srd

Morse Code: Racin'

2012-01-21T18:19:00.003-07:00

I recently had the opportunity to race in the Eastern Cups at Whiteface, NY. It was a battle from the back each day, first runs were always super rough because holes just appeared everywhere. It was classical Whiteface weather with a rainy foggy drizzly but pretty warm out which was the only nice part of the weather.

There were two gs's and two sl's. I started in the 120's every day, I scored under a hundred but it wasn't about the points, it was more about the experience of skiing with the big boys. I got 2 silvers and a gold for J2's that week.

Then I came home to some awesome Super-G Eastern Cup races at the Loaf. I started 101 and 103 and scored a 93 and 83, giving me 88 Super-G fis points after TWO races! I think it was the new S.R.D. socks which I have been wearing which are just killer, you would be amazed how many compliments I get in the lodge from my bright colored colored S.R.D. ski socks.

With my 88 Super-G points I am 15th in the US for J2's and 9th in the world for my age (96').

I head off tomorrow morning for two FIS Devo gs races at Sugarbush in VT, wish me luck! Ski wicked fast to all those racing!

.)) Sam Morse

Somewhere, over tha Atlantic...

2012-01-17T10:14:00.004-07:00

Hey everyone, it’s been awhile since I’ve blogged, but I’ve also been on the road, with lots of great stories!

As I’m writing this, I’m on the plane coming home from a 17 day trip in Europe with the Western Region. It was such a great experience! 7 girls were invited based on results from the NorAms in Panorama, Canada. The girls were me, Emma Naatz, Courtney Altringer, Haley Hanseler, Jackie Wiles, Morganne Murphy and Lena Andrews. Overall it was a great group to go with because we all got along great, which made the trip pain-free with no “girl-drama”.

I learned a lot about my skiing in Europe, and got to take a step back and redefine my approach to this crazy sport. The trip started off with a training day in Soelden, Austria; which was supposed to be a two day training block, but because of heavy snow and canceled races, we decided to drive 7 hours to Morzine, France where there were 2 GS races and a SL. In the SL, I finished 21st, moving up 8 places which I thought was a good result off of only 4 days of SL training this year! The GS races got canceled, so we packed up, and moved to Temu, Italy for a couple of days. In Temu there were 2 GS races. The first day, I did not finish, and the next day I backed it up with some not-so-great skiing.

After Temu, we got back on the road and headed to Folgaria, Italy where we skied 1 GS race where I had a killer first run, followed by a did not finish for 2nd run, but I was happy with my skiing. After that GS, we once again packed our bags and headed to Abetone for 1 SL and 1 GS. Both days, I wasn’t focused, as well as out of energy resulting from all the traveling, and didn’t do too great.

After Abetone, we got to take a day off and drove to Paganella, Italy where we walked around and shopped. That night we drove to Zillertal, Austria where we stayed in an actual farm house with cows! That night it snowed a bunch, and in the morning we had to put on chains just to get out of the driveway. The girls watched as me and my two coaches figured out how to put the chains on in less than 10 minutes to get to inspection!

The SL at Zillertall was probably the hardest race I will see all year. Girls from the World Cup showed up, and we got to see Hailey Duke! Because of all the snow, the conditions of the SL were extreme. The ruts were about waist-high by the time the 30th skier went, and I got to run 66th! Luckily I am from the northwest and I know how to survive. I skied from 66th to 48th, and then from 48th to around 35th after second run! Lots of girls DNFed, but it was so cool to see those World Cup girls tough out the waist-high holes at about every gate.

That day we decided to ditch the SL the next day, and that night we drove to Val Di Fassa, Italy for 2 final GS races where we got to race with the D Team! It was a great hill that reminded me a lot of home (flats, with one mild pitch). After a couple sour GS races, I turned my anger to fuel and pulled off some good runs! Both days, my first runs went great, followed by mild mistakes in the 2nd runs, but at the end of the trip I look back and see how much I learned and improved on this project. I want to thank Karin Harjo for all the hard work she did, and how great she was at putting up with all of us!

For about 5-7 nights in a row, we would usually be at one resort, pack up and move to another in under an hour and have to race the next day! The trip was all about the attitude of “wingin’ it” -consisting of waxing/scraping on the side of buildings, staying with cows, and getting lost too many times to count!

The next three weeks, I will be at home training and going to school. My next race will be Hampton Cup at Mission Ridge, and the Snow King at the end of Febuary! I haven’t gone to school in 29 days, so tomorrow will be very interesting!

P.S. Good job Alex Leaver at the Youth Olympic Games at Innsbruck for his top 10! Way to rep SRD!

.)) Anna Mounsey

Leave it to Leever: Youth Olympic Games!

2012-01-16T16:25:00.001-07:00

Two races down, two to go. I have been so busy as of late that I have had literally no time to do anything at all.

Saturday and Sunday were the super g and the super combined respectively, and both were a blast. I have raced super g four or five times in the past few years so I really haven’t had much experience with the skills required for it. I was bib 17 for the day, a better bib than I would have expected for having 95 super g points. I felt like I had a decent run, I made a pretty big mistake in this middle crazy section of the course but I skied really well above and below that. When I got down I was a little disappointed with my time but I had a great split so I knew that I was flying. I was only 0.3 out after almost 40 seconds so I knew that without that mistake I could have been in contention for a podium spot. The middle part of the course was absolutely crazy and bizarre. You come over a left-footer roll, go through two big gs-like turns, a right-footer delay to a left-footer delay that was about a 90 degree turn. The next gate after the 2nd delay was a chicane gate that went straight into a 3-gate left-footed corridor for about 100+ meters on the flats. You finished the 3-gate corridor over a knoll into another 90 degree right-footer off the jump. Needless to say, it was pretty confusing and only 2 of the first 7 made it through there.

The super combined, one run of super g and one run of slalom combined together, was one of the most fun days racing I have ever had. They redressed the super g from the day before, so there was no major changes. I knew what I had to do to improve on the day before so I was confident in my abilities. I was bib 25 for the race because I had no super combined points, only about 20 people had points for the race which made the penalty at the end a remarkable 90. I skied the whole run really well and I felt great about the run when I went through the finish. A lot more guys finished that run than the day before so I wasn’t too surprised to see myself a little back. I thought I improved on my second time down, but so did everyone else. I was 2.6 out after the super g and slid back from 16th when I came through the finish line to 25th after everyone came down.

However, this actually worked to my advantage because I was still the same amount of time away from the leader while all these people who were finishing in front of me were just giving me a better start position for the slalom portion (after the super g, the top 30 are reversed for the second run). I got to go 6th out of the gate for the slalom, and the course was perfect. I was a little unsure of myself for a while before the start but Peter got me back into the right mindset. I really attribute so much of my success to him, he has a way of making you believe that you are one of the best skiers out there and that if you ski well you will be happy with the results. I had been doubting myself because of the points that the top guys had, but Peter fixed me right before my run. Thank you Peter!!!

I watched the guy who went right before me and knew that I could crush this race. I went down the course and went almost as hard as I can and when I got to the finish I knew that it was a really good run. I looked up on the scoreboard and saw my name there and just fist pumped in the air. I had to go to equipment control right after and it took me about the time of three or four people for me to finish; I kept peeking my head out of the tent as the guys came down to see if I was still in the lead. I kept the lead for a while, then one guy knocked me down, then I held that position, then another knocked me down, and then I fell off the board. I knew I didn’t have a real chance for the podium after my first run but I still hoped and it was a little disappointing seeing my name fall off the leader board. I finished the race in 10th place overall, a great position after my first run. I was 4th on the run (.23 out of the fastest) so that gives me a lot of confidence for the slalom on Saturday.

A lot of my family and my girlfriend will be there for that race so I’m exited to try and make them proud in the slalom and GS.

.)) Alex Leever

A New Paige: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again…

2012-01-15T19:13:00.001-07:00

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again…

Well, happy to report that I had my first “official” J3 race of the season this past weekend. I was really nervous – first slalom race with the bigger gates, first time racing in Southern Vermont – I didn’t know what to expect and I really wanted to ski well. Although I didn’t ski as well as I had hoped it was so great to be racing! As I have mentioned in my past blogs, I am making some changes this year and unfortunately during the race I started to drop my hip while I was trying to get my hands where they are supposed to be which caused me to skid around my turns…let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.

Thankfully, I have amazing coaches who let me know right away what I was doing and this week I am going to make sure I really work hard to fix this! The conditions here in the Northeast are pretty dismal. We have barely gotten any snow and if it wasn’t for the incredible snowmaking crew we probably wouldn’t be racing at all. I was really psyched to get a long board for Christmas – but I don’t want to be able to use it outside now! We need snow!!!!

My next race is Giant Slalom here at Stratton – can’t wait! Good luck to all my fellow racers out there. Have fun and ski fast!

.)) Paige Lorenze

Speed Week Time

2012-01-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

Just finished up racing the FIS-Devo's and Waterville yesterday. I had a couple big mistakes here and their but I still ended up 18th and 20th. I scored a 90 and an 87 which would bring my average down into the 80's for NJR's (J2 National's qualifier) in February so that should be good. We as a team are switching gears from tech to speed as we head into 7 speed events over the next few weeks. The training has been good, cold weather has been brutal, I guess the only thing missing now is the snow. Good luck everyone!

.)) Kazui Kusumi

Snow-FIA Report: First Race

2012-01-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone and Happy Late New Year! It's very exciting to know that this weekend is going to be my first race and it's slalom! The last couple of weeks my coaches have been hammering me and my teammates on slalom by having us skip some of our classes on Wednesday, leaving half day on Thursday, and also on Friday. Even though it's so much fun, it's also hard because of all the homework.

After all this slalom training, finally today we got on our Super-G skis and ripped some turns at Park City. One of my coaches Keely Kelleher who was a Super-G ace helped us with our gliding turns, tucks, and teaching us the patience we must have in order to make the perfect turn. Also, my other coach was using a speed gun and clocking our miles per hour, which was a lot of fun because we were hitting a least 50 mph. The next half of the day we went to the Olympic Park and trained some slalom on this little hill. We got really great training in, with a ton of laps, and I skied really great and some break throughs.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the week of training and this weekend for the first slalom and kombi race at Snowbird. PRAY FOR SNOW!!!!!!

.)) Sofia Yubero

Still no snow.... But the training goes on!

2012-01-08T21:17:00.000-07:00

Here with an update from Park City. It was in the 50s all of last week so we lost a lot of snow but just yesterday we received three inches. Although it just meant more slip runs to push it off, no one was ready to complain. The granular man made snow and surprise rocks scattered around the runs are definitely taking a toll of my skis. I wish the storms in Austria would cross the Atlantic and come to Utah!

Our race arena at Park City opened last week. It rained the same day it was injected so it is nice and firm for training. Sadly, Christmas break is over so after a couple weeks of hard training, we are back to our regular training schedule. Only one more weekend of training before I am off to Jackson for the first Junior Champs qualifier!

.)) Molly Leavens

European Tour for Anna

2012-01-04T20:00:00.001-07:00

Anna and a few select members of the Western Region team made their way to Europe over the New Years holiday, and after training at Solden, Austria for a few days they traveled to Morzine-Avoriaz, France for their first slalom event...

I did pretty well today - I started 29th, ended up 21st, 4th overall for J2s and all that with losing my goggles first run!

I have no idea how you lose your goggles in the middle of a slalom run but if I receive any enlightenment I will be sure to pass it on ;).

BTW there were 94 ladies in the field, with 66 finishers. Other notable stats are that Anna was the 3rd overall fastest US athlete out of the 9 ladies there, and the fastest J2 from the US. In time trials with the other D Team women she tells me she was running in about the middle of the pack, which is awesome.

The team schedule now looks like this:

Morzine Avoriaz & Chatel, France
1.3.2012 SL
1.4.2012 GS (canceled)
1.5.2012 GS (cancelled)

Temu, Italy
1.7.2012 GS
1.8.2012 GS

Zillertal, Austria
1.13.2012 SL
1.14.2012 SL

Happy New Year everyone!

.)) Anna Mounsey

Aspen Ajax Cup!

2012-01-02T14:15:00.001-07:00

2nd Place Team. Andrew on far left.

Last week I was lucky enough to get involved with a fundraiser ski race for the Aspen Valley Ski Club called the Ajax Cup, the Ski Club's biggest fundraiser of the year. It is a duel GS race on the bottom of Aspen Mountain.

There are 12 teams competing and each team is bought by a sponsor for $25,000. Each team has four "racers" and a captain chosen by the owner of the team, then the AVSC appoints a J2 or older racer and an adaptive racer to each team. Every team also gets either a US ski team athlete or a former pro on their team for a total of eight racers. Since the field varies from intermediates to US ski team members, they use a handicap system. Sometimes you get to leave the gate first and other times you have to wait in the gate and then try to catch the other racer; it just depends on who you are racing.The team I was on had US ski team member, David Chodunski; Bobby Moyer (AVSC J1), Vancouver Olympian Jake Zamansky's dad, Dave, and a few other people who were friends of the owner.

In our first round we did pretty well, I won my race. Then the second race we did just as well, I won again, so we were tied for 2nd. In the third and fourth rounds we got to race team Ochi. They had some good skiers but the most impressive part was that they had famous actor Antonio Banderas on their team. The third round we were on the red (slow) course and our team (including me) lost about half our races, putting us in sixth place. But in the fourth round we got to race them again on the blue (fast) course this time, our team won all eight of the mach-ups putting us back in second place. Before the fifth round they eliminated eight teams, leaving only the top four. The points reset and we went head to head in a playoff style, half of the people on one course and half on the other. I raced one of my teammates, Devon Cardamone. It was an intense race but he got whiplashed by a gate, and I prevailed with the win. That round was close but our team made it to the finals.

Unfortunately, in the final round two members of our team (who were both in the lead) fell right by the bottom giving the other team the win. So we got second place but it was really fun and everyone enjoyed themselves. At the after party, they gave away bottles of tequila for our second place team, but Bobby and I got gift cards for a popular restaurant in Aspen.

But it was a great experience that reminded me ski racing is about fun and the event raised $500,000 for the Ski Club.

.)) Andrew Hancock

Former SRD racer Mikaela Shiffin makes World Cup Podium!

2011-12-29T20:33:00.002-07:00

A podium for Mikaela!

Charging to her second straight slalom podium, Tina Maze came in second, 0.79 seconds back, but the big story of the day is that of 16-year-old American Mikaela Shiffrin, who, after just starting to race on the World Cup this season, landed her first career podium in third, 1.30 seconds off the winning time and posting the fastest second run time (56.56).

“It’s a very good way to end the year,” said Schild of her final victory of 2011. “It’s nice to win at home. It’s amazing it always works out so well.”As is her way, Schild marked her territory early, leading Maze by 0.54 seconds going into the second run with a handful of others trailing by under a second.The Swiss course setting in the second run proved tricky for several racers, but not for Slovakia’s Veronika Zuzulova, who started 11th and posted the second fastest second-run time after Shiffrin, and spent a considerable amount of time standing in the leader’s box, finishing eighth.

In spite of being the 40th athlete to start on Thursday, Shiffrin, who posted an astonishing eighth-place result in the Aspen slalom, finished 12th in the first run. After her lightning fast second run, the teenager stood in the leader’s box for several minutes taking deep breaths and scarcely believing her success until she was mobbed by her teammates when it became clear that she had made the podium.

“I’ve been working for this almost my whole life,” said Shiffrin, who hails, like teammate Sarah Schleper who retired from the World Cup on Thursday (stay tuned for that story), from Vail, Colorado. “I’ve been watching all these girls – Marlies Schild, Kathrin Zettel, Lindsey Vonn, Nicole Hosp … I’ve been watching the top girls for the past 10 years, cheering them on, learning from their success. Now I’m here … and it feels really crazy.”

----- We are very proud of you Mikaela! Keep it up!

Not a very white Christmas....

2011-12-29T20:22:00.001-07:00

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

The Fast Lane: Big Snow in AK!

2011-12-26T19:04:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas! Hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far and are enjoying the snow. We have just had our first FIS race series at Alyeska. It was lots of fun, many athletes traveled from different places to make up a great field.

We pulled off three races out of four before the weather turned, and we had to cancel the last GS race. I was happy with the way I skied, but left lots of room for improvement. I had a 10th and 12th place finish in Slalom. I was in 10th in the first run of GS and felt like I could move up a couple spots, but had some trouble in my 2nd run and ended up 12th. The three races improved my points, which was one of my goals so I am happy!

We are having a huge snow year in Alaska with several feet in the last couple of weeks. My team has been training hard over the winter break for our upcoming races. January will be a very busy month. I am planning on racing in the Mammoth speed series, then meeting up with some of my teammates from the Valle Nevado ski team from Chile, in Vail to train for about a week and practice my Spanish, before heading to Park City for some Tech races. I am very excited to compete in the races and hopefully will see some of you!

.)) Jordan Lane

First FIS races....

2011-12-26T18:50:00.003-07:00

Finally finished up the FIS-DEVO's at Attitash, NH this past week. Going into FIS I didn't really know what to expect. I really didn't focus on how bad the course was going to be or how far behind I was going to be, so I really just didn't think about anything and sent it for my first FIS race ever at Sunday River, ME.

