UAA Alpine Ski Team
UAA's ski team racers are remarkably smart and fast student athletes. But in the last eight months, the intercollegiate ski programs at UAA and UAF have been jeopardized, mainly by budget shortfalls in the modern, declining Alaska economy. Intercollegiate racing was initially suspended, but in November 2016 UA reinstated intercollegiate racing, so the UAA alpine team was safe, for the moment. There is still anxiety. The economy is no better. But the athletes are resilient and remain high-achieving students who continue to train and race at a high level. These images, all taken this season, depict some of them doing the usual: skiing fast and clean, with strength and agility. Efforts, meanwhile, are in progress to make sure skiing remains an intercollegiate sport at both schools.
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After a lifetime of mainly expressing myself with words, my postings here will mainly rely on images. They will speak for themselves to some extent, but I'll usually add a few comments of explanation. I've taken photographs for decades, since the 1950's, inspired in part by my father's photographic skill. Four years of photo assignments and quality darkroom time eventually gave way to decades of casual and family picture-taking. I re-immersed myself when I left film and turned to digital.