Soelden!

The race went off without a hitch under sunny skies and cold October temperatures. It was a beautiful day. Ted Ligety won the race, his first victory in Soelden. It was impressive. He won the first run, and then held off hard-charging Alexis Pinturault, the twenty year old Frenchman, in the second run. Pinturault started 20^th in the first run, began the second run in 4^th place, then finished 2^nd overall. In GS, he showed that he may be Ted’s biggest rival in the coming years. Incredible skiing on his part.

It was a big weekend for the USA. They swept. Ted won today, and Lindsey Vonn won her first GS of her career yesterday. Vonn’s win marks the first time a US woman has won a World Cup Giant Slalom since 1991, and the first overseas victory for a US woman since her birth year, 1984.

The guys had a blast. They were seven of 25,000 screaming fans at a ski race. It is really special that they got to be a part of this. From a personal standpoint, my first real World Cup was watching the Hannenkahm downhill and Schladming night slalom in the same weekend as an 18 year old. 70,000 and 50,000 fans respectively. Being an American growing up racing in America, it changed my perspective permanently (for the better).

The pictures and videos tell the rest of the story. Tomorrow is our last day before heading home. Slalom at the top of Tyrol, as they say.

Austria Day 7: Tough SL Hill and Dinner in Italy

Today's session was a little bittersweet. We had lane space set up for an afternoon session on #20 which would have followed Manfred Pranger's private morning session. Pranger is the 2009 World Cup Overall Slalom champion. Tom had arranged that the Austrian coaches would pull the course and we would set ours in the same holes. The idea behind this is so the guys can see what the fastest possible line in SL is and then try to ski it. Most likely, they would not have pulled it off. It provides a great hands on lesson in where they need to eventually be in SL physically and tactically.

Unfortunately, the snow was soft today, too soft for Manfred to want to train. Not too soft for KMS though! We had the best lane on the entire glacier, normally reserved for national teams. It starts off flat for about 15 turns, then goes into a long steep section, probably around 20 turns, before flattening out abruptly for 5 turns into the finish. It's a globe style pitch, which means that every turn is a little bit steeper than the last. It is very challenging, because when the hill falls away from you constantly, it gives the feeling that there is a touch less gravity than normal. It is really easy to lose snow contact at this point.

There were a lot of DNF's today, but the guys are skiing fast when they are able to make it all the way down. It is a very challenging hill and some DNF's should be expected in October. It is exciting to watch Kyle come into his own, Cam and Mike are light years ahead of their SL from last season already. Dylan is killing it. James and Wyatt are very impressive as first years FIS guys, and many of Tommy's runs are the fastest I have ever seen him take in SL. He is starting to really figure out what dynamic skiing is.

As a reward, we all made the short drive to Italy for dinner. It is the best food on earth, that's all.

One side note. Tom and I pulled an awesome bonehead move today that must be shared. Because it is Saturday, we had to park a mile down from the gondola and take shuttle buses up. On the way back (the guys had already made it to the van) we hopped onto a shuttle and said "Wouldn't it be funny if this was the bus into the valley?" Well, twenty minutes later we were in the valley. We hopped off, waited, got on a shuttle back up to the glacier. The driver looked at us funny because we were the only people in ski gear trying to get up to the glacier at 4 P.M. Having a bus all to yourself is pretty nice. We arrived to the guys pointing and laughing. Sweet.

We have one more SL session on Monday before heading back to Munich. We will be moving back to #6.

Tomorrow is the big day. Soelden. Won't be able to sleep tonight, that's for sure.

Austria Day 6: First Slalom Session

Today we moved over to #6, the primary SL venue at Stubai. It's a really cool spot at the very top of the glacier, actually the highest point(3200 m) of any ski area in Tirol, which is a region of the alps made up of different areas in neighboring countries. Kind of like New England in a way. It's a relatively long slope that starts out relatively steep. It's a long pitch that gradually flattens out down to the t-bar. There are roughly ten lanes for SL in a very small bowl surrounded by towering peaks that seemed to be right on top of us. It almost feels like a massive natural stone stadium.

The guys got in eight runs today and they all did very well. To be honest, much better even than I expected for the first day. The coaches are excited to see what kinds of jumps they can further make as a group in the next two sessions. We will move over to the steepest hill on the glacier for SL session number two tomorrow. It is a BIG day for the guys, stay tuned to find out why.

Austria Day 5: Awesome Day Off!