At the FIS-Opens at Sunday River, I really was just focusing on finishing. I didn't try and fight the ruts, and the results didn't turn out that bad. I had some trouble finishing the second run, not taking advantage of the early starts at all. Even though the points I scored weren't too great, I know my mistakes cost me a lot of time, and I still wasn't too far off the leader which I was pretty happy about. Lots of room for improvement, but I know the skiing's there and now I just have to execute. Happy Holidays!

.)) Kazui Kusumi

Burcin's Blog: European Racing

2011-12-26T18:46:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,It has been a real busy start to the season! I just got back from a trip to Europe, training and racing in Italy and Austria. We arrived in Munich on December 2nd and drove to a small Austrian town named Patsch. Patsch is about 45 minutes from Stubai, where we were training for the first week and then racing slalom. We got some great slalom and GS training on some varying terrain.

Our first race series was at Stubai, two slaloms. The first slalom was canceled and the second slalom was moved to a different trail, which had snow that was much harder than the other trail. Unfortunately, I hipped out the first run and had to hike. After that race, we trained a couple more days at Stubai and then had 2 GS races at Jerzens, another Austrian mountain about an hour and a half from Stubai. It is the home of both Benni Raich and Marlies Schild, two Austrian ski racing icons. It is one of the best GS race hills I have skied, very technical with a lot of terrain and all kinds of pitches. The courses were also very technical, around 24 or 25 meters with a good amount of offset. This is a combination that you rarely see in the US so it was a great learning experience. In both races, I cut my bib in half, moving up around 40 bibs, even though I made fairly large mistakes in both second runs.

Finally, we moved across the boarder into northern Italy for 2 slalom races in the town of Jerzens. The place we races at was called Kruezburg Pass, a tiny mountain with one really wide trail. It was an awesome slalom trail with a 10 gate flat up top and then breaking over to a long consistent pitch with a couple rolls at the bottom. Unfortunately, both races I got a little unlucky and hooked a tip at the top of the pitch both days. It was pretty disappointing because I had been skiing slalom well in training but I just couldn’t put it into the races.

To finish the trip, the day after our final race, we headed over to Alta Badia, for the World Cup GS. The atmosphere was awesome and the race was awesome to watch. The US team had a great first run, with Ligety winning, and Bode, Tommy Ford, and Tim Jitloff all putting it in the top 30. It looked like Ted was in line for yet another GS victory after dominating first run but Max Blardone used the fuel of the home Italian crowd to throw down a really fast second run to grab the win. Although it was disappointing, it was a really fun experience to see the highest level of our sport in action. After the race we drove back to Munich and stayed the night because our flight was early the next morning. After a little trouble with our connecting flight in Newark, we finally got back to Boston after a exciting and fun, but long and tiring trip.

After 2 days of rest I headed off to one more race before the holidays, a GS at Attitash, New Hampshire. I skied a little conservative first run but was in solid position, 4th, for second run. After a decent second run I secured 2nd for j2’s and my first overall podium at a FIS race at 3rd. I also scored a 67, which was a good way to come back to the States. Anyway, I after a busy December as you can see, I have some time off before I start training again on the 28th, with a fun USSA race on the 30th.

Good luck to all other SRD racers and happy holidays!!

.)) Kyle Burcin

Via Sweden: Martina off to Surgery. Wish her well!

2011-12-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

Hey!

It’s now 5 weeks since I tore my ACL. The dayafter tomorrow I’m having surgury and I’m really looking forward to it, and tobe able to start working my way back.

I’ve been setting up small goals to getthrough with the hours spent on rehab and with my psysiotherapist. The finalgoal of this season is to be back on skis for our camp in Juvass, Norway the 21of June.

Since I’ve done this process once before,sadly, I know what I need to do to get back. It is definitely a lot of hardwork - physical, that has to put into this, but also mental. I remember how Iafter a while of rehabing got super motivated and stoked to work on my wayback. I think my positive and strong attitude made a huge difference in how Imade progress, and got back on skis sooner than expected. I’m gonna try to keepthat mental attitude this time too!

The good thing that will come out of this isthat my new ACL will be stronger than the last one. Wish me luck!

.)) Martina Horwing

SNOW-Fia Report: Loveland, Florida, Aspen, and now Christmas Camp

2011-12-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

These lasts couple of months have been really busy with karate, skiing, and trips. Starting with karate, I've been really busy with that lately because I have a really big tournament called Super Grands, coming up soon over the week of Christmas. I get to fly to Sacramento, California on Christmas Day and meet up with my team the next day, which is the first day of competition and I compete Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. At this tournament, if you are one of the top two after day eliminations, that night you get to compete on stage to win an NBL (National Blackbelt League) Belt or first place for that division. I'm really excited and looking forward to that. Now on Loveland, at the beginning of November I took a trip with my ski team to Loveland, Colorado for our fall camp. The coach to athlete ratio was low and we got good training in. Everyday consisted of skiing, study time, and dryland, except one day, our coach picked mentors for us who are PG(Post Graduates) on our academy team. During this time I got to meet my mentor Lauren Samuels (former U.S. Ski Team member), and learn how she manages her time, her pre-race plans, why she stayed with ski racing, and a whole bunch of other stuff. I was really excited about this because we are exchanging emails every Monday of the week and we have two assigned ski days with our mentors (one free skiing and one gate training).

After we got back from Loveland, my friend and I were counting down the days till we got to go to Florida! My mom had booked a red eye flight on Delta, which was horrible by the way and we did not get much sleep but once we got there we went to Epcot at Walt Disney World!!! The next couple of days were such a blast, we went to Harry Potter World at Universal Studios (which looks just like the movie) and of course the Magic Kingdom at Disney World.

Next after Disney World for Thanksgiving I took a trip with my family to Aspen, Colorado. When we got there on Thanksgiving Day and I had Thanksgiving Dinner at Jimmy's a very nice restaurant. The next day I woke up to watching the World Cup racers training right in front of my hotel room and then went skiing at Aspen Mountain with one of my friends and her dad. We went on a adventure to Snowmass which was great and then came back for more skiing at Aspen. That night there was an autograph signing where I saw my friend Hailey Duke and talked to Mikeala Shiffrin. Of course the next day was the World Cup G.S. race and I saw Julia Mancuso rip it up on the hill getting 3rd place. The next day I watched the slalom race and then sadly had to leave and return home.

Well, I'm really looking forward to the race season coming up after Christmas Camp which starts now and runs untill we go back to school next year. I got my new SRD gear and POC stuff and am very excited about that, but we need more snow out here in Utah!

.)) Sofia Yubero

Morse Code: First FIS!

2011-12-19T20:21:00.003-07:00

After returning from my trip to the Beaver Creek world cup I raced in my first FIS race. I got home really late Friday night and got up early and SL trained at Sugarloaf. Saturday afternoon I did homework and went to the gym. The I got up at 4:45 a.m. and drove over to Sunday River for a FIS open SL.

I had a really packed in weekend. We raced on an upper trail that was pretty steep and icy. I ran 106 which was at the beginning of the 990's, there were a bunch of college teams at the race which made it a really cool experience. I was in 67th after first run. The second run conditions were a lot better, I stuck it out and finished in 54th place which was respectable for my first race. The penalty was 17 but sadly I was 10 seconds out and scored 100.39, almost sub hundred.

I just left for Attitash for FIS development races, 2 Sl and 2 GS. Wish me luck!

.)) Sam Morse

A New Paige: World Cup Wow!

2011-12-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

Paige and Julia Mancuso

All I can say is WOW!!! I have just returned from an incredible 3 weeks at Vail (my favorite resort!!) and I had such a great trip. I worked hard to stay positive, focused, and to really make the most of the opportunity to train at Vail. I am making a few big changes in my body position this year and I feel like over these past 3 weeks it is finally starting to click. Still a lot of hard work ahead - but I feel really good about the progress I made.

The highlight of my trip was having the opportunity to go to 2 World Cup races at Beaver Creek - the men's downhill and the men's slalom. I have never been to a World Cup race before and it was AMAZING!!! The energy was unbelievable and it was really exciting to be there in person. Watching Bode win was awesome. The crowd went wild as he came through the finish and it was so cool to be part of the moment. It was so inspiring to watch the best in the world.

While I was at the men's slalom race I had the opportunity to meet Julia Mancuso. She was so incredibly nice! Julia spent awhile talking to me (I was a bit in awe) and she was so encouraging and asked me a bunch of questions about my racing. It was so cool. Needless to say it was an incredible experience - memory of a lifetime.

I am now back at SMS and am really excited for the season to start! Happy Holidays to all! Ski fast and have fun!!

.)) Paige Lorenze

Just an After Thought

2011-12-14T20:46:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

Happy holidays to all! Vail has opened to the public now! We got to go free skiing around the mountain a little. We need some snow! We'd be skiing some awesome powder! Anyway, things have been going pretty well for me. The mountain has been pretty hectic because of all the crowds. Other than that, everything is awesome!

We just had some pretty intense training at Golden Peak today. It was a GS down our steepest pitch called After Thought. The course was sheer ice. About three of my runs were decent, one of them was totally amazing, and the others were just crazy Bode runs. My last run, I caught my edge, and went flying into the air. Then I landed straight on my back, then slid right into a gate, and taking the panel right off of it. It hurt pretty bad, but it's definitely not going to keep me from ripping it up this year! Happy Holidays once again! See you on the slopes!

Cheers, Gus

.)) Gus LeBlanc

Morse Code: World Cup forerun!

2011-12-08T21:48:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday I had the amazing opportunity to forerun the first ever women's super-g world cup at Beaver Creek. It was really cool experience in a lot of ways from just inspecting with all the world cup women to getting to run it.

As we inspected the course our coach Jonna Mendes was awesome, she helped us choose the fast and safe line. It was really cool because she introduced us to all of the U.S. Ski Team coaches and they would give us the run down on their section. Then when it came to the run we started around 10:25 a.m. and I was the last of the four forerunners to go. It was so awesome to enter the start house and see a the starter who was Bear Bryant who is a coach from Sunday River, this really helped calm my nerves.

As I kick out the start, the course was soon on top of me, with first two turns being extremely challenging for they were really steep and across the hill. Then the course really begins to pick up speed as it goes by pump house. The track then runs around the island trees and has a sweet 90 degree banked turn, following that there was a little air, I took it with a little bit to much direction and was a little bit to early. Then the course twists and turns, over some flats. This is when you have a little time to think, that wow I really am running a World Cup! Then it breaks over the pitch and has swing gates that get steeper and steeper with some terrain through in. Which leads into a big under gate going into the red tail jump with then 3 turning gates after it sending me into the finish.

As I came over red tail jump the thousands of people in the crowds fill the horizon. As I cross the finish line my heart almost stops, because it is so pumped with adrenaline. As I try to exit the finish an official asks me if the course is ready, for Stacy Cook who ran first. I was so pumped I could barely answer question.

Standing in the finish and watching Lindsey Vonn come down and win yet again was surreal. This was an once in a life time opportunity that I will never forget, so thanks to all who helped make it happen!

.)) Sam Morse

Birds of Prey!

2011-12-07T20:16:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I was able to watch the best racers in the world shred at the Birds of Prey World Cup in Beaver Creek Colorado.

Most World Cups are in Europe so to have one just six hours away is awesome. The skiing was incredible, but being part of all the excitement was just as fun. My team rented a bus and 60 of us drove to Colorado.

Saturday was the men’s super G. With Bode’s downhill win the day before, the crowd was roaring when he pushed out the start. He had a jaw-dropping recovery part way down the course so he crossed the finish line but with a slower time then he had wanted. No Americans podiumed but it was truly inspirational to watch the skiing. They make one of the most complex and difficult sports seem so easy.

The next day was the men’s GS. Ted Ligety raced on the Park City Ski Team, so Park City’s corner of the stands was Ted’s biggest fan club. My friend brought face paint so we had ‘GO TED’ and American flags painted on our faces. Four of my friends also drew a letter of Ted’s name on their stomachs so when Ted came down they lined up and spelt ‘TED!’.His first run was practically flawless and put him in the lead. Hundreds of Cowbells echoed as Ted tucked across the finish line of his second run but he fell just hundredths away for first and into second.

Altogether, I had a fabulous time and it is an experience I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

.)) Molly Leavens

Breezin: Copper SuperG NorAm

2011-12-05T20:49:00.001-07:00

Well I talked about it a lot. You, you probably got pretty sick of me. Well I am going to talk about it again. The season is almost here, tomorrow to be exact. Tomorrow I will throw myself out of the start of the Copper Super G and trust me. ‘Me’ does include my coaches and the people around me but I have to trust what I know. I have to trust my line that I have picked, my choices of spots to tuck, and most importantly my technique.

So here goes to all you guys who’s seasons are about to start. Trust everything you have done. Don’t worry about what you can’t control. Take everything you have and throw it into your race. Most importantly though give it everything you have. It would be silly to train the best before the season and then not use that work. Give it your all and know that you couldn’t have given it any more.

.)) Breezy Johnson

No Kidding: Homecoming with Lindsey Vonn

2011-11-29T21:09:00.001-07:00

Homecoming with Lindsey Vonn

Hey SRD! My summer and pre-race prep has been great so far! Unfortunately my team did not go to Austria again, but I still feel as if I have gotten as many days on snow this year as last year!

A few weeks ago I was at the Podium Project camp in Vail, it was such a great experience, with lots of gate training and a lot of feed back from different coaches!

While I was at the Podium Project Camp I got the opportunity to go to Vail's home coming which was really interesting because as you may of heard a kid from Vail asked Lindsey Vonn to their homecoming so she was at our picture party taking picture with us! WHOO! Also after the picture party my friend and I got to ride to the Vail Ski Academy with Lindsey Vonn in her car!! It just might of been the coolest thing of my life!

Following the Podium Project Camp I had my first FIS race/races in Vail. It was definitely a news flash for me! Lets just say FIS is really different! This race was really not one of my best races, I had okay results but overall my skiing was not quiet up to notch as it should of been. The first race of the day I ended up not finishing, and the second race of the day I finished 21st overall and 3rd for J2's.

This Saturday my team and I leave for Copper which we will be there for about 6 days! I'm really excited for this race since its my first SG race of the year!

.)) Serina Kidd

The Fast Lane: Hawaii!

2011-11-29T21:03:00.001-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Feels great to be back on the snow and for winter to have started. My team had a preseason camp a couple of weeks ago at our local hill, which was great to get us all back into the rhythm of skiing.

My family just returned from a week in Hawaii, it was so nice to get some sun and enjoy the stress-relieved environment. We met up with all our cousins and had a great time. One day we went snorkeling, another hiking, most other days were spent absorbing sun on the beach and boogie boarding, I had fully intended on running on the beach and working out in the gym daily. Instead I spent time at the beach lazing around I am fully rested and ready to go!

Today was my first official day back on snow and it felt awesome! I will be skiing with a great group of girls and I really like all my coaches. I can’t wait to start hitting some gates! Now if only it would warm up ten degrees, because my toes are freezing in my new boots.

Finals are coming up quick! Just two more weeks of hitting the books then we are into Christmas break, and our first FIS races begin.

.)) Jordan Lane

Hunting for more than wins....

2011-11-26T19:44:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone's thanksgiving was great! I have been super busy between training camps and catching up on school again. I returned home from Copper Mountain on Wednesday after a long 10 day training camp with NDS. It was extremely beneficial for this upcoming season because it was the first training I've had since July. We trained on the new USST venue which I love! While I was there, the US Ski Team races were also going on, and I got the privilege of fore-running for the women for the GS and SL. For the GS, Ted Ligety also fore-ran which probably made me look like a beginner skier, but I have fun none the less!

In my last blog I said I was having fun hanging out in the valley and hunting...well I got a deer this year! I shot a 4x5 Black Tail on Friday Oct 28th (4x5 refers to the number of antlers the deer has on its head). It was my mom's birthday deer because the 28th is her birthday. It was really exciting because it is the biggest deer our family has gotten in awhile, and I was the one to shoot! (Sorry for you animal lovers out there, getting a deer for my family means there is meat on the table!)

My first race this season will be a tech NorAm in Panorama, Canada. Until then I will be skiing the early season snow and hopefully hitting some gates. Yesterday (Friday the 25th), my best friend and I Karina Schwartznau skied her Mountain, Crystal Mountain, with 11 new inches of powder! We put on our powder skis and had a great time skiing from 9-4 in the backcountry of Crystal. Two days ago I was informed I will be going to Europe with Western Region from December 30th-January 17th. I can hardly wait to go, and am ready for this new challenge. Have fun in the snow everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving :)

.)) Anna Mounsey

Thanksgiving: Time for Racing!

2011-11-26T19:33:00.001-07:00

Well snow is on the ground in Salt Lake and it is about time too. The resorts are opening up and the general public has officially given up their dreams of forever summer. Not that any ski racer ever wanted that but I know tons of people who did.

Thanksgiving is next week and for me that means that I just finished one final and I have three more to come. So in case you were wondering, yes, this blog is a procrastination tactic.Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year. It represents that time in between fall conditioning and right before the ski season. It also represents that cheerful spirit before Christmas—my favorite time of year.

