Return to Snow

It's good to be back! Last week I got back on snow for the first time since injuring my knee in March. I am used to a return-to-snow program that begins with multiple drill sets before gradually progressing to more dynamic turns and eventually gates, and while I was careful to make sure I had my feet underneath me, I had no choice but to partake in the 97 inches that fell on the mountain during my time at Alyeska. This meant getting my balance back by dropping chutes and searching for powder stashes tucked away in the trees. I had a great time skiing with friends and family, and I can't wait to get back out on snow; maybe next time in a more controlled environment.

During my visit home Kieffer, my little brother, and I were asked to speak with the Alyeska Ski Club junior program. The athletes were gearing up for the annual year-end USSA race, The Coca-Cola Classic, so we shared a few tips about preparing for race day and dealing with success/failure. It's great to see the future of Alaska ski racing up close, and it was even better to watch them rip some slalom the next day during the races.

One of my favorite parts about growing up racing in AK was having so many great ski racers that I could lay claim to: Tommy Moe, Hilary Lindh, Megan Gerety, Mike Makar, Kjersti Bjorn-Roli, Andre and Suki Horton. I was pretty sure that since we came from the same place, I basically destined to be equally as accomplished (my first Junior Olympics proved to be an serious wakeup call). While Kieffer and I don't pretend to be in the same company as an Olympic or World Championship gold medalist, we wanted to make sure the kids knew that even though AK can sometimes seem like a far off and distant land, in the end it's just a matter of getting from point 'a' to point 'b', and that the fastest person can come from anywhere.

Here are some shots from our talk, it was a fun group of kids. Happy New Year!

Alpine Athlete Rep Election-Success!

Today I was informed that I was elected the Alpine Althlete Rep to the USSA Board of Directors. I am humbled that the athletes chose me as their voice in the board room, and I look forward to listening, learning, and communicating to the BoD the areas most in need of change in U.S. skiing.

The process was more drawn out and draining than I thought it would be, but the support that I got from fellow racers, other skiers, family, and friends was unbelievable and I would do again in a second given the opportunity. One of the best shout outs I got throughout the process came from fellow ITA athlete, teenage girl heartthrob, and nordic badass Sylvan Ellefson who texted me from Finland (i.e. he spent money to call me, and it was a long ass text) to tell me how pumped he was that I was choosing to run for the Alpine Rep position. Sylvan and I have very similar career path getting to the World Cup circuit, and it was really cool to have my phone buzz and see that he fully supported the ideas that I was running on.

The cross-sport cheerleading that goes on within ITA is authentic and it means a lot. The ITA roster is not just a list of accomplished athletes, it's a group of athletes who care about the community they are a part of and genuinely want the best for each other. The pursuit of excellence in sports can be a pretty lonely road, and if you're not going to the ESPY's or at the OTC, it's pretty unlikely that connections like this will be made. Add it to the list why this is the coolest non-profit to work with. I mean, who doesn't want to get a text message from McDreamy?

A First

Yesterday was a first for American ski racing: I was able to watch the Beaver Creek World Cup live on television. Not online through some shady website pulling in a live feed of Eurosport, not through universalsports.com's season pass access, but on an actual television on an actual channel when it was actually happening, all in the USA.

This is a big deal. One of the most common questions I get when I am working with kids on an ITA project is how people can watch me. Specifically, what channel. It can be a bit hard to explain the significance of the sport to someone who is used to every other relevant sport being available at any time on almost every channel. Directing someone to a pay-per-view or a European gambling site doesn't exactly grow a viewer base, so just the ability to know that someone might actually stumble upon ski racing yesterday is comforting. I would have done just about anything to have been on the other side of the lens yesterday, but standing and screaming at the television made me feel a  lot closer to the sport than I have in the last couple of months. Let's hope this type of thing continues.

Where's Nate Silver When We Need Him?

Last week, the election for Alpine athlete representative to the USSA Board of Directors got underway. Since declaring on this site that I was running for the position, the election for the seat has gotten a few nods from the ski blogs and the ski community at large. Hard Snow Life was the first blog to add its two cents into the discussion, followed by an Op-Ed on Alpine Press by former NCAA Champion, Dartmouth grad, and ex-World Cup skier Roger "Primetime" Brown. I also started a Facebook fan page to help communicate why I am running and provide an arena to demonstrate support for these ideas. The response has exceeded my wildest expectations. It's great to see that fellow athletes and friends are equally passionate about solving these issues, and humbling that they think I might be useful in this cause.

