NZ: Day 15 (The Thumbs Up Edition)

Dani and Mardi with WC winner, Anna Fenninger, 2012 WC Overall Winner, Marcel Hirscher and GBR's finest, Chemmy Alcott. Marcel is giving the girls two thumbs up for a good camp.

DH course number two for Mr. Hirscher and the CAN and AUT women.

On the lift with everyone's favorite DH team.

Packing up after the last day. We're gonna miss Mt. Hutt.

You are here, or were here anyway...

Shaka for a great camp.

A perfectly packed van. Thanks Bug!

Well, we finished up on a high note down here. Today, we encountered perfect weather, perfect snow and Marcel Hirscher training DH. In the grand scheme of things, I just don't know how a day gets any better. Above are some pictures and below is a quick note from the girls about their favorite part of the camp off snow. Thanks to Bug for the idea and for arranging this post!

Best Memories OFF the hill:

Nicole: My best memory was getting to know all the local Kiwis and having them join us in our games/dry land.

Audrey: My favorite memory was going to Café 131 after skiing for our second lunch before our afternoon activities. The hot chocolate was a highlight.

Dani: Going to see Molly was my favorite memory. Meeting her and seeing her bus was a really cool experience, she was really unique and one of those people I will always remember.

Sophie: My favorite memory was hiking up the peninsula in Akaroa and taking lots of photos with the amazing scenery.

Lisa: I have to say; my FAVORITE part about this trip was spending hours and hours finishing my summer work, with a New Zealand time twist added in.

Mardi: The food was the most memorable part for me, especially soup night!

Lexi: I loved experiencing New Zealand through Molly’s viewpoint.

Eliza: I had an awesome time playing rugby with all the local boys, showing them how American’s do it!

Bug: My most memorable moment was driving into the bay near Akaroa. It was a really cool moment when we all saw the water for the first time and awed. To stand on the hill/road over looking the bay was pretty spectacular. 

Mt. Hood Days 7 & 8

Hello again.

The last couple days have brought some clouds to the Palmer Snowfield. We've skied in variations of full visibility to almost none (today). The fog and clouds made for great drill time though! The athletes are working hard whether it is mastering an edging drill where they make no turns for run after run, or seeing how close they can get their hip to the snow without falling inside. The U.S. Women's Europa Cup Speed Team and Development Team have been here the last couple days too, so the athletes have enjoyed meeting and watching some top notch skiers.

Yesterday's dryland was another good one. The athletes worked their way through a tough hamstring, glute, and core workout, only to be followed by an even harder team pull-up and push-up competition. See the fun in the photos below.

Today's dryland took us to Trillium Lake, just 10 minutes from Government Camp, for a recovery walk around the lake and a swim for the daring. (It wasn't actually THAT cold.)

Tomorrow is our last day on the hill and we're hoping to be above the clouds this time...

 Hamstring bridges

 Side planks

 Team pull-up competition

Team push-up competition

NZ: Day 14

The finish of the morning DH came right down the bunny slope.

Plenty of sun today.

The snow was immaculate all day.

Recovery walkers.

Kea: The mischievous mountain parrot.

Great day for a photo op, but most of them are down here...

It’s so hard to believe our camp is almost over, but it is… one more day of SL and we pack up and prepare for the long flight home.

Today, we skied a lot. Recently, we’d taken a lighter schedule (day off, two days on, day off again) in anticipation of good weather and good snow for our final three days of SL and, boy, did it pay off in a big way. In terms of weather and snow quality, today was our best yet, and if you’ve been following the blog, you know that’s really saying something.

Right off the bat, as has been our practice most of the camp, the girls free-skiied for an hour before coming over to the course. During that hour, they are encouraged to do drills and ski on one ski while Libby and I set up the SL drill courses. When we are done setting, we go to the free-ski lane and watch/help the girls with their skiing. At around 10am, we all headed over to the courses: three short sections with varying drills in each. We ran those courses until around noon, then Libby and I went back up, reset each of the three courses and after a break, the girls came back up and ran until around 1:30pm. It sounds like a ton of skiing, and it is, but the girls took frequent breaks for water and food and to watch the Austrian and Canadian women’s WC teams soar close to 60 meters off the DH jump.

