Not a very white Christmas....

We had our first race of the season! It was the Eric Hayes Memorial, a four-day open series race at Park City. The two weeks leading up to the race I was battling a cold so I decided not to race the first day to rest and save my energy for the other three days. Friday was the first day of racing for me and it was slalom. It was a night slalom under the lights so the girls first run did not start till one. The run is fairly flat and the courses are generally extremely straight, so for Eric Hayes, the most aggressive will win.

My first run had very good technical skiing but lacked slightly on the aggressive side of things so it put me in fourth. My nerves took over, causing me to be very tentative. I was so stressed in the start, I even forgot to put on my shin guards and ran without them. On my second run, it was only the fifth gate when I lost outside ski pressure and slid out, forcing me to hike. Saturday was the first GS and with a fourth on both runs, I finished in third. GS was not my best event last year so I am really happy with the improvements I have made. I am really loving the Head GS skies, which are new to me this year.

The next GS day ended similar to the slalom. I was sitting in fourth after first run but on my second run, I caught an edge on the first pitch and fell straight through the next gate. That time however, I was too far out to hike. Park City is a major tourist destination so the mountain is packed over Christmas. We have had a lot of early mornings in an attempt to avoid the crowds, but we are definitely limited with our free skiing. The runs without tourists are generally scattered with rocks. For most of my teammates, their next race is a super G followed by a GS and slalom the very next weekend so we are training all the events. I still can’t believe how quickly our first J3 JO qualifier is approaching! Today was my first day on my new 203 super G skis and they were a blast! They are so stable even at high speeds.

We had a very brown Christmas this year. Almost all our snow is man-made since we have practically no natural snow. The man-made snow is very grippy so is super fun to turn on but it’s wearing away and we are beginning to see grass poking out in our courses. We are all praying snow will come soon!

.)) Molly Leavens