Have you noticed that the guy who's grooming at Kincaid looks a lot like one of the  Junior Nordic coaches? That's because they are one in the same. Meet John Hemmeter.  This guy gets around! 
 

John grew up south of Cleveland, Ohio and spent his childhood traveling and camping. By the time he was in high school he had been to all of the lower 48 states. After college at Kent State he headed west, first to Colorado as a ski bum and then to Montana. Like many of us, he came to Alaska for "a summer". That was 14 years ago.

John started off working in Denali, and then moved to Valdez, where he spent 7 years guiding multi-sport adventures - kayaking, back country fly in trips, and climbing. This is John's 4th winter in Anchorage. A while back he decided to become a "land lubber," and bought a house here. 

John has had some seriously cool adventures. He's climbed Denali, in the Brooks Range and in Nepal. He taken several extended bike trips: 8000 km through SE Asia, a 6000 km trek around Australia and yet another trip through SW China. Future bike trips? Maybe the Silk Road or Lhasa to Kathmandu. Did we mention he gets around? 

These days he's hanging closer to home. Working for NSAA, fixing up his house, mountain biking, backcountry skiing, kayaking, and a little bit of ice climbing thrown in. Another pastime, brewing his favorite beer - IPA made with water from a secret location along the Seward Highway.
 

Why We Like John:

John does everything!  Not only is he an excellent groomer, but he's involved with just about everything that NSAA does. He handles event coordination details for NSAA's operations department. He gets things where they need to be. He's great with education and is keenly interested in keeping the public informed of the hows, whys and whens of grooming.
 

In his "spare time" he coaches Junior Nordic (he's the head Polar Cub coach at Kincaid), works with Title 1 school ski programs and is one of the key organizers of Ski 4 Kids. Little known fact: he designed the last three Ski 4 Kids posters. We think he sleeps, but we haven't confirmed that yet.

Q: What is your favorite type of snow to groom?

A:  When it actually does snow! I like working for NSAA because I believe in what we do, and think it's a good thing to be involved in: it's good for the community, bringing people together and promoting healthy living.  

The Alaska Jumping Club is hosting the first annual NSAA Jumping/Nordic Combined competition at Karl Eid Ski Jumps and Hillside Trails on February 5, 2011. Not a jumper? Come check out the action and see if the Jumping program is right for you (or your kids)!

This is a fun event and participants may choose either the Jumping Only competition or Nordic Combined (jumping and skiing) event. If there is interest we'll have a 2-person team sprint. Jumpers may compete with their own gear (downhill or tele/AT skis ok) or borrow club gear. The ski race will be freestyle.

Want to register? CLICK HERE

Want more information?: Visit our Website