Lauren Wardwell: Skiing, Saba Style

AMBASSADÖRK Lauren shares a delightful story of baptism by fire. A newbie to roller skiing, but no stranger to Vermont snow, Lauren undertook a racing adventure on the island of Saba and lived to talk about it. That's one way to keep the toesies warm!

With that, let's get to it.

AMBASSADÖRK Lauren Wardwell in Saba, ready to enjoy a well-earned shot, or two. Photo courtesy of Lauren Wardwell. Also featured is our Carnivale Drink Belt

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ambassadörks

Lauren: Skiing, Saba Style

Have you ever wished, in the heat of summer, that the earth wasn’t quite so flat?

If you’re a vert enthusiast, rollerskier, skimo athlete, or simply a warm-weather lover looking for a new activity to set your legs on fire, look no further than Saba—a five-square-mile island in the Dutch Caribbean.

This past summer, I had the chance to join my partner, his former college teammates, and their friends on a week-long rollerskiing adventure on the island known as the Unspoiled Queen. Saba is essentially a mountain rising straight out of the ocean, and it’s every uphill athlete’s dream.

I’m relatively new to the nordieverse and honestly thought I’d never rollerski. But I’d also never been to the Caribbean, and the FOMO of skipping this trip would’ve been unbearable. Rollerskiing is still fairly new on the island, and part of our mission was to scout potential race courses for future events and summer training. I spent the summer leading up to our September trip learning how to ski on wheels—complete with a few minor crashes but, thankfully, no dramatic road rash.

If you’re looking to get into rollerskiing, whether for nordic training or just because roller skiers look objectively cool, it’s absolutely possible. I highly recommend knee pads, elbow pads, and one of those tailbone pillows snowboarders wear—usually shaped like a turtle.

I did not have a turtle cushion, but I imagine it would have made one or two of my falls less painful and me more stylish.

I started my roller ski training in a parking lot, where my partner’s father taught me basic skills, which quickly escalated to agility drills on a course made of recycling-bin items. That first day, I had full baby-deer legs. From there, I graduated to the Stowe Rec Path (basically one of the flattest paved places in Stowe, VT). A couple of weeks before arriving in Saba, I practiced hills for the first time—on actual roads, with actual cars. After a long, gradual warm-up climb, we started hill intervals up Trapp Hill Road. The interval began next to a cow field; I felt like the cows were silently wishing they could join the rollerski adventure. After a few sets my feet were blistered and I was very ready for lunch. Only later did we learn that the routes we’d ski on Saba would be even steeper than our practice intervals!

Saba’s impressively steep, winding mountain roads are perfect for uphill training, and the island’s charismatic taxi drivers serve as unofficial—and much appreciated—hype people, cheer squad, tour guides, and downhill shuttles. One of my favorite “races” was part run, part ski: we started at the ocean in Ladder Bay, where an old staircase of about 800 steps climbs straight up the mountainside to the historic customs house. After the stair climb, we hopped into our skis and continued uphill to the finish.

The race was followed by a delicious breakfast at Juliana’s Hotel’s Tropics Café- the hotel was our accommodations for the week. Everything there was fantastic, but the continental breakfast was especially perfect for hungry skiers. The café has a variety of daiquiris; a virgin mango daiquiri was my afternoon beverage of choice. 

Another skiing route also begins at the ocean, on a different part of the island, and passes Saba’s airport—home to the smallest commercial runway in the world—before snaking nearly 1,300 feet uphill in just under two miles to a church on Zion Hill with breathtaking ocean views. Our final race of the week started in the only port on the island. It follows the paved roads up through the famous S curves which a sign reports a 22% grade.

The route continues through a town called The Bottom, which is not actually at the bottom of the island, and then proceeds to ascend switchbacks that were definitely steeper than 22%! After each race, we feasted on local fruit gifted by our taxi drivers or our host for the week. Fresh bananas and guava were heavenly after a grueling climb. We soon discovered fruit trees all over the island, even along hiking trails, where we harvested avocado, bananas, and guava. We were told that during mango season so many fall in the road that the island needs a plow-like tool to clear them—mango snow!

A highlight of the trip was sharing our rollerski gear with local school kids and teaching them how to ski.

They impressed us with how quickly they picked it up. We also joined local athletes for a Strava segment challenge: a two-mile run up the volcano with 2,100 feet of elevation gain.

There’s no shortage of hiking on the Unspoiled Queen, and as someone from the northeastern United States, I was pleasantly surprised by the differences in trail hazards. At home, we worry about poison ivy and ticks; on Saba, there are none to speak of. The only real danger is the manchineel tree, a poisonous species found in a small, easily avoidable section of the island.

Saba is also well known for scuba diving, which was a perfect way to relax and recover after a morning of rollerski racing. I was more interested in snorkeling—I figured rollerskiing was already testing my limits, and I didn’t need to add oxygen tanks and weights to the mix. Snorkeling did not disappoint: we saw several sea turtles, a ray, nurse sharks, and countless fish of every imaginable size and color.

Coming back to snow after a summer on wheels, my balance feels much better than it has at the beginning of past seasons—when I tipped over frequently.

My double-pole technique and strength feel significantly improved too (though still with a long way to go!).

Authors Note: I am relatively new to the nordie-verse and so glad to have found my way here! I live in Stowe, VT and ski primarily in Craftsbury and at Trapp Resort. In a couple short years nordic skiing has taken me to some pretty cool places: Utah, Germany, Canada, and even a Caribbean island. My favorite activities, including nordic skiing involve being outside laughing and having fun with friends. You can find me on the grid @hashtaglaurenwardwell

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the closer What We're Thinking About.

That Lauren is doing this nordieverse thing right. And has got us rethinking snow?