So as I sit here getting ready to play some indoor tennis I though I would tell people about that nervous excitement that precedes the season.The nerves are building as races go from a month to weeks away. Rowmark finished their Loveland camp last week during which I had a ton of fun and made some really good improvements. I saw tons of kids from Whistler Cup and Pokal Loka as well as from the general ski racing community and it was great to catch up.

My first race is in December and I’m getting nervous about now. Don’t get me wrong; this is one of my favorite times of year. I think I just want the season to start already!So sit back and eat some turkey, drink some cocoa, go skiing, the season is here and my first race is just around the corner!

.)) Breezy Johnson

Back from the UK!

2011-11-24T16:13:00.001-07:00

Molly and Lindsey Vonn

It has been a busy month. I am writing this from England, where I am visiting my British grand parents over Thanksgiving break. I returned from the Junior Champs Camp at Copper Mountain Colorado at the beginning of the week and have spent the last few days trying to catch up at school after two weeks of being away.

Park City Mountain opened this weekend but I will not hit snow again till I get back.At the end of October, I went to the Western Region Fall Conditioning Camp. The camp was at the Center of Excellence (COE) in Park City and was three days long. The COE is such an incredible place! It really has everything a skier or snowboarder needs to succeed off the snow. Some of the coolest things were the hot and cold contrast baths. We were able to use them and it was surprising how much they helped relieve soreness! An aspect of my skiing that needs improvement is my mental approach, so I enjoyed the sports psychology talk. I also enjoyed the Olympic lifting technique practice. Before the camp, I was afraid to lift because I was unsure of my technique. We also went to the National Ability Center to do the rope courses and team building activities. Those were a blast as well!

This fall, I went to two camps at Copper and both were incredible. The first was a five-day slalom camp with my team. The weather was great and the snow was superb for early November. I had new boots so they reignited my injury from last season on my left shin. It was not as bad as last spring, but it certainly limited my on-snow time. I placed pads wherever it did not hurt so those areas would take more pressure and relieve the painful areas. My coach was a genius to come up with this idea because I would probably not have been able to ski without the pads. Besides my shin, I had a fantastic time. It took me a few days to get back into it but once I found my rhythm, nothing felt better than shredding sick turns; a feeling I have certainly missed.

When I returned to Park City I only had a few days till I flew back to Copper. This time, it was a six-day (three days GS and three days SL) camp with the National Development System (NDS) called ‘Camp for Champs’. The mountain had just opened to the public so more of the mountain was open than the week before. We skied long days and I got lots of miles. I brought last years boots to this camp to help relieve my shin and with plenty of icing and pads, my shin held up really well.

I was also fortunate that this camp had a main focus of one skiing which allowed me to greatly favor my right leg. I loved the one skiing because of the challenge. It gave me instant feedback on whether I was in balance and flaws found in normal skiing are brought out. Once I was back on two skis, I felt I had more control of my skis and I was able to generate more angles. I am definitely going to incorporate one skiing into my warm-up routine!With a few weeks of rest, my shin should be recovered and I can start preparing for my first race. Eric Hays is just four weeks away and I could not be more excited

.)) Molly Leavens

Nick of Time: Off to the Nor Am's

2011-11-24T16:09:00.001-07:00

The season has started! I have been training in either Loveland, Copper or Vail for the past three weeks. I did the FASST program with the SSWSC for two weeks; I got to ski Wednesday thru Saturday. The other week I did the Podium Project camp at Vail. This camp was only for people who got top three at the Junior Olympics in the past two years. It was extremely good training because I was training with most of the guys who I was going to race with at the next race, which was only two weeks away.

It was cool to see how they were skiing and how I compared to them. Next was the race! One my first run I started 69th, another SRD racer Alex Barounos started 66th and while I was getting ready there was a course hold because he had gone into the B-net. This got me a little nervous because I didn’t think that it was a tricky course. After a few minutes they said it was clear and he was ok. Soon enough I was on the course. I had a few troubles on afterthought (main pitch) but it wasn’t bad until I hit a gate and my goggles broke off! I couldn’t see but I continued, the course swung a lot at the bottom and I got thrown way off but still finished.

The second run I started 67th and almost had a perfect run. I was only three seconds off the leader compared to nine on the first run. Overall it was a really good start to the year!

Last week was finals and so I did a bunch of studying and not as much skiing. I came out strong and now I get to drop two classes for the winter. Next stop is the Aspen NorAms next Monday and Tuesday!

.)) Nick Veth

SRD hits 3,000 Facebook likes!

2011-11-17T18:45:00.001-07:00

If you have not already, please "Like" us on Facebook!

Morse Code: C.V.A. Truck Pull Team

2011-11-17T18:39:00.001-07:00

But can they pull SRD's Black Ice bus?

Just the other day we returned from Colorado and need to get some strength back which we had lost when we were skiing. So we have been hitting the gym pretty hard for a couple of days. But after a sprint work out and an agility circuit workout my coach Chip Cocrhane pulled out some towing harnesses.

We began by just having one person holding one to the end of the harness and just towing each other across the gym. But that wasn't enough so we went out to the parking lot and towed Chip's big Doge Ram pickup truck (in the back left of picture above) around the A.G.C. which is our ware house looking work facility. But that still wasn't enough so we rode up to the dorms in the pickup truck and we tied our harnesses on the steel bumper of the bus and mushed. We pulled a yellow full size for a about 400 meters (1/4 mile) up a slight grade in some places. It was super cool to get to tow such a piece of machinery.

This was a truly outstanding feat and I would like to commend the folks we were also hitch to the bus and helped me pull it; Kyle East, Alex Hebig, Jeremy Leavitt, Drew West, Eli Pangburn, Ben Listowich, and Liz Muntia.

Sugarloaf is supposed to open this weekend and we can stopping towing buses and get on snow!

.)) Sam Morse

More Injuries.....

2011-11-15T21:28:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,

Training in Colorado has been pretty sweet. We free-skied Loveland for four days and got to see my man Sam Morse out there. We had an off-day and jumped right into SL at Vail. The injected snow was nice and firm and was really fun to ski on. The training has been really nice and I got to improve a lot, but unfortunately I was training the other day and hurt my shoulder. I separated my shoulder and sprained my AC joint in my shoulder. I should be back to full recovery in about 3 weeks.

.)) Kazui Kusumi

MRI's, PCL's, LCL's and more!

2011-11-14T18:57:00.001-07:00

(Some serious early rise speed skis!)

Recently I have been training a lot on snow in Vail Colorado. I was surprised to see that the snow coverage here is remarkable. We have been able to run full length GS courses for over two weeks now.

About a week ago I was in a pretty serious SG crash in which I destroyed my brand new skis. To be honest I was more worried about my skis after I crashed, then my aching knee. I ended up in the hospital, where I had to see a knee specialist and get MRI's. Apparently it's not to serious, just loose PCL and LCL ligaments. The doctors told me I would probably only miss two to three weeks on snow, which was actually quite a relief considering I almost wasn't allowed to ski the rest of the season. I then decided to ignore my doctors and I got on snow 4 days later. It probably wasn't my smartest decision, however, my knee feels strong and I'm feeling well.

Tomorrow is the first FIS race of the season and I hope to place pretty well. Last year I started 133rd and moved up to 28th. This year I want to place in the top 20. I'm excited to get into race mode again and start lowering my points. My goal for the season is to get a top 5 at J2 Nationals, and hopefully get my GS points down to about 45.

Thanks for the opportunity to race for SRD again this season.

.)) Alex Barounos

LeBlanc at the Vail Gold Peak Competition Center

2011-11-13T19:14:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone, I had a pretty intense two weeks of skiing. Our courses were steep, icy, and cranky. The cool part was that I got to ski next to all the World Cup guys. I was watching them, and they were really smooth. They move to their outside ski early, and are off it right away.

During those two weeks, I got a chance to talk to some of the members of the U.S Ski Team. I talked to Ted Ligety, Andrew Weibrecht, and Cody Marshall. Also, the women's U.S.technical team came to our school to talk. They gave some really good advice on how to keep following your dreams, and never giving up. I will definitely use the advice, to to become more successful in my ski racing career.

.)) Gus LeBlanc

Morse Code: The 700 lbs. Club

2011-11-12T16:50:00.001-07:00

Photo: former SRD athlete Ben Morse and Current SRD athlete Sam Morse at Fenway Park.

Last week I reach a goal which I have been shooting for several years, this goal was the 700 lbs. club. This is a form of Physical Testing when you have to bench 200 lbs., power clean 200 lbs. and squat 300 lbs. This was some thing that I have been working really hard for. It is a long standing tradition at C.V.A. for the top athletes to achieve this test, many have tried and failed but some have succeeded in completing the test like Bode Miller, others who were close but not quite, like Forest Carry.

My coach Chip Cochran is the official judge of this test and has been here for all of the years it has been offered at C.V.A. he makes sure that you really go deep enough in the squats and such. He also is the motivator behind the event, he said that no one had gotten the award in the last eight years. I am honored to receive the an outrageous looking muscle shirt which is the proof that you really did it. As fall progresses at C.V.A. I continue to get stronger in all areas not only strength but in also running for I scored my highest ever in the beep test. I am so excited to take all of this hard dry land work and put it into the slopes.

Just the other day the Sugarloaf area got 6 inches of snow which was pretty exciting for the East Coast. A neighboring mountain, Sunday River is open for skiing which is really cool. I am now out in Colorado getting some early season training in at A-basin, and Loveland. The snow and the weather have been awesome we have spent a couple of days on SL and GS. It is a really cool experience because at this camp I am acting as an assistant coach to Chip Cochran. I am getting to work with some awesome athletes such; Megan McCormack, Drew West, RJ Sarka and many others. It feels so good to get my skis back under me and I look forward to an awesome up coming season.

.)) Sam Morse

Loveland Bound!

2011-11-09T21:33:00.001-07:00

So it is almost on top of us. The season is finger’s lengthaway and with it comes excitement and nerves. The World Cup season opened inSölden (congrats to Lindsey Vonn and Ted Ligety) and soon after that follows everybodyelse’s season. So Rowmark heads out to Colorado for a jump-start to the seasonwe leave tomorrow and I could not be more excited. I just finished my two teststoday and so I am finally ready to get out of this town!

This is the time where people realize how much work theyhave put into the coming season. It has been 30 weeks of training since Rowmarkstarted preparing for the season and this camp is the culmination of that. Oursecond Loveland camp is my favorite of the entire year. First of all it is themost “winteresque” of any of our camps and takes place on a resort with realruns on it (sorry Hood). We also start to do a ramp up for our first races(mine will be Panorama) in December or November. This ramping occurs on theLoveland training hill, which is quite nice, and I enjoy a lot. The third andlast thing is that it is Colorado, which is one of my favorite places on earth.

But with every great thing comes a but, and that but comesin the form of finals. Finals follow our camp less than a week from when we getback. The only drawback to camp is that—we have to go into finals trying justto catch up from when we were gone.

So in conclusion,s off to Loveland for my favorite camp andI am sooo excited. What is hard to believe is that after that comes the season,YIKES! But it is going to be a blast. And I cannot wait for camp and thenThanksgiving (not finals) and then my Beaver Creek speed Camp and then my firstFIS race. Did I mention I was excited?

.)) Breezy Johnson

SRD's new catalog is out!

2011-11-08T22:11:00.005-07:00

SRD's new catalog is out!Version 6.0!

Six years ago SRD introduced its first catalog to the ski racing community. Since that small and humble beginning, we have developed a core of loyal customers in the USA and over 50 countries around the world. SRD gear is regularly shipped to places from Sakhalin Island Russia to Wanaka New Zealand!

This year we are beginning our transition to focusing on SRD products as a stand-alone brand! Yes, we are still stocking the World Cup brands you crave, but we are taking the years of feedback and R&D and building better, faster products. We have had many requests from retailers to offer SRD gear and it may soon be making possible to find SRD at a shop near you.

In the mean time, we are still here to serve you, both through our on-line web store, and through our authorized retail store, a Culture of Speed.

SRD is excited to announce that its products will be represented at the new Race Center, a Culture of Speed, in Dumont, Colorado. a Culture of Speed is located on I-70 just off Exits 234/235. In fact, it is on the westbound 235 exit ramp, easy off/easy on. This new location will offer tremendous convenience to our customers, both new and old and feature World-Class ski tuning and repair with our partner Alpine Base and Edge in Boulder.

If you are visiting Colorado from out of state, and would like to arrange for a special store opening for you or your team, please give us a call. If you have any questions feel free to contact us at 800.321.1749 or by email: info@skiracingdevelopment.com.

We are based in Edwards, CO, just minutes from Vail and Beaver Creek, home of the World Cup’s “Birds of Prey” race events and the 2015 FIS World Alpine Championships! Have a fast race season.

In the Swing: Off to Colorado!

2011-11-08T22:07:00.001-07:00

Hey Blog readers! I have been looking forward for my Colorado trip since I came back from Chile. My last month has been very busy with school work and also working out. This past week has been brutal in terms of training. My group first did the beep test. For all of you who don't know what it is, it is when you run from one line to the other as many times as possible. I set my personal record with 12:9. I am starting to pack for Colorado and am departing in three days. It first snowed here in Vermont a couple days ago and this got me excited and realized skiing is just around the corner. I finished getting my skis all set up and ready to hit the snow. When we go to Colorado we will be going to Loveland Basin and Vail for a couple of days. Finally going to be skiing again very soon!.)) Eli Swing

SRD's Molly Leavens wins Cook/SVST Scholarship!

2011-11-02T21:17:00.003-06:00

The U.S. Ski Team’s Stacey Cook and Sun Valley Ski Tools (SVST) have announced the 2011 winners their annual scholarship aimed at helping junior racers take the next step.
Now in its fifth season, the scholarship recognizes J2 or J3 level athletes who exemplify talent, a good attitude, community involvement and a commitment to alpine skiing. The young racers will receive $500 worth of ski tools and $500 worth of ski wax to help them continue to reach their ski racing goals.

“I was reading applications for about three weeks,” said Cook of the 60-70 applications she received. “They take a while to get through and make sure I get the right winners. the quality of this year’s applications was so far beyond anything I’ve ever seen, I literally didn’t have one bad application and that is what made deciding so hard.”

Cook was a beneficiary of a similar program as a junior racer and received support from SVST along with fellow U.S. team racers Marco Sullivan, Erik Fisher, Hailey Duke and Dane Spencer, who is now on the U.S. men's team's coaching staff.

“In 2006 I asked them if we could get something going again because I appreciated the help that they gave me so much when I was a junior, I wanted some way to give back,” said Cook.
"It's a way for young athletes to get a big boost from a sponsor that has always been so good to me, but it also gives them an introduction into what being a professional athlete means,” said Cook. “It helps them learn how to work with sponsors and start to think along the lines of a business.”

This year’s winners are Kei Kullberg, a second-year J2 from Cornwall on Hudson N.Y., who trains out of National Sports Academy/Whiteface; Sandra Schoepke, a second-year J3 from Stowe Vt., who trains out of Mt. Mansfield Ski and Snowboard Club; Molly Leavens, a second-year J3 from Brighton Utah., who trains with the Park City Ski Team and brothers Lucas and Cody Underkoffler, J2 and J3 racers from Crowley Lake, Calif., who train out of Mammoth Mountain Ski Team.

"All the athletes who have received the scholarship are still around, and we keep in contact," said Cook. "It's pretty awesome to watch them grow and develop into higher level of skiing."

http://skiracing.com/?q=node/10888

Åka Skidor: Meet Martina from Sweden, newest SRD Athlete!

2011-11-02T21:12:00.000-06:00

Hello! My name is Martina and I’m from Sweden. I’m excited to now be on the SRD team!

I’m racing second year FIS and I go to a ski academy school in a city called Östersund, up north in Sweden.

Right now I´m on a plane on my way to Stubaital, Austria. We were supposed to train in Kåbdalis in Sweden this and next week but there isn’t a lot of snow….. it's a bummer that we get the snow so late in Sweden, but it´s awesome in the way that we get to go to other places in Europe instead.

So i’m going to train from tomorrow and the following two weeks with my old team and do some freeskiing training and some SL and GS. We recently came back from Hintertux, Austria a week ago! We had amazing weather half of the week there and great racing conditions.

I just switched from Atomic to Dynastar and it was a good move! The new skis are great! By the way thats me (to the right) and my friend Li.

Ciao!

.)) Martina Horwing

Burcin's Blog: Report from Soelden World Cup!

2011-10-31T19:36:00.001-06:00

Ski season is coming fast and as a final preparation for the season, 5 of my teammates and I went to Austria for 10 days with 2 of our coaches. We went to the Stubai glacier and stayed about 30 minutes from the glacier in Patsch. After 2 previous summer camps, one in Mammoth and one in La Parva, Chile, we really focused on race training and just going fast instead of worrying so much about technique. The 2 earlier camps really honed in our technique and now we just were worrying about how to go faster with line and aggression.

We started with 1 days of free skiing followed by 3 days of GS, each on a different part of the glacier providing different terrain everyday. After that we had a day off, which was really fun. We went to a go-kart place in downtown Innsbruck that was fast and the perfect thing for a group of competitive kids who love racing. We then went to a crystal museum about 20 minutes from Innsbruck. We capped off the day by going to an awesome dinner in Innsbruck and then went to bed early to rest up for our next training block. Following the day off we had 2 days of slalom, again both on different parts of the glacier.