Not to be left out, the incumbent, Scott Macartney, also responded with his own stump speech about his decision to run for re-election. All in all, it's been a crazy two weeks.

I've been getting text or FB messages from some voters who said that they were endorsing my candidacy, but other than that I haven't seen any actual election results. The voting period runs until December 14th. This seems a bit long when you consider that only 145 athletes or so are eligible to vote (eligible voters include finishers in the top half of any US Nationals event in the last two years, those nominated to the USST in the last two years, and those nominated to a World Championships or OWG in the last ten years). Add in the fact that the voting is done via email, and it should be a relatively quick process. With the next board meeting in May, it's not mission critical that the votes get tallied immediately, but it's frustrating to have to wait over 4 weeks to find out the results of an election. (I hate waiting.)

I feel comfortable saying the decision to run has generated some more critical thinking about what needs to be done to better align the USSA/USST with the talent pool and resources that exists in United States alpine skiing. Like other sports,  alpine skiing requires a lifetime commitment in order to excel at the highest levels. But unlike other sports, alpine skiing requires a massive financial commitment,  forcing those involved with the sport on all levels to believe in the governing body's development structure, or at the very least accept it. The decisions from the USSA and USST have a direct effect on the livelihood and careers of these athletes, whether it's to raise the head tax on a USSA race or to lower the maximum age of B Team athletes. With a seat on the Board, the athlete representative has the unique opportunity to communicate to the powers that be exactly what is going on at the ground level, to explain the effects of decisions made in the past, and to provide context to ideas for success going forward. People in the ski community recognize this importance, and I believe this is the reason why the election has generated the response that it has.

I'll let you know what shakes out on the other side. I hope people are enjoying a great beginning to the ski season!

A Very Important Election

Obama and Romney got nothing on this. Earlier this month I got a blast email from the USSA informing me that the alpine athlete representative for their Board of Directors, and by extension the USSA's Athlete's Council, is up for election. After speaking with the current athlete rep, Scott Macartney, about the role in detail, I decided that this was an opportunity to directly communicate with my sport's national governing body I could not pass up.

I want to work with the USSA/USST to develop a more viable pathway for U.S. skiers who choose to ski at the collegiate level, not as an exit from our sport, but as a breeding ground towards a professional, World Cup-level ski racing career.

After submitting my application this afternoon I learned who would be voting for this nomination. It's a select voting pool – athletes/alumni as defined by the USOC having participated in an Olympic or World Championship competition within the last 10 years and they broadened the athlete definition to include the top 50% of the athletes who competed in the national championships within the last 24 months – making it fewer than 200 people in the sport of alpine.

As someone who spent a fair amount of time working in DC during summers to help fund my skiing, I learned a few things about elections. Chief among them, figure out who can vote for you before crafting a stance on an issue, not after. My DC employer would have flogged me for this. However, I am far less concerned about locking up the the undecided-single-female-Ohio vote than making sure I communicate why I believe this issue is so important to our sport. It felt good to write.

I have full confidence that there are plenty of capable candidates for this position, and each person will bring a different view of what changes would best benefit ski racers today (Scott indicated that he is actually running for re-election, and he couldn't have been more of a gentleman encouraging me to run). Competing full-time after college is something that I feel uniquely qualified to speak on, and is a growing trend in our sport; at least 14 athletes, men and women, competed in a World Cup in the last calendar year AND went to college before they got their first start. Many of these starts went to athletes from other countries. The USSA/USST needs to capitalize on this critical mass of skiers who are developing outside of the traditional European-based model of ski racer development, and use the multitude of college budgets and available training grounds of the 26 or so D-I programs to our advantage. Below is my nomination form which basically says the same in thing in a little greater detail. Elections are on November 12th, we'll see what happens!

