SNOW!

Today was a great day my friends.  Today, I went skiing!  Sam and I drove over to Killington, VT in search of the only lift accessed skiing east of the Mississippi!  Although the lift lines were longer than any line I have ever been in, and the slopes were moderately crowded, the sky was blue, the temps hovered just above freezing, and the snow was beautiful.  Man made, hard, firm, grippy, great snow to work out the kinks and get back into skiing!  It felt great to finally arc some great turns after five and a half months off snow!  Gotta love a beautiful day at the office!

chugging away

Well I've been chugging away down here at school, doing a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of work down here at UNH, especially since my computer crashed about a week and a half ago, I just yesterday got it back, so lots of reconstruction as I sort through all the files they recovered off my old hard drive.  I am working on putting together some of the film from world champs in Rjukan last year, hopefully I will have that up here in the next couple of weeks.  I went home for the long weekend, did a few canopy tours and such.  It was good to get some nice northern NH air, also took a peek at this seasons skis, getting pretty stoked for ski season!!

Back at the U!

Its been, well, all summer and most of spring since my last post, so I'll throw out the readers digest version of my summer.  It was busy.....but really it was crazzyyy.  Ski season ended, I skied Tuckermans ravine a couple times, soak up some sun, relaxed a little bit after a long season.  I flocked flamingos for a couple weeks, then things started to get wild.  I started my Anatomy summer class two days a week in Nashua, NH.  Then I started working five days a week.  So for about a month and a half I did nothing but school and work.  It was crazy.  But i did have a pretty rockin' job so it wasn't all bad.  I was a canopy tour guide at the Bretton Woods Adventure Center.  Pretty much my job entailed zip lining all day...and getting paid.  So it wasn't all bad.  When August rolled around, I finished my class, and started working 6 days a week.  It was pretty wild.  I did a triathlon, no comment on the those results, then the end of the summer rolled around and I find myself back at UNH!  Somehow in the midst of all that I found time to do some pretty good training in there!  Anyway I am living in Newmarket, NH, off campus thank goodness and I'm getting super pumped for another EPIC season of TELEMARK RACING!

Home!

What a perfect homecoming!  I went up to Cannon today to find the snow in perfect condition!  It was like January skiing all over again!  The spring skiing is going to be EPIC!

2011 Nationals!!

Its been a wild ride here in the 'Boat!  The first race, the sprint classic could not have gone better!  No penalties and fast skiing led to a victory for yours truly on the opening race, after laying down the fastest second run!  The Dual Pro Slalom, in which I was the defending champion, led to a third place finish.  The elimination style knockout rounds were just a bit too much skiing for me.  The classic was my worst race of the series, a 4th place finish was less than ideal, but still okay.  I skied fast, but little mistakes on the pitch of see me led to one penalty and the second fastest time, annnnnd 4th place.  Today was the final race of the series, and the season, and although it did not end up as I had hoped, it was still a good day!  I laid down the fastest first run, no penalties, but I pulled a little slide on the snow one ski in the air one ski carving action, which is definitely not fast, and also earned me a nice little penalty, and a sub-par second run, as in not smooth, but clean, led to a second place finish by a measly .12 seconds, with a penalty.  So it could have been a win instead of a second place, but if I took away the penalty it would have been a dnf....so I am happy with the results, but not satisfied.  But if  you are ever satisfied with the results how are you ever going to get better!  2012 here we come!!

So Long Norway!

Well today was a bust...taking a squat in the wrap in the first run left me starting 39th....and a conservative second run left me 33rd...But On the bright side I am leaving Norway having made 5/6 jump lines here in Rjukan, a 10th in the GS, and some really really brilliant skiing.  So tomorrow we start the trek back to steamboat for Nationals...then...I...finally...get...to....go...hooommee! :)

ohhh ski racing...

All it took today was one little mistake yesterday and I am six or seven seconds out and in 22nd place.  The classic gs hill is so so sooo flat that one little slide out on the one and only steep section at the top of the course and thats all she wrote.  I missed the jump line, skated okay...but without the full speed coming of the top pitch I never really stood a chance.  So not my day but thats ski racing.  The field being as tight as it has been on a not so difficult course, you can't make mistakes.  Today we have a day off so I will just work on my skis and relax, maybe do a few free runs this afternoon, and watch the demo race scheduled for this afternoon, the Dual Sprint!  Shane is the lone US starter so I get to play coach for the day!  Saturday is the final race, the sprint classic, that can once again be seen live on Eurosport 2, or on the free link online shown bellow!!