Real Soon Races

Now that champs are over, skiing is slowly coming to a halt. Before we head into the summer season, however, skiers like to drag on whats left of the winter. One way to do that is by holding some small races.

This weekend there will be a PCST Club Dual Race at Park City Mountain Resort! All levels of athletes will be participating, including U-16s, U-14s, U-12s, and even Devos. The U-16s will be the team captains/coaches for the race. This is a fun way to get together as a ski team and send the winter off on a good note.

The race will be going on for most of the day, so feel free to stop by the resort and come watch! There is always a BBQ at the bottom (courtesy of the parents) so you don't need to pack a lunch.

The next race to look forward to is the Last Chance at Snowbird, which is one of the bigger spring season races. This is a really great race to earn points, since there are usually some college athletes there (which means really good penalties on points) and all age groups from U-14s to U-21s (because it's an open race).

This race will be held the weekend of spring break, and will continue into school the next week. It will start on Saturday, April 11th, and continue until Wednesday the 15th the following week. There will be 2 GS races, 2 SL races, and 3 SG races. I don't know the order of them yet, but SG is likely to be first, followed by GS and then slalom.

You can also come by Snowbird to cheer on the Park City Ski Team athletes. While you're there, also take time to enjoy Snowbird's awesome terrain and snow conditions. They have a huge mountain with a wide selection of different difficulty trails.

One of Snowbird's trams. Photo courtesy of .luxuryskitrips.com

To look into more detail about the Park City Ski Team, click here for the website.

Solid Ski Racing Part 3

We undressed in the lodge once again and loaded our stuff in the van, driving back to the hotel. Since we had two runs that day, we got back around 3-3:30. This meant we had a lot less time than previous days, so we quickly prepped and waxed our skis, did a little recovery, then got ready for the banquet. At 5:30 we met in the lobby for a quick meeting about the last race day. However, Tina wasn't giving us our bibs until after the banquet.

After the meeting some people ran and grabbed their team jackets (for a photo), and we all loaded the vans. A couple minutes later we got to the place where the banquet was held. We walked into the hotel and down a set of stairs, which led into a large, dark room with glow sticks and stuff everywhere.

The banquet was sort of fun- a couple people made speeches, we ate, and then we got awards. Surprisingly, I got 10th in SL! My friend Shaye also got the bibbo award. This is when you start with a late bib number, and end up finishing in a much higher place. They gave a bibbo award for each gender and for every day. They each got a mug.

That night we had to pack everything, since we would load everything the next morning and leave straight from the mountain to PC after the race and awards for Sunday. So after we got back from the banquet we scraped our skis and threw everything in our duffels and ski bags, sad that it was our last night but glad to be done with the race.

The last day held the worst weather. It was snowing, windy, and most of all, foggy. The GS hill was super long, and for much of it all you could see were the gates. Thank god for the dye at least. They ran pretty quickly, and after second run IMD was looking pretty good. We took up at least half of the top 15!

After second run, Shaye ended up in 8th and many other IMD girls podiumed, including Katie Hensien (3rd) and more. The awards were also outside in the dumping snow, which made for some cool pictures.

I ended up driving back to PC with my Dad, which was really nice. Most of all, I had room. The plan was to stay in Boise, but we ended up stopping in Ontario due to a huge storm. It was an awesome weekend and race!

Solid Ski Racing Part 2

I was woken once again by an upbeat song that my mind just couldn't process at such early hours. Pushing myself out from under the warm, soft blanket, I quickly got ready and walked over to grab something for breakfast with my roommate. We got back to our room and threw last minute stuff into our boot bags, checked for our passes and bibs, and loaded our skis in the Enterprise.

The weather wasn't great, but it wasn't raining either. It looked like it would be flat light up on the hill, with a strong wind. And since it was super G, this mean aerodynamics were going to be key. Our van rolled out of the parking lot. Next stop, the race.

Two hours later...

I visualized the course on last time, making sure to nail each of the jumps and blind knolls. Skip called my name and I carried my skis to the pit, was clicked in, and pushed over to the start house. I was ready. Tina spouted a quick course report and rambled some encouraging phrases to pump me up. I buckled my boots, popped my mouthguard in, and slid up to the wand.

"Racer ready, 10 seconds. . ." Poles over the wand. " . . Five. Four. Three..." I hurdled out of the gate, hearing the last numbers fade away.

Before I could process it, the finish line was behind me and I was speeding to the lift, heading up to get my stuff. I reached the start again and put on my coat, strapped my skis, and cheered on a couple of my teammates. After my friends had gone we headed down to the lodge to get undressed and load the truck for the ride back to the hotel.

Prior to inspection

We got back around 12:30 since we didn't have to wait for the boys, who would probably be finishing up their runs. We got lunch at the diner once again and later prepped our SL skis. I was really nervous for SL, because it's the even that I do the best in. I was also hoping that the weather wouldn't be that bad- everyone was saying that it would be windy, snowy/rainy, and really cold.

