My ski is much longer than me... It even looks taller than the mountains!
Early morning chairlift ride...
1st pitch on the downhill course... its so steep you cant even see most of the ground after the drop off.... Inspecting with Rip from Park City Team.
Fancy little stool..
The French Have Arrived! My first downhill run... Today was my first down hill training. I either wanted to cry, or just get it over with, I wasn't quite sure. Getting a quick look at the course from inspection, i got the butterflies beyond belief. But its really neat to be at the top of the course and see the peaks of the mountains above the clouds, then when your at the bottom you see only the bottom half of the mountains under the clouds. And its not even that long of a run... which just goes to show how steep it is. I was working on keeping a tight line, the shortest line threw the gates, and positioning myself into a good tuck to cut off some extra time. I used to find myself gazing off when i'm supposed to be listening but when your coaches tell you to make "no sudden movements" then you ask why and they say "because it could kill you"..... you tend to pay attention a little more closely. Although a scary, but exciting experience, i learned a lot and i cant wait for tomarrow. Downhill might just be my new favorite event.. :)
In the start gate...
Warming hut at the start gate..
Teddy woof and Golby came with us...
1st ever downhill race was a big step forward for me. I needed good points for this race to make it to next years World Cups in Europe. And so far with my point average, from this race, i'll make it. I was able to train for 2 days on the same hill and same coarse which helped alot in helping me understand the rules and technique. Racing down hill is a little different then tech events like Slalom and GS. Its alot longer turns.. and fewer turns. you need to be relaxed and dynamic to finish it. There are two runs but each run is a seperate race. So u can average those two runs and get a final race result. Usually you have two runs but you combine the times and its one race result. But since down hill is a tough race to compete in and to prep for, they make it all in one day. My first race run was the best i had all week. But the second...... At one point seeing red blurs representing gates fly by me at about 45 miles an hour...then the next seeing white... and trouble breathing........ To be continued...
