KEEGAN MESSING A Season Like No Other
Last season was an emotional roller coaster for Canada’s Keegan Messing, but the 28-year-old from Anchorage, Alaska, is now looking ahead to the upcoming season with high expectations and renewed vigor.
Surrounded by wide-open spaces with a backdrop of beautiful mountains, Messing took the time during the lockdown to reflect on the loss of his brother, his skating career and what lies ahead in his future.
What did you do during quarantine when you could not train?
I kept myself busy, but I did get a bit bored. Alaska took a pretty rapid response to the coronavirus and is doing fairly well. They shut schools down and put in a mandatory two-week quarantine on anyone coming into the state, and I think that was something that definitely helped slow the curve.
We also have limited people here and everyone is pretty spread out so that could also be a factor. We had less than 400 cases and things are now getting a little looser. It is all going pretty well.
Our rink closed in March, but we were lucky that the backcountry and mountains were still open where we could go hiking. Just going out and playing in the mountains is a blast.
I have been an avid skier since I was 16 months old. I was born and raised at the base of Alyeska Mountain in Girdwood, which is about 35 miles south of Anchorage, and I became a very good skier.
My dad and I go backcountry skiing every year, and went as often as we could last winter. We throw on the telemark gear, which is like downhill gear except that the heels pop up like cross-country skis, and ski up the mountains on our skins and then ski down some of the chutes.
We were scoping out a pretty big mountain, Alpenglow, this winter. We have been looking at it for a few years and trying to figure out what the best angle up would be. I have climbed other mountains but not this one.
My rink re-opened on May 12. I was happy to be back and to feel my legs hurting again.
Throughout April, you posted videos of yourself on Instagram doing daredevil tricks on hockey skates on your backyard ice rink.
I was a little bummed when spring arrived and all the ice was
