All good things must come to an end...

Our few days on Lane 14 are over... Back to slalom for what may only be 1 more day of skiing - fingers crossed we can hit some powder from the system moving in on Thursday night.

Top of Lane 14

Similar to the last few days we have been using lane 14 for GS - nothing changed today. Lane 14 has a fairly significant pitch that is about 8-10 gates long through the transition onto the flats. It has a sidehill that pulls to the left making the left footers slightly difficult. This was excellent for our group to negotiate because often you see athletes strong off their dominant foot and slightly weaker on their non-dominant side. For all the athletes here that would be their left. And they were tested.

JP and I are VERY happy with how the athletes have been progressing. They have had very long mornings with a ton of mileage. This has been very productive and they are all improving nicely. Not surprising in GS considering we struggled to train on good terrain or on good snow consistently last season.

The U16 Gang at the top of the SG track in ElColorado

Tomorrow we are heading back into SL. Eric Prefontaine is here because all of Quebec Elite are currently here. Estrie FIS & U16, Skibec FIS & U16, DLS FIS and NCO FIS & U16. We have a fun showdown planned for tomorrow in the flatter lane on 16 - where we will do a panelled dual slalom and have two full slalom gate sets that shadow each other on the bottom of the run. We will have some timing setup in one course for those who are interested and or they can battle it out head to head as the courses will be mirrored. I'm really looking forward to seeing the gang back on slalom skis after having been on GS for the last 4 days.

The view inside the snow cave

The view outside the cave. :)

I am very proud of the gang, we have taken no days off and tomorrow will be day 11 for most of them. This is definitely a testament to their ability to recover, thanks to their training regiments before attending the camp. Also, my ability to recover (or to just push through to keep up with them).  The coaches were chatting at the end of the day meeting tonight and we calculated that the athletes glide approximately 70-85km/day on their skis (uphill & downhill). That is an outrageous amount of mileage. Not comparable anywhere else we will ski this season.

Because the athletes skied so well the last few days in the afternoon today we explored the mountain again and went to the furthest point of ElColorado which is very close to both Valle Nevado and La Parva. They skied in some bumps on some really steep terrain as well as ripping down the SuperG track after the FIS athletes were finished their morning training.

I was talking with my mom on skype last night and she asked me a question that I did not have the answer to. She asked me if I thought the athletes were excited to be going home. My original logic was -- I have left my dog, my friends, my routine (food and exercise), football (the other love of my life) back at home. So I can safely say I miss home. I went up the T-Bar with each of the athletes today and asked them if they missed home: And despite the food being very eclectic, our living quarters being very small with minimal personal space, everything is uphill, Oxygen is limited, heat is also fairly minimal and I tire them out physically and mentally all day- They all said that if they had the option to stay longer they would. Kids!

After skiing today the U16s went on a trail hike for some photo opportunities. I think they were pretty successful:

Photo Credits: Mike Power

The journey continues for a few more days. I am very impressed with the facilities, the training and the terrain available. The camp has been very successful - I am looking forward to a return :D

Change is a process - find the positive in everything!