Well, I'm well into my season now, at least half way. I've had 18 starts so far, 13 of which are FIS. I scored at a few of the FIS races, dropping my slalom, GS, and super-g points all down to around 115. That's a significant improvement for my GS and super-g points last year, which were in the 130 and 140 range. I'm planning on continuing that path and scoring in the tech events at Snow King, Wyoming this upcoming Thursday-Sunday. I had a really tough time at this race last year, so I'm hoping to get some redemption!
Besides constant training and racing, I've been staying (too) busy with school. I took on 3 online courses this semester, along with 3 classes actually in the high school, which will soon turn into 4 next quarter. In short, I've been swamped with homework and haven't had too much time to make ski videos or take pictures, although I landed one in the "shot of the day" of Whitefish's website. The picture is of my friend Nick, my ski buddy when I'm not training.
Merry Christmas! As I haven't posted in a while, there is a lot to fill you in on: I have been to two races so far this year; two slaloms at Norquay (Banff, Alberta) and two GS and two slaloms at Panorama, BC. I scored a couple times on my points from last year, so I consider that a success, and all my early season training paid off.
During the Thanksgiving Camp at Norquay (which you can read about in the camp blog I was appointed to) I made the slalom training edit below, which features myself and some of the other older members of the Whitefish Mountain Race Team. It was filmed completely with my Contour+ camera.
My Christmas wishlist includes some camera equipment to help me improve new videos, and I should have some new stuff up soon.
As I was the only Whitefish racer at the Panorama race, my dad traveled with me and was essentially my coach. He took video and gave me course reports, and it worked out well. I posted all the videos on Sprongo so my coaches at home could see how I was doing, and tell me what I needed to work on for the next run.
My plans for January are looking like this: Schweitzer January 3-6 two super-g and two GS (FIS), then a Northern Division (Montana) race at Red Lodge January 19-21. I'll keep you posted how I do!
Thanks for reading, I really appreciate the support I receive from friends and family thousands of miles away. Have a happy holiday season!
Tomorrow will mark the beginning of a new ski season, and I'm kicking it off in the snowy Banff, Alberta. It's been dumping north of Whitefish this past month, and many of the ski resorts here have been having record early opening days. I will be training slalom at Mt. Norquay with Banff Alpine this weekend, next weekend, and then the annual Thanksgiving camp from the 19th to the 23rd of November. I could be racing at Norquay in month from now, but I'll decide whether or not that's going to happen after some training, and after I find out what the points are expected to be like.
It turns out the most economical place for my dad and I to sleep is in our fifth-wheel camper, which is a real bruiser when it comes to blizzards and sub-zero temps. A couple years ago, the "Arctic Fox" stayed nice and toasty inside for a week when the highest temperature was -5 degrees, and the morning lows were in the -20's, so in other words, we're not worrying about the current 15 degree highs. Plus, we get awesome views from the campground...
This morning
Banff National Park is a beautiful place; the only thing I can't stand about it is all the deer and elk running around. I'm missing out on the last month of hunting season in Montana, and here I'm taunted by big bulls and bucks grazing taciturnly through downtown. Here's a picture of a bull I saw in the campground last year. Barely any zoom was required; it allowed me to walk within twenty feet of it.
The countdown has begun! My summer ends at exactly 12:30 Wednesday afternoon...and I'm not super excited about it. Luckily I've already had some adventures; two trips to Mt. Hood, Oregon for summer training, a backpacking trip with my dad, a skiing venture at Logan Pass, and the first few hours of flight training to be eligible for a solo flight completed. I have lot's of stories to share, so I'll just add captions and explanations to my numerous pictures--which I hope are already worth a thousand words.
At the end of May my family took a vacation to somewhere warm for once: Key West. We actually stayed at a beach house on Sugarloaf Key.
Guess what I got for my birthday?
A spring storm on June 6th dumped 22 inches on the summit of Big Mountain! I woke up to this beautiful view on the morning of my birthday (I took this picture from my front porch).