The second day we were scheduled to train on Manfred Pranger's course after he was done but the snow was too soft so he didn't train. We were all really disappointed because there is really no better way to figure out a good line than skiing the same one as one of the best slalom skiers in the world. We still had a great day of training however on a steeper more challenging hill which really pushed us to get in race mode.

The next day, we traveled to Solden to see the first men’s World Cup race of the season. I had been to one other World Cup race in Beaver Creek but never before in Europe. It was a whole new experience that I will never forget. The skiing was awesome, the weather was great, the people and atmosphere were crazy, and TED WON!!! Ted skied really well and hopefully it is going to be another great season for him. It was an unforgettable day that was also a great learning experience to see the best skiing in the world up close and personal.

Finally, on our last day we trained slalom on yet another part of the glacier. The snow was hard and fast, making it a great final day where all of us were skiing fast! It was a great way to end an unforgettable camp!I start KMS (Killington Mountain School), in about a week and a half and it couldn't come sooner. I can't wait to get up there and really get focused on the season. My first races will be at the beginning of December when me and 3 other kids from KMS are going back to Europe to do a tour around Austria, Italy, and Germany doing around 9 starts. It will be my first experience racing in Europe and I can't wait. It is also a great opportunity to score some great races and come back with my points lowered.

Good luck to all the SRD racers this season, I hope you guys are as excited as I am for the new season!!

.)) Kyle Burcin

Homecoming!

2011-10-25T19:34:00.004-06:00

Hey everyone, this school year has been great so far balancing working out, school work and friends.

This past weekend was homecoming, and my date Brian and I had a great time with our group going to dinner and dancing! As of now I am preparing for an upcoming camp with NDS in Colorado where I get to learn to ski on hard snow. I’m excited to see what an injected course feels like beneath my feet. Being from the Northwest, we never get courses like that, so I’m nervous, and ready to see what it’s like!

I finished up kickboxing and am beginning to get into yoga where I am still trying to work on my balance. My first race is at Panorama, Canada in December. It seems like a long ways away, but I know it will be here very soon!

Lately I have just been hanging out in town, working out and working towards getting ahead in school. It’s hunting season over here in Washington, which means I’m in the woods every day after school sitting in the field waiting for a white tail! Until I head off to Colorado I’ll be preparing as much as possible, and waxing my skis!Think snow!

.)) Anna Mounsey

Next Stop, Copper Mountain

2011-10-23T20:10:00.000-06:00

Recently I have been busy working out with the club. I have with dryland five days a week. The gym workouts are intense and we do really fun mountain bike rides at Howelsen Hill. Other than dryland, school has been stressful and I’m glad to drop two classes soon for the winter.

This week I am starting my early season ski camps. My first day on snow will be October 26th at Copper Mountain. I have been getting all my equipment ready. The camp is four days long and we will be doing drills. I am super excited to get back on snow because it has been a while since my last ski camp, which was the first week in August at Mt. Hood.

My Mt. Hood trips this year were great. I improved a lot and I’m ready to shred this season. The picture is of me at Mt. Hood on my last day. I’ll tell you how my first few camps go.

.)) Nick Veth

Football to Skiing- Life in Aspen!

2011-10-20T21:41:00.000-06:00

Hi Everyone –There’s snow on the mountains and it is time to think about skiing. I have been enjoying football season this fall and my team (Aspen Skiers) are 6-1 overall, 4-0 in division. We have three more regular season games and hopefully, we will make it to the playoffs again. I had my first varsity interception last Friday – it was awesome.

Because of my results last year, I was selected for the Colorado All-Star Team. I went down to Boulder for the mandatory physical in September. The weightlifting part did not go very well since I have been taught a football-style technique and the trainers wanted to see a different type of technique. Luckily, I did well enough on the other three tests to still pass the test. I am now working on both types of weightlifting techniques.

I went to the RMD Luncheon last weekend and got my Colorado pass (can ski at any Colorado ski area for free). I went to Mt. Hood in June with some of my AVSC teammates and really liked the training. There was more off-snow stuff to do than there was in Chile last summer so it was really fun. I did some ski testing so I know exactly what I want for this year. It was a great trip. The day after I got back, we left for Hawaii for 10 days. We did so much – boogie boarding, paddle boarding, kayaking, hiking, snorkeling, mega sandcastle construction – there wasn’t a lot of sitting around. See you on the hill –

.)) Andrew Hancock

Igniting the Spirit

2011-10-20T19:46:00.004-06:00

The excitement for ski season is buzzing through the town. It all started with our first snow. The first fall with a significant amount was on October 6th and by the 8th there was almost a foot on the peaks of the mountains. The ground was too warm though and it quickly melted. I felt like summer had just ended so the snow really caught me by surprise. I am jumping out of my skin with excitement to start skiing but I also know I have a lot to do to prepare.

Park City is scheduled to open in less than a month but it is only one week till I am on snow! I am first going to Copper Mountain Colorado with my team then a week after I return home, I am going back with the National Development System.

I have been doing dryland with my team but I have also been taking a weight training class at my school. We do not do a lot of weights with my team so the class is an awesome compliment. I definitely feel stronger and in much better shape then I did in the being on dryland.

This weekend I am doing a dryland camp with the Western Region at the Center Of Excellence here in Park City. It should be a lot of fun and I am really excited to see some of the friends I made at the Western Region camp this summer.

.)) Molly Leavens

Morse Code: Fischer Time!

2011-10-17T20:03:00.000-06:00

I thought that this revolutionary boot procedure was something that was worthy to write a blog about. Last week I got to make the big trek with my coach Sawyer to the New Hampshire which is a 4 hr drive to the distribution center for Fischer.

The Fischer center was really cool. It was amazing, everything was Fischer, the clocks, the phones, and Fischer skis everywhere! Well to start off the procedure they heat up the shell of the boot for about 18 minutes. Now the plastic is like butter and they have you put the whole boot on, liner and all. Following that there is cooler packs rapped around the boot then followed by an entire air bag. You then stand up on this alinement machine where they plug the air bags in, to get pumped up. It feels like when you are getting your blood pressure taken except on your whole foot. The machine keeps the pressure up for 8 minutes. Then you take off the boot and let them cool.

It was really awesome to feel the change because I then took one vacuum fit modeled boot on one foot and then a non model one on the other foot and all of the pressure spots were relieved and it just fits like a glove. I am super excited to get on snow and see how they ski. If anyone is looking into trying some new boots, these are super cool and feel great.

.)) Sam Morse

LeBlanc's LeBlog: Off to Loveland!

2011-10-14T20:30:00.004-06:00

Hi everyone, I just got back from San Diego CA. I had a pretty good time. The dry land there was intense, but it was easier than the high altitude up here in Vail.

I start skiing on October 20th in Loveland. I am so stoked! We're going to train GS and SL. After three days of Loveland, a week later I am going to Copper with the RMD team. That's going to be really exciting! We'll be training next to the U.S. Ski Team!

After all the early season camps are over, I start Ski Club Vail. We start ski club on November 1st. It's going to be awesome. Ripping it up on Vail Mountain and supporting SRD.

I can already tell it's going to be a great ski season!

.)) Gus LeBlanc

A New Paige: Chapter 1. Valle Nevado Chile

2011-10-11T19:35:00.002-06:00

Hey guys! Right now I am in Valle Nevado, Chile. I have been here for the past 13 days and it has been so unbelievable. It’s amazing how much I have learned in the past few weeks. Right now I am really focusing on improving body position when I turn, I am working on pushing my hands and my hips forward during the transition. Learning a new movement in skiing, or braking a bad habit in your skiing, doesn’t happen instantly, it takes a lot hard work and focus until you get it. You have to try not to get frustrated and always tell yourself to take your time and run after run put the pieces together. You have to stay positive and never quit.

When you are going through a course and you don't make a good turn, recover and try to make the next turn better. Don't give up and stop, because your learn from your mistakes. I am really lucky because I have great support from friends and mentors at SMS, especially Peyton Alexander and Dale Bravermen who have really helped me on this trip to stay focused and are always reminding me to think positively and thinking about the moment not the future or the past.

In Chile, as well as skiing we have also done a lot of off-snow training. We have done lots of recovery work including spinning and light jogs. In addition to that we do core workouts and Olympic lifting. To warm up we regularly play a game my coach Dave Edry made up called Chilean handball (it is really fun) and we have also played a lot soccer. It is really fun working out and playing games with my team because it always brings us closer and we get to learn about each other in different ways.

Something kind of wild happened to me a few days ago! In Chile, some of the tourists think we are famous ski racers. So whenever we are skiing down the hill near the lodge they videotape us skiing or want to take pictures with us. Well, the other day I was taking off my helmet and boots and I set my helmet on the ground very close to my side. Right behind me there was a huge cliff. A lady stepped next to me to ask if she could take my picture and by accident knocked my helmet down the cliff!!! I had to go down the cliff and get it…needless to say I managed to slip and fall many times, and gathered a group of about 20 Chilean tourist cheering me on whenever I fell! It was quite the memory.

.)) Paige Lorenze

Kaz in Valle Nevado Chile

2011-10-11T19:29:00.000-06:00

For the past week, I have been skiing at Valle Nevado in Chile.

The first two days we skied on our slalom skis and worked on fundamentals. Then we jumped into GS and did a variety of different drills and finally we went into an apex GS course after 4 days. The snow conditions are bad but luckily for us we got to train on a trail called "Shake". It is isolated form the rest of the mountain and it has a very steep pitch to it.

Most of the days we train GS, the US Ski Team would be training right next to us. It was a good experience for all of us to see the guys on the team ski right besides us. We trained GS for another two days and some people switched gears to SG. We trained SG for three days straight and we finally got an off day.

I am staying in Chile for another week and I am super pumped for the ski season to start!

.)) Kazui Kusumi

Breezing into Fall

2011-10-08T17:41:00.000-06:00

It is officially Fall. The goal sheets have been turned in, School is in full swing and racers are making their final approach into the season. With that comes, yes, physical testing. We all learn just how far we have to go before the season starts and we realize that lying by the pool all summer did not make us stronger.

School has started and for me that means that I have moved back down to Salt Lake City and have started my Junior year. Rowmark has started up too—with us taking our annual Rowmark trip—this year we went river rafting down the Green River in Southern Utah. The trip was relaxing and fun—I learned how to stand up paddleboard and even went down some rapids on one. We also are back to the gym, physical testing and lifting weights.

We now have a four-day weekend and we leave next week (snow providing) for Loveland for our first fall camp! Yes Fall is here and it is time to use all of the conditioning that we did in the Spring and Summer to really build up to the season.

Yes, the season—it does have a nice ring to it. Racers are getting ready for camps—our post-graduates left last week to train a little at Mt. Hood—and after that we I am going to jump (literally, I am going to a Beaver Creek camp right before my first race) into the season. So racers dust off your skis (assuming that they have even arrived), get down to the gym, and get psyched for the season—that is what I am doing.

.)) Breezy Johnson

Snow-FIA Report: Welcome to the Team

2011-10-02T20:55:00.003-06:00

Hello everyone!!! This is my first year with SRD and I am very honored to have been chosen to be a member of the SRD Team!

This summer was very exciting!!!!! I got to go to Florida to see my cousin graduate, and spend a lot of time with my family and friends. Now here is when my summer really started: After I got back from Florida I had to get all my stuff ready for ski camp in Mammoth with Rowmark Ski Academy. We skied some slalom for 3 days and then we had a break and went to the local Hot Springs for our day off and then finished off the camp with another 3 days of G.S. It was a lot of fun and I learned tons.

One highlight of this camp was getting to see former SRD racer Mikaela Shiffrin, train G.S. with her U.S. Ski Team coach. I was hoping to try some skis but unfortunately none of the companies there had any of my sizes. After this camp, I had a break for about a week and with my parents we went back to Long Beach, California where I was born. While there I got to see my cousins and some of my old friends. Then it was back to Mammoth for another ski camp with Park City.

One of my coaches was Ben Sinclair, who is a really great coach and he taught me a ton of things. I wanted to test some new skis at that camp and got lucky as Atomic and Head had my size for G.S. skis. They were pretty good. It was a 5 day of G.S. camp and I got to meet some new kids from other ski teams. While there the USSA NDS "Flight School" camp was taking place. It was exciting to watch the J2 and J3 athletes including our SRD teammate Breezy Johnson training Super G. I also got to see Ted Ligety and the U.S. Tech Team training slalom.

After this G.S. camp I had a break for a couple weeks to hang out with some friends and play with my yellow labs named Bode and Maggie before I had to get ready for Keely's Ski Camp for Girls!!! This was a great experience.....I got to travel on a plane with 5 of my good friends and that was so much fun! When we landed in Portland, Oregon Keely Kelleher, Jess Kelly, and Katie Hitchcock all former U.S. Ski Team members picked us up. We arrived at Mt. Hood Academy in Government Camp where I got to meet my room mates from Montana. Keely's mom was a really great cook.

The first day of skiing happened to be my birthday!!!!! That first day we skied slalom and my coach was another X-USST member, Libby Ludlow who was really great!!! That night we went to a pizza place in Govy and Keely's mom made me a birthday cake! The next couple days we ripped up some slalom turns and then we got a break day. We went to Hood River to learn how to do stand up paddle boarding, which a was a lot of fun. Then we finished the camp off with another 3 days of G.S. While there I got to try some Nordica skis, thanks to Nordica's Ethan Korpi. They were really great and those are the skis I am skiing on this year.

After the last day of skiing I had to say goodbye to all of my friends and coaches and then we flew back to Utah. I also compete in Martial Arts and not even a day passed before I had to get back in the gym and get ready for a karate tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In Vegas we met up with our karate friends from El Paso, Texas. I had a lot of fun with all my teammates from Pinnacle Martial Arts and also got to meet new people from all over the U.S. at this tournament. Once I got back I had to get ready for my Black Belt test at the end of August. As part of the Black Belt test the other candidates and I had to do a series of 200 push ups, sit ups, and jumping jacks, run 2 miles, and sit in a "horse stance" for 15 minutes. I was the first to finish this endurance test. We went back to the studio and had to perform all the basic karate kicks and punches. On one of my floor kicks I landed wrong and later found out that I broke my finger. We also had to do all these fundamental "katas" or forms, self defense moves, grappling holds/releases, and break bricks & boards and slice vegetables with our Katana swords. My best friend from California, Gigi and my Grandpa flew into town to cheer me on which was great!

The Black Belt test lasted like eight hours and after surviving that the next three days were really a whirlwind & crazy. I had to go to my new school for orientation, attend the official Black Belt ceremony to be awarded my Black Belt, get x-rays of my hand, get a splint made by an Occupational Hand Therapist and to top things off I had to get my braces.

The day after that I started my first day of school at Rowland Hall in Salt Lake City, where I will be skiing for Rowmark Ski Academy. Now, I am back in the gym getting in shape for this ski season. I am really excited for this upcoming ski season and especially trilled to be representing SRD. I can't wait for this November when we go to Copper Mountain for our Fall camp with Rowmark. I am super stoked and looking so forward to ripping up some turns after the snow falls and I really hope to meet all my new SRD teammates!

.)) Sofia Yubero

Passing Lane: Welcome AK's Jordan Lane to the Team!

2011-09-28T21:43:00.000-06:00

I am really excited to be on the SRD Squadra Team! This is my first blog so I’m just going to jump in…

This summer was amazing! I had the opportunity to spend a few weeks in Alaska, before my hectic summer began. Really enjoyed spending time with my family and friends, lots of sleeping in, hiking, and bike riding. Then headed off to Mt. Hood for a week, with a couple of my teammates.

We had a great time and training was awesome. After Hood, I met my family for our annual Seattle/Foul Weather Bluff reunion. Lots of sunshine, beach fires, kayaking, crabbing, swamp walks, and general good times.

From Seattle my family flew to Santiago, Chile, and I attended my first day of High School three days later! We used to live in Chile, so we return for part of each summer now. My sister, brother and I attend school at Saint Gabriels in Santiago and ski at Valle Nevado. It was an interesting time to be there, because the students were protesting. One morning I approached the subway on my way to school, and the street was blocked off, with couches and mattresses on fire. That got my attention!

It was great to return and see all of my friends at school, and use my Spanish.It was an incredible opportunity to return to my club and ski with them at Valle Nevado. We had great training, and had lots of fun. I also participated in my first FIS races, in Chile and Argentina.

It was a mini circuit and I traveled from mountain to mountain on bus, for about 2 weeks. My coach skied on Argentina’s national team, so one night we had an asada (barbecue) with 4 of Argentina’s best racers all from the same family!

Back in Alaska, I began my freshman year (again) at South Anchorage High. Since I returned a couple weeks late, lots of catching up to do, but just finished my last makeup assignment.Working on dryland now, and waiting for the snow to fall!

I’m looking forward to a great year of skiing with the Alyeska Ski Club and representing SRD.