Sölden

A week from today the Alpine World Cup season kicks off in Sölden, Austria. The opening weekend is always a festive one. I've trained a lot in the Ötz valley, and the days leading up to their date with the World Cup build like a crescendo with more media and sponsorship tents arriving every day leading up to the weekend.

This year the race is especially interesting because of the new rules mandating longer and skinnier skis for the athletes. It hasn't been since the mid 90s that people competed on skis with this long of a radius, and it has been an issue that has dominated discussion since the rule change was announce this time last year. But no amount of athlete protesting has changed the rules, and next week we will find if the changes will benefit a new type of skier, or if the best will maintain their spot at the top.

Here are a couple of pics to tide you and me over until the race. Viewing is available for Universal Sports on TV or online. Words cannot express how much I'd like to be over there gearing up for competition, but since that's not in the cards it's time to bring out the bullhorns and root for the USofA! Rip it up ladies and gents, I'll be screaming at you through my computer screen!

A look up the hill from the race finish last year. 

Coming off The Pitch and into the finish makes for a tiring run.

The USST yesterday after a training sesh on the hill. Fire it up!

Progress Report, Sponsorship Envy

Heading back to Vail for my 12-week post-op trip to the doctor’s office was a little bittersweet, as I could feel the early beginnings of the fall season in the mountains. The fall is always a great time to be in ski country, as each passing day brings a greater chance of the first snow. Knowing that I'll be missing any early tracks this fall bummed me out, but the mood quickly passed. I try to never dwell on things out of my control. Instead, I focused on getting my newest slate of rehab exercises from Thomas at Howard Head and continuing the healing process.

I was pleased to learn from my fitness testing that my recovering quad, while still measuring slightly smaller, is within 5% max strength of my non-recovering quad, as is my hamstring and hip flexors. I need to work on my gluteal, so I‘ll be doing one-legged butt blaster exercises to get my posterior nice and firm. 

This is the time in my recovery process when I can really start to focus on building muscle in a controlled situation, as the ligaments are structurally sound enough to withstand most non-lateral movement. If things go well then I will be cleared to ski in 12 more weeks, so hopefully rehab continues on its positive arc.

Finally, the hands down best place to eat in Vail is the Westside Cafe in West Vail. With a 24-hour breakfast menu serving the best huevos rancheros in the valley, it is a frequent post-training eating establishment for the ski racing community. Between double sessions of rehab I met up with my head coach, Peter Lange, to catch up on how things were going on both ends. This time, while waiting for a table, I happened to look over and see hanging on the wall a picture of ITA’s very own Sylvan Ellefson! Apparently Nordic skiers need to be fed too.

Almost every athlete at some time in his career has experienced some form of sponsorship envy and I’m no different, but this was different. I couldn't help picturing how sweet it must be to be hooked up by a restaurant, and a good one at that. Sylvan probably gets extra everything on his breakfast order. It probably comes out in 5 minutes or less. I bet the cooks come out to say hi. Maybe he even eats in the kitchen......there I go again. In all seriousness, it was very cool to see another ITA athlete getting support for what he/she is doing, and especially to Sylvan after working out with him last fall at Ski Club Vail, getting to know him, and then keeping in touch throughout the season as we both broke onto the World Cup scene. Must be the breakfast.

Moab!

Last week I had a little R&R in Moab, Utah before a wedding in Park City. It was great to get back to a place I haven't been since high school and to remember how amazing the scenery is. Here are a couple of shots from the trip.

View of the Green River in Canyonlands National Park

A quick look down before heading to the top of the mountain

Pride Rock!

A better view from the top

A little trip to The Windows in Arches National Park

A stop at In-N-Out for a great re-entry back into society. Double-double, fries, all animal style!

Olympic Awesomeness

For the first time in my life I watched the Summer Olympics. Not because I don't like the Summer Games, but because I've always been skiing in the summer hemisphere during this time of the year. In 2008 was able to catch the amazing men's 4x100 relay final while boarding a plane to Chile, but other than that I've never really absorbed the Games while training in other countries. In 2004 I was in New Zealand, and only saw events that New Zealand competed in. This meant I watched a ton of women's riflery and men's field hockey, and without wanting to disparage the hard work those athletes put in, I wasn't as enthusiastic about the games as I could have been. So this year, not heading down South for skiing any time soon, I got the chance to really watch the Olympics.

