Happy Holidays to all. Thanks for the Blog support.

As we wrapped up December racing in NH the guys made some good jumps in the final day GS. Kyle, punched onto the podium with a 3rd place, following by Cam in 13th and Spencer in 19th from the 42nd bib. Dan in 25th, and Mike, Julian and Kenny 51, 52 and 58 respectively.
Ben had some trouble second run and had to take a DNF.

Get well rested over the break and see you after Christmas! AND PRAY for SNOW!

Best
Jack

Not bad for fast food...

Alaska Update

Race canceled today. Rain, snow wind, you name it, we got it today.

We made it into Anchorage and are enjoying some fine Mexican cuisine.

Flight leaves at six a.m.

GS 1: Making Good Progress

Today was a better day for the guys in soft, bumpy conditions. James skied well and moved from bib 40 to 13th.

Kimbell was right behind in 14th.

Peter struggled with his control today, he had some really great turns followed by costly mistakes.

Wyatt went out on the steep pitch first run but hiked like a champ and finished. So at least he scored some points, which will help his start position once we get the racing going back east.

Jack skied well first run and threw a shoe in a hole second run. Bummer.

Dylan got spun out and missed a gate at the bottom of the pitch.

Well, tomorrow is our last day. One more GS, one more opportunity to execute. Then home for Christmas! Same schedule as today. Hopefully will be able to get a post up tomorrow, but maybe not as we are busy headed to Anchorage, taking them out to a good meal, then waking up at 3:30 a.m. to catch a flight. Wish us luck tomorrow!

Tough day at the office. We all went out here and the Val Gardena DH got cancelled due to wind with Bode in the gate. And my first blog post just got deleted as the internet shut down.

Rough hill conditions here after 20-25cm of new snow over night. The crew at Kreuzbergpass did a great job but it took good athletic skiing in a very dished out course to post a good run. "Ski athletically", we have used that term more than once and it was very necessary today.

All in all, great trip though. The boys eyes got opened a little and deep down they know that they were actually quite competitive in most runs, some races and made some strong moves through the fields here in Austria and Italy.

We all look forward to being back stateside in a few days.

see you soon.

jb

SL Under Alaskan Sunrise

Rough day but with a nice view.

All except Peter made it down without some sort of detour today. Pete skied within himself but clean and lowered his points. Solid skiing.

Today's sets were challenging, with lots of rhythm changes and tight combinations. Much of the field either DNFed or took a couple detours from their chosen path.

Two more days of racing here, two Giant Slaloms. Short but sweet, it will be a drag race for sure. Women start at 11:15, men at noon.

News from Sexten. Good race today, the boys were full of high hopes with a smaller field. First run Kyle, starting 32 was a bit early on a left footer at the top of the pitch. He hiked and got it but had to started DFL for second run and threw down a nice run for himself about 4 out from the 76 position. There is always tomorrow!

Michael and Cam both had very solid first runs, Mike moving from 56 to 30 and Cam from 84 to 56. Mike learned how starting bullet was for the first time and realized that he can give more when he's in that position again. Still, all said, he ended up 27 and had a nice race for himself.

Cam, had some difficulty on the pitch, missed a pole plant, got back and straddled a hairpin. That's OK, we are making moves now just put it together.

The boys learning curve is moving in the right direction. Being in another country, surrounded by good skiers all the way to the end of the field, knowing that you need to make fewer mistakes to have a good run, isn't easy. And they have done a great job. I am getting excited for tomorrow already.

JB

pics aren't happening with this internet!!

Alaskan Night SL

Tonight's race was a little bitter sweet. The highlight for the guys was Kimbell, who moved from bib 22 up to 5th place. Scored the best FIS result of his career by far, a 73. Jack Salisbury put in a strong performance moving from bib 34 to 16th and scored a 122.

That was all in terms of final results. Wyatt DNFed first run, but was skiing well. His skiing has really come along this fall and he will be back shortly.

Peter skied okay first run and was really letting rip second run when he was dealt a solid 7-2 off-suit. A gate he hit ripped out of the snow and tripped him on the next turn, flipping him backwards. In ski racing, no re-runs are granted in the case of the racer knocking out his own gate. Bummer.

James had a good first run, but straddled early on in the second run. Happens sometimes.

Dylan skied his heart out and finished the first run in 3rd, just a half second off 20 point skiers. Second run he hammered out of the gate at a furious pace, got caught up in some soft snow just before a tight hairpin and couldn't pull it out...not for lack of effort though. He gladly took a gate to the face trying to stay in it. He looked a bit like an extra from Braveheart afterwards but he's fine and pumped up for tomorrow. At least he showed his speed today. It's the fast kind.

And that's basically what we saw today. Some great results, more shortcomings, but everyone showed some serious speed and that's half the battle won. Friday's SL race is a normal daytime race and starts at 12:30 (4:30 Eastern) for the men. Second run is supposed to be at 2:30. It will be on Live Timing. Send good energy again, maybe a tad more this time!

Made over to Sexten- Kreuzbergpass today and even got some runs on the hill. Nice mom and pop operation amongst beautiful surroundings of the Sudtirol in the Italian Dolomiti. Should be a good race tomorrow if the snow holds off. It is a great looking hill and the guys are chomping at the bit for another slalom.

Until tomorrow...

JB

Alaska: Quick SL Tune Up, First FIS Race Thursday Night

We took two SL runs in terrible snow conditions today on the training hill here. Not dangerous, but simply frustrating. It was this kind of snow you rarely see...semi-frozen wet snow. Picture ice that is peely. Basically, the edges do not dig into the solid part of the snow very well, especially the tip of the ski. The edge gets locked in, but the ski does not bend very well, thus does not turn as quickly. It makes timing of the skier's movements challenging. I would imagine it feels like one of those conveyor belt carpet skiing contraptions of the 1970's. (the pic to the left was taken around 11 a.m. under clear skies. It's pretty cool how short the days are here in December. No wonder they have lights all over the hill).

After that, we wanted them going into tomorrow's night SL with confidence, so we sent them for a few free ski runs down the race hill, hoping the snow was normal winter snow. We checked it with the drill bit and conditions on that hill look good! They all have been skiing very well the past few weeks and they are ready to race. Game on Thursday night. Great start numbers too, and the penalty could be in the high 20's. Very small field all the way up here. Dylan starts 1, Andrew 22, Pete 25, Jack 34, Wyatt 44, and James 50.

Not sure if this is on livetiming.com but I would not be surprised. There are 68 women and 50 men, so it will be a quick one. Women's first run starts at 4:15 (8:15 Eastern). They want to run a "continuous" race, meaning all four runs right after the other without delay. The Men's first run is set to start at 4:45. Send the guys good energy.

It's goodbye to Stubai today as our last slalom training day. Who knows the way the east is looking maybe we should stay here with Claudia?

The boys are even getting a little slap-happy. They must be getting more relaxed racing the Austrians.

JB

Back on line after our 2 GS starts at Jerzens. On our second day, our goal was "3 for 3", we fell just short as Cam had a early release on a tough fall away turn in the first run. He knows the deal, you cannot load that new ski when your too far inside.

Kyle and Mike made improvements on both runs from the day before. Great work. Kyle from 80 to 50 and just missed scoring with a added extra bit of powder skiing. Mike from 100 to 68 and skiing much more aggressive then on Monday.

Great learning experience from the land of Benni Raich! And some other dude getting some angles!!

jb

Alaska: Monstrous Mountains at Sea Level...I Could Get Used to This

After arriving in Anchorage S
unday night and settling into our hotel there around 2 a.m. we woke up at 8 to make the one hour drive to Girdwood. The plan was to ski in the afternoon, but the power went out in the entire region for the day. We decided to drive back to Anchorage and get our grocery shopping out of the way. Long day, and the six hours of sunlight made it feel even longer. No bear sightings yet, but we could get lucky. Hopefully we are in the van if/when we do see one. Look at that hungry fella! Not to worry, that's NOT taken from a window.

Today we took two runs of GS down a steep and challenging training hill here at Alyeska Ski Area, just a couple trails over from the race hill. It was good to get on a difficult hill because the race hill has some steep and difficult sections. For the most part it is very moderate and easy. The first ten turns of the GS are what I would call "World Cup" steep. The guys are psyched to throw themselves down that face. We train 2-3 runs of SL tomorrow on the training hill.

Other than that, it's just great to be in Alaska. Beautiful land up here, and the light(when it comes out) is almost majestic this far north. The mountains here remind me of the Rockies with a little feel of the Alps. Except these mountains rise right out of the ocean. It's incredible. It's nice to catch our breath again after being down in Mammoth around 10,000 feet. Enjoy the photos, book you're heli-skiing vacations now.

Mammoth warm up Race

On Saturday, the guys got in a USSA SL race before heading straight to Reno for a long trip up to Alaska. They have all been skiing anywhere from well to very fast. James Ferri is skiing fast SL right now. He finished 5th in the race and was only .3 back second run, right in the mix the Sierra Nevada College skiers. Not bad for a first year J2.

Andrew Kimbell did well also, finishing 9th. Pete Spangler finished 13th with a bum thumb and a ton of mistakes. His results will improve once he cleans up the skiing on race day. Jack Salisbury hiked first run and finished 107th. Second run was clean and he got 37th that run, pretty good for starting that far back in the pack. Dylan and Wyatt were DNFs. Now off to Alaska for some FIS races.

Jerzens-Hochzeiger; this small little resort about 23 km down the valley from the glacier of Pitztal,has a quality race hill on it. Home of the famous Benni Raich, and it certainly shows why/ how he has become such a perfectionist as ski technique goes.

It's probably not a mistake that each of the 40 direction changes are set on just a little bit different piece of terrain. I termed it as a cross between Whiteface and Middlebury, if there is such a thing. Falling out of the start reminded me of the first 10-12 gates at Whiteface and from there on it continues to move, roll, break, pulling you hard first on the right foot and then on the left and finally over two rollers at the bottom leading into the finish.

The boys did a fair job today. Yes, I am being critical, but I am their coach. I am always asking for more. Aggressiveness was definitely up from our last race. That I was pleased about. With that increase in intensity we became a little ragged around the edges. Which is not bad, but you still have to remember to ski. Partly due to the tough hill the crew had some technical breakdowns that maybe would have stayed hidden on any easier piste.

After first run, Kyle was in 53rd and Cam in 72nd. Mike had some bad luck on run one in the key section as the trail breaks over a sharp roll and Mike not carrying enough direction had some issues three gates later.

Second run was a rhythm changing specialty; 22-24m up top, with a few changes to 26, then back to 23 and quite across the hill. All who happened to be left from run one had issues in the same spot. Skiing clean was not in the cards today.

Cam and Kyle did what they could, Kyle making it through but not without a few mistakes that cost him and Cam actually couldn't recover from his last error, one gate before the finish.

Great learning experience though and the guys are committed to come back out tomorrow and fight again.

Some video review and dinner at the "Bear" and they are ready to go!

I am ready for bed! no pics today.

jb

Much better day today! The snow surface rebounded and so did the boys GS skiing. It was a short day for us, just 4 quality runs in the course and out. Just as well, Saturday is a busy day here in Stubai as all the locals and more were out today.
Tonight, we will make a trip into Innsbruck to check out the outdoor Christmas markets, probably for the last time. Put your Christmas shopping orders in now!

Next, week starts a busy week of racing and rest. We will rest up tomorrow, prep the skis and get ready for Monday and Tuesday's GS races at Jerzens.

jb

Considering we received 35 cm of new snow a day ago, today wasn't too bad. As you can imagine, still extremely soft conditions and super slow and abrasive snow. The boys got back into their GS rhythm and timing after a few runs.

Piste #9 is quite flat at the top and then rolls gently over a short pitch onto another long flat. We had 21 turns of easy rhythm just focusing on timing and pressure placement. I was the first set today so we were a little more in the softer snow then I would have liked but tomorrow there will be eight lanes of GS and I am hoping to move into the middle of #9 so we can have some different terrain.

Colds temp again tonight should make the surface even better for tomorrow.

The last photo is probably what we should have been doing!

JB

Blog followers, tough day to take here in Stubai, especially with the weather back East I have been hearing about. 33cm new yesterday into last night, so as you can imagine the conditions were quite soft. We chose to do some free skiing on the longer boards and do battle tomorrow with the GS course.

Cold temps and clear skies tonight should leave us in good shape for tomorrow. The guys are exciting to get on GS skis and back in a course here on #9.

JB

Damn this blogger thing anyway. I am feeling there are always pics to put up to tell the story.

Today's Neustift Slalom.

jb

Well, we were finally racing in Neustift today and had a rather rough day. Three starters and one lone finisher. The piste was moved down the glacier to under the Gamsgarten Bahn on what they call #3. A tough newly made snow surface from a day ago made for some challenging conditions. A good hard surface that got more and more dished and could not be worked.

Still, the guys first run was far from what they are doing in training, but racing against young juniors with last names like Matt and Schild are bound to get you a little jumpy. And it did!

We had a little chat between runs on sticking their nose in there a little more. And they did. Run 2 was much better. However, Mike straddled on the pitch, Kyle hooked and Cam remained the only one to get through.

We take the day tomorrow to recharge our batteries for a couple days of training and then two GS starts.

Chow!
JB

Bummer, we awoke to a pretty solid rainstorm this morning in Patsch, as we headed for the mountain. That could only mean one thing above 2300m..... yup, snow. The forecast was for less but we got about 8 inches of the white fluffy stuff. All was still going as planned even with the new snow.
At about 830 Stubai decided to bring 5 cats on the racing piste for one last groom. An amazing sight you definitely would not see in the US, let alone for a NJR race! Just goes to show they mean business over here.

The boys were ready to go and enjoyed seeing Austrian Power doing their warmup before taking each warmup run. Next, they would start off working on a drill, slow, precise then break into their free skiing warmup. Imagine that, not like they haven't heard that before.

Cam, Kyle and Mike were all about it. They jumped right in their warmup routine with confidence. Nice job guys!

Anyway, it's ski racing today. And when you're ready to race, you get snow. And we did. After 20 racers, with the last 3 not even making it off the first flat the race was held and eventually cancelled.

Well another learning experience here in Europe. We will try again tomorrow.

JB

Mammoth Race Prep Day 3: More GS Apex

Today we did more GS apex on ADG. The course today was a little bit tighter and more challenging. It was a good session and the guys are continuing to progress. Tomorrow is full length GS, timed.

By the way, you cannot beat a Californian burrito.

Race Prepping; first slalom is tomorrow. Today the boys slept in and took a few free ski runs to keep everything fresh. Relaxing in the apartment for the afternoon. It is very quiet and comfortable here so the boys can relax and prepare.

Here are some of our views.

JB

Mammoth Race Prep Day 2: GS Apex

This morning I spent an hour with the guys doing fundamental work on GS skis. The infamous Schlopy drill, named after it's inventor, Erik, is primarily meant to promote hip movement through the second half of the turn. We also did variations of the Heisman drill for the purpose of initiating the turn with the tip of the ski.

Our gate session this afternoon was on ADG, a nice hill with a moderately difficult pitch, moving down onto a much flatter section. We did apex with full gates on pristine snow. Hard packed dry powder, or hero snow as some would call it. The guys are skiing well. There are some kinks to be worked out still, but they are in good shape to be racing in the next couple weeks. Special kudos to Kimbell and Spangler. They have made great improvements.

Here are some clips from today. The boys wanted to pick their own blog picture, so here's what they came up with.

They found out its not so easy to choose clips.

jb

We were back on #6 today with a tougher, tighter and more across the hill set today. Light was a little low at first but then brightened up nicely towards mid- session. It is a great turn around over there as the boys were able to get 8 runs and we took our time and maintained high quality. Mike, Cam and Kyle skied very well, talked very little and just worked on race prep for Monday and Tuesday. So well that we did not have a single DNF in 24 runs! Great work, guys!

Pictures to follow.

JB

Mammoth Race Prep Day 1: SL Apex

Today the guys(Dylan, Wyatt, James, Jack, Andrew, and Peter) spent their first day on snow of this Mammoth/Alaska trip. Jack has been here since the 20th, so he has been getting some great training already.

As the picture above shows, the weather is fantastic. The temperatures are cold yet comfortable, and the snow has been great. It was not as good today, but the guys didn't show it in their skiing. We ran six runs of apex SL and an hour of GS free skiing in the afternoon. Tomorrow is GS fundamental work in the morning and GS apex in the afternoon.