Day Three

After three days of focused slalom training, every athlete can be confident in knowing that they improved.  The day was a great note to end the slalom portion of this camp.  After clearing the three or so inches that fell last night out of the course, both groups made quality laps all morning and afternoon.  Today's slalom course had a more difficult set than yesterday, with much more offset, fall away turns, and a couple rhythm changes.  Once again, Richard Kramer was on hill taking video and pictures through the falling snow.

Day Two

Today was all about progression: the younger group with Coach Roy perfected the "Schlopy" drill among others, then they moved into the slalom course (full gates today) in the afternoon.  The older group with Coach Pete warmed up in the warming with free skiing and a few drills, then had a go at a slalom rhythm course.  In the afternoon Coach Pete reset the course to a more realistic and difficult slalom course, with a hairpin, delay and flush.  Every athlete progressed throughout the day and saw great improvements from the morning to the afternoon.

Photo credit: Richard Kramer

Day One

The first day of Thanksgiving Camp went very smoothly; everybody was excited to be back on snow, and saw improvement throughout the day.  After a morning of drills, the older group of racers skied a brush course, and the younger group of racers pounded out run after run of drills.  The first few turns were a little shaky and hesitant for some, but by the end of the day, every racer was skiing better than they did the last day on snow last season.  

Whitefish racers Colter, William, Gardner and Marina ready to roll!

Unloading the bus at the base of Norquay

Walking to the lodge

The group at the bottom of our training lane

I will have many more pictures to come, as well as video.  The plan for tomorrow is to run gates for the older group, and the younger group will run stubbies (providing there isn't too much new snow to train...it snowed steadily all afternoon and may continue through the night).

Thanksgiving Camp 2012

Winter is here, and skiers are already hitting the slopes on Mt. Norqauy near Banff.  Snow conditions are ahead of last year, so expect lots of it!  I will be updating this page with pictures, videos, etc. daily during the Thanksgiving Camp (Nov. 19-23).  Here are a few photos from previous years, as well as a video I created from training last weekend....

Banff driving timelapse for email from Nevada Kramer on Vimeo.

The view from Tunnel Mtn. above Banff this morning

Saturday: Lake Louise World Cup Men's DH

Today's winner Didier Cuche 

Today was a blast!  Sleeping in a little was very nice; the race started at 11:30 AM.  Lake Louise was a covered by a light fog all during the race, but the weather definitely wasn't bad.  One of my favorite downhillers, Didier Cuche from Switzerland won the DH today.  Bode had a very solid run, and ended up in 9th.  Other top American racers including Marco Sullivan, Travis Ganong, Erik Fischer, and Andrew Weibrecht placed mostly in the 20's and 30's.   The top ten of today's race seemed to be dominated by the Swiss and Austrians--a prediction Jacques Eve and I made before the race!

To view the entire album of today's photos, follow this link: https://picasaweb.google.com/117383304685644049304/LakeLouiseWorldCup2011

Whitefish Head Coach Roy Loman,
Jacques Eve and I at the race today

Bode Miller in finish arena

The distinctive Rundle1 that towers over Banff

Base Lodge at Lake Louise

This 6x6 bull elk was munching down in the middle of
a campground this afternoon

Friday

The 2011 ARC Thanksgiving Camp is over!  All the racers really made the best of their four-and-a-half days on snow, and they should be very proud of their progress.

Skier of the Day: Ruby
Honorable Mentions: Hunter and Gardner
Overall Male: Nevada
Overall Female: Sylvie
GS Rippers: Matt & Stella
Slalom Shredders: Braxton & Ava
Most Improved:  Rylan & Jessica 
Major Breakthroughs: Georgia, Mable, Sylvie, Ruby, Stella, and Sam
Team Captains: Max & Ruby 


Addie Elm wins the "Psych-up Award" for powering through the difficulties involved with recovering from a knee injury.  Last season,  Addie tore her ACL during a race and had to undergo physical rehab and surgery.  She has stayed strong and pushed through her fears of re-injuring her knee, which is extremely difficult to do!  Go Addie!  



videos of today's slalom training will be posted here ASAP...

Tomorrow we are going to spectate the Lake Louise World Cup Downhill.  It's always a blast there; cowbells are ringing, people are cheering, and the racers are awing to the crowd.  Americans Bode Miller and Ted Ligety will be there also.  The great thing about this race is that you can walk right up to the competitors and talk to them, and if you're lucky they will give you their bib!  To the right is a picture of Bode being interviewed last year...

Thursday

"Half the skiing; twice the warmup!"  --Coaches Logan and Roy

Matt Roberts asked this morning if since we were only skiing a half a day, would we only do half the warm-up; Peter quickly threw back: “No”!  Logan and Roy suggested the amount of warm-up ought to vary inversely with the skiing time…half the skiing; twice the warm-up!

Coaches Peter and Logan planning the next day

We trained slalom stubbies from 8 AM to noon today, then headed down after lunch to go for a hike.  The hike took us up Johnston Canyon, a beautiful gorge with high cliffs and frozen ice falls.  Later tonight I will post pictures of the annual Thanksgiving dinner at Elk and Oarsmen in Banff.  Also, if the link to my Picasa web album didn't work on yesterday's post, please give this one a try.