It was awesome. I was a total technology shutout for the last two weeks, meaning that every night I sat down at 8pm to watch Bob Costas bring me the highlights from the day. Every morning I would allow myself a trip to ESPN.com, but never after 10am as the events would begin unfolding across the pond. Maybe my favorite article about the Olympics was from Bill Simmons, in which he gave his account of Super Saturday, and described what it was like to witness Jessica Ennis win the heptathlon and secure a gold medal for the home team:

"In the last few months, I was fortunate enough to witness a Stanley Cup clincher, an NBA title clincher and a Super Bowl–clinching comeback — actually, that last one was unlucky (for me), but whatever — and this was louder than any of those events. Eighty thousand people crammed into one of those old-school, Rose Bowl–type stadiums, with just about everyone pulling for one person. After the race started, Ennis jogged by our side and my section basically morphed into one deafening "COMEONJESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!""

Reading that send chills up my spine, because it relays the type of atmosphere that can't be captured on the best HDTV in the world. What I saw on TV was pretty damn amazing but to be there must have been incredible. For myself, watching these Olympics couldn't have come at a better time. I loved every second of watching the Games and the experience gave me a huge shot of passion to heal up and get back to 100%.

Finally, a HUGE shootout the ITA athletes competed these last two weeks, Kristin Hedstrom, Sarah Groff, and Lea Davison. I caught two of you on TV, it way to show up! 

How to Make Rehab Sound Cool, If Not Totally Awesome

I thought I was dumbbell curl-to-pressing padded orange weights, until I realized that I was performing an Upper Extremity Workout on an Unstable Surface!

This past week I got on a plane and headed to Vail to see Dr. Millet for my 6-week post-op checkup. It was a bit of a pain as a) I am currently in Boston b) the trip isn't cheap, and c) regardless of money, Vail is kind of a haul just to be making 48-hour trips to slap hands with a doc and do some physical therapy. On the other hand, the cost is (almost) a drop in the bucket when factoring in the other surgery expenses, and both the doctor and the adjoining rehab department, Howard Head, really are that good.

First things first, my knee is doing great. I had some swelling fluid aspirated from the knee, but the analysis came back negative and it was only a product of not getting quite enough ice on it in the summer heat. The mobility and strength of the leg are sound. Second, I can finally engage in activities that activate my quad, such as biking with two legs, walking up and down stairs normally, and everything else that people (myself included) take for granted when they are healthy. I was so happy to be biking on the stationary bike and get my first real aerobic exercise in 4 months that almost got something in both my eyes and started misting up. I also broke out into a huge sweat and needed a towel to wipe down myself and the equipment after 20 minutes. Awesome!

But the really special part of the trip was leveraging my iPad's picture and video capabilities to record the next 6 weeks of my rehab exercises, narrated by Howard Head's Super Rehabilitator Thomas Olson. Thomas has seen me through some if not most of my rehab since the NASTAR Nosedive, and we have developed a good repoire. It so happened that I was showing him a picture from my photo gallery when we were planning the next 6 weeks of therapy, when we realized it would probably be best to capture the exercises on picture and video instead of typing out an explanation.

Thomas is very technical, which is great when I am so limited in mobility because it makes everything I do sound really intense. Here's a clip to show you what I'm talking about. This hurt like hell by the way!

I would have totally butchered doing this drill correctly in about 2 weeks time, and definitely wouldn't have felt as cool if I couldn't remember that not only was I lifting a 6 lb medicine ball above my head, I was doing a progression of an isometric lunge hold. All kidding aside, the 20 or so videos I have with me now are hugely helpful. I'm looking forward to working on these progressions until I head back to Vail for my 12-week checkup...who knows what kind of crazy stuff I'll be into by then!

Until then I'm gonna get stronger and watch the Summer Olympics and follow the training/racing in New Zealand. Go USA! GO ITA!!!

Cannonball!

