Home and the US Ski Team

I got home from the first D-Team camp at Mammoth, CA on Tuesday, and it's been hectic ever since. Although three of us had already met criteria for the team, the camp doubled as try-outs for the final 5-6 slots.  All of us found out on the last day of the camp who made the cut for next year, and even though I'd made criteria, it was great to be officially offered a spot! The night after the official phonecalls were made to each of us who made the team was spent calling/writing everyone who attended the camp, trying to find out who the other 5 guys were. Fortunately, I really like all the other guys who made it and am looking forward to skiing with them next winter! I can't even put to words how excited I am to have achieved this goal, even though it is just another step on the road. Just the other day I was thinking about last year and how I had hoped to make the team, but honestly didn't know if it would happen. Things are working out really well!

This summer is going to be pretty crazy with all the training blocks at Mt. Hood and Park City. It looks like I will be on the road about 2 weeks per month either skiing in Hood, or weight lifting at the high tech "Center of Excellence" located in Parl City.  My time at home will be spent biking, playing baseball, working, lifting, and doing schoolwork to get ahead for next ski season. I am already starting my Baseball season as well! We actually just finished the first double header of the year yesterday, and it is soo great to be back on the field with the hometown guys. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the summer!  

Mammoth, CA

There is an old saying in ski racing about the weather that all too often seems to come true. "If you want it to snow, just schedule a race." So here I am in a blizzard in Mammoth, CA at this USST camp. The first few days were perfect; 50 degrees and sunny with good solid snow, Randy, the head D-Team coach, came out a few days early to help the groomers create great terrain features for training. These features are set up in waves approx 24 meters apart from crest to crest, and 5 feet deep. The GS courses are set through the middle of 'em, talk about sweet training! Right now my focus is giving my feet room at the gate so that I can create angles and really get the power out of the top of the turn. I feel like its coming along well!
We got to loaf today.  They have us doing three days of training, then a day off.  Although I wasn't tired yet, the day off felt good.  I'll be interested to see what they throw at us tomorrow.

New season starts?

I apologize for not posting at all late this season! My busy schedule aside I should have been on top of it, and I promise to do better starting now. On the other hand, I did stay focused and achieve the performance and mental goals I set for myself at the start of the year.

So I don't exactly know if this is the end of last season or the start of next. Things just seem to be flowing one into another. Right now I am in Park City, UT for physical assessments at the Center of Excellence. (the US Ski Team's main headquarters) With its great gym full of high tech lifting machines, and big staff of doctors, physios and trainers, it's a heck of a place to work out!

Today I got to meet one of my new coaches, and I like him a lot. I wasn't too worried about who it would be with as far as coaches go, but I must say it's nice to know that I'll be spending this next year with a cool guy. Even after 20 days off skis, I am already feeling the urge to get back on the snow. I got to see a lot of my buds from the circut today, and I dont think I'm the only one "chomping at the bit" for some white stuff right now! They are a really good group of guys and I look forward to training with them this season!

Tomorrow I head to Mammoth, CA for 10 days on snow with the team. For some of the guys who haven't made criteria for the team yet, this camp will serve as a tryout. Fortunately I already made it, so the stress won't be quite as high. No matter what though, in this sport -- at this level, you have to keep pushing as hard as you can. Maintaining focus is a big part of success, so I'm trying to keep everything in perspective. 

Two days in

. I just finished the first two days of this 4 day series in Snow Bird, Utah. The run the slaloms were held on these days was injected, and pretty icy. I kind of let it get in my head on the first day, and struggled through both runs. Last night I was a little frustrated, and decided to watch some World Cup videos and visualize. I looked at today’s race as an opportunity to sort out a few issues I have had on this hard snow. I made quite a few mistakes, and didn’t score, yet in my mind today was still a success. The next two days are going to be GS’s at Park City. I have had success on this hill in the past and am excited to be back on it!

Tuning up

I am once again back on the road after having 7 days off at home over Christmas. I free skied, ice skated, and relaxed with my family while giving my knee a few easy days to recover from these last weeks on the road. Now Dad and I are in Jackson tuning up for the FIS Elite tech series next week in Park City, UT. The snow here is great for training and I feel we are getting a lot accomplished! After skiing each day I have been playing some hockey at the public rink. Two days ago I had a momentary balance issue during a pickup game and smashed my chin down pretty hard on the ice. Got 7 stitches but fortunately didn’t miss any training. I am really looking forward to these next few days of competition!

1st NORAM experience

I just finished my first race series of the season.  This was also my first NORAM level competition.  What a great way to start!  The week started with two official training runs.  I skied well, but was trying to figure out which tactics worked on different parts of the course.  When the race days came around I knew what I wanted to do, and executed my plan well everywhere but at one turn on a big break-over.  Gosh, that thing bugged me!  I still scored close to my downhill points, which is pretty good for this time of year against an international field.  The final race of the week was a Super G, on the same slope.  It's a totally different game than the Downhill due to only one hour for inspection and no training runs on the course.  I had a really strong run and scored 38 FIS points!  This is my best result ever in any event, so as you can imagine I'm pretty excited!  Next on the schedule is two slalom races at Jackson, WY, some Giant Slalom training, and a return to Canada for a tech series.  So far it's been a great start to the season and I'm planning on keeping the ball rolling!

Home and off again

I spent three days at home for the holidays and then headed up to Panorama, BC. It was great to be back on snow again! GS this morning started at 10, but the sun still had not crested the mountains by the time we got up there. Fortunately, being a Pacific Northwest skier, it was not the first time I had found myself in flat light. I was glad the snow was grippy. It is such a pleasant change from theshiny ice that predominated my last few weeks of training. in Colorado. Another positive thing was that my knee did not hurt at all! What a relief! I felt like I could really push the line more direct and use my strength to get myself out of trouble. That said I am still trying to get the touch back, but it is comming along nicely. Tomorrow I'm doing Super G for two hours in the morning, and Giant Slalom for a few runs in the afternoon. Looking forward to another sunny, 4 degree day!