Attitash GS's

Well everyone is home and looking forward to having the day off after a productive trip to Attitash for the first FIS devo series of the year. In the first GS we continued the trend of great skiing and positive results.

Jake scored his best result to date finishing 8th with a 72 point result. Dylan had a great result in 12th with a 76. Cam was 30th with an 89, Kip was 36th. Spencer had another great day moving up from 112th to 57th, starting the year off with a 114 point result. Dan Scherding was 87th on the day. Unfortunately Dan Martin had some trouble passing the Slalom start and lost a ski in the first run. Kyle and Ben Scheu also had some trouble and were un able to make it down in the second run.

Yesterday in the second GS the boys continued to ski well. Jake was on track for another great day but took a slight detour in the first run and had to nordic ski a little to get back in the track. Dylan lead the pack today in 13th place with another career best result, scoring a 69. Cam stepped it up today and cut his bib in half to finish 20th. He also scored his best GS result to date with a 77. Kyle had some better luck today, moving up to 37th from bib 121. Dan Martin was close behind in 41st less than .3 behind kyle. Mike Ferri was next in 48th, scoring a 100 that will be a good match for the 93 he scored last week in Alaska. Ben moved up today into 65th, followed by Dan Scherding in 66th. Spencer was right behind them in 69th.

The GS races at Attitash proved to be a great opportunity for these guys to score some great results before the close of the December FIS list. Everyone was able to score great results and set themselves up for much better start positions in the next round of FIS races. Luckily we have some downtime coming up so the boys have time to recharge their batteries and get psyched for some training and a lot more racing. I will try to get back later today and post a few pictures from the GS's.
And as an aside Coach Greg Hardey won the Fore runner race yesterday afternoon. In all borrowed equipment he took down Paul Epstein (a highly reguarded former racer and coach from GMVS) by .15.
Happy Holidays and see you all back after Break.
Stags

Attitash SL #2
Today the guys had the second SL of this trip on Illusion at Attitash. First run was another fairly easy set that allowed to boys to ski fast and rewarded those who can run a direct line and hold on through the finish.
Again today we had a large group of guys ski very fast on the run and move into the flip. Dylan again was fastest, Skiing into 9th, Followed by Jake in 14th, Kip in 16th, Dan in 25th and Kyle in 26th. Dan Scherding also improved on his bib and moved up to 64th. Spencer had some trouble in a few places but moved up to 79th. Ben had some trouble on the middle and unfortunately moved back to 88th.
I took the opportunity second run to set a course that had more offset than the previous three courses this trip. Some of the top guys had trouble adjusting to the bigger turn shape, continuing to go straight and blowing out a few gates onto the lower pitch. Our guys on the other hand had a great inspection and made the right adjustments for the terrain. Jake skied up into 7th with an 81 point result. He was followed by Kyle in 8th with an 82 point race, he was second on the second run, behind fellow 95 Griffin Brown. Kip raced int 12th and an 85 point result, and Dan was 17th with a 91 point result. Dan Scherding cut his bib on half by finishing in 49th. spencer had some trouble second run, but held on for 64th.
The bummer of the day was Dylan's 3rd place finish on the day, unfortunitly he was disqualified for straddling a gate on the lower pitch. He has shown that he has a lot of speed, he just needs to find a little more consistency.
Stags

Attitash Day 1

We have finished the first day of SL here in New Hampshire. Given the amount of rain here over the last week the hill is in great condition. While the race trail is the only one open on Bear Peak the coverage isn't too bad, although a bit narrow.
The boys did a great job first run, everyone skied well and moved up. Jake moved up into 6th followed by Dylan in 7th. Kip also made it into the top 15 with an 11th place finish on the first run. Dan Martin skied into 18th and Cam moved up to 24th. Kyle made a huge jump from 107th into 30th. spencer skied up to 56th from 110, and Ben was 58th on the run. Dan Scherding moved up to 70th. The track held up much better than expected and allowed the guys in the back to make huge moves toward the front of the race.

