow, but the connection in Chile is likely ridiculously slow. For everyone: All video will be added to Sprongo when we get back to school!)

NZ: Day 2 (The Shout-Out Edition)

The Girls and Libby in front of a pretty sweet backdrop.

Solid day down here in New Zealand. The snow is starting to firm up and it should be terrific tomorrow.

Today's blog is the Shout Out Edition. Not everyone has purchased internet and not everyone has their cell phones turned on, so for those of you that are dying for some contact from your Burkie Bear in New Zealand, these shout outs go out to YOU!

Hope you're having fun at Family Camp! Love, Liza

Mom and Dad. From, Sergeant Pech

Don't worry, I'm not the weird new kid. Love, Coley

Hi Mom and Dad, finally found my bag!! Love, Ood

Aw, it's amazing here. I love you guys! Xoxo, Dani

The food is absolutely deluxe. I love you guys! Love, Mardi

Hi Ming Ming! Love, Lisa

I love you Gorgaaaaaa! Love, Soph

Dear Mom, Thanks for not making me eat cooked vegetables... Now, it's an issue. Love, Lexi

NZ: Day 1

Mt. Hutt: Looking Snowy

Lib and Eliza

Happy Birthday Sophie!

Today was our first day of skiing in New Zealand. After 32 hours of traveling we finally made it to the land of kiwis. When the love bus took off for the mountain this morning, the weather was fair. During our drive up, Sophie got a call for her mother who informed her that it was her birthday. (How did she not know?????) Her excuse, “I didn’t have facebook to remind me.” Whatever. Libby and Harlow became experts at putting chains on. After struggling for twenty minutes, they realized that the chain has to be the same size as the wheel. Once the chains were on, the love bus was ready to tackle some extreme off-roading and we all made it to the lodge safe and sound. 

            We were getting ready in the lodge and didn’t think things could get any better, when Erin Mielzynski and Marie-Michelle Gagnon sat down next to us. The morning started off great until the second run when Mardi, Lisa, Coley (That New Girl), and Eliza were stopped by the Mt. Hutt ski patrol for “racing” down the bunny trail (on slalom skis while doing drills). He almost pulled their passes but let them off with a warning. Audrey and Bug looked extra sharp in their mismatch of borrowed ski clothes and rented helmets due to their lost baggage. Overall it was a solid day of skiing.

            For dryland we went for a quick jog, played soccer with some local boys (cuties!), (who were 12), did a core, and recovered with a hot-cold bath. We ended the day with a song called Happy Birthday and a delicious homemade cake!

Xoxo, Lardi

New Zealand: Arrival

Long day, but we made it. Upon arrival, there were only three bags missing and we expect those to be sent to the hotel tonight.

It’s late, so I won’t get into too much, but the girls are well fed and ready for a day back on snow tomorrow. Stay tuned for pictures and some text from a couple of the kids!

An LA Layover

Here are some photos from our stop in LA. We had time to see some sights. Now, we're back at LAX waiting on our flight.

NZ: Pre-Email

Hi everyone,

The blog is back. We're gearing up to get our final turns in before school starts. The FIS Men and some U16 Men are off to La Parva, Chile, the U16 Women and some U16 Men are headed to Mt. Hood, OR, and the FIS Women are on their way to Mt. Hutt, New Zealand. Here are some of the details of the trip to Mt. Hutt:

Town: Methven is a small town with plenty of little shops and two village grocers. It’s very safe and the people are friendly. The athletes will always need to check with me before walking to town and I don’t let them go after dark, but there is no trouble to be found on the streets of Methven. Check it out on Google Maps. Methven Resort won’t show up, but it’s across the street from Mt. Hutt College (the local High School.)


Accommodation: I’ve always stayed at the Methven Resort and it’s an amazing spot. The owners are always quick to help, the hotel is very nice, the grounds have small fields for dryland and two years ago they had an Austrian Chef who was a magician. Breakfast and lunch is provided by the hotel, but the athletes will be responsible for their food at lunch and on the travel days. Here’s the link: www.methvenresort.com


Skiing: Mt. Hutt provides a World Class venue. In the past, the girls had the chance to meet Anja Paerson and the Swedish Women’s team and Andrew Weibrecht and the US Men’s WC Speed Team. This year, we will overlap with the Swedish Men’s World Cup Team and the Austrian Women’s WC Team. It is a top Southern Hemisphere destination and we are lucky to have the opportunity to rip on their slopes. A link to Mt. Hutt: http://www.nzski.com/mountain.jsp?site=mthutt


Equipment/What to bring?: It is winter in the Southern Hemisphere and for the first few hours of each day, we will be training in the shadow of Mount Hutt. It can be windy, cold and snow is likely at some point up on the hill, so bring warm clothing. Down in town, the temps are mild, but it’s still recommended to head to conditioning in a sweatshirt and sweatpants. As for skis, everyone should plan on bringing 2 SL and 1 GS with at least two sets of bindings. We will have access to the SG track while we are there, but check with your primary coach to see whether or not you need to lug your SG boards all the way down there.


Keeping up with the Camp: We will update the blog (Burkiebearblog.blogspot.com) as often as we can and Sprongo (sprongo.com) as often as the bandwidth allows!