Somewhere, over tha Atlantic...

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