The second run saw a few disappointing DNF's, but the level of skiing in improving daily with this group. Unfortunately Dylan and Cam both straddled in the second run, Spencer also had trouble but hiked to get a finish. On a brighter note Jake skied well again in the second run and lead the group with an 8th place finish and a 91 point result. Kip was right on his heels in 9th. Dan Martin rounded out the top 15 for KMS in 15th place. Kyle continued moving up with another solid run, ending up in 16th in his first FIS SL. Dan Martin rounded out the top 15 for KMS in 15th place. Ben skied well again second run and finished in 36th, more than cutting his bib in half from starting 75. Dan Scherding finshed 50th, and with a little deviation from the course Spencer was held to 76th.
The boys are psyched and ready to go for tomorrow. We are looking forward to a possibly wider race venue with the help of the groomers tonight. Hopefully the snow holds up through the day and into the GS's this weekend.
I will try to check back in tomorrow and let you know how the day goes.
Stags

Great Day at Stratton this sunday for the VC crew. 6 KMS guys in the top 15 for the first gs, not bad. The athletes did a great job braving horrible weather conditions but kept mentally tough, raising above it and prevailed.

Sorry no pictures bit too wet.

Nice good by all

we have arrived back in Anchorage after the final GS of the Alaska's Best Water Tech series. Today we were greeted by a little more fresh snow and the lights of Alyeska Resort. The low cloud cover did not burn off until second run, but it was nice to finally be able to see the top of the mountain again. The warmer temps left the piste much softer than the previous days, allowing for better grip, but also resulted in a rougher ride for everyone in the mens race.
Cam and Dylan had great first runs. Dylan was able to ski into 12th place, Cam wasn't far behind in 14th. Mike also moved up into 21st. Unfortunately Kip got lat in the middle and was unable to continue.
Second run the bumpy track left by the womens race took a considerable toll on the field. Cam skied out of sight of the camera and found himself without his right ski on the bottom pitch. Mike suffered a similar fate three gates in to the upper pitch, trying to finish a right footed turn with no ski.
Dylan on the other hand had much better luck. He put down two great runs and securing a great result for himself. He was able to ski up into 12th on the day with a 78 point result.

now we are sitting in the Anchorage airport waiting to begin our long trip home. Our baggage is mostly checked in and so far we have been lucky with overweight. A few of the boys are watching the mens World Cup Slalom from earlier today. The rest of them are plugging away at homework assignments that are due upon our return.

I would venture to say that this has been a succesful trip. While not everyone skied to their potential everyday, Everyone has been able to head home with at least one great result. The boys have been making some big changes in their skiing over the last few months of the prep period and it is now starting to pay off. We are scheduled to be back in Killington tomorrow evening. I for one am excited to get home, I am ready to get home and have a little time off before the next trip.

Sorry for not giving everyone an update after the second slalom. We got off the hill late and went home right after dinner and went to bed. The Slalom went better than the first day. The boys had a better feel for what they needed to do today. Mike Ferri had another career best result with a 99, Cam finished right behind him in 12th with a 102 point result. Unfortunately both Kip and Dylan failed to finish.

The light today for the first GS was barely better than the night slaloms. It was snowing all day leaving the boys to deal with flat light and challenging snow conditions. Again Mike and Cam were able to capitalize on the small field and low penalty. They both moved up after first run and continued their charge forward on the second run. Cam finished 15th with a 91 point result and was followed in 17th by mike with a 93 point result.

Unfortunately Dylan and Kip had difficulty first run and were forced to start toward the back of the pack second run. Kip managed to move back up and finish where he started in 20th. Dylan's troubles continued and all I saw of his second run was him stopping on one ski.

Tomorrow were finish up the very far north leg of this three week trip with the final GS. Dylan has moved into the first seed and is looking finish the trip on a high note. The rest of the guys are psyched to have another start on this hill now that they've had a couple runs to figure out the challenging top pitch.