You know that scene in Caddyshack when the caddies storm the gates of the swimming pool at the Bushwood Country Club for their 30 minutes per week of open swim? Almost every weekday afternoon at around 3pm you can watch it played out in real life at the community pool in Cambridge, Mass. About a 15 minute walk from the youth center, the Veterans Memorial Wading and Swimming Pool is constantly overrun by the 30 kids attending the Willis Moore Youth Center summer sports camp. While things usually settle down after about 15 minutes, no trip is truly complete without an exhaustive attempt at the perfect cannonball. As someone who is (supposedly) responsible for the kids I used to try to make sure that the other pool users were forewarned, but it's a lot funnier to watch the bystander's expressions the exact moment when he or she realizes their goal of wading in the pool without getting their hair wet is nothing but a pipe dream.

With this in mind, I'd like to present a formal analysis from last Friday's highlight reel showcasing a range of techniques that have been championed thus far:



Exhibit A: The Butt Drop

Maximum radial coverage, effective with more mass.

Exhibit B: The Face Plant

May induce temporary discomfort, but allows for permanent bragging rights

Exhibit C: The 80lb Cannonball

Showing classic form with knees up to one's neck, this method is especially effective in stealth mode

Exhibit D: The Tag Team

Brutally devastating, requires a high degree of coordination and used only in extreme circumstances. Bystanders truly have no defense.

Exhibit E: The Backscratcher

Because somewhere out there it's snowing, and it never hurts to practice!

I'm heading to the doctor in a little over a week for my 6 week checkup. So far things have been progressing very well, and I'm looking forward to graduating to a more intense rehab after getting my clean bill of health. Until then I'll be critiquing the many types of cannonballs performed by the able-bodied. Here's to summer weather and glacier skiing!

Sports Camp

Team Flash

While healing up from knee surgery, sitting around and staring at my knee was not an option. Last week I hooked up with the Willis Moore Youth Center and began volunteering at their summer sports camp. Armed with a coaches whistle and a set of crutches, I went Patches O'Houlihan on the 30 middle school kids, coaching them in my disabled state from the sidelines.

Each week the camp focusses on a new sport. Last week was basketball, next is football, and then we move to 4 other sports before moving back to football and basketball. It's clear that we started off with the group's most popular sport. On Friday I found myself way over my head talking with a thirteen year-old about the NBA draft the night before, specifically why Jared Sullinger may or may not be a good fit for the Celtics next year, and how far the Pistons are going to go with their new influx of talent.

Game Time!

Simon, an on-duty local police officer on a community engagement assignment, and I were paired together to coach one of the three teams. We are in charge of running practices and scrimmages against the other two teams each day, with everything building up to championship game on Fridays. This week we had a great group of 10 quick but undersized (save for about 3 kids, just about anyone can be considered undersized) kids who were excited to take home the title. Named Team Flash, we had moments of brilliance throughout the week but came in ranked the 3rd seed (out of 3 teams) for Championship Friday. This meant we had to win the play-in game versus Black Magic in order to play the super favorites The Rejects. After being down only two points at halftime, we let the game get away from us and Black Magic proved too much for Team Flash. In some form of consolation, Black Magic was able to upset The Rejects in the title game, proving that their black magic was too much for anyone that day. The Rejects were also missing their "big" man due to a family road trip....ah, the drama of middle school competition.

Simon and I blame ourselves for not advancing Team Flash further in the title bracket. While the loss was tough to stomach for everyone (some kids got a little emotional after the games) next week brings new promise with a different pairing of coaches and a shuffled set of kids. If you have any ideas feel free to send them in!

Instituting the triangle office

We need you to be BIG inside the paint!

Refusing to cry, even in defeat

Surgery Update: Success

Double peace signs pre-sugery, post-drugs

First, and most importantly: congrats to all the ITA baller athletes who are qualifying for London. We get internal emails within the group about milestone accomplishments, and they are coming fast and furious at the moment. The newest Olympic entry goes to Lea Davison, WOOHOO!!!! It's pretty sweet and very motivating to read about the success ITA athletes are having. Keep it up!

Now, for the update.

I'm getting good at surgery. This being my fourth trip under the knife and second in three months, I had few questions heading into Wednesday's procedure. I got into DEN 12:30 the night before, and arrived at the Vail Valley Surgery Center at 8am on a little more than 4 hours of sleep. I was first up on doctor's surgery to-do list, and by 8:24am I was in a gown, my leg was shaved, and I had an IV in. My only issue was that I was insanely hungry. Flight delays and pre-surgery food restrictions after midnight meant that I hadn't eaten anything substantial since 2pm the day before, so I was happy to see the process moving along so quickly.