We had a meeting at 7:45, before the boys, and went over our schedule for the next day. We also got our bibs- I would be running 26th! This added even more nerves to my anxiety.

The next morning everything went basically the same way- we loaded our skis and bags then drove up to the mountain. The whole drive up it was pouring rain, and at the mountain it dumped snow, which was somewhat better than the rain. There were also really strong winds, and I was immediately wishing we didn't have to race.

In addition to the sucky weather, the course started on this really long pitch, which led to even longer flats. This meant it was going to be a leg burner, and the last part of the flats we would have to really work for.

I made a couple warm up runs, including some on the training course. Then I headed to the start to begin my movement prep and such. When forerunners ended their runs I took of my pants (don't worry- just my ski pants. lol). After visualizing more and running through some more stretches I stripped my coat and brought my sis down to the pit.

Since we had such a big team, I was running in the middle of four consecutive girls. This added a lot of unneeded anxiety, since everyone has a different race routine, including when they liked to be clicked in. Some did best under pressure, so they waited until the last possible minute. Others liked to have a long time to prepare themselves and get in the zone. I'm about average- I can't have too much time to overthink, but I also don't want to worry about missing my start or buckling my boots the wrong way.

It all worked out eventually, though, and pretty soon I was yelling out of the start gate. Down the pitch, past the coaches knoll, and pumping through the flats. It felt like the worst run of my life, and was probably pretty close.

We headed into the lodge to eat lunch, then came back out for second inspection. This course was a lot straighter and required substantial less effort throughout the run. This was good for me because I am a naturally straight skier, and I'm good at letting my skis run. I watched the boys for a while then warmed up at the start. Sommer was blasting music and everyone was getting into it, which helped get my mind off of my run. I found myself buckling my boots, 3 racers to go. Goggles were down, mouthguard was in. Time to bring it.

In contrast to my first run, this was one of the best runs of my life. Maybe not there yet, but it felt pretty good. Since they didn't have live timing up for SL, and I wasn't hopeful enough to count what place I was in at the scoreboard, I had no idea what I ended up in. I would find out later that night at the banquet.

To be continued....

(read part 1 by clicking here)

Solid Ski Racing Part 1

I got back from Mt. Bachelor today, after a week of ski, eat, sleep, repeat. Heres the first part of my adventure at the U-16 championships...

I woke up to my alarm blaring some upbeat song that I was not ready for at 5:30 in the morning. Yet I rolled myself out of bed, literally, and finished packing my numerous bags for the trip. After loading everything in my car and grabbing a bar for breakfast, it was off to the dark PCMR parking lot to load and leave with my team. 

Fifteen minutes later we were speeding out of the parking lot with our destination no less than 12 hours away. For the first hour, the van was almost completely silent and full of sleeping teenagers. After the sun slowly rose and we started becoming conscious, Tina turned up the music. Somewhere in the twelve hour drive we stopped at a park. It had this huge slide with a ladder in the middle and two long metal slides going off both sides. It looked kind of like this...

We arrived a short (lol not) while later in Bend, Oregon. It's a small town with some cool local restaurants and such. The van that we all drove in with Tina (one of my coaches) got there before all of our other stuff (skis, duffels, tuning kits, etc.) in the Enterprise. Thats right. Our other coach, Cam, went to rent a big cargo van for our stuff, but ended up getting a moving truck which we all called the Enterprise.

Tina checked us in and we dropped our backpacks in our rooms. Since the Park City Ski Team was the only team to arrive a day early, we had temporary rooms with 3 other people from the team. Later we would be assigned rooms with 2 people, mostly mixing teams. Since we would only stay in these rooms for one night, no one really unpacked or anything.

Some of us changed into workout clothes for our "recovery" after sitting in a van all day. Before we met outside Cam pulled up in the Enterprise, and we all unloaded the rest of our stuff. Since my contusion still wasn't fully healed, I ended up walking behind the team while they jogged. Pretty soon I was alone walking the streets of Bend until I got to the park they jogged to and stretched with them.

After our recovery, we all got back to the hotel and settled in, going out for dinner later. Me and three other girls went to the Black Bear Diner, a restaurant literally five steps from the hotel. (I'm sure that place got incredible business during the race- all of the teams racing stayed in the same hotel). We then had a team meeting and set the load and departure times for the morning.

The next day, we woke up around 7, which is the longest I've slept in for a long time. We rode up to the mountain, got dressed in the lodge, and loaded the lift with our SG's in our hand and GS skis on. The plan was to free ski the Super G hill that we would be racing on the next two days. We ended up taking about eight runs between our GS and SG skis. We got to know the hill well, also- a couple big jumps/knolls with tons more terrain (rollers, fallaways, etc.). It also looked super fun to race on and got me excited for the next days.