We are travel waxing SL skis and packing the house tonight in preparation for tomorrows trip back to Anchorage. We board the plane at 12:55 am Monday morning and land in Boston at 3:30 pm. It's going to be a long day of travel starting tomorrow at 5 when we pull out of Girdwood, but I for one am excited to get home. I will try to check in again after tomorrows race.
Stags

The boys now have their first FIS slalom of the year under their belts. We got up today and I treated the boys to pancakes for breakfast. We went up to the mountain a little early and got in a few runs of SL with the SMS guys. The skiing was pretty good, although the warm-up hill was a bit more challenging than the actual race hill.
After a break we went back up for the race. Kip and Dylan both had some trouble first run, they skied well but were a bit amped up and tried to cut off the line at the wrong times, resulting in a pair of hikes. Cam and Mike had more success on the run, they skied well and tied for 17th on the run.
Second run Mike was able to keep moving up into 12th and scored a career best 105 fis result. Cam ran into some trouble on the pitch and straddled, resulting in a DNF. Despite his hike first run and poor starting position Dylan posted the 7th best time second run. He moved from 36th wall the way back up to 17th. Dylan wasn't able to score a result, but he did show the speed that he is capable of on the second run. starting last on the second run Kip made it down with a solid run, but was D.Q.ed for straddling a gate.
The guys are trying to finish up tuning before bed. Tomorrow brings the promise of another opportunity to take care of buisness and ski fast. We will be sleeping in and using the morning for homework and final ski prep.
See ya'll in the AM
Stags

back at it in the east. The boys had good training on Wednesday down south at the site of Sunday's VC GS race.

Tomorrow we are back to gs on our home hill and some will be leaving for the FIS Open Slaloms at Sunday River.

Ben, Dan and Andrew ripping it up on Wednesday.

jb

Alyeska

Well we have arrived in Alaska. We got in yesterday and drove up to Girdwood. The house is nice and the location is great. The only bummer is no Wifi in the house and no cable TV. Hopefully the boys will be ok this week. Luckily we can get online in the base lodge, so homework will be getting done this week.
After a little homework we are planning to ski for a little while this afternoon. Most of the guys have little to no experience skiing under the lights, so this should be a good experience for em.

We finished up at Mammoth today with one last freeski day. We were planning to train GS, but there was too much wind blown snow to get effective training. The guys stayed out for a couple runs, then we packed up and started the trek back north to Reno. Tonight we are relaxing at the hotel before our shuttle ride to the airport in the morning. Time to go find some good Mexican food and then get some sleep.

Today the guys had a well deserved day off to relax and do homework. Tomorrow we are scheduled to train GS in the morning and then head up to Reno for the night before flying up to Anchorage. Time to get organized and packed up for trip north.
I will try to get some pictures and video up from training tomorrow.
Stags

Another Snowy Day

We had planned on having our last day off today. Instead we woke up to new snow and a forecast of up to two feet by tomorrow afternoon. So we decided to get in a quick Slalom session this morning. We got out and the boys had four runs. It took some work to get the track slipped and shoveled out, but it was worth it, the boys had a productive session. So we will have to see what we have for snow on Monday, hopefully we can get in one more GS session before the travel day.
Sorry no Video today.
Stags

We had another great day of training here in California. We trained GS on Far West after a freeskiing for a bit in the morning. The guys worked hard and were able to make some good tactical changes in a challenging course. Cam and Dylan were gunning it out for the fasted run of the day. I think that Dylan came out on top by a few hundredths. Tomorrow we have a day off to get home work done and get started packing for the next leg of the trip. I am very excited to see how all the hard work will pay off in our first races in Alaska.
Stags

We are back online at Ktown. Great recovery by the mountain from the recent rain storm mid-week. Today we trained some short but specific slalom tactical situations on Double Dipper. It worked out well!

Kippy skiing well!

JBail

Mammoth SL 12-2-10

We had another great SL session out here at Mammoth today on Far West. We had nearly full length training with timing and splits. It was about 40 seconds and 49 turns. Dylan had the fastest run of the day on his third run. Here is some video of that run and some pictures form the other guys.




We have GS training scheduled for tomorrow before our last day off in California. The guys are skiing well and making some huge improvements . I'm excited to get up to Alaska and get going with some racing. See ya'll tomorrow.
Stags

Here is some footage from yesterdays epic GS session. Cam had the fastest run of the day. Today we had a relaxing day off. Four more days on snow before we head north.