Things continued to go quickly, efficiently, and without much ceremony. Each doctor/nurse/hospital person I dealt with would begin with "I see that you've done this plenty of times before so you know what's going to happen. Any questions?" I even knew some of the people from last time! I'm still a huge chicken shit about needles, but even that wasn't too bad. The IV was almost worse than the enormous needle that went into my hip for the nerve block (I was already half under at that time, otherwise I would have fainted. Again.). By 11:30 the surgery was complete, I was back in reality, and spent the rest of the day eating, resting, and taking a ride on the Grade A IV-induced no pain train.

Post-op, things have been great. The team at Howard Head Physical Therapy has done an amazing job getting the swelling out of the knee in a short time, allowing me to regain control of my quad muscle and limit the amount of atrophy. I think the relaxed and positive attitude that I took toward this procedure has contributed to the progress as well. I didn't dwell on the fact that I was getting operated on in June, and instead just went in, got fixed, and am continuing to heal. My rehab schedule is still unbelievably slow (not much for the first 6 weeks), but I've never had such high range of motion without pain before. Things are definitely going in the right direction and it's great to be on the road to a full recovery.

I'm looking towards a productive and fun summer, even if I won't be in Zermatt, Chile, New Zealand, or anywhere else my summer schedule usually takes me. The prep nurse shaving my leg recommended shaving both legs for the whole summer "so I won't look so funny", but we'll see. Thanks for all the support from everyone, so far so good!

Bring on the Next One!

FIS forms and rehab schedules...all part of the road to recovery

I finally have a date set for my (hopefully) last surgery. Dr. Millett remarked in my meeting last week that the bone tunnels have filled in quicker than expected and that I am recovery ahead of schedule. I had hoped that my extensive experience in the post-surgery healing department might speed up the process, and he confirmed this by saying my diet and rest schedule probably had a lot to do with my recovery....well aren't I a model patient!

This next/last surgery, scheduled for June 13th, will give me an ACL. I have been without one the past 10 weeks and would very much like to have back in my life. Looking at my leg right now, the quad muscle has stayed relatively strong, I'm walking around and biking like a normal person, even the hairs on my legs have grown back from the first surgery leg shave. It's a little bit of a bummer that I'll be going under the knife so deep into shorts season, but I couldn't be happier to know the date of this procedure as it provides a much better view of my healing schedule going forward.

Hoping for a good surgery and a fast recovery!

Racer Chicks

As it has been hopefully well documented, competing at the highest level in ski racing without the support of the national governing body can be challenging. Athletes put in this position compete not only on the slopes but off, as they are forced to raise funds, budget, schedule effective training blocks, prepare physically, manage a race schedule and coordinate intents with the USST, and of course perform on the race hill, all on their own.

Last week newly crowned ex-US Teamers Hailey Duke, Megan McJames, and NCAA standout Katie Hartman joined forces to create an elite female training group with Aspen Valley Ski Club. Hailey and Megan competed on the World Cup circuit last season while Katie finished up her collegiate career with CU. I spoke with Katie a little bit between runs at US Nationals about her decision to dive in headfirst to the world of post-collegiate skiing, and while she didn’t have all of the details worked out at the time she was certainly sure about wanting to build off of her collegiate career and continue racing. Hailey also mentioned at the Mammoth Invitation that something like this might be in the works, and while she and Megan are coming from the other end of spectrum of being told ‘no’ by the Ski Team after so many years of ‘yes’, I was impressed that her passion to compete was still as high as ever.

From someone already camped out in the trenches, I hope their group kicks ass this year and wish them the best of luck. I am willing to bet that their view of ski racing will be a little different by the end of the season, for better or worse. I can promise logistical issues and hopefully not too many funding problems, but all these issues pale in comparison to the goal. As in the rest of life, the journey is just as important as the destination. Like when someone borrows your car, treats it like a rally mobile, blogs about it, and even when you think everything has been put back it turns out the car needs its second alignment in 5,000 miles (yes Warner, that just happened). So much to look forward to!

