After a cracking week of GS in Moelltall, and a weekend off snow, lifting weights and tuning skis in Zell, TJ and I headed for some speed training in Pitztal. Normally I dread Pitztal in November because it is often insanely cold but not this year! It has been ridiculously warm in Austria, 20 degrees C in Zell in November is pretty rare! So heading to Pitztal was one of the very few options and it definitely wasn’t cold there either.
It was however dumping snow and very, very windy meaning the top gondola couldn’t open the first day leaving us free skiing on the lower lifts. The next few days got progressively better with the snow firming up and us getting some fantastic super-g and downhill training. With there being very few teams there we were able to get a super-g or downhill course to the two of us! Not often you get that kind of training!
We are back to Pitztal for a few more days training next week before we head to Canada for the world cups. Already lots of snow over there! Can’t wait!
Looking up to the training hill from the top of the train. The shadow never really disappears
on the bottom steep because it really is super steep!
Slightly sketchy squat rack!
Posted in Training.
The day after my race day I flew straight out to Austria to train. As there is no snow in most resorts it was back to the glaciers! We headed for Moelltall, a smaller glacier in the south of Austria. Conditions were perfect!
We trained 5 days of GS on good solid snow on a steady, not too steep slope. It was great training, ideal for making good technical changes and progress.
The training hill.
One of the many Moelltall lakes.
The new ski room in Zell, loaded up!
Posted in Training.
Ah Pitztal! Every October we go to Pitztal it seems and it is always tough! No change this year!
First day we had GS and it was baking hot, meaning the snow had melted a lot, then frozen solid and it was seriously bumpy! It was totally different conditions to what we had in Chile and it gave me a shock as I rattled my way down the first day! It was one of those days when its probably advisable not to watch video!
So imagine my confidence when told that TJ and I would be skiing super-g the following day with the Austrian world cup team…
Our head coach Mike assured us it was probably the best speed training in the world! A big call! But it turned out to be great! I started to ski more like I can and find my guts and go for it down the steep icy hill.
We managed to get four days of good but difficult training in the first week before the weather came in and dumped snow. It started pouring rain down in the valley and hammering the hill with much needed snow.
With conditions awful on the hill I decided to go to the head factory and get some new boots made. What a place! It really is impressive with countless technicians working away on the skis and a ridiculous number of race skis!
The second week of the camp was very different conditions, the resort had gone from one piste being open to the whole lot in a matter of days. It had gone from summer to winter in 4 days!
We skied a lot of GS in soft bumpy conditions and finished off with a day of slalom! My first in a while! It was a lot of fun and much neater and faster than I expected!
Posted in Uncategorized.
