Interview with Hannah
I met Hannah in Girdwood, through mutual friends. Knowing she was a racer, I was quite intimidated by her. Besides the fact that her life is so different than mine, she is really down to earth. It is no doubt that skiing is a huge priority in her life.
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I met Hannah waiting for me at a table in Girdwood’s infamous Bake Shop. She wore a knitted white and blue beanie with her hair in a messy bun. She was wearing a dark blue t-shirt underneath an unbuttoned flannel. Very cute, but casual.
“This is so weird! Did you just decide, oh, I’m going to write about Girdwood?” “Well we get to pick a topic. It took a while to think of but when I thought of Girdwood it was literally an aha moment.” I said as I sat down. We ordered food and chatted for a while. Then I asked, “How often do you drive to Anchorage?” “Every single day. There’s one or two days I might stay in, but usually every day.” She answered. “Really!?” I asked, surprised. That’s 45 minutes each way, I thought. “For what?” “School, running errands… I don’t know. My dad drives in every single day—sometimes all three of us will drive in all in separate cars.” “That’s crazy! Is that normal for people that live in Girdwood?” “No. Most people work in town, anyways. But, all the high schoolers have to drive to South every day.” South High School is located in South Anchorage. That’s a long commute. My high school is five minutes away walking, I though. “All the college kids going to UAA [University of Anchorage Alaska] have to drive there, too. “Geez, that’s so far away! Why didn’t you choose to live in a dorm?” “Pshh. Ew, no?” I laughed. “Too many weirdos for you?” I asked kiddingly. “Also, skiing. I have to stay for skiing.” “Ohhhh. That makes sense. Oh! I forgot to ask! Have you lived in Girdwood all your life?” “No!” She answered relieving. “I can name a lot of people that have, though! I mean, my mom decided to move us out here for the smaller community, and a smaller one-on-one school.” “Yeah I’ve actually read that that’s a really important factor to many residents who live in ski towns.” “Yeah, also, every knows everyone.” “Right! I read that the current population of people in Girdwood is 1,817 people.” (2) Hannah laughed, “That’s probably true.” “So what’s the sense of community like?” “Well, lots of Anchorage people come during the winter. Everyone’s pretty friendly. You won’t find a mean person. There are a lot of bark-biting hippies down here that just believe in living the free life. Then there’s the other side that’s…normal.” “Oh, so there’s two sides? Or separate groups of people?” “Well…yeah, kinda. It’s like a hippy/skiing town. Lot of people ski in the winter and fish all summer.” “Oh, interesting!” “So there’s like two halves to Girdwood, there’s like the people that don’t ski who are sort of like weirdo hippies. They just do what they do; They have their incents and all their different stuff. Then there’s ski half. They party every weekend, go skiing, go drink at the bar, and just....” “Rage?” I laughed. “Oh my goodness. That’s why we have a big house. To throw lots of parties. The ski half gathers on one part of the town and the hippy side does their own thing. I know like half the town. The other half is just weirdos. Like sheets over their windows.” “I’ve never noticed that in my experience with Girdwood. I was interviewing Mac, and we were talking about the Forest Fair and how it wasn’t his scene at all. Would that where the “weirdo hippies” congregate?” “In Girdwood--” Hannah paused, “everybody has a little hippy in them, but the Forest Fair, everyone can have fun there, but it is definitely where the hippy half gathers. That’s where you can see all these long, sparkly skirts and the jingling bras and stuff.” We both laugh out loud. I recall exactly what she’s talking about. “Anyways, how do you feel about the cost of living in Girdwood? (1,4)” “Its…if you love skiing and if you love Girdwood, then it’s worth it to live here. Living in a ski town is so expensive. If you don’t have a ton of money you have to buy a condo and all the condos are right by the mountain so they are all like ridiculously expensive. I mean if you live here, some people just don’t want to leave so they’ll do anything to stay. You can take the shuttle for a dollar…I mean everyone is so friendly I used to connect with everyone on the shuttle before I got my truck. It’s like the city bus just not as creepy. “ “Yeah! I remember riding the shuttle and it was some drunk guy’s birthday and the entire bus sang “Happy Birthday” to him. Hannah began to laugh. “That’s happened to me like twice! Once it was Sammie’s (a mutual friend of ours) birthday, we were on the bus at like 3 in the morning and it stopped at the Sitzmark (the bar in Girdwood) the perfect place to be at that time. And so everyone packed into the shuttle. You couldn’t walk in it. Then everyone just started singing Happy Birthday to her. Best birthday gift.” “Oh my goodness that’s hilarious! Speaking of celebrations I noticed nobody really dresses up in Girdwood. Do you think how you dress in Girdwood is different than how you dress anywhere else?” “YES. Oh my goodness, yes.. I would not wear this to UAA,” she said as she pointed to her chest. “Okay so describe a typical Girdwood outfit.” “It’s just when winter comes around, I’ve started doing this in the past two weeks. Going to town you want to look nice and everything. You wear jeans, shoes, and a pretty coat and you,” she paused and pointed to her head, “do your hair.” I let out a loud laugh. “I look like I have a comb-over. I wake up, shower, and put on a hat. I’ll wake up, shower, put on a hat, go to ski training. We walk around in our ski long johns, our Bogs, Xtratuffs, flannels, and Patagonia puffies.” “Yeah I totally see those trends in Girdwood. Wait, can you talk about ski training?” “Oh.” She sounded bored as she continued, “well this year I did it 5 days a week. It’s super competitive, I guess.” She paused. “Wow, Girdwood is such a different place now that I’m talking about it how different it is than everything else. I’ve had like 5 different coaches that have come from the Northeast and they come to coach up here because it’s super competitive for us. If you don’t ski race in Girdwood or ski in general, then you’re probably going to be a pothead for the rest of your life. We travel with our teams, but it’s not as frequent as it is for other teams. All these other places they can drive from hill to hill to hill that are all next to each other. They get so fascinated that we have to fly there and then drive from the airport to the hill.” “Yeah, that’s a struggle. Wait is training all year round?” “We just started training again so it’s November till when skiing at Alyeska stop? Oh. April. So it stops in April, and then there’s usually like two or so summer camps. I’ve gone to France for three summers for skiing. You can go to other places down in the states, too.” “Wow that’s awesome. Are the teams co-ed? “Yes.” How big are your teams?” “Juniors is 10 years old to 18. There’s a little over a 100 of us. Then there’s the Mighty Mights, which has like 300. Now you have to try out for it because there is only so much space on the team.” “Jeez that sounds so competitive!” “Then there’s the Free-ride program. I don’t talk to them. Those kids are weird.” “Oh are those the kids who do tricks at the Terrain Park?” “Yeah they have they ski pants all the way down and they go to the Terrain Park. And then there’s Masters which is like 18 and up. My parents do that. Most adults do that.” By this point the conversation has ended, but so has our meals. It was interesting to me how much of an effect Hannah's interview will have on my autoethnography. To her, it was just a chat about her every day life. |