Copper Mountain Nor-Am's - Training Day

Hectic schedule today. VERY Hectic. There are so many athletes out here this weekend; some of us just arrived, but the good majority have been here over the past couple weeks training as the course has taken shape.

We got to the mountain for registration at 8:30, geared up and headed straight up to the top of the course. At first we were told that the beginning of the day was designated for "Inspection" for all athletes; a great chance for us new-comers to see the course in person for the first time. When we got strapped in, the course tech's gave us the updated news that the course was only open for the skiers. We found a way to observe a few portions of the course, but the most critical was the start section. The start is on EVERYONE'S mind. Some features have changed over the past week, most importantly the "WU-Tang" feature heading into the first turn. It's an almost completely vertical quarter-pipe that takes a perfectly flat and controlled takeoff to make it over successfully. We saw every type of crash over that thing today, from snowboarders disappearing head-first over the other side (followed by ski patrol heading down to check on them), to skiers sailing every direction but straight into the air, and slamming to the other side.


Photo - The Wu-Tang that's sent lots of us flying

For me, I had the most difficulty in that section. I couldn't seem to keep my base flat, and my first few inspection runs resulted in flailing air-time into a couple nasty slams. The rest of the course has some technical sections, a few very creative features, and a lower rhythm section that's also proven a bit difficult. I've pieced together the course, but all separately. I wasn't able to piece together a solid run in the limited block of time we were allowed, but I've got a chance to put it together during inspection tomorrow. The weather forecast caused a schedule change tomorrow, so we're all out there again at 830am. Oh, and since so many athletes turned out, we got word tonight that we get ONE qualifying run tomorrow. That means ZERO mistakes. I'm up here with the Squaw Valley Team, and the advice I've gotten from their coach has been huge. I just need to piece together the start, middle, and lower section and I'm good.

My thoughts (and unfortunately this post) are scattered regarding tomorrow. I really wish I was able to come up here and see this course earlier. I'm excited, nervous, worried about the Wu-Tang, but I'm ready to sleep and get it all out of my mind. I need this experience, and I'm looking forward to it.

Touchdown Denver!

The 2012 season; I've been off to a great start with my off-season training, conditioning, and mental preparation. The ONE thing that I (and the rest of the Western US) took for granted was the weather. It's January 19th, 2012 and the Sierra mountains have absolutely NO SNOW. Ironically, a storm is pulling into CA as I'm sitting in the Denver International Airport waiting for the rest of my crew to arrive. What does this mean for my season schedule? To start, my first event, an FIS USSA Revolution tour event at Northstar-at-Tahoe was cancelled. Even with $30mil in improvements on the mountain, there was no money in the world that was going to bring in enough snow for us to have a race track. Luckily, Northstar is in my back yard, so I wasn't committed to any travel plans or expenses before we got official word the event was off.

What does this mean for the season so far? Aside from the lack of on-track preparation, the snowfall (or lack thereof) has been so dismal that even freeride training has been difficult. Ian "Why Turn" Wu came up with me to help train over the features at Boreal, and was able to give some extremely valuable input after watching my stability while in the air. OF COURSE Ian had to put it in mathematical terms, and we agreed my "-x^2 path of travel should start to resemble more of a -1/2x^2 path." I cant honestly say what's more humorous; the fact that Ian can effectively connect snowboarding and math, or the fact that I'm completely comfortable communicating the same way. Nonetheless, his input was priceless, and just as valuable as getting up there 10 times and having to learn my mistakes the hard way.



Photo - The creative "Speed Bump" out of the start, Copper 2012



Tomorrow the Copper Mountain course is open for official FIS training, they've been great about updating pictures of their progress, and there have already been a handful of videos uploaded that show the course from the riders perspective. I've been studying those vids every single day...over and over, to make sure I have that course memorized before I get there. Over the past week, several groups of athletes have already come out to train up there; from a Shaun Palmer SBX camp to the first race for the local USASA Series. If I had the disposable income to chase the snow wherever it was falling, I would've been out here too. But, I've made due with what I had available, and I'm excited to be here this weekend. Once again I'll be up against the best racers that North America has to offer, minus just a couple that are out in Veysonnaz, Switzerland competing in the World Cup. I'm back in California on Monday, back to work for a few days, then heading up to Vancouver for the next stop in the Nor-Am tour. Right now this table is looking like a pretty good place to rest my head for awhile. Stay tuned for some pictures of the course when I get up there tomorrow!