 You can “Like” their Facebook page here.

POC does OBX

POC has a great trip each spring to Outer Banks for a little sun, surf, and sail. The guest list is a wide group of those from the ski and action sports community, from POC athletes to regional and national reps of various companies to the director and instructors from the Aspen ski school. Some of the world's best kitesurfers were on hand as well, probably to make sure that none of the winter athletes in the group actually thought they were good at getting out on the surf. A couple of base jumpers were on hand well, rounding out the motley crew. I was lucky enough to get down there for a couple of days, and although the knee prevented me getting onto any kiteboards, I was able to do a bunch of swimming and some saltwater rehab. This is the last of my end-of-season trips, but maybe the best. Thanks to Willie Ford and Jarka Duba for making this happen, I now have another reason to rehab so I can get out on a kite!

Day at the beach

GoPro/POC skydiving event at REAL Watersports

A little live blues at REAL Watersports pre-skydivers

Pro Snowboarder and his one-year old Bali, rocking outfits at the "8 bucks or less from the souvenir store" costume party

Pic with Erin Sullivan, former POC rep and the woman behind this trip

Another sunset kite session

A Mammoth Rehab

Glen Plake!

It's been 4 weeks since my first knee surgery, and today I am beginning a two-week process to phase off of crutches. It's going to take a considerable amount of self control not to ditch the "sticks" all together and attempt to walk unassisted today, but I've been told numerous times by my doctor and by my physical therapists what a bad idea that would be and to keep the healing aspect of the rehab schedule in the forefront of my thoughts.

I have still been able to participate in some fun and meaningful end-of-season activities, crutches or not. I spent last weekend at the Mammoth Invitational, a fundraiser that supports underserved students and athletes in the local area (Mammoth Mountain Community Foundation) and top alpine skiers nationwide with disability protection (World Cup Dreams Foundation). The event is 3 days long, with professional skiers leading small groups of supporters, many of whom have kids ski areas or just wanted to have a great time. Activities ranged from a biathlon to a paneled slalom alpine race to Bavarian night to Monte Carlo night. I clearly wasn't skiing during this time so once again I found myself in the timing booth as the announcer, and brought each racer in to the finish line.

The atmosphere at the event was fun and laid back, but the list of (other) coaches the Invitational assembled was nothing short of impressive: Daron Rahlves, Kristian Ghedina, Christian Deville, Mike Janyk, Will Brandenburg, Scott Macartney, Glen Plake, Sherry McConkey, the list of great skiers went on and on. Some of the teams assembled costumes for each event, both on the hill and at night, adding to the festive atmosphere. On the last day, the Invitational assembled a "Heroes and Kids" autograph signing session for the kids, complete with pizza, ice cream, and jelly bean soda. It wasn't the most nutritional meal I've ever seen, but there was no doubt to how much fun the kids had.

The event was a huge success, the Invitational raised a bunch of money for the community and for World Cup Dreams Foundation. I felt lucky to help out the ski community and also see some of my best friends in the ski world at the same time. It was great to reconnect with so many people after ending this ski season on such a sour note. The support was encouraging, and it made me want to get right back out on the slopes. To make that final step takes a lot off little ones, so for now, I'll focus on phasing off the crutches.

My next doc apt is in 4 more weeks, at which point I will find out how quickly I can get the next surgery to put in an ACL. Fingers crossed it's soon!

Autograph signing at "Heroes and Kids"

Will Brandenburg signing autographs by day...

Will Brandenburg (left) rocking a one-piece sequin suit by night. Some of us had more fashion forward teams than others.  Also pictured, myself and other Dream Team member Adam Cole on Monte Carlo night.

Life on the Mend

Mending broken things is totally in right now. Since walking through the doors of Vail Valley Clinic a little over a week ago, I either rehabbed next to, talked with, or slapped hands with probably half of the my friends from the race world. The Steadman Clinic is the collision repair shop of elite skiers, and right now things are booked solid. Resi Steigler, Chelsea Marshall, Colby Grandstrom, Andrew Weibrecht, Tommy Biesemeyer, Nolan Kasper, Robby Kelley, Keith Moffat were all on hand to either have something repaired or to discus something in the near future. Even the therapists at Howard Head were surprised, I don't think any of them will have their kids ski race.

