Canada Training and Racing

The first stint is well underway over here in Canada. Ben Griffin and I have had some great training and a challenging first race series – North American Cup races.

We trained at a resort on the Eastern flank of the Canadian Rockies called Nakiska. It was built for the Calgary 1988 Olympics. The resort itself is relatively dull – do not go there for a ski holiday. It consists of 10 runs or so cut into trees. The Eastern front of the Rockies is so far inland it doesn’t really snow. If you thought Coronet Peak used a lot of snowmaking, think again. The resort is based around a model of no natural snow. But reliably cold temperatures, boring groomed runs and stable weather are a paradise for racers like us.

We skied 2 5-day blocks of training with our coach Nils Coberger, a well-known Queenstowner, who joined us after the first few days. We made a lot of good progress, but as is to be expected, not everything went well. I had a minor crash with a gate, and cracked my helmet almost in two – check out the photo!

After the training we migrated about 2 hours west to Panorama, a slightly snowier and infinitely less sunny ski resort for the NorAm series. The migration was marred by our van, which you may remember made the 2300km journey from Reno, not starting and having to be towed by AAA to have a new starter motor installed. It has been dubbed the A-Team van, is spray painted black and as of tomorrow will have a Silver Fern decorating the door.

The first races went relatively well considering I started training almost a month later than most North American skiers this winter. I finished Super-G #1 with my best points result of the year so far, but was back in 22nd place as it was a tight race. The second Super-G was going even better, but unfortunately I encountered heavy freezing fog in the middle of the run and was consequently cautious and slow on the bottom half of the course.

The next 4 days bring some easier FIS races where Ben and I hope to podium. Following that I will gradually make my way back to Reno to drop the A-Team van off and fly to Europe (with a cheeky stop in Jackson Hole to ski some powder!)

Merry Christmas!