After coming back to the hotel we tuned our SG's for the next day and went for another recovery. At this point my leg was a ton better, and felt pretty good while skiing on it that day. So I jogged over with the team and went through movement prep when we got there. Our coach brought a soccer ball, and you can guess what that led to. Okay, I'll tell you. We played soccer for a half an hour or so, and after a couple minor injuries we jogged back to the hotel.

Dinner was similar to the night before, and the meeting followed at eight. Departure times were earlier and the coaches threw out the bibs. I would be running 46th. Now let me explain the seeding at champs. Since each region's points vary, and could be unfair due to different race penalties, they had a certain number of spots in each seed for each division. So PNSA and Western Region could have a number of less skilled athletes running before better kids in IMD (Inter-Mountain Division, which I'm part of). Also, since IMD has a larger number of better athletes, I was running late. Hence bib 49.

The training run in Super G was a ton of fun- the set was interesting and it was nice to get a run in on the hill in gates. The snow wasn't too fast, however, and visibility was slim. I got in two inspections and ran through the course in my head as much as I could, then took a warm up run on my trainers. I was an over thinker, however, and needed to get my mind off of the race. So at the start I listened to some pump up music and did my movement prep, stripping when I was about 20 out (when bib 29 was in the gate).

The run went alright and I ended up in 29th, but it was still just a training run. The real SG race was yet to come. We undressed in the lodge, loaded the van, and drove back to the hotel. The drive was only about 30 mins one way between the hotel and mountain, which got us back to the hotel around 1. We ate lunch and did a recovery on our own, and tuned our SG skis for the race the next day.

We also packed up our stuff and moved into our new rooms. My roommate and I were lucky because our new room had already been cleaned and prepared and stuff, so we moved in right away. My other friends, however, didn't get their rooms until around seven at night.

We watched video from the training run and got some good feedback for the next day. Later we had the meeting, which just went over the schedule for the next day, since we were keeping the same bibs for the race. Rooms check were at nine and we were fast asleep by 10, anxious with anticipation of the race.

To be continued....

Tough Temperatures

Anyone who lives in Park City, or has visited for at least three weeks, knows how often and fast the weather can change here. One minute you're freezing your butt off in the snow and the next, sunshine cooks every part of your body. I've had my share of these insane weather conditions during the fourteen years that I've been living in Park City, but I don't think it's had enough of me.

For the past week, the PCST U-16s have been training on lower payday run. According to AccuWeather, Tuesday's high temperature was 12º with a low of -9º. With wind chill, the temperatures could have reached -15º. I was hurling myself down a snow covered hill at 9 am, in NEGATIVE FIFTEEN DEGREE WEATHER. It's a miracle that my face didn't freeze off, let alone my toes, which I couldn't feel after the first run. Thankfully Tina, one of my coaches, had a vaseline stick that we passed around and lathered on our faces. But it wasn't over yet.

The next day, it proved to be a little warmer. When I say little, I mean miniscule. The high temperature was 14º and the low temperature was -5º, leading to a wind chill temperature of -15º. After Tuesdays brutal conditions, I came prepared. Three packets of hand warmers, four extra coats, and 3 buffs. Although they did help, the cold air seemed to find ways through all the layers, keeping the constant chill I had those couple of days.

One of the frigid mornings under the Town Lift

Now for the other side of the spectrum. My team and I went to the Utah Olympic Park this afternoon, after free skiing at PCMR. The training there is always productive, with a short hill and a pommel lift to the top. The high temperature at the hill was near 25 or 30 degrees, which felt like summer for us. This led to training the course with full strips (nothing but speed suits on) and even t-shirts. The coaches at the bottom were pleading to be sprayed with snow. How did this happen? Less than 24 hours ago we were dreaming of warm weather.

This is just one of the many examples of Park City's crazy, spontaneous weather. I wonder what mother nature has in store for this town next...

Winter Wonderland

This is something that I get excited about. I love to ski, and obviously that can't be done without the best thing on Earth- snow. Don't get me wrong, I love the summer. I also love the fall, and crisp, cold weather, but what's the point of it if there's no snow?

There is none!

Most Treasure Mountain students would be able to see the white, sparse, and almost invisible flecks of snow floating towards the ground if they glanced out of their classroom window last Monday. Someone told be about it in the hall and I immediately ran into my next classroom to see if the rumor was true. Sure enough, if I squinted I could make out the snowflakes. YES! Thank you mother nature, I really needed something to get excited about.

But this was just the tip of the ice berg. This morning I dragged myself out of bed around nine and was shocked to see thousands of big clumps of snow falling to the ground like a waterfall. Now THIS is winter. It looked like a fluffy three inches had already stuck to the balconies and picnic table, which means there is probably 6 to 12 inches at the top of Park City Mountain Resort. Powder skiing here we come!

Taken around 9:30 am

I don't want to be the one to break this to you, but you shouldn't get your hopes up. According to The Weather Channel, the weather will clear up this week. It's back to muddy grass and slushy streets in Park City. Hopefully we'll start to have a lot more days like this one as the upcoming winter begins!