My surgery went as well as it could. In post-op Dr. Millett told me that he wanted to fit everything into one surgery, but it just wasn't possible. The tunnels made by the anchor points of the old ACL were too wide (a new ACL graph is smaller than a healthy one) and the re-(re-)tear rate would be too high to put one in now or drill new tunnels. He was however able to repair the MCL, perform a micro-fracture on the tibia plateau, remove two loose pieces of tibia found above the knee cap, flap back down a big piece of meniscus and sew it up, remove the torn ACL, take out the old screws and bone graph the tunnels (re: fill them up with bone dust and seal off), so it's not like he wasn't busy.

The timetable for the next surgery is somewhere between 2 and a couple more months, I can't even say the number. The good news is however that it'll just be an ACL. Doctors refer to that like changing a tire, and it should be a much more involved recovery since right now I'm severely limited to range of motion (0-90 degrees) and on crutches (4-6 weeks). The ACL likes active rehab, so that will be lots of fun (can't wait!). For now, I was able to move into the guest bedroom of Team Leever HQ where my parents also just crashed at for the weekend to watch Kieffer at US Nationals and help me out.

On Sunday I got asked to announce with Peter Graves for the US Nationals men's gs. It was a blast. We really found our rhythm in the second run and had a great time calling Robby Kelley into the finish for his first national championship. For those keeping score, Robby Kelley was listed above as well. The day after he won he went under the knife, talk about good timing! After the race I got a text from someone that read: Christianson/Nickerson 2014 Olympic commentators, haha. Only if we're doing it while racing, move over Doug Lewis and Steve Porino!

The man, the myth, Peter Graves and I before the second run

The day was truly awesome when Peggy Smith and Peter Nelson, parents of the late Spencer Nelson, honored me with the Spencer Nelson Memorial Award, given to an athlete who has persevered through adversity. They presented me with my long lost belt buckle from my victory at Eldora in January! I was honored to be recognized, and even more psyched that the gold medal belt buckle had returned to it's rightful owner.

Finally, I wanted to say thank you to all the support that I have gotten since this accident. People have been amazing and it's been really helpful to hear from so many. Looking forward to some good news ahead, time to get some Vitamin D!

Spencer Nelson Memorial Award, with Peggy Smith and Peter Nelson

This is what it looks like from inside the booth during second run when 10th place is on course...

And this is what it looks like during the second run when the leader is on course: "Ladies and gentlemen if you love America then you need to cheer for Robby Kelley! He can here you!!!"

Found the Kranjska Gora photo of me from the SR interview. One of the best this season, and good to see a healthy version of myself!

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Well, That Wasn't Supposed to Happen

My season took an unexpected turn yesterday at NASTAR Nationals when I hurt my knee on the final run of the weekend. Starting dead last after being the top qualifier, I hit a cross rut on a left foot fallaway entering the turn that sent me a little back and directly into a large hole at the bottom of the next gate. It was about 1:30 in the afternoon when I ran and the warm weather played a big role in the deteriorating conditions; the course had changed quite a bit from inspection at 9 that morning. While airborn I saw the big hole and tried to avoid it. My inside ski landed first, but directly in the hole. It twisted, I felt things shift, and immediately pulled off course. I didn't even crash, but I knew that something was wrong. Knee injuries usually happen to the outside leg, and are frequently accompanied with dramatic explosion-like crashes. This had neither. Throw in the fact that I was at NASTAR Nationals and you have the perfect combination of a very unlikely and horrible experience.

I slid down the side of the hill, possibly swore at the ski patrol who asked me to sit on her toboggan as a way of getting down, got help from my old college competitor and Swix rep Andrew Wagner packing my car and getting out of my room, and headed straight for the Vail Valley Clinic. As this isn't my first encounter with injury, I already had Dr. Millett's email and cell phone number on hand. He directed me to a fellow who saw me last night and helped set up an MRI for this morning. I met with Dr. Millett this morning and he informed me that I have a ruptured ACL, meniscal damage, and a fracture to my tibia. This was much worse than I had anticipