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