.)) Jordan Lane

In the Swing: Back from Chile

2011-09-27T20:09:00.000-06:00

Hey SRD. The past couple weeks have been very tiring. I have finished the first three weeks at GMVS. This is my second year back at GMVS School.

For working out we have been doing a lot of running, jumps and power and best of all mountain biking. I then got ready for my first trip to Chile. I have been looking forward to it for quite a while.

The ten hour plane ride was really long and I got more and more eager to ski. My group finally got through customs and then we were off on a three hour van ride. The next three days we trained slalom and drills. We then did GS drills for three days and three days of gates. We also worked on doing a SuperG jump. The first time I did it I accidentally popped it and I almost landed on the flats! The rest of the jumps went much better.

For the last two days of the camp we did slalom gates. At first we did inside clearing of the gates and then we moved on and did cross blocking.

The last day we did "Man Hunt". The place we played was amazing. It was on and around small shacks and storage containers where people live. I would feel so bad they live in such a small storage container. After the game was over my group packed up and we headed off to the airport.

We got there about four hours early. As we waited to board the flaps on the plane were broken. The J3’s stayed in a Best Western over night. In the morning we finally boarded our plane. We then had a extra thirty minute wait because the plane needed fuel. We took off and I had another eleven hour plane ride.This time I slept much more.

We landed in New York, then had a six hour bus ride back to the GMVS campus in Vermont. I am just relieved to finally be back in the USA.

.)) Eli Swing

A New Paige: Welcome to the Team!

2011-09-25T21:01:00.006-06:00

Hello everyone! I am so excited to be a new member of the SRD Squadra Race Team. It is such a great privilege!

My summer was exciting and really fun. I love to wake board and went as often as I could! I enjoyed hanging out with my friends from home and tried to be good about keeping up with my summer conditioning. I also got the awesome opportunity to ski at Mount Hood. It was amazing and it felt so good to be back on the snow.

I'm in 8th grade and just started at the Stratton Mountain School this fall. We have spent the last month getting into top shape (lots of Crossfit!) and getting ready for the ski season. I am studying hard and really love all my classes. I am looking forward to the rest of the year and of course winter.

I am new in the southern Vermont Council and I am very excited to see what the new competition is going to be.

Tomorrow I am heading out with my books and my skis to Santiago, Chile to rip up some turns at Valle Nevado. I have never been before and am so excited!! I will definitely post a picture for everyone to see!Well, off to finish packing...Can't wait for the season to start and to have this opportunity to represent SRD!!!

.)) Paige Lorenze

Welcome to the Team Anna Mounsey!

2011-09-24T21:23:00.003-06:00

Hey everyone! It’s my first blog for SRD and I’m excited so here it goes!

I had an awesome 2011 summer filled with tons of rafting and kayaking. I got my first hard shell kayak this spring and although I am still figuring out my Eskimo roll, I like the new challenge!

Right after school got out I was able to head to Hood River for 6 weeks to train with the coaches and girls on the USST D Team as an invitee. I learned so much about ski racing and how much it takes to go far with this sport; it’s crazy -but definitely really helpful.

As of now, I’m currently attending Mount Si High School as a junior –taking two online classes and 4 core classes at school where I am taking Wind Ensemble (I play Bass Clarinet), Algebra 2, Chemistry and French 3! I’m having tons of fun cheering for my football team in the stands and hanging out with friends. However I’ve also been taking time out to work out and am really enjoying crossfit, as well as kickboxing!

As homecoming and Halloween approach, it only means ski season is that much closer! I can hardly wait!

.)) Anna Mounsey

SRD Welcomes our newest athlete, Gus Leblanc!

2011-09-22T23:18:00.001-06:00

Hi everyone, it has been a great summer. I am so excited to be on the SRD team.Winter is right around the corner. Can't wait to rip it up on the slopes.

The past few weeks I have been doing some pretty intense dryland training. Some of things I do are jumping on a ball, hopping from rock to rock on one leg, and running bleachers (ect).

School has been going well. I have been working hard and studying to keep up my grade point average.

I am also excited to go to ski in Copper. I was invited because I made the RMD team. I can't believe that I will be skiing besides the best skiers in the world. In a couple days I will be going to San Diego. I am going to stand up paddle board the ocean and do some more dryland on the beach. I Can't wait! When I get back I will be going to slopes right away! See everybody on the mountain!Cheers, Gus

.)) Gus LeBlanc

Morse Code: Kicking off the Fall at C.V.A.

2011-09-18T20:35:00.004-06:00

I have really missed blogging. I just got a computer from C.V.A. and have been looking forward to writing about what has been going on.

My summer consisted of working at the Marina and waterskiing a lot. But just recently I have started my Junior year at C.V.A. The men's alpine team has been working really hard on fitness whether it is going on long runs or heavy lifts the team is committed to being in the best shape they can be for the 2011/2012 ski season.

I had my first mountain bike race this weekend and it was really cool to get back into the competitive atmosphere. I came in 5th place for JV and it was a ton of fun. C.V.A. has been great so far this year but i have something else I would like to share with you. This weekend I am having the experience of a life time, because my friend James Webber Marshall is taking me to a Boston Red Sox game.

I am looking forward to the season of snow as I am sure you all are to!

.)) Sam Morse

No Kidding: Serina tests at University of Colorado

2011-09-17T13:42:00.000-06:00

Just last weekend I had all-star testing in Boulder Colorado at CU (University of Colorado)!

This was a really great experience because I had never been to CU before, and I have been working really hard in dryland this year to be physically fit. The all-star test was great because we lifted alot of weights and ran a lot but we also did quite a lot of body awareness.

At first I was a little intimidated in the weight room from all of the big college guys lifting so much weight but after a little while it got better.

This was really fun because when I first went into it I was really nervous and scared I wouldn't pass the test but then when I realized that I had been working out all summer long and I was in really good shape I knew that I could do it!

.)) Serina Kidd

Summer in the Mid-West

2011-09-17T13:35:00.000-06:00

Hey guys, this summer has been pretty awesome and now I get to share what I did. First of all, I went back up north with my friend and guess what? I got a quarter of the flip more, on the back roll. I also learned how to wake surf, basically surfing behind the boat.

I came back and a couple weeks of conditioning and I'm heading back up north with the family to have a vacation in Door County. It was legit because they had a jet ski and well jet skis are just fun. :) We also went rock climbing, but not big cliffs. When I came back it was basically just conditioning, and hanging out with friends. I'm going to the Loveland camp in October with Team Central for a GS camp. Then a few weeks later I go back there for the thanksgiving camp my team has. The thanksgiving camp, is one of my favorite camps because I've been doing it for so long and well I'm skiing in Colorado!!

I look forward to moving back to Marquette, Michigan when I get home from Colorado again so I can train every day with my coaches. Looking forward to the physical assessment and of course skiing with all the SRD Team.

.)) Colin Vogel

Helping out after Hurricane Irene rips into Vermont

2011-09-06T21:50:00.000-06:00

I was getting so pumped for school to start but when Hurricane Irene hit Vermont, everything changed. We were suppose to have a very nice school orientation with barbecues and such, but it all had to be cancelled due to the heavy winds and rain.

Our school and campus is on a hill so flooding didn't affect us much at all, but the surrounding towns in valleys and the bottom of mountains were completely washed away.

As a school, we participated in community service near our mountain in Jamaica, Vermont. I have never helped out at a natural disaster community before and I was anxious to see how bad these people were affected. We got there and in the first minute of entering the town, a fully constructed bridge had broken in half. Then we got onto a dirt road and noticed something strange. If you looked out of the car window, you could see draining pipes at eye level and a house right above it.

The river had overflowed so much that it took away houses and land. It was incredible how much these people lost and how lucky we were to not get hit by the flood. Historic bridges were destroyed, house floors were covered with mud and water. Some people wont be able to get power in their house for months. I hope that the people and community everywhere that got hit by Irene recover soon.

.)) Kazui Kusumi

Burcin's Blog: Chile Report

2011-08-24T18:26:00.000-06:00

Summer has flown by but not without a lot of skiing! Right after school got out, I headed to Mammoth, California with KMS (Killington Mountain School) for about a week and a half for a Super-G and GS training camp. The snow was great for that late in the season and the weather was unbelievable. Sunny everyday except one, that’s pretty hard to beat. That camp was an awesome way to start my summer.

After that camp I was working out a lot and waiting for my next camp to La Parva, Chile, also with KMS, that I just got back from a couple days ago. I was there for 2 weeks for some slalom, GS, and Super-G. Although the snow was a little thin, the snow they did have was great for training, hard and fast. It was awesome to go somewhere like Chile that allows you to train on all different types of terrain in the same trip. While we were there I think we trained on about 5 different trails, which not only keeps the camp exciting and interesting but it’s also great for your skiing. It was also great to see a little bit of the country too. On one of our day offs we went to La Vina del Mar which is a city on the beach about 2 hours from La Parva. We checked out the city, had some lunch, played some pick up football on the beach, and even went swimming for a bit. Apparently some of the city-goers were interested by us swimming and playing this American sport in the middle of winter on the beach because at points we had up to 15 people or so watching and taking pictures of us. Then to end the day off we went up to Santiago, the capital of Chile and the closest city to La Parva, to a local market and had some traditional Chilean food for dinner, which I must say was awesome. Overall it was a great day off and trip in general. What made it even better was that the last day we got to ski about a foot and a half of champaign powder. I wish we could have stayed but we had to pack up and head to the airport later that day and come back the reality of school in a couple weeks.

Before the season starts I am planning to continue working out and getting stronger to get every advantage I can. I hope you guys are just as excited as I am about he upcoming season!! I can’t wait to have a great year and continue to represent SRD!

.)) Kyle Burcin

Peace, Love and Mt. Hood

2011-08-10T23:16:00.000-06:00

Hey! I just got back from skiing at Mt. Hood. I was at the J3 Western Region National Development Camp. I had an incredible time! For August, the snow was in great condition and there was plenty of it. We were able to ski all the way to the bottom which is very unusual for this late in the season. Not to mention the sky was clear and blue every day. I was there for 6 days and skied from seven until noon every day.

The camp emphasized the basic fundamentals of skiing and a strong and balanced athletic stance. We also had ski education at night where I learned a lot of valuable information. It was so much fun being with such a big group of talented athletes. I made incredible friends from all over the western US and I am very much looking forward to seeing them all at JOs next year.

.)) Molly Leavens

A Swing Through Summer

2011-08-02T20:08:00.002-06:00

So far my summer has been great. At the beginning I went to Mammoth Mountain in California. I was skiing well and it was nice every day. It was the second time for me to ski out of the East coast. It still amazes me how big all the mountains are in the West.

I have been working out a lot getting ready for the next great ski season. One of my main workout’s is mountain biking. I have been training on the Mount Snow trails. A few days ago I had my first mountain bike race ever. It was a cross country 13 mile race. I got third for my age group which is 12-18.

I was very happy with my first finish and hope to keep up the good results. My next race is the 21st of August. I am heading to Martha's Vineyard soon for vacation for a week. I’ll have fun longboarding with my brother. Then i'm going back to Green Mountain Valley School the 22nd of August. Have a great end to your summer, its going quickly!

.)) Eli Swing

A Summer in Jackson Hole

2011-07-24T19:48:00.008-06:00

What do you love about summer? Most people love summer more than any other season. Ski racers don’t feel this way but I thought that today I would let summer have its day in the sun. Summer in Jackson Hole is not the same as summer in most places. Lots of places have had temperatures of above 100 degrees recently and I’m pretty sure last night we had temperatures of about 45. Along with cool temperatures Jackson also has a full array of outdoor activities. Even, if you’re willing to work for it, skiing.

So, all fun and games right? Well summer isn’t quite that simple. Because of Rowmark’s schedule I have to take online classes, which takes up a lot of my time, and on top of that I have summer homework (which I should probably start right?)

Though ski racers don’t ski all summer, they do train all summer. As my coach has told me multiple times “there is no off season.” And so I have been doing dryland training all summer, nearly every day. Of course a lot of that is fun too: trail running, hiking, slacklining, and so on. I also began taking yoga classes, which has been a blast. But the best part of my summer so far has been ski camp. Camps are an important part of all ski racers’ development. I will tell you that I make more improvement at camps than I do in the season—they’re that important.

So with all of these things to do I don’t think summer is long enough. Good thing there’s fall and after that…

.)) Breezy Johnson

Molly @ Mammoth Mountain

2011-06-24T18:45:00.001-06:00

Hey! I just got back from Mammoth California. I was there for 10 days with my ski team. The weather was absolutely incredible, but for the most part, the snow stayed firm. It was the best summer skiing conditions I have ever experienced.

Ski camp consists mainly of three things: skiing, eating and sleeping. This environment is not only incredibly fun but also a great time to improve on the fundamental basics in skiing. I also used camp to take advantage of ski demoing. I have always skied on used skis but this year I am trying to get a sponsorship and ski on new skis.

Deciding on skis was a lot more difficult than I had anticipated. I had to like both the slalom and the GS ski and the boot had to be a right match as well. With conditions changing daily, it was also difficult to compare skis I had demoed three days earlier. I will probably not ski again until fall camp but instead spend the rest of my summer taking summer classes at Northwestern University to make up for school time lost in the winter and getting strong for next season.

.)) Molly Leavens

Keepin' up with Kazui

2011-06-09T21:17:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone,

Its been long since I last skied and to be honest, I actually miss the cold snowy winter. Its feeling like the temperature is getting hotter everyday. Its been nothing but studying for final exams for the past couple of weeks and everyone on campus is dead silent studying. We get out of school on the 15th and I cant wait. Baseball just ended a week ago and it starts back up again July 1st.

Our school had a fundraiser to collect money for our student-athlete scholarship award about a month ago. The goal was simple, to climb and descend Stratton three times. For each time we ascended the mountain, we raised a a certain number of money. In the end, our school in total earned $20,000. It was really tough, but it was really fun getting in some late April skiing in.

I plan on going to Chile in October and ski out west in Colorado in December. I can't wait to start racing some FIS races and get back on snow!

.)) Kazui Kusumi

2011 SRD/WCS/Shred "Fast Skier" Scholarship awarded!

2011-06-02T19:09:00.002-06:00

World Cup Supply (WCS), Ski Racing Development (SRD), and Shred are pleased to announce that the winner of the 2011 SRD/WCS/SHRED “Fast Skier” Junior Alpine Scholarship Fund award is Andrew Black of Spokane, WA. A 2nd year J3 out of the Schweitzer Alpine Racing School (SARS) at Schweitzer Mountain ID, Andrew has not only posted solid results on the race course, but also exemplifies the personal characteristics that the award represents: excellent academic achievement, extensive community involvement, and incredible drive and focus as an athlete. Andrew was invited to the Topolino Shootout, made the J3 Junior Nationals as a first seed for the PNSA and won the PNSA Overall J3 Men’s title.

As the recipient of the 3rd annual scholarship award Andrew will receive$1,000.00, an Athlete’s pack and a 2012 speed suit from SRD, a Winter Storm Coat from WCS, and a Shred race helmet and goggle package.

“Once again the equality of applicants this year reinforces the growing significance of this award” commented Barry Levinson of SRD. “Andrew’s results this past season, his goals of attending a high-caliber university and his understanding of the many sacrifices required to reach his goal of being an Olympic skier will go a long way to helping him develop into an outstanding skier and person.”

In its third year, the Fast Skier Scholarship recognizes a J3 racer who is well rounded athletically and academically and gives back to his or her community.

"The caliber of applicants was extremely high this year and Andrew really stood out amongst the 80+ athletes who we heard from. He is truly a well-rounded individual who has his 'head in the right place': solid race results on the hill, a 4.0 GPA, Eagle Scout, and a long list community service activities. We had difficulty figuring out when he sleeps. What is really encouraging to see as we make this third scholarship award is the fact that the kids involved in the sport today are setting themselves up not only for success on the hill, but more importantly success later on in life and that is what we are trying to promote." Commented Brad Williams of World Cup Supply.

In the Swing- Longboarding in Vermont

2011-05-24T21:03:00.002-06:00

Skiing has finally ended, but not long until I am back on snow. These last couple of weeks I have been very busy with my school work. Only one more week of finals until I am free.

I will have three days off until I am heading out West. For fourteen day I am going to be training in Mammoth, CA. This will only be the second time for me skiing out of the East. I am so excited to get back on snow again. This past week I have been getting into longboarding a lot. At the bottom of my blog there will be the link to the video. Hope everybody has a great summer!

The video is called Let it Flow:Longboarding - http://youtu.be/4PG9EBxllLs

.)) Eli Swing

No Kidding: Catching up with Serina

2011-05-11T19:45:00.000-06:00

SRD Racers at the Loveland Derby, Alex Leever, Alex Barounos and Serina Kidd

Hello SRD!!! wow everything has finally slowed down from my trip to Whistler and the Loveland race that I have finally had time to blog!

Whistler Cup was not a good race for me. To be honest I was pretty unfocused and had lots of problems. Well where should I start... the SG was a really run gliding super G and a fun pitch although I was really conservative and just didn't go for it! Then in the GS I was feeling pretty confident and had talked to my coaches on the phone right before my race so I thought I knew what I was doing but I got in the start gate and was so ready to go that I didn't look where I put my poles that before I knew it I had tripped the wand for the first time in my life! but, I didn't know I had tripped it until a second after so it put me back a little bit but I still finished that run in 30th.