After school ended I went to Mt. Hood for a five day race camp--three of which it was snowing sideways. My old coach Jeff Pickering was there (he now coaches the U.S. Women's Speed Team), and I had some valuable slalom training.
After leaving Hood I had the fever bad...
Find me!
Marina by the Going-to-the-Sun Road
I went on my first backpacking trip with my Dad in July. The approach was a 6 mile hike that gained 1800 feet up a Lake Mountain (switchbacks), and lost 1800 feet down the un-trailed Chain Lakes basin on the other side. The last quarter mile or so was a black-diamond-steep 400 foot descent through a ridiculous amount of bushes--the only animal sign we ever saw was of bears and humans (I guess the deer and elk are too smart to be up there).
The Cutthroats were everywhere!
...and delicious
In mid-July I was surprised with the opportunity to return to Mt. Hood and train with some of the best coaches in the country at a six-day Western Region camp. After the first day of slalom training at dryland, I was running backwards through an agility course and tripped, spraining my wrist. I had no grip strength for a couple days after, and was stuck doing this:
The final two days of the camp we trained giant slalom, which I could actually do! The problem with slalom was that the shock of hitting each left gate with my pole-guard caused my sprained left wrist to hurt very badly, whereas in giant slalom there is no gate-blocking involved. The training I took part in ended up being very very valuable; we were working on arcing the turn above the gate rather than skidding the whole top part of the turn.
Between and during all of these summer things I was working on finishing next year's English. I used an online program to get 'r' done in just 10 weeks. I did this because I want to graduate high school early--whether a semester or year early I do not know yet. All the homework hours I put this summer were absolutely worth it.
After my last trip to Mt. Hood I started up flying lessons, and I've been enjoying them tons. I hope to solo before I have to focus nearly all my time and energy on school and skiing. The pictures below I took from my dad's Aerostar Twin-Piston over glacier park. The plane was very useful in scouting out our backpacking trips to make sure the lakes weren't still frozen!
Bowman Lake of Glacier National Park
A view of the park from the north-east reveals all of its glaciers
The peaks of Glacier received a dusting of snow last night in an early winter storm--a peek of what's just around the corner ;) I couldn't help but to drive to Logan Pass this afternoon and take some pictures! It was only 42 degrees up there and the frigid wind was gusting...
Heaven's Peak from the Going-to-the-Sun Road
Telophoto of a huge chunk of glacial ice slowly sliding down the face of Heaven's Peak
Wild flowers are sprouting up where ten feet of snow covered the ground in July
Last weekend concluded my 2012 season, and I finished strong. Mt. Norquay (near Banff) was the venue; only two slaloms (the GS got cancelled due to snow conditions). My best slalom result of the season yesterday, averaged with my other best score from the Panorama Spring Series brought my slalom points down to 115. I'm happy with that, and should help me get decent starts at the beginning of next season.
The races two weekends ago at Panorama went pretty well too, and I almost had a fantastic slalom result. I moved from 117th to 77th after the first run, and was having an even better second run when the gate I had just blocked came down on my inside ski--lifting it off the snow and ultimately causing me to come to a stop in order to make the next gate. It was a bummer, but that's ski racing!
I'm staying in Banff to free ski with my family this week, and after the GS was cancelled I decided to try jumping into an airbag! I tried back flipping, but didn't quite make it all the way around...
Once again I am back in Panorama, B.C. for a six-day spring series race: 2 super-g's, 2 GS's, and 2 slaloms. The weather was consistent all the way from Whitefish to the opening of the mountain pass to Panorama: pouring rain. The rain changed to wet snow, and the weather isn't terribly spring like here. I'll keep you posted on my results this week.
Since January I've been taking two online courses: Digital Photography and Physical Education. I've had a lot of fun with Digital Photography; each week my classmates (scattered all over MT) and I each take a picture demonstrating that week's principle or element of art (things like shape, contrast, texture, etc...)
Here's some samples of the shots I've been taking over the past couple months:
