Holiday Week Update

We hope everyone is enjoying the Holidays. Most of the women's team has come back to school to train and race already. We were fortunate to compete in our first Vermont Cup of the season (finally!) on the The team raced GS on Okemo's steep and intimidating competition trail, Wardance. Our top two finishers were Kristie Ryan, coming in strong in 5th place, and Jocelyn Werle, rounding out the top 10 in 9th place. Another strong finisher moving from 41st spot to 20th was first year J2 Heather Desino.
For the past 2 days, the team has been loading the lift before sunrise to get in early morning training from 7-9am. It's a short session, but the girls were able to lap around frequently on Bunny. This way, we can have training to ourselves to avoid the holiday crowds.
Tomorrow, we compete at Cochran's ski area for a night slalom. We'll depart KMS at 10am for a 2:30pm start time. Stay tuned for results!

Back in the east

Another successful trip is coming to a close.  We just landed in Boston, soon we will be getting our bags and climbing into the vans for the last three hour leg of this trip.  We had a very good camp in mammoth and some great results in Alaska, now its time to get some rest and get ready for Christmas and the rest of the season.  Even with the lackluster weather and lack of snow I am ready to be home in Killington.

A little taste of the east

The reasons may be differant but we just got a taste of the east.  Due to heavy snow, high Winds, and high avalanche risk the mountain is not opening today and the second gs has been cancelled. 
Now we are going to finish our packing and start a very slow drive to anchorage.  Our next concern is going to be getting to town before the seward highway gets closed for avalanche control by the dot.
It's been a great trip so far but I am really bummed that we are not getting the opportunity to get this last gs is.  But on the flip side I am really psyched to be heading home, I think everyone is ready to sleep in their own beds for a few days before we head back on the road.
I will check back in from anchorage this afternoon. 
See you all at home tomorrow night.
Stags

Weather delay

We must be at a ski race.  Right now we are on a weather delay to see what will happen today.  It rained most of the night and into this morning, it just recently changed over to snow.  It's also really windy right now. 
This weather combined with some random power outages has us waiting for a 10am jury meeting to see what out plan is for today.
They have also been blasting for avi control since 7 this morning.
Check back later to see what we end up doing today.
Stags

Alyesaka GS#1

Today we had to contend with some pretty soft and bumpy conditions.  The girls did a good job moving up first run, Kiersten up into 12th, Kristie moved into 20th, Jocelyn into 26th, and Kara skied into 30th.  Jerica had some trouble and came down into 58th.  Second run the girls did a better job on the top pitch, but most of them had trouble adjusting to the set on the lower pitch.  Kiersten had a great run going but came in straight and back and took a detour right before the bottom flat, Jocelyn had the same problem, they finished 22nd and 31st.  Kristie had a solid run and skied herself into 18th.  Kara also had a much better second run and moved up into 23rd.  Jerica had trouble in the middle section and wasn't able to stay in the course.

While it may not have felt very good the girls scored some good results.  Kristie scored a 73, her best GS to date.  Kiersten also had a great day in the end, scoring an 84.  Kara scored her best GS ever by nearly 50 points with an 85.  And despite her troubles along the way Jocelyn score right around her points with a 102, not bad considering how much trouble she had on the lower pitch.

Tomorrow we have the last GS of the series.  I am hoping that the girls have some gas left to ski fast and score more great results.  After the race tomorrow we are packing the cars and heading back to Anchorage for the night.  Monday we start the long trip home, leaving the hotel around 4am for a 6am flight to Saint Paul and then on to Boston.  We are supposed to land around 7 Monday night then drive home, hopefully reaching school by 11pm.

First run

First run is in the books and things are looking good.  So far this year we havn't been able to ski much gs, but the girls did a good job on the run.  Kiersten had a pretty ragged run and skied herself up into 12th.  Kristie skied into 20th followed by jocelyn in 26th.  Kara once again skied well and will be starting 1st in the second run.  Jerica had a few problems and came down into 58th.  Next run we are going to raise the intensity take a few more risks.
Let's go girls
Stags

Untouched gs

When was the last time you saw w gs race where the hill was untouched at 10:30 am?  Schedules are just a bit more relaxed this far north.  Inspection is starting any minute.

Alyeska SL Day2

We are half way through the races up here in Alaska and through the Slalom portion of the trip.  Today was a bit tougher than yesterday but the snow was better.  First run Kristie ran into trouble on the top and didn't make it down.  Jocelyn met a similar end on the lower pitch.  She leaned in an unfortunately exited the course, running into the measuring tape of the men's second run setter in the process.  Kiersten had a solid first run moving up into 18th and Kara skied well and moved into 30th.  Jerica had a few bobbles and was able to move into 46 on the run.

Second Run Kara was able to capitalize on starting first on the run and had her best Slalom run of the year so far, 10th on the run and 20th overall.  She scored a 111 point race, by far her best Slalom result to date.  Kiersten had a good second run going but had some trouble with a difficult section and had to hike, unfortunately she didn't go far enough and was disqualified in the end.  Jerica had great run going on the top two thirds of the course but got caught by a couple of very tight gates at the finish and wasn't able to hold her line and had to slow down right before the line.

The girls are psyched to get out for GS tomorrow, their skis are ready and the spent a bunch of time doing homework this evening.

Stags

Excited for Super Series GS

The girls and myself made it safely up to Mont Tremblant. The girls are really psyched to race in a fairly small, but competitive field tomorrow. The mountain's been working really hard to be able to obtain a race series. Fortunately, the race hill's in such good shape, the TD said they could've held the race today or yesterday. The athlete's will be able to catch the first gondola up to the top lodge at 7:15, so they can have time to get some warm up mileage before 9:15 inspection. Myself and the other coaches get to load the gondola at 7am...to set up 60 B nets for the race.
Catch the race on live-timing.com! 10:30am start.

Inspection is open

Game on

Race Day!!! SL #1

We have the first FIS sl of the season in the books. The girls had some pretty varied results. Kiersten and Kristie had good first runs and moved well into the flip, skiing into 13th and 18th. Kara had a good first run back in her first FIS SL since 2010, moving up from 52nd into 25th. Jerica had some trouble on the bottom first run and finished 49th. Jocelyn skied well in sections but was interrupted by a hooking a tip at the top of the bottom pitch.
Second run Kristie was a bit conservative but held on for 16th overall, Kiersten had another good run and moved up into 11th overall. They both also scored their career best SL results, Kiersten scored a 71 and Kristie scored an 81.
Jerica and Kara both had trouble on the second run and took some minor detours on the way, finishing 39th and 40th.
On the mens side Andrew kimbell had a great day finishing 5th and scoring his best sl result ever with a 73.

Race day

We enjoyed a nice relaxing mornong.  The girls worked on homework and final ski prep.  Now we are waiting for them finish setting and getting the 6" of fresh snow pushed off the race hill.  The snow over here is much better today than it was over on the training hill yesterday.

Alyeska sl training

Today we got out a little earlier and trained a slalom on the training hill.  The snow was better than yesterday, but it was still a very differant surface than we are used to.  The snow seemed like it was completely saturated, so it felt firm but it was difficult to get a ski to hold very well. 
We took a couple runs and then let everyone freeski for a bit.  The freeskiing on the race hill was better than yesterday.  After the weekends snow storm the surface is improving every day.
Right now everyone is working on homework and Greg and I are going to start dinner before we head up for the team captains meeting. 
Everyone is excited to start the FIS season tomorrow.  Make sure to check in on live timing tomorrow to see how everyone is doing.
Stags

Training at Alyeska

The girls were able to sleep in a bit this morning before we headed up to the mt.  Since the mountain never opened yesterday there was still over 35" of fresh snow on the top of the mt.  So we have the kids some time to go freeski and explore before training. 
We did train a little gs on the training hill but the snow wasn't very good so we only took a couple runs. 
Right now some of the guys are cooking dinner and the rest are working on homework.  Tomorrow we are going to train some sl, and Thursday we start racing.
Stags

Back in AK

We have finally arrived in Girdwood. We had a pretty long day yesterday after a leisurely start in Reno. Or flight was delayed due to mechanical problems, we had boarded and had to get back off to wait in the terminal until it was resolved. We did get in the air and made our connection in Salt Lake with time to spare. Five hours after leaving Salt Lake we landed in some heavy snow in Anchorage.
After three trips on the shuttle we all finally settled in at the hotel in Anchorage for a few hours of sleep around 2am. This morning we got up, found the rental vehicles, and packed up to head south. We were greeted in Girdwood by new snow and no power. The mountain was closed.
We had planned on training GS but that will have to wait until another day. We spent the afternoon getting moved in and organized, we also ended up driving back to Anchorage to get groceries and other supplies.
We are planning to get on the hill tomorrow barring any other issues.
Check back for pictures and updates over the next few days.
Time for some sleep.
Stags

Final Day in Mammoth and First race of the yar

We are moved out of the hotel in Mammoth and waiting in the Hotel in Reno for our flight to Anchorage this afternoon.  The girls got to race their first USSA SL of the season.  It was a great opportunity to get some of the pre-season jitters out of their systems.  Kristie had a decent first run and came down with a good second run and was able to put together two runs to score a great 73 point result in 7th place.  Kiersten also had a good day and finished 13th overall.  Kara had a great first race back from her knee injury in Saas Fee.  She was a little nervous first run, but skied with considerably more confidence second run.  She skied some of the best slalom that I have seen out of her, in the process she was able to score a 115 point race which will help her going into this season.  Jocelyn ran into some trouble on the second run and was unable to finish.  Jerica opted not to race second run to save her knee for the races in Alaska.

We will be heading over to the airport to get checked in soon.  We are all looking forward to getting up to the great north to open the FIS race season.

We should be on snow in Girdwood about this time tomorrow, check back for some pictures.

Stags

Mammoth run one

The girls had some good sections first run.  The set was much more open and straighter than Anything we tend to see in the east.  They starting to pick up another gear for races and are looking for more speed.  Kristie skied into 8th, kiersten 12th, jpcelyn 19th, and Kara 20th, Jerica finished 50th.
One more run then we are off to reno for the night.
Stags

Rave day

Here we go.  First race of the year for these girls.  Super open slalom with a royal flush, should be fun to watch.  Kristie time one so make sure to check out live timing today.

Stags

Last day of training in Mammoth

Today marked our last training session on Mammoth. Tomorrow we have a USSA SL here and then we head down to Reno before the Flight up north Sunday afternoon.

Today we did a race simulation on ADG. We set the first run and ran the girls in USSA point order, then they got a consolation run in that course before a full reset and another race run.

Kiersten was able to hold on for the overall win and Jocelyn was able to win the consolation race from the second runs.

Tomorrow we are racing on ADG for the opening race here in California. Kristie pulled bib 1, Jocelyn 15, Kiersten 18, Kara 28, and Jerica 31. Should be a great chance to get an early start before we head north.

Stags

Mammoth Slalom day 2 on Ruthies

Today we had a great slalom session on Ruthies, just to the right of the hill we were on yesterday.  The pitch was a little more mellow with more gradual terrain changes.  The girls did a good job working on tactics and are starting to learn how to ski combinations properly.  They are also starting to find some good speed of the pitch and on the flats.  Tomorrow we are moving back over to Andy's Double Gold for our final training session in Mammoth.  We have the opportunity to train SL on the race hill before we have a USSA SL on Saturday to help finalize out preparations for Alaska.

Stags

 

 

Mammoth Day 5 Slalom

After the day off yesterday the girls got up this morning for a great morning session on Fascination. The girls got 5-6 runs on a 40 turn slalom course. They all had some good sections and some good runs.

Tomorrow we are heading back out for slalom on Ralphies. We are half way through camp here in Mammoth and everyone is really psyched for Alaska.

Nick

Ginger bread house competition!

Nice work to everyone that helped out!

Slalom on east fall

We have been privileged this week to get in some gate training. We have tweaked the women's and men's weekly schedules around. Training in the morning all week gives us a chance to get some mileage in to prepare for upcoming races. Although the surface has been soft, we have been able to train consistently on east fall. This gives us an advantage over other programs training on the east coast. During the afternoon, the athletes have study hall and classroom time.
    Tuesday evening after dinner, kms students, along with some coaches and faculty, enjoyed playing Dodgeball at the local elementary school. Every week the local elem. School gym allows us to use the facility. We ended up having a lot of fun, and playing for over an hour!

Day off yesterday

Yesterday the girls took a much needed day off to rest and get some work done. They spent the morning in town with Heather House Christmas shopping. The afternoon left plenty of time to do homework and prep skis for the next few days of training.
Today we are heading up soon to train slalom on Fascination.

Mammoth Day 4 Full Length GS

Today the girls had a chance to sleep in for a bit before we headed out.  We spent some time in the morning free skiing and working on fundamentals.  I have been very impressed with how hard the girls have been working on the hill to make changes and improve their skiing.  We had a mid day training block on Andy's Double Gold.  After the J3's finished their morning session we set GS right off the top of the trail.  ADG is steep and challenging on the top third and then gradually mellows out through the second half of the trail.  The girls are a bit tired from four straight days but they worked hard and did well for their first day running full GS.

Tomorrow we are taking a well deserved day off.  I am planning a trip down to Bishop for some shopping and Mexican food, as well as a chance to get to a lower elevation for a bit.

Stags

 

Mammoth Day 3

We finished up another sunny day here in Mammoth.  Much like yesterday we skied for a bit in  the morning and then the girls went in for study hall.  We worked through some more of the drills during the session, everyone worked hard and is showing improvement.  In the afternoon we had hill space up and Andy's Double Gold again this afternoon.  We set a 26m apex gs course on the lower part of the trail to give the girls a chance to work on turn shape and learning where to put the apex of a turn.  The snow was phenomenal again today, give the girls every opportunity to work on their skiing.  Ali Price joined us today from the J3 group and did a great job both in the free skiing and in the afternoon session.

The girls are starting to look a little tired from the travel and skiing the last three days so we are going to let them sleep in for a bit tomorrow.  We are finally going to have a chance to run full length GS, should be another great session with plenty of sun and great snow.

Stags