On the second run I had a pretty good run and finished 9th on the run so I was 18th overall in the GS. Considering that I had done pretty well at our JO's and races before JO's in the SL I was pretty disappointed in my skiing at the SL race. I hadn't done very well in the SL US qualifiers so I was starting in the late 40's so by the time I was going it was pretty rough and I just went out and tried my best but it wasn't good enough. By the end of both runs in SL I finished around 20th.

Besides all of the racing I had a great time at the team dinners and parades and award ceremonies it was really fun getting to know all of the other US coaches!

Upon my return from Whistler I had the Loveland Derby! I always love the Loveland Derby because it's a great time to have fun, dress up, and score great points! After having such a let down at Whistler I put forth a lot of effort at the Loveland Derby to staying focused and doing well. On the first day of the Loveland Derby was pretty excited because I ended up winning the j3's and coming 6th overall!!!! By the second day of racing I was really sick so I just focused on finishing! I was pleased with my results on Sunday with being sick, 3rd the first run but 4th in the combined times and around 10th overall!

I may have been sick but it was a really fun time getting to race against my fellow SRD team member Molly Leavens and getting to know her!

.)) Serina Kidd

The Last from Loveland....

2011-05-10T18:22:00.000-06:00

I finished the 2010/11 ski season with a race in Loveland Colorado. It is a fun end of the year open race. We were unlucky with the overcast and snowy weather but the race was great. Almost every year toward the end of the season my slalom starts improving like crazy. Everything I have been working on starts fitting together with a whole season of training behind me. This happened very late for me this year because of how little I trained due to injuries but just in time for my last two races.

On Saturday, I did not have a great first run but a better second run handed me an eight overall and second for the J3s. Sunday I was able to put two runs together for a fourth overall and first for the J3s. Neither of my Sunday runs was perfect, and I had a good amount of bobbles, but it is almost impossible for me to be completely happy with any run. After a tough season I am happy I could end it well.

.)) Molly Leavens

Celebrate our new store opening and save 10% on your first aCOS order!

2011-05-05T16:32:00.000-06:00

Dear Ski Racing Development Customers,

We hope you had an awesome 2010/11 race season! Thank you for your business this year.

We would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to a Culture of Speed (aCOS). aCOS is a mountain sports retailer focused on providing “Fast Gear to Mountain Athletes” and is a full service SRD retailer carrying all of the ski race product you have seen in our catalog. Additionally, we know that many of you train on bicycles to help develop strength and agility for ski racing. aCOS is your direct source for downhill, road, XC, and Cyclocross frames and bikes from top brands like Trek, Ellsworth, Intense and Commencal.

For a limited time, aCOS is extending an offer to all existing SRD customers of *10% off on your first aCOS purchase. Please visit www.acultureofspeed.com and look at the selection of bicycles and bicycle products which are available. More stuff is being added every day. While you are there, sign up for the drawing. Last month we gave away a GoPro camera and we will give another one away soon.

If you don’t see what you want on the website, call the store direct at 720-328-3726. We can order almost anything and we will beat any price. For those of you located in, or visiting, Colorado, the store is located at 107 County Road 308 Dumont , CO 80436. It is right on the 235 exit ramp off of I-70. Stop in anytime you are headed to the mountains.

We look forward to helping you go fast!

The SRD/aCOS Team

More from the Whistler Cup!

2011-04-29T19:05:00.000-06:00

The season has finally come to a close. I recently returned from the Whistler Cup. What an amazing experience! It was really great to be up there with 3 of my Aspen teammates and to meet the rest of the U.S.Team, and including SRD team members Sam Morse, Breezy Johnson, and Serina Kidd. I didn't really know what to expect, but the entire week was really incredible.

The first two days were time trials for the U.S. Team and I didn't ski my best. I blew out the first two runs of slalom and got banged up pretty badly in the first run of GS. Even though
I didn't do very well I felt that I could ski much better when it came to the actual races. Whistler is a really cool mountain and I wanted to free ski the next day, but I was pretty sore from the previous days and thought I should take it easy. The next day we had free runs on the SG course and then got to explore the mountain a little.

The next morning was the nicest day of the entire week and we were all really excited for the Super G. I skied pretty well and ended up in 12th place. Our whole team really killed it and we put 7 of us in the top 15. I'm not sure, but I think that is a record number for a U.S. Team at the Whistler Cup. After the race we got to march in the opening parade and it was really fun. There were a lot of Americans up there on vacation that cheered us on.

The next day was the Slalom and it changed back to typical Whistler cloudiness. I skied most of the first run well, but ended up hiking three gates form the bottom. Cody Wilson led after the first run, but had problems in the second and didn't finish. Most of our team had troubles on one of their runs, but SRD team member Sam Morse put two solid runs together and got on the podium in 3rd.

Sunday was the last day and we were all getting really tired. I love GS, but I wasn't that fired up because I was so beat. I almost fell asleep on the chair lift on the way up to the start and skied pretty poorly to a 20th place position. Normally I would have been disappointed, but I was actually surprised I did that well considering how bad the run felt. I managed to pick myself up for the second run and skied much better. I had the 9th fastest second run, and passed a lot of people to end up in 11th. My teammates Ryan Mooney and Colby Lane finished 1st and 3rd and we ended up with 5 of of us in the top 15.

All and all it was a great experience, our team won the K2 championship, and I got to meet and ski with some of the best kids from around the world. I made a lot of new friends and I hope I get to compete with them again as I get older. Whatever happens, it was an experience I'll never forget.

Have a great summer everyone.

.)) Andrew Hancock

Breezy's Blog - Whistler Cup!

2011-04-23T23:25:00.001-06:00

SRD places 4 athletes at the 2011 Whistler Cup! Serina Kidd, Sam Morse, Andrew Hancock and Breezy Johnson.

Every year the world comes together for eight K1 and K2 “children’s” races (J3 and J4). Out of these, the U.S. competes in two. In the past it has been Whistler Cup and Topolino but this year the United States attended the Pokal Loka in Slovenia rather than Topolino. This was the third time that I had attended Whistler Cup (the first was when I was a first year J4) and this would be the last.

Though I have competed three times at Whistler, I have never seen a US team bond together as we did this year. Even before the racing started, we formed a rambunctious -- if slightly annoying -- group, generating energy that would continue through the races, allowing us to do our very best. Unlike the boring Europeans, we were quite loud at the start, cheering each other on, which brought us odd looks from our competitors and their coaches.

I firmly believe that it was not any special ability of our racers this year that allowed us to do well. We all worked together in great camaraderie, to make sure that any and all of us were capable of anything. The seven medals from the U.S. team were spread among six athletes from different start positions and all three regions. We took team spirit to a whole new level on the hill and in the village. This ‘anything is possible especially if it’s crazy’ attitude that we developed and shared led to our great results.

I hope that this is something that will continue in the future, for future Whistler athletes and those of us who are moving up to FIS age next year. I know that it takes a lot for these young racers on a new stage to believe in themselves. But as we learned this year with a crazy mindset and some yelling it is possible to win the K2 (J3) overall and place second in the team standings, even without a K1 (J4) team.

.)) Breezy Johnson

Burcin's Blog: Seasons End

2011-04-22T20:15:00.002-06:00

Hey Guys,

It has been a really fun season, which I wish was still going on but sadly I had my last race about 2 weeks ago at the Sugar Slalom which is a really fun 2 day event with over 600 total racers. The age groups go from J5’s to Masters and everything in between for both guys and girls. The first day is a normal slalom but with all the J1/J2 guys they had to separate us into 2 different races. The second day is a dual panel slalom, which is just an awesome race and day as a whole. The first day I came in 3rd overall and 1st for J2 for the race I was in and the second day I fell the first run and by the time I ran second run over 600 kids had run the course. The ruts were insane and it was nice to just make it down.

Also at the end of the season was Nationals at Sugarloaf. I didn’t ski my best but it was really fun, and a great learning experience for next year. In the GS, I was having a pretty good run until I had a big mistake right before the last little pitch. Second run, I did about the same thing. It was disappointing that I couldn’t put down a clean run but I learned a lot about the hill for next time I go to Sugarloaf. In the Slalom, I was having a really good run until I went a little straight into a hairpin at the bottom of the course and straddled a gate after. Finally, in the Super-G I came in 29th, which I was fairly happy with because I am more a tech skier then a speed skier. The last day was canceled due to bad weather, which isn’t surprising at Sugarloaf. Overall, I took it as a learning experience and can’t wait to go back next year and go fast.

After Nationals, I had a FIS series at Stratton with 2 slaloms and 2 GS’s. I scored a 64 the second slalom race, which was my lowest FIS score. In the GS’s I had two top 10 finishes but missed scoring but a couple points both days. I ended my season with 69 slalom points and 70 GS points. Overall, I was pretty happy with my FIS season as a whole and I can’t wait to lower my points next season.

After Stratton I went to a couple USSA races in New York. It was really fun and we brought some good points to the races to help our second year J3’s score some points. In the GS races, I came in 3rd in both and in the slalom’s I won the first race, scoring a 52, my lowest USSA score and DNFed the second.

Overall, it was a fun season with a great ending. Thankfully, I don’t have to wait too long to ski again. I am going with KMS to Mammoth, California for a training camp at the end of June. Then we are going to Chile at the end of July. Before that, I am going to take advantage of the time off to get in the gym and get stronger. Hope everyone had a good season and thanks SRD for all the support.

.)) Kyle Burcin

Morse Code: Success at Whistler

2011-04-22T20:07:00.002-06:00

This past week I returned from a trip of a lifetime to British Columbia, Canada. I qualified for the Whistler Cup back in March at the Eastern Regional Marriot Championships. The Whistler Cup is an international race with the best 11-14 year olds in the world. There were 18 American 13-14 (J3) competitors at this event, four of them were SRD Team members; Andrew Hancock, Breezy Johnson, Serina Kidd, and myself. Also on this trip was a fellow C.V.A. (Carrabassett Valley Academy) student Czari Cochrane who had won the GS at the Eastern Championships to qualify and had met her goals at the Whistler cup of a top 20 finish with a 20th in Super G, and a 16th in GS. It was a great US team at Whistler this year and I really look forward to getting to race with these athletes in the future.

My main goal for this season was to make it to Whistler; I was really surprised that I not only won one event at the Eastern Championships but that I won two, the GS and Super G. These two victories led me to Whistler. Having already met my goals I felt no pressure going into the Whistler Cup. The US team flew out to Whistler a couple of days earlier than everyone else so we could do our team time trials to see the seed order we would run in the race. Over these few days of time trials we saw every type of weather: rain, snow, sleet, and even a little sun at the end. I was third both days in SL, and GS which put me into the second place in team USA 1. The first day of racing began with the Super G, the American boys cleaned up by taking 7 out of the top 15 with 3 of the top 5 spots. I came in 5th that day and had surpassed my goals of a top ten finish at the Whistler Cup. The next day was the SL, first run was a really challenging course set in which you had to hold back the horsepower and take it easy in order to finish; I was in fourth after the first run. After the second run I stood in third on the podium at the Whistler Cup-it truly was an amazing experience. In the SL the US team took only five out of the top 15. The last day was the GS, this race was my last race as a J3, I finished 14th after first run and end up 12th overall after second run. Again the US took 5 out of the top 15 and even had two on the podium, Colby Lane taking third, and Ryan Mooney winning it! Congratulations to Ryan!; Also, on the women's side an American took the first position in the Super G-Dani Brownell-Patty!!! I also later figured out with world cup points that Ryan Mooney would have come in first overall and I would have come in 3rd for the whole Whistler Cup race series. At this race series the American Team took home the first place victory of being the best J3 (k2) nation at the Whistler Cup.

The trip was not over at this point though, my dad and I stayed two days after the event had ended and we got the experience of a lifetime to free ski Whistler Blackcomb with a foot and a half of powder-it was awesome!!! In conclusion, I would like to thank those who supported me and made this event possible: the terrific coaching staff that traveled with the US team to Whistler, the Sugarloaf Ski Club, and my awesome coach Chip Cochrane!

.)) Sam Morse

Skiing Through Pain

2011-04-07T23:15:00.003-06:00

Molly on the right

Just a week before JOs, I fell skiing and injured my shin and calf. I convinced myself it was just temporary but JOs got closer and closer and I was still unable to put my leg into a boot. My mom wanted to pull me out of the race completely but I had worked all season toward it so I pleaded and convinced her I would be fine. We left for the race, uncertain that I would be able to compete but hopeful. I skied only the inspections and race runs but my leg was still blue after the first two days of racing and I only managed with pain medications. I was in tears after my Super G inspection because the chances of my being able to race were slim, but after having a long talk with my coach, it was decided I would race. My coach center mounted my bindings so I would be able to bend the ski with less ankle flexion. I placed 11th in the Super G. Not the result I was hoping for but I was amazed I was even able to race.

I was very unlucky with my bib draw for slalom. For a reason I don’t understand, I was placed in second seed and had the last bib draw for second seed girls. The course was very turny and the snow was soft so by bib 31, the course was already in awful condition. The run was very painful and it was as if I was skiing on one leg. I made lots of costly errors, landing me an 18th for the run. I had a good starting position for the next run so in turn, I had a good course. I was learning more and more about skiing through pain and that helped me on the second slalom run, which I won by a second. I moved up to 7th place. The GS was cancelled because of snow condition, much to my dismay.

After returning from JOs, it was still almost a week before I could ski again (still in some discomfort) so I entered Snow Cup (GS) and Last Chance (slalom) both open series with no training for several weeks. I placed fourth on the first Snow Cup race but I was not happy with my skiing. I was in 6th place after the first run of the second race but the times were very stacked. Not very far into my next run, I ran into some course workers for the second time this season. I went around for a rerun but the lift took a long time so it was not till about 30 racers later that I reached the top. The sun was beating down, making the snow slower and slower and the ruts bigger and bigger. I still managed a 5th place despite the course interference.

The Last Chance slaloms went very well though. I placed second on the first day after winning the second run. I placed third the second day. I scored a 51 and a 55 point result, giving me a slalom point average of 53. This qualifies me for the Park City A Team, one of my top goals for the season. What an up and down month!

.)) Molly Leavens

SRD sends 4 athletes to 2011 Whistler Cup!

2011-04-07T23:01:00.001-06:00

Good luck to SRD Squadra athletes Sam Morse, Andrew Hancock, Serina Kidd and Breezy Johnson at the 2011 Whistler Cup this weekend!

Seasons End

2011-04-06T19:02:00.000-06:00

As the snow starts to melt away and the days getting longer, the skiing season comes to an end. After some bad post-season races, I got my skiing together for some USSA races. I was looking to finish and score points, rather than to go all out.

I progressively got better, and each race I lowered my points. The first three of my GS races were not very hot, I messed up in a bunch of turns and they were all mid 100's points. But on my last GS, I put together a solid run which landed me with 84 points. Same thing for my SL, I progressively got my points down each race and ended up with 91 points.

I know I could have gotten better results, but I'm happy that I finished with points for next year. I look forward to skiing FIS next year and I plan on going to Chile next fall. Thanks for everything this season SRD!!!

.)) Kazui Kusumi

Barounos' Blog

2011-04-05T20:12:00.000-06:00

Just finished the last FIS races of RMD season, and overall, I feel like it’s been a decent year.

In the beginning of March I went to J2 Nationals in Maine, along with 5 of my Steamboat team mates (2 girls and 4 boys). The weather was pretty rainy, which is something we are not used to here in Colorado.

A bunch of races got cancelled, but it was still cool to be racing against a national field. I got 12th in one run of GS, and 20th overall, which I was pretty happy with since I’m a first year J2.

Today, I got 3rd as a J2 at the Breckenridge Surefoot GS. It was really awesome to be racing against some World Cup athletes like Will Gregorak, and some of the US D Team men. I was a bit worried, because I’d tweaked my knee a week ago during high speed training in the soft Spring snow. Spring in Colorado is weird, because we’ve still got lots of snow, but it’s super sunny and everyone gets sun burns.

Our mountain Steamboat is closing this coming weekend. The only race left for my season is the Loveland Derby, which has been going for about 50 years now. I’m crossing fingers for a good result there, and I always have a good time at the Derby.

.)) Alex Barounos

Andrew wins Junior Olympic SL- Off to Whistler Cup!

2011-03-31T19:35:00.001-06:00

I finally caught up with school work so now I can write my blog. This year the Rocky/Central Junior Championships were held in Aspen, my hometown, which was amazing. It was the first really big race that I have had at home and the top five Rocky qualifiers were all from the Aspen Valley Ski Club (AVSC). The first event was downhill. I used 208 Super G skis for the first run and got 6th place. Then I decided to try a pair of 210 downhill skis for the second training run. Unfortunately, I lost a ski and ended up in the B-net. The next day was the Downhill, and I definitely decided to return to the Super G skis. I think I was a little shook-up and ended up in 13th.