Not much to report today, but the pictures and videos will tell the story of a great day for the guys. Go Karting in the morning, and then a tour of the Swarovski World of Crystal. Pretty amazing place.

Austria Day 4: Last GS Session

We did our final GS session today and it went great. Cam and Kyle have been excelling all week with the timer and James is the young gun nipping at their heels. Wyatt and Tommy both had their best days as well. We added some length to the course today and it ran nearly full length, 45 seconds. They got six quality runs in.

Tomorrow is a day off, and we are looking for a good Go-Kart track in Innsbruck. From there, we will go two days of SL, World Cup, then one more day of SL before heading back to Munich.

Austria Day 3: Jungle GS

The guys continued to improve today, tallying eight to nine runs in the session. The training venue was changed last minute by area management to a slope a little lower down on the glacier, starting with a moderate pitch then finishing with a long, high speed flat section. It was really good training for the guys, especially the flats, which take tons of practice to master.

One unique aspect of today's venue is how many teams are squeezed into a tight space. One team sets on the far end of the hill, and then the rest follow suit, shadowing its neighbor with a nearly identical course, with about 10-15 feet between courses horizontally. With all this happening on a wide open landscape of white, it literally looks like a high-speed jungle, easy to forget where you are. The pictures shows what it looks like. The only way to finish cleanly is to look ahead, an important aspect of the sport in general.

In the States, kids rarely if ever get to see this type of training. European skiers grow up in this setting. It is always a real treat to have the opportunity to train in an alien environment, and for our guys this was quite foreign. As was expected a few of the guys(mostly the older ones as a matter of fact) ended up in the wrong course halfway down in the first couple of runs. This is safe, as neighboring teams are always aware of each other's whereabouts and never "duel it out". See if you can figure out where Dylan accidentally switched courses in the video below.

After the first couple runs there were no more "incidents". The guys figured it out pretty quickly. They skied really well too, despite the added visual illusions. Tomorrow we will move back to yesterday's piste, Weltcup Strecke. Same program, eight to nine runs, 100%.

Austria Day 2: First GS Session and a little Football

Today the guys got started with the high intensity training that will last the duration of camp. The plan for now is four days of GS, day off, and three days of SL. This is partially due to the weather forecast, which is calling for about a half meter of snow Wednesday night. Not too bad, but for now the snow is outstanding, and GS is preferred when such conditions are available. They got seven runs, impressive for their first day above 10,000 feet.

The terrain was moderate, with a rollover onto a 10 gate pitch on the bottom section, where the course stacked up nicely, requiring significant tactical adjustments. The guys showed in the first two runs that it had been a solid couple months since the last time they had skied, and definitely struggled a little bit with the line on the lower pitch. From there, it improved significantly for everyone, and quite drastically for a few. It was a great session. The coaches were very pleased, and it looks like the guys have set themselves up to make great strides in their GS skiing in the next few days. Tomorrow's session will take place on the same trail, with the timer out. Hopefully Mike Ferri can keep his ski on the snow all day long! (see vid, he was totally fine)

Afternoon sport was a relaxing game of football, good for the soul. The trip out here was certainly longer and more arduous than you're typical trip across the pond and they were happy to blow off a little steam.

Austria Day 1: Finally Arriving this Morning, Hitting the Slopes this Afternoon.

Greetings from Stubai! Having arrived in Munich after a two day trip for a few of us (thanks to this year's typical east coast weather shutting down Newark airport for a few hours on Friday and leading to missed connections), we hit the road and made it onto the glacier for an hour of freeskiing GS to work out the stiff muscles and rust. After getting back into our home base of Patsch, we did an anaerobic agility session to flush out the legs after being idle for a couple of days(see video).

The guys will be ready and are fired up to start the short yet very intense remainder of this race prep camp with some GS on relatively moderate terrain tomorrow. They are also psyched for next Sunday, where they will attend their first live Men's World Cup, The GS opener in Soelden, just up the road from Patsch. Expect 15-20,000 fans in attendance. It will be a great experience for everyone, and they might even learn a trick or two from the pros.

The Beginning of a Very Long Journey to Europe

Here are some pictures from last Friday's circuit. We are working in a explosive power phase of our training. I missed the tire flip pictures, but trust me it was good!

Nine Month Crew traveled to Cobra Gymnastics on Friday for a coordination and agility workout. Shelby took them through some floor exercises and then some balance, tumbling and flips. A great job was done by all. This a serious workout for balance, agility and body awareness. All important components of what active skiers and riders need.

We'll be back!

Here are some shots!

jb