Oh yeah, that’s right, the Austrians and the Canadians trained two different DH courses today on different parts of the hill. From 7-9, they ran one DH and then they set on a different part of the hill, utilizing the jump, and ran that one from 9-11:30. It was inspiring watching those girls send it off the jump; they were going pretty big.

All in all, today was terrific. The girls worked very hard on their skiing and were generally pleased with where they ended up at the end of the day, especially considering it was everyone’s first or second day in SL gates.

Hope all is well back home and at Mt. Hood and La Parva. We’re thinking about you guys, checking the blog and loving the pics!

Hola de Chile!

Hi Everyone,

It has been a great few days sown here.  After a block of epic training and some immaculate powder, we decided to take two days off going into our last block of the camp.  On our second day off, we drove down the switch backs into Santiago.  It was a very interesting day.  After spending some time in the market, we headed back up to La Parva.  The drive is pretty uncomfortable with all the switchbacks, but a really incredible experience.  Chile is a beautiful country.  The country is rugged, and living here must take some toughness.

After two days off everyone is feeling rested and excited to hammer our last four day of training.  The snow is starting to really set up well after the dump five days ago and everything looks good for the next four days.  We have some really exciting stuff coming up, namely some downhill training tomorrow after a GS session.  Overall the team is amped and enthusiasm is really high.  We're all really psyched about the direction we're going.  Stay turned for our final training block before some of us head back home to hit the gym and the books while some of us stay for some speed races here at La Parva.  A huge thank you to those that made this opportunity possible for all of us!  Until next time, adios!  -Sam Coffin and Andrzej Dziediz

Lunch at Los Dominicos

Banana Popsicles 

Van through Santiago

One of the 40 curvas

Roadside horse

La Parva from afar

Sam Coffin on the jump

Ronnie Berlack on the jump

Trevor, Henry, Sam and Andrzej

NZ: Day 13

Sunrise at the Methven Resort.

Mt. Hutt this morning from the road.

Methven and beyond from the road on the way home.

Another unforgettable day in the southern hemisphere! To start things off the ski field had some variable conditions. From ice, to death cookies, to soft snow, the Burkies weren’t even phased. If you graduated from SL free skiing you got to go to the SL gate progressions. After skiing, Chemmy (Alcott, GBR) and Larisa (Yurkiw, CAN) came over for a cold tub date, and yes we are on first name basis. Both of them have many top 15 world cup finishes, so it was pretty cool to check them out! We thought that cleaning anything above 50 pounds was impressive but they rebutted with a hefty 250 pounds. Lisa and I (Dani) thought up some interesting (interview) questions to ask them (for the Blog), and can't wait for our tennis lesson from Chemmy tomorrow! Stay tuned for the obscure answers….   See you all, the mommy and daddies, (and siblings) soon!!

LOVE Dani, and Sophie

Mt. Hood Day 6

Hello! From Mt Hood,

This is Parker and Isabel filling you in on our exciting day. This morning Nina led an amazing warm up after we jogged around Huck’s. Skiing was great today, snow wasn’t too soft and the weather was beautiful. After lunch many people decided to have shakes before our cool down. This was not such a great idea. Cole Janco nearly booted his shake on the side of the road. After our two mile run everyone was tired and regretting the delicious shake that they had to have. With only three days left we are all pushing ourselves to have our best skiing possible! See you all tomorrow.

-Parker and Isabel

 Christin's crew: (also known as the blue and purple people) Isabel, Bay, Avery, Lucy, Christin, McKenna, and Parker

It was extremely smokey on the hill today, as the winds shifted and smoke from the forest fire 50 miles south came our way. 

NZ: Day 12

A pier in Akaroa

Looking from one end of Akaroa to the other.

View from the top of Onawe looking out.

Break time atop the Onawe Peninsula.