I wasn’t focusing on making Whistler at this point. My goal was to improve as the week went on. After a disappointing Downhill result, I was looking forward to the Super G. I placed 6th and the AVSC took the top six places. At least I was moving in the right direction. I was excited for the GS because I have been skiing GS really well all season and felt like I had a good shot at making the podium. My teammate, Colby Lane, picked #1 and I picked #3. We both like low numbers so we can lay down solid runs and put the pressure on the rest of the field. AVSC doesn’t train on Javelin very much but I wish we would because, I agree with what Colin Vogel said, Javelin is a fantastic GS hill. My first run felt solid and I was in 2nd behind Colby. We ran flip-30 so I ran 29th. I had one small mistake but felt like it was good enough. AVSC swept the podium; Colby in first, me in second, and Ben Throm in third.

We had the next day off. While I was taking a few slalom training runs, my SRD teammate, Serina Kidd, took silver in the women’s GS. The final day was the Slalom and my last chance to make Whistler. Having podiumed in the GS, I felt confident. Even though we train at Highlands all the time, I had never run Slalom on this part of the hill. It was a tricky set but I felt ready. A lot of kids had trouble in the first run, but I skied one of my best Slalom runs ever and was in first over my teammate, Travis Lundin, by over two seconds. Approaching the second run was difficult because I knew I had a great chance to win and Whistler was on the line. I was pretty nervous and skied a bit conservatively but still won by over two seconds.

So I finished my week with enough points to be 2nd in the overall and qualified for Whistler Cup. I am excited to accompany my three SRD teammates and three AVSC teammates to Whistler and I can’t wait to go and represent the USA and SRD.

.)) Andrew Hancock

In the Swing: Junior Olympics

2011-03-28T20:01:00.004-06:00

A lot has happened since that last time I blogged. Since then I’ve had The last couple of days in Europe, States racing Super G, slalom and the GS at Okemo.

In States I had a disapointing weekend, In the SG I made stupid mistakes and got around 15th. In the SL it was pouring and I fell the first run, and in the second run the ruts were huge and I barely made it throught with a couple of mistakes and got around 20th that run. In the GS I skied ok not great in the first run and got 11.

I was excited to finally run somewhat in the front of the pack. I was having a great run until the 5th to last gate where there was a compression and I got in the back seat and hit soft snow and flipped. That weekend was not good. I made it to finals at Sunday River which I skied very well.

In the GS the first run I won by over 2 seconds and the second run I won by a half second. By winning this race you go to Junior Olympics. My goal for the the season was to go to Junior Olympics and I acheived my goal!

For the next week was intense training on and off the snow. When the weekend finally came I felt ready but very tired. In the GS I got 15th the first run, but in the second run I got stuck in a rut and blew out. I was very frustrated. In the SL I had another great run but fell on the last hairpin at the end of the course. I have improved very much this year. I have one more race and that is the Sugar Slalom at Stowe. This is a very fun race. Hope every one has a good rest of the year of spring skiing.

.)) Eli Swing

Céline's Update: March Madness!

2011-03-28T19:55:00.001-06:00

Hey Its been a busy few weeks. I went to Sugarloaf for J2 Nationals. I went into it feeling pretty confident. We start with the SL one of the only beautiful days in Sugarloaf and I had a good chance but unfortunately went out about 3/4th down in the first run. Then we had our GS which got pushed back 2 days. I went out in the second run and finally had the SG which I made loads of mistakes and still managed to finished 15th.

Overall Sugarloaf was very frustrating, because we had 7 scheduled races and only got 3 because of the weather. But when I got back it was time to move on to Winter Park. We had 4 races 2 GS's and 2 SL's. I fell every single run but the runs where I didnt fall I had some good runs. The first day was GS and I won the first run and fell the second run. The next day also GS I fell on the first run.

After the GS's it was time for SL. In SL the first run I fell again and hiked and got 31st missing the flip by about a 2 tenths, then got second for the run. The next day I figured out my problems and put down a pretty good first run. I had over a 2 second lead. In the next run I was skiing even better and unfortunately fell 5 gates from the finish.

This past weekend I was racing in Beaver Creek. I had a pretty good weekend overall. The first day my first run wasn't very good I think I was a little nervous. But I managed to make the flip and run 5th. I had a nice second run and ended up finishing 21st. The second day I had a nice first run and my second run wasn't my best run but I finished 17th. So I'm pretty happy about my weekend but know I just have to get 2 good runs together.

I look forward to finishing the end of the season strong with U.S. National (SL), Spring Series and hopefully Western Spring Series in Mission Ridge WA.

.)) Céline Guilmineau

No Kidding! Serina dominates Junior Olympics!

2011-03-24T21:59:00.000-06:00

HEY SRD!!! I haven't blogged in a while because I've been really training hard for the jo's and for Whistler Cup! My season has been great so far I couldn't of asked for a better season or better coaches. My coaches have really brought my far this year on the hill and mentally.

I went into the 2nd part of our jo qualifiers tied for first! The first day was sl and I was feeling pretty confident and just relaxed and laid down a good solid first run. On the second run I was in first and got a little stressed out like every racer but my coach told me to just have fun, so I went and had a blast, got a little late but still laid down a really good consistent run. By the end of the day I was in first for the overall but barely although there was still GS.

On the morning of the GS race I felt a little bit off my game but nothing that couldn't be fixed. When it came time to start I felt fine, but I didn't feel like my self by the time I got into the course my GS was okay at the top of the course and I was just happy to of made it down that far! Although as i came to the bottom of my run I approached the GORILLA turn and unfortunately got back and late causing me to lean in.. and fall.

After falling i was really ready to lay down a strong second run. I had a great second race, when I came down I was in first but little did I know that Katy Harris killed it and came down right after me only 7 hundredths in front of me! But that was okay because we were more than 2.5 seconds ahead of 3rd place:) At the end of the weekend I was pretty happy with my results and ended up second overall and qualifying in the first seed!

After Jo qualifiers i trained really hard, and really worked on a lot of my fundamentals!

When jo's finally came around the corner I was really excited! It was a good 3 hour drive down to Aspen so it gave me a lot of time to work on my homework. In Aspen we were staying at the Aspen Inn right at the base of the mountain which was really cool because all we had to do was put our skis on and we were right there at the lift!

At the first training day of the DH I was in 2nd, and the second training day of the DH I was in 4th. When it came the night before race day we had bib draw and I picked the latest of all the girls 30th, unfortunately I didn't have a very strong race run and finished 11th. But I kept my head up and was ready for the SG.

Once again we had bib draw for the SG and I picked bib 21! I was very nervous having to wait so long like the DH and have to hear everyones results but I stayed focused and had a fairly good run. I finished the SG run in 3rd only 12 hundredths off of first, and now the pressure was on to qualify for Whistler.

Later that night we had our parade and bib draw which was really exciting because I picked my lucky number 8 for the GS!! The following day was the boys GS race and they killed it especially my SRD teammate Andrew Hancock fishing in second place. My first run I had trouble and had to scramble for the finish but ended up third 94 hundredths out of first. I was really stressing out that I couldn't make up a second but I just went out there and skied how I knew how to ski, problem was I didn't get the second that I need only 8 tenths, so I finished second by 22 hundredths! Talk about pressure! Its worse now, only have SL to qualify for Whistler and the central girls are always tough! MY LAST CHANCE! I laid down a sold first run and stood in 3rd 2 tenths out. Thats a margin I can live with. I love to come from behind! My second run needed to be solid but fast and with out mistakes. It worked and I won the second run by 86 hundredths taking the SL by 1.65 total. And on the men's side another SRD teammate Andrew Hancock owned the mens SL winning by 2.3 seconds!! WHISTLER HERE WE COME!

But before I leave for whistler I've got to make a stop in Telluride to sew up the Smartwool Championships as I have the lead by 41 points! Then off to Whistler. I can't wait this is going to be an awesome US team and an experience of a life time:)

.)) Serina Kidd

Morse Code: Off to Whistler Cup

2011-03-24T08:20:00.002-06:00

Photo: Eli Swing and Sam Morse at the Eastern JO's

Heading to Whistler!

Over the past week the east has had its J3 Eastern Regional Championships at Okemo. The series got pushed back due to a day of rain. We relaxed and prepared for the upcoming races. The first day was the slalom. I was in the lead after the first run. Second run I had a bobble and got bumped back into 4th place overall. The next day was the GS. After the first run Ryan Mooney was in the lead by 1.3 seconds.

Second run I charged ahead and won that run by 2 seconds taking the win by .7 seconds. That night was a delightful banquet at the base of Okemo mountain. I was awarded the Gold Medal and was on my way Whistler. The last day was the Super-G. It was really odd weather that day with fog at the top and clear skies at the finish. I charged out of the gate and went for it. I executed my plan over the two jumps and took the victory over Ryan Mooney by .7 seconds.

It was a great series to have taken 3 gold medals-GS, Super-G and the Overall. The Eastern team heading to Whistler includes: Sam Morse, Ryan Mooney, Alec Sullivan, Czari Cochran (fellow CVA student), Mikala Smith and Danielle Brownell-Patty. We hope to represent the East and the United State well as we travel out to Whistler.

.)) Sam Morse

Rough JO's from Kazui

2011-03-21T20:01:00.002-06:00

Not the best season you could ask for, but overall it turned out to be fun and I got to train a lot more since I came to Stratton Mountain School. JO's at Okemo wasn't the best preformed race that I could have had this year with a DNF in both GS and SL and a DNS in SG due to the ankle injury from the crash at the GS. I was blown away by the level of performance that all the guys brought, especially my own SRD teammate Sam Morse that threw down the GS and SG. And without a mistake in the 2nd run of SL, I'm sure he could have taken home the Gold too. And also Eli Swing taking home the Gold at Eastern Finals. It was a bummer, but I did get to face some tough competition this season.

I got into my first USSA spring series race Saturday at Okemo. I fell and messed up a bunch of times on my first run and ended up in 56th, but the second run I put together a 21st place run starting all the way back. I know I could've done better, but it was a good experience getting to see some really good racers. The past two days Stratton hosted a FIS DEVO and some real good racers were there.

I've got a pretty busy schedule ahead of me. I have a SL race at Sugarbush on Friday, two GS races at Stowe the next two days, a SL race at Wildcat on Monday, a GS at Smugglers Notch Tuesday, and then a SL at Cochran's on Wednesday. Rumor has it that Ted Ligety will be there again this year so I'm real pumped to see him race and compete against him. Good Luck to everyone the rest of the season!

.)) Kazui Kusumi

Breezy's Blog: JO's on the way!

2011-03-21T19:54:00.002-06:00

Wait, I thought the season just started! Seems like winter just goes by so fast. That is what I have been hearing for weeks strait. Ski racing season is one of the shortest of any sport out there, partly due to the increase of winter sports inside, which unless in Dubai is impractical for true ski racing, can you imagine having a downhill inside, that one we can’t quite do. So due to the difficulty of putting an entire mountain inside a building our sport season is limited to five months at best. This makes the end of our season even more different than other sports, in other sports after nationals your coach tells you about practice on Monday, not ski racing. This increases the end of the season’s worth. I don’t want to go seven months on a bad end of year race.

The problem with these end of season races is also that they are the difficult ones. If your end of season race is J2 Nationals, Wistler Cup, U.S. Nationals, Western Region Chams, Junior Olympics, or simply IMD Champs there is always more people your against. They’re simply designed to be harder races. With this comes the stress and that feverish need for results. The problem is, only one person gets to stand on the podium and be the best (with the exception of ties) yet I can always find 20 others who would give their souls for the position, and half the rest of the field who were disappointed at their result.

So when I sit here, one day before Junior Olympics, listening to cheesy, moving music, a pre-big-race ritual, I have to realize that it has been an amazing ride. I can’t look back on this season with a sour taste, I already had a blast, I don’t think one race can ruin that! Do I want to win, yes, but I know to do that I just have to put it down the hill and have a run just as fun as this season has been. Athletes have to realize that one race is not going to make or break their careers, not one day. You have to think about whether this race, which is one day to a week, is really worth seven months of anger at your result, that’s what I have to think about going into this JO’s and hopefully I can pull it off.

.)) Breezy Johnson

Vogel's Voice: Top in Central

2011-03-21T19:53:00.002-06:00

Hey guys, so it's been a pretty eventful month or so, with all the races going on and travel etc. At the qualifiers at my home hill in Marquette Michigan, everything came together and I won every race except slalom. It's even more fun when you win by one 100th against a good friend..... which I did in 1 of my GS races! How crazy is that? One 100th? On the last night, we had the dreadful awards that last like 3 hours of listening to Brewster McVicker announce all the events and winners and finally the overall winner! I hit my 1st goal of being the overall winner in my division.

After all that, we started to drive to Aspen 4 days later which is such a boring and long drive. When we got to Aspen, the place we were staying at was amazing! It was 30 minutes away but that was ok because we were able to eat at home every night and save a ton of money.

As always the first morning of an event is the hardest with waking up so early. It usually gets better though, the training was decent for downhill. I tried my DH skis the first day but felt I could do better on my SG skis so I switched for the next training run and the race. It paid off, for the race I was winning all the splits when I ran 21st but 2 gates before the finish I got launched into some of the soft snow and had to stand up to pull out of it. Still not sure how I made it. That bobble cost me the race putting me in 6th. SG had no major struggles and went home with a 7th, I was pretty fired up. For GS I decided to go for broke and even though I managed to boot out, I still got 15th on a really technical course so I was pretty happy with myself. It was by far the coolest GS course I have ever skied.

All I needed to do now was have a good day of Slalom which seemed to be going great after training on the day off. That night though I caught the flu and had a really high fever until about 2am the day of the Slalom. As bad as I wanted to race, I had no strength and didn't want to risk injury. There were a couple of guys who I normally am very close to that ended up in the top 5 or 10 so that may have helped my overall a lot. Oh well, welcome to ski racing right?

I really liked the skiing at Aspen and it was fun to hang with fellow SRD member Andrew Hancock a little at the awards. Andrew and Serina did really well, I hope to bring more to the SRD table next year in J2's. The Aspen team ripped it up and I am happy that I was at least the top kid from Central. Next year is a new year and lots of things change every year. I look forward to training harder and trying to improve on my results. What a crazy sport, 1 tiny mistake and your back a couple spots. I guess that's the fun of the Championships.......everyone is a really good skier.

Then to top things off, we get home and I find out I made the print with a cool picture in Ski Racing magazine for the DH at my qualifiers that was pretty cool.

I hope everyone has a GREAT summer and look forward to more blogs of summer activity

.)) Colin Vogel

Molly's Mail: Leavens takes 2 1st's and a 2nd at JO qualifiers!

2011-03-07T21:56:00.004-07:00

I have just finished all my JO qualifiers and ended up second on the list. I had to learn the hard way about skiing smart by not finishing both days at the slalom qualifier and finishing barely any races in the beginning of the season. Turning down my intensity level, I was able to land two first places and a second at the super G qualifier. In Sun Valley, the last of the JO qualifiers, I won a second in GS and a first in slalom. It was here that I won my first over all of the season, as I have been unable to complete two days cleanly. With these last few strong finishes, I managed a spot in the top seed for all the events at JOs, meaning I will be starting in the top 15.

Just a week of training and I am off once more. This time to Squaw Valley for the Western Region JOs and I could not be more exited. I hope I can continue to finish and snag a spot on the podium.

.)) Molly Leavens

New from Kazui

2011-03-05T22:46:00.003-07:00

Hey everyone,

A lot has happened since the last time I blogged. I had two days of States at Okemo Mountain which turned out to be quite a crazy experience. The first day I had three slalom runs. The race started off okay but the snow conditions were very soft.

The girls course was separate than the boys and I started 4th so it was very soft. I couldn't race the SG because of my ankle injury so I tried to lay a solid top 5 run to assure one run for JO's. I was coming down the course and I felt like I was skiing very poorly but when I came down I wound up in 3rd. Its not like I was the only one skiing the soft snow so it wasn't that big of an issue. But the next two runs, I was putting together solid runs but fell down below on the flats.

I ended up getting an 11th and a 48th which really didn't help for a good seed for JO's. The next day was GS. I was pretty fired up about the race because we got to run the same course after the girls so the course would be a little harder. I was having a pretty decent run until I hip-checked midway through the course.

The second run I basically did the same exact thing but fell just a bit farther down and lost valuable time. I ended up 9th both runs which I wasn't really happy about. It got me into JO's overall as 9th place. So in the end, I wasn't really happy about my performance at States but considering the fact that I fell 4 out of 5 runs, I did get myself into JO's and hopefully I can do well! I still have two more weeks to work on my skiing until JO's happen, once again at Okemo.

I have a lot of room for improvement and I know I can get faster. I can't wait to get started on those USSA spring series races to get my points down. Good luck to everyone!

.)) Kazui Kusumi

Split Timing

2011-03-05T22:45:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! Hope you all are having an awesome ski season! I have a few results to share with you all...

Last week I competed in the Sun Cup held at Mt. Bachelor, OR. It was a speed series that included 2 Super G's and 2 Downhills. There was heavy snowfall for both the Super G's so running early was a pretty large disadvantage. I placed 5th in the first Super G and 1st in the second Super G! I was surprised by the win because I started second for that run, but I'll take it! The win scored me a USSA result of 62 points!! The downhill was very fun, and I placed 3rd and 5th, which lowered my points as well. I was second overall for the entire series (just barely out of first!).

