LEWISTON – While Mainers will be spending their lazy, hazy days of summer at beaches or lakes, Amanda Ivey will be skiing on a snow-covered glacier in Austria.

The feisty Oxford Hills High School junior with a carefree attitude recently won a scholarship to travel with the Gunstock Nordic Association (GNA) team to Ramsau, Austria, where she will spend about 10 days training with former Olympians Nina Gavriljuk and Igor Badamshin at the end of June.

“I thought it was pretty cool because I will have 10 or 11 days on snow,” said Ivey, who was last year’s Class A freestyle and classical state champion. “I think it is going to be pretty sweet.”

The training will include eight sessions of skiing on the Dachstein Glacier, technique instruction, rollerskiing, ski bounding, hiking and a cultural day trip to Salzburg.

The 16-year-old cross country skier and outdoor runner heard about the trip and the $1,000 scholarship through the New England Nordic Ski Association. But there were stipulations when she applied for the money.

“I had to write a letter why I deserved to go,” said Ivey, who spent last Friday morning training in the hot sun at Bates College. She also had letters of recommendation drawn up and presented her application to the Gunstock club, which leaves June 28 for Austria.

But her strong reputation as a top-notch Nordic skier from the Pine Tree State was certainly a factor when she was chosen out of eight strong applicants for the scholarship to make the trip from Boston to Munich, which costs a total of $2,800. Ivey and her family raised the rest of the $1,800 to cover the cost of the trip.

“She gathered a very strong bunch of recommendations,” said Andrew Howe, president of GNA. “She was a Maine state champion. She’s a great kid.”

Howe added that Ivey “stood out” as a skier with great potential. When Gunstock officials urged the 12-member Gunstock team (nine girls, three boys) to stay in shape for their European adventure, Ivey took their advice to heart and has been logging time on the hard top with her rollerskis at Bates. “That’s another indication that she is motivated,” said Howe.

A proud Oxford Hills coach Chris Easton said the trip will give Ivey a whole new perspective on the sport.

“The more people you can get information from will make you a better skier,” he added. “It’s an opportunity of a lifetime to go to Austria and spend two weeks skiing in the summer.

“She did an incredible job this winter. I think when you get the opportunity, grab it and go with it.”

For Ivey, the trip is an opportunity to improve her technique so that she might have a shot at an athletic scholarship down the line. She has already set her sights on attending either Bowdoin or Dartmouth colleges. And of course, Ivey wants to be a member of their Nordic ski teams.

“For me personally, I think I have a really good future in skiing and I want to go to college for it,” said Ivey.

Who would say otherwise?

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