View from the top of Onawe looking back.

On the way back. What a journey...

War Memorial in Akaroa

What's that you ask? Where is the post from Day 11? We were actually left wondering what happened to Day 11 ourselves. We had our final day of GS set-up and ready to go only to be nearly blown off the mountain by increasing winds. When the only lift left running broke down and started running on diesel to service the weekend crowd, we knew our day was done. The good news is that we had 2-3 runs on decent snow to cap off the GS portion of the camp. The truth is, we are not quite where we want to be in GS, but the girls are working and putting in the effort needed to end up where we do want to be. We are moving in the right direction.

Now on to Day 12.

Day 12 was another scheduled off day. On this day, we drove to Akaroa, a beautiful little town just northeast of Christchurch with Maori and French influences throughout it's history. I would be willing to bet that the 11 of us combined to take close to 1000 pictures and if it wasn't quite 1000, then it would shock you to know just how close we actually were. The girls were given the chance to walk around town, eat some lunch, do some shopping and then we went on a short hike on the way home. There's no way to describe to you what it was like. Above are a handful of pictures I took, but even those don't do this unique spot nearly enough justice. To get an idea of the landscape of the area, click here: http://www.akaroa.com/fpnew/fastpage/fpengine.php/templateid/711

We walked the route number 4 out the Onawe Peninsula. It was amazing. To get an even better aerial view, plug Akaroa into Google maps.

Onto to SL for the rest of camp. Everyone is ready to shift gears, but I think we all still have a bit of Akaroa on our minds.

Mt. Hood Day 5

Just a short note here. We took a rest day today. The athletes slept in, tuned skis, watched video, and hung out mostly, I think! Some went to see a movie, some found every kind of fun at the Mt. Hood Skibowl Adventure Park, and all enjoyed a warm sunny day off. However, it is interesting to note that no athletes came knocking on my door to write today's blog... I'm taking this as a good thing: ski and dryland sessions are more exciting than days off.
Four more days on the slopes and hopefully some more posts from the athletes!
Good night from Hood!

Mt. Hood Day 4

Hi parents and athletes! 
     Today started off with the regular routine but suddenly shifted as we pulled out of the Huckleberry Inn. When driving to the mountain we had passed runners who were competing in the "Hood to Coast," 199 mile relay race. Competitors strutted their stuff in creative costumes and spirit. Once reaching the mountain, Dannica, Olivia, Paige, and Nicola made a "quick run," more like 10 minutes to the event organizers and booths. We proceeded to call our "relay team" TEAM SKI RACERS and create signs to go along with the fun. We began to discuss with volunteers that we would be running in our ski attire and that it would be a quite hot ride.
     Skiing- It was another awesome day on the hill! Tomorrow is our day off so we took a short day of skiing. Once again there were clear skies and the snow was packed hard due to the colder weather here at Mt. Hood!!
~ Olivia, Paige and Abby

 Anna E.-B. ripping on one ski

Bryna's group! (L to R) Anna B., Bryna, Sophie, Paige, Abby

     In the afternoon the Burkie Rangers ventured to the desolate town of Maupin, Oregon. We had arrived at "Allstar Rafting" with high expectations and confidence that we would stay afloat. Yale and I (Timmy) had thought we assembled the greatest dream team of rafters in history. We entered one of the first rapids on the river, a Class 3 rapid, thinking it was just another day on the job. Little did we know, our guide had other plans. A wide opening of cold rushing water awaited us just a few yards away. The only thing that stood in our way was a massive rock that seemed easily avoidable. At the last moment our raft took the direction of the rock. As we hit the rock the rear side of the raft somersaulted throwing each individual different directions into the freezing, rushing Deschutes. With our confidence shaken we continued down the river with the occasional water gun fight with Darrell's raft. The rest of the trip was a success after all the groups managed to defeat the Class 4 rapid, which happened to be the hardest rapid they had to offer. 
     We then made our way back to the good old Huckleberry Inn for the occasional game of basketball after a great dinner. This camp has been nothing short of amazing with more days of great skiing to come. Now back to enjoying everything this camp has to offer. 
~ Written by Timmy and Yale

That's the scoop from another fun-packed day at Mt. Hood, Oregon!

  **To see photos of the raft trip, go to: 

http://imperial.photoreflect.com/store/store.aspx?p=34116

   To see Timmy & Yale's raft flip (also, Anna E.-B., Bay, Cole, Peter, Bridget, & Silas), select 'Wapinita 12:30 - 3:00,' page 8 of photo thumbs. You can see the flip in photos 362- 371, IMG 7869-7878. 

   To see all our rafts go through Oak Springs Class 4 rapid, select 'Oak Springs 3:30-4:40' IMG 5151- 5173. 

NZ: Day 10

We had another fantastic day of skiing today! The snow report called for a blue sky day and boy, was it beauteous. We continued our GS training after a relaxing day off at the beach. The timer was broken out for the first time and Libby (aka DI) did a great job setting it up. Our course was sandwiched between the Canadian’s two courses. When we stood in the start gate we could look left and watch a few of the best slalom skiers in the world or to the right and watch a few of the best super g skiers in the world. Not bad at all.

The Canadians are practically family now that we’ve been training alongside them for the entire trip. So it was sad to hear that the tech team is moving on to Coronett Peaks to train slalom on injected snow. We were reminiscing of all the effort we put into discreetly scoring a chairlift ride with them (maybe that was just me) when Dani found out that the speed team is moving into our hotel. Erin Mielzynski was nice enough to take a picture with me before she left.

That’s all for now. I’m off to play our nightly game of Monopoly Deal.

-Lisa

Lisa with Erin Mielzynski, winner of the Offerschwang, Germany world cup slalom March, 2012

'Monopoly Deal'

Mt. Hood Day 3

       Today Madison ran warm-up to perfection. After a delicious Hucks breakfast we went to ski above the clouds. It was colder than it has been the past couple days, which caused the snow to stay hard all morning. And, today was the lovely one-ski skiing competition. This competition was won by the one and only Miss Bridget Currier, followed by Nina and Anna E-B.
       After we arrived back for lunch, we did our group workout. This consisted of homemade 'Zumba' and 'Big Fat Pony.' Coach edit: this is a song and dance, led by the athletes, of course. I don't think we are quite so creative. After these calisthenics, we each picked our own stretch to share with the group.
       After everyone took a refreshing nap, the two of us (Nicola and Dannica) went to Govy General to buy chalk to make a "Happy Birthday" sign for Lexi on the basketball court/parking lot. She was surprised with our creation later. At dinner Lexi was served a cake and a Huck shake, and sung to by the Famous Burkie Rowmark chorus. The night was finished with a very competitive game of 9-square, followed by an early bedtime.
       This has been Nicola and Dannica now signing off from Mt. Hood, Oregon. Have a dandy day!

 Zumba

 Goofiness all around

Circling swarm of shuffling campers. (Photo credits - thanks Bryna!)

Happy Birthday Lexi!

     

NZ: Day 9

Today we met a lady named Molly. Spiritual gems, glass mosaics, woven quilts and aguet rocks filled her love bus and garden. This dread locked diva touched many of us with her kind words and positive outlook on life. Although her physical possessions didn’t amount to much, she was more content than many will ever be. Along with seeing her amazing set up, we also got learn how to spin wool. Lexi and Lisa got to try it from the captain’s seat and quickly found that it was harder than it looked. You have to use your hands AND your feet! Harlow knew she was something special when he met her four years ago on the beach. His athletes were standing with their toes in the ocean when she came running down the beach screaming, “get out!! It’s dangerous!” It could have been a deal breaker but she revealed today that he was “too delicious to be mad at”. Ew. Though she could sense we were immediately uncomfortable, she assured us that by the time your 60, you can say whatever the h”ll you want. I think Molly will always have a place in our hearts.   -Mardi

Molly, with her much smaller bus

The inside of Molly and Al's love bus

Dani, sporting some handmade felt wool dreads