In other news, I just got back from the Oregon State Championships for high school racing which ended yesterday. There were a lot of FIS/USSA racers there which made for some awesome competition! I was racing for my awesome high school of West Linn. I won both runs of the slalom which gave me the slalom victory. In GS, I was in 3rd after a very sloppy first run (0.5 seconds out of first) and on my second run I hooked my arm in gate and came to a complete stop. Unlucky, but I still managed to get 4th for GS! Pretty good for running 29th on very soft snow. Thanks to my large lead in slalom, I won state overall! My teammate McKenzie Burns won the overall for girls as well. West Linn Boys won the GS, SL, and Team overall, and West Linn got 3rd for the entire competition. Pretty awesome!!

I have Western Region Championships at Bogus Basin, ID on Tuesday the 8th, and I'm very excited to race there because the mountain is awesome!

Well that's all for now folks, hope you all are having as much fun this season as I am! See ya next time!

.)) Stephan Splitstosser

MORSE CODE: Skiins' the Reason

2011-02-28T19:02:00.001-07:00

Earlier this past week I attend a National Development System Speed Camp at Okemo in Vermont.

This camp, put on by Alex krebs, brought together all the top J3's in the Eastern United States for a Super-G camp oriented towards speed and jumps. It was only a two day camp, but I think we all improved a lot. The first day was just free skiing the hill in the morning and then we did some sections of gates along the trail. There were two large jumps in the course, which made it very interesting. In the late afternoon of the first day we linked a couple of the courses together and hit the jumps with a little bit more speed, which made it for a little bit more air time, which was awesome.

At the bottom of the course we had a speed trap, I went pretty fast and was clocked with the radar gun going 70 mph. It was grrrreat! We also had a fun time running a wave track of rollers and we were even able to camel some of them. On the second day we had 4 timed runs. The first run I took a little detour and missed a gate, but I put it together for the 2nd run and beat the field by over a second. This camp was held on the trail called Chief, which offered a nice range of terrain.

This was a great camp and I cannot wait for some real downhill next year!!!

.)) Sam Morse

Burcin's Blog

2011-02-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

I have done a lot of racing since my last blog. Most recently, I was racing NJR FIS races, which are the races that qualify you for J2 nationals. The GS series was at Whiteface, New York about 2 weeks ago. The first day I finished 25th overall and 9th for J2’s. The second day I finished 9th overall and 4th for J2’s. After that I headed over to Stratton, Vermont the next week for the slalom series. The first day I finished 14th overall and 6th for J2’s. The second day I dnfed on the first run. Overall I was pretty happy with both the series but there were definitely opportunities to ski faster. I qualified for J2 nationals as the 12th J2 from the East out of the 20 that were invited. I was really pumped that I accomplished one of my goals to make J2 nationals. It is being held in Sugarloaf, Maine, starting with GS on March 4th and goes through March 11th. It was also sweet that 2 of my other teammates also qualified so it will make the trip that much better.

Overall my season is going pretty well as I have gotten my FIS points down from the starting point of 990 to 70 gs and 76 sl points. I have also gotten a little more experience in speed. It has been a really fun season and I am looking forward to a fun and exciting end of the season. Good luck to everyone else!

.)) Kyle Burcin

Breezy at the Pokal Loka!

2011-02-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

Slovenia, the perfect race day, NOT!

I have been to Europe twice in my life both for races in the Alps, one last year for Topolino, in Italy, the other, just last week for the Pokal Loka, in Slovenia. During my stay last year in Italy we were enveloped with the beautiful mountains of the Southern Alps and crystal clear blue skies and two wins from my friend Mikaela Shiffrin to top it off. This year we first jumped into the heart of the Alps in Austria and then traveled to the western edge of the Alps in Slovenia where were fooled with perfect weather the first day, only to be swamped by fog for the races.

We began our week-long trip in Kössen, Austria where sunny skies and hard snow made for fabulous training. For the time trials we traveled about an hour to the resort of Hintereit, where the Austrians were having a shootout for Topolino, and the Japanese/Russian national teams were training.

We then traveled to Kranj Slovenia where we would stay for the races. As we rode up to Stari Vrh, and above the fog, into crystal clear skies you could feel the freedom and happiness of the place. But, to our disappointment Stari Vrh would never show this side again as the fog rose the next day—right onto our race course.

Because all 190 J4s had to run the course ahead of me, the course at my start number of 6 was the bumpiest one I have ever run. The worst part was, because of the fog, these bumps were impossible to see. After some time I had to accept that I was never going to see these bumps, I just had to know they were going to keep happening until the finish. I crossed the finish line, amazed, with the 6th fastest time.

Luckily the J4s only run a one run GS and so we no longer had to deal with the bumps of the first run. Unfortunately somehow, on the cleaner course I crashed second run, coming out of both of my bindings, landing on my face and flying at unsuspecting skiers outside of the race arena. I actually remember going under the rope, at the side of the course.

The Slalom went by with even less success with the fog even thicker and timing problems. Through these problems my head got turned around and I finished with a disappointing 24th in the first run, only to DNF in the second run as well.

The thing I learned from all of this is never set your mind on how things are going to be, never want the setting of something big to be one way too much. Life has a way of flipping you off. You have to think about whether weather or other problems are big enough to inhibit you from your goal. Good luck to all.

.)) Breezy Johnson

Au Revoir France

2011-02-22T19:55:00.002-07:00

Hey SRD,

It feels like the season has been going by so fast. This past weekend I was racing in Markstein, France. We had 2 SL races. It's a pretty far drive about 6 hours for only 2 races. When we got there it was raining and very foggy but I was still really excited to race.

The first day it was really foggy all day and the snow was really weird. It was like really small death cookies. When I jumped into the trainer course I discovered this the hard way because right at the end I fell over so I was on my side and then my skis hooked back up the hill sending me on my back but I was alright. The first run I had a good run and ending up coming in 13th giving a very good start for the second run. The second run I kept to it and made some SL points. I scored 47 points which I am so excited about because its really hard to score points in Europe in general.

The second day I also made another result and scored 56 points, which now means I have 53 SL points. I guess the drive was worth it.

On another note I have a few days left training in France then I'm coming HOME! I'm very excited to come home but I'm sad to leave but I am looking forward to J2 Nationals. Good Luck SRD in all your races coming up!

.)) Céline Guilmineau

Get in the Swing!

2011-02-22T19:52:00.002-07:00

Much has happened since I've done the last blog. Ive had my first two races and they didn't go as well as I would have liked. In the slalom at Cochrans I got 13 overall. I made some huge mistakes and on that hill there is no room for error.

The next race was a GS at Burke. GS is my best event so I was very excited to do well in this race. The first run I got very late on the bottom but I still got a 8th place run being the fastest first year for that run. on the second run I skied very well but it was straight and so did many other people that run. I got 10th place that run and got 9th overall. I made it to ERS (eastern regional series). In the GS I had a great first run and was tied in 10 with James Ferri from KMS. The second run I was having a great run and all of a sudden I hip checked and had to push back across the hill. I still got around 25th overall.

Right after awards I went the the biggest adventure of my life, heading out to Europe. we had a 9 hour flight and I could'nt sleep at all. I finally fell asleep with 15 minutes left of the ride. GMVS then drove to the place were staying in Austria.

The first day of skiing was great. We had a powder day at Kitzbuhel. I got to ride the second highest gondola in the world. On the last run we got to ski the Hannenkahm (the most famous DH in the world). for the last 3 days we’ve skied at Hintertux and watched Ted Ligety, the Austrian team and the Swiss team.

I've got 4 more days in Europe of GS and then along ride back to Vermont. the next day is my first SuperG race of the season.

.)) Eli Swing

From Kazui

2011-02-19T21:13:00.000-07:00

I have had a busy week so far, having 3 races in 4 days. My first SG race this season was last Friday. I came into the SG event feeling very nervous for two reasons, it was only my second day on the skis this season, and it was my first race back from my injury I had in the state SG last year. I came in 2nd and I was pretty excited about that because SG being my least favorite event, I didn't have a lot of confidence in doing that well.

I had a slalom race 2 days after that at Bromley mountain. The hill was fairly flat and turny and it was a really nice hill for my first SL race back. Even though my ankle was sore, I finished 1st that day and gained even more confidence on my tech events. The next day I had the State SG at Okemo mountain. Very ironically, I went down in the training run and got taken down in a sled once again, the third time this season. WOOHOOO! Two years straight I have unsuccessfuly finished a State SG run. It turns out I had sprained my same ankle, but on different sides. It was red and swollen, but I got back on snow in less than two days.

On Friday I had a SL race at mysterious Willard Mountain. From stories that I hear, lots of crazy stuff goes on at this mountain. This time it was everything a racer could ask for; ruts, ruts, ruts. It had been raining the last couple of days and on the forecast it was suppose to dump rain. But as mysterious as it is, the day turned out to be 60 degrees, clear blue skies. I ran 158th out of 160. And the last two people weren't here so if i'm doing my math correctly, I was selected to go last. I waited about an hour after the boys start due to the many DNF's and DSQ's. By the time I went, the trail was qualified more to be considered a mogul field rather that a race course. I tried to throw a clean run down but no, that didn't happen, actually the exact opposite happened. As embarrassing as this sounds, I fell on the 2nd gate of the course. Yeah you heard... the 2nd gate also being a hairpin.I had to hike myself up while about 2 dozen people watch me. I went further down and then straddled, I would have usually hiked but the hike before just killed me. So then again I started DFL second run, and yes this time the ruts were worse. I started and made it through the first gate and hairpin, but as lucky as I am I straddle the next gate. So I hike and make my way up the hill, the exact same spot where I fell before. That day was a mess and I hope I never have to go through an experience like that ever again.

That race was the last for the qualifiers, so they announced the State team there. I had all first place results but in the tie breaker, my fellow teammate beat me out. I ended up 2nd overall. The Tech State events are next week at Okemo and I hope I make my way into JO's! Peace out.

.)) Kazui Kusumi

Duct Tape Saves the Day!

2011-02-14T01:01:00.002-07:00

Last weekend I had a USCSA race in Winter Park on the same hill as my tech qualifiers will be held on. I have never had a very good race there before so I was ready to put an end to that.

I woke up on Saturday ready for the two run GS race. When I opened the curtains of my hotel room I saw 6-9 in of new snow. When we got up there the course was covered in snow, and it was cold. My first run of GS was really snowy and powdery. The visibility was terrible I couldn’t differ the horizon from the sky. All I could see were gates no snow or terrain. Out of the gate I could tell it wasn’t going to be a good run. As the pitch got steeper I got later. Then on the 10th gate I hit either a rut or a pile of powder, witch launcher me out of my skis and through the panel. So that day was over.

But the next day was slalom. I had been skiing slalom really well in training, so I was pumped. I was starting at 18 which is a good start from the field of 112 people. Once again it snowed a lot. So the start was delayed and I was able to get extra inspections.

My first run was off to a bad start, a course worker was in the course at the third gate. That threw me off my line. Then at the bottom I pole planted on top of my outside ski and in turn I was forced way low and I scrubbed all my speed right before the finish line. I was in 7th over all and 4th for j3s. I was still not too far out and I had a chance if I could pull off a good run. At the start of the second run I realized that the straps of my shin guard had broken off. So the guy ahead of me was in the start and I was trying to find duct tape. Right as he left I found some tape, so I was a bit flustered and distracted but I was ready.

Unfortunately I straddled one of the last gates. So I was out both races. An unsuccessful weekend at Winter Park.

Back at Aspen I had one day of school when Tuesday was a snow day! It was the first snow day in 3 years. So I got together with 4 of my friends so we could hit the slopes for an incredible powder day. It was a great day. The snow was really deep and it just kept dumping on us. By far the best powder day of the year. Every run we took we found some untracked snow. The highlight of the day was near the end when one of my friends and I started to do back flips, it was really fun.

Then today on Thursday the women’s NorAm cup came to Aspen Colorado for the second time this year. This time it is speed. And I was lucky enough to fore run the super combined. In the Super-G part we got to go over Aztec an incredibly steep pitch on the downhill course. The women weren’t allowed to even run over it till a few years ago. The pitch goes from about 5 degrees to 40 degrees in 20 feet. It is very intense. I was fore runner A so I got to go down first. It was the scariest run of my life, and the most fun so far. It was super steep and fast.

It was a great opportunity and was super fun (beats school). I was glad to be across the finish line, safe and not broken. In the after noon was the slalom portion of the day I was exited after having a good Super-G. After inspection could tell the course was my type, long and difficult. So I was ready to rock it. When I came down I could tell I put a good run down, one little bobble but it was nothing big. I hiked up to the timing hut to get my time and laid down a 47.77, I thought it was pretty good. I watched all the best people go (some of them are on the US and Canadian C teams.) To my surprise the fastest time was a 48.38, 6 tenths behind me, and the next after that was a 49.38. so I won a slalom run of a NorAm.

.)) Andrew Hancock

Barounos' Blog

2011-02-14T01:00:00.000-07:00

Following the holiday season the Lowell Whiteman School in Steamboat Springs, CO has been on it's skier schedule. It is really helpful for us student athletes that our teachers are ok with us leaving school early every day to go skiing. They also are very flexible with homework and makeup assignment.

Also, on the skiing side, things are looking great as well. I recently qualified as an automatic entry to J2 Nationals, which I am very excited for!! It begins on March 4th, starting with men's GS and goes through March 11th (I'm not sure what the order of events are).

I would be training hard and preparing for Nationals, but in Steamboat there has been massive amounts of snow. We received over 40 inches of fresh powder in four days! It was also frighteningly cold for about a week long period. But anyway, thank you SRD for all the support this season, and for helping me achieve my goal of making Nationals. I hope everyone there likes my cool SRD speed suit.

.)) Alex Barounos

Céline in Tignes

2011-02-09T11:19:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while since I lasted blog because I've been very busy and been doing a lot of races. I just did about of week of speed in Tignes. Going into it I wasn't too confident because we were only able to train SL. The first day we had a Super-G I went out and the second day a super combined (a super-g and SL) which didn't go very well. But I kept my head up for the downhill training. We had 2 runs in one day and then a post inspection which is nice because you remember exactly what mistakes you made and since you get a look at the course right after you can fix them. After the DHT it was another super combined but with a downhill. In the downhill I placed 36th just missing the cut by about 2 tenths. Then was the SL I had a good solid run making the 16th time of the run and moving me up to 21! Finally we had one last downhill and I placed 35. Overall I think the week went well I made some downhill points and super combined points. I think my downhill points lowered by about 25.

After my week of speed in Tignes I did a SL and GS race in La Plagne which was originally suppose to be in Villard de Lans but because of the lack of snow they got moved. Which I was actually happy about because we just did the drive in the morning and I was able to sleep in my bed. In the SL I had a good first run putting me in 16th but unfortunately my second run I made lots of mistakes and finished 21. In the GS my first run was alright nothing exceptional but i had tied for 27 meaning that I got to go 4th on the 2nd run. The second run I had a good run and had the 12th time of the run and finished 22 overall. I feel like my ski is finally coming together and I just have to put two runs together now.

.)) Céline Guilmineau

Kazui back on the skis!

2011-02-04T21:56:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. About 6 weeks ago I broke my tibia skiing GS at my mountain. But now I went to the doctors the other week and they cleared me on skiing again. I was so stoked when I got back on the hill with all my friends and coaches. I free skied slalom for three days and then went into a GS training plan. Since our team was training SG, I jumped in their course with GS skis and my leg felt great!

The next day I had a double session day were we get to ski a part of the afternoon so you get extra training in. I trained some quality GS gate training with my friend and fellow teammate Dylan Bibeau (Coming off a leg injury that kept him off snow for about a month). This was very helpful and helped me get a feel for my skis again.

In two days I entered my first race of the season. It was at Mount Snow and it was a fairly flat and easy pitch. I came down in 2nd place overall behind my teammate. My coaches wanted me to ski at a respectable pace were I can just get good results to get myself into states. But somewhere in my brain my adrenaline made me pumped up and ready to go. But my coaches were right that right now the only important thing for me to do was to finish and not worrying about winning.

I gotta give it to the winner of that race Finn McNamara who put down two slaying runs. In the beginning I was pretty bumbed that I didn't win, but in the end I did get three results and for the least part, my own teammate and friend beat me which made it seem a little less dramatic. I just trained slalom gates for the first time today and it felt pretty good. I got to work on some technical stuff that will help me improve on my GS too. I have a SG race coming up this friday at Stratton and a slalom race at Willard Mountian the next day. Keep the blog updated for results later!

.)) Kazui Kusumi

"Finish Line Syndrome"

2011-02-03T17:56:00.003-07:00

Last weekend was our fist JO qualifier. It was two days of GS held at Park City. You cannot ask for better race conditions then we had. There was a firm surface and blue skies above. On the fist day, I had two solid runs landing me a second place.

Unfortunately, the next day, I was having a phenomenal run but missed a gate only three gates from the finish. My coach called it “finish line syndrome”. I had my eyes on the finish line and almost forgot to turn.

I have only a week of training before I load the van again, this time back to Jackson Hole for my slalom JO qualifiers.

.)) Molly Leavens