
Last spring, retired APU skier Reese Hanneman fulfilled a lifelong dream by hosting NordicX, a nordic ski-cross event, at Hilltop downhill ski area on the edge of Anchorage, Alaska. The sun was out, the jumps were big, the stoke was high.
This spring, it’s happening again. Here’s the official press release:

Here’s an in-depth story on last year’s inaugural event from Rachel Perkins with FasterSkier. Here’s a video of one full heat that gives you a feel for the event — note the V2 and jumpskate interlude in the middle, which cannot be easy on tired legs.
And here’s some more photos of sick air, as well as of some athletes more sedately riding the chairlift up for their next run.




Find out more info about this year’s race here.
Let me clarify that this is only sort of press release-ish. Reese Hanneman with NordicX forwarded me the press release flyer and my choice of images to use, and asked me if Nordic Insights would be interested in covering this. I did the rest. I’ve accepted no money or any other quid pro quo from Reese, so I’m calling this closer to a press release than to native advertising or sponsored content, but I do want to be very clear about what was provided from Nordicx (the flyer) and what I wrote (the rest of it). Reese had no say over or involvement in the specific content of this story other than the press release image that he provided. — Gavin Kentch