Colorado Trip A Success!
Since we only had Digital Media class in the first quarter, we are not required to write any more blogs or tweets. But every once in a while, I’ll try to write a little something. It’s been a long time!
Our trip to Colorado was amazing. The snow was fantastic, well we made the most of what there was. We freeskiied in Loveland for a day, freeskiied in Arapahoe Basin for two days, and then trained in Vail for 6 days (2 of them being GS and 4 of them being SL). It was a very successful camp and we trained in Vail next to the U.S. Ski Team, which was incredible! The Slovenian team was also there, and the Austrian Team was arriving after we left. There weren’t many trails open at any of the mountains, and at Vail there was only one trail open. Although Vail was not open to the general public, that trail was a busy one. We had at least 1 GS course, 2 SL courses, a freestyle lane with moguls, another freestyle lane with rails, and some athletes freeskiing in the tiny spaces between all on that one trail.
I thought it was a very successful camp for me because I was able to improve my skiing tremendously from last year and was able to catch up to the other girls a bit, who had all gone to Chile for 2 weeks. I was focusing a lot on having my pressure done at the top of the turn, standing completely on the downhil ski, and lifting my inside hip up. My freeskiing improved and I was ready for taking it into the course. Getting into a SL course was an easy transition for me, and I was able to make nice, clean, carving turns in it, so I was very happy. GS was a different story. My GS skis this year are longer than last years. This year I have 182s and last year I had 177s, so it was hard for me to trust and turn my new GSs. We had minimal time for GS, so both days were days of gates, and I was not ready. I had to try to get used to my GSs on the one trail in Vail, avoiding courses on either side of me. I didn’t quite get all that used to them, but I tried the course, well the top (flat) part and it was okay. The next GS day, I did the entire course (which included one part that I thought was substantially steep) and I made it through the day. It was rough, but at least I made a few good turns and some progress. The last day in Vail we had our “race” which didn’t end up being a race because we were allowed to decide if we wanted to be timed or not. I was able to make 5 runs in the SL course, the last 3 which I decided to time myself. I was really happy because my runs were getting progressively faster and I was in there with the older/better girls. Also, my skiing FELT good, and that was important. I decided that I had achieved my camp goals and that my skiing had truly improved.
This year’s Vail Fall Camp was definitely the best camp that I went to. In addition to being happy about my skiing, I was able to watch the U.S. Ski Team training and met some of them! I saw Bode Miller, Ted Ligety, Lindsey Vonn, Julia Mancuso, Steve Nyman, Scott Macartney, Marco Sullivan, and so many more! It was so much fun to watch them ski and see them hanging out at the bottom, where the U.S. Ski Team tent was with all there oxygen tanks, food, candy, staff, and other equipment. I remember always watching ski racing on tv and wishing to see the racers sometime and at Vail I was able to watch them ski and everything! It was amazing!
I’ve also decided that I think I want to live in Colorado when I get older. It is one of the prettiest places in the U.S. I love how there are so many great mountains in close-range to each other and also there is almost always sun! So, it doesn’t usually get very cold, but the snow is still sick! The lanscape is breathtaking and the air is clean, I love it!
These are some of the pictures I have with some U.S. Ski Team Members! (Scott Macartney, Steve Nyman, Bode Miller and Ted Ligety)
