Nor-Ams! Wah, Wah, Waahhh

Hey Everyone!

Alright, its been a while since my last post and I was hoping I could tell you guys some really awesome news about how I crushed Nor-Ams and finally came out a champion rather than being beat down and sent packing. Sadly, I can’t exactly say I crushed so I was hoping I could share some awesome video and/or pictures to document some of my brighter moments this past week but that too is to be left un-touched because unfortunately, all the video of some of my more inspired skiing is driving up to Canada right now with Kraige Sourbeer as he and some of the eastern kids are pitting themselves against some more Nor-Ams, this time at Apex mountain in western Canada. It’s a speed series, and considering I hung up my downhill skis about 5 or 6 years ago, I opted out of this trip.

Instead, I will be racing 3 races here in Colorado, all of which will be held at Loveland Valley, my old stomping ground so to speak. There will be one FIS GS race and two University races. Now, lets flashback to last season for a second. If you recall in webisode 7, season 1, I DNFed every single one of these Nor-Am races here at Vail. After that unfortunate trip across the country, I came back east and had a breakthrough performance, scoring the best results of my career and lowering my points and world ranking considerably. Let me give you some knowledge about my ski racing career. I break late. I wait until the end of the season to peak, and when the pressure is on and I need to make a statement, well that is usually when I ski my best. February is now upon us… I think its about time I break. (In a good way, of course.)

Anyway, after those 3 races at Loveland I had planned to go back east for some R&R and some smaller races. A few days ago however, I was approached by my buddy Michael Ankeny about a couple of SL races to take place at Mt. LaCrosse in Wisconsin on the 9th and 10th. It is sort of an unorthodox place to have FIS races but I remembered a few friends and fellow athletes who attended last season and heard nothing but great things of the race and of the host mountain. I did some quick thinking and a small bit of scrambling but at the end of the day, I had a new itinerary and a couple new races added to the repertoire! I am excited to go and to have some world class athletes to pit myself against, and this time with a much better starting position than I had here in Vail! It was not exactly part of the designs, but what is ski racing without a couple of random, unplanned events?

That’s about it folks. I know I said I didn’t have any pics but Facebook/Instagram is great, isn’t it? I stole these from my friends, and of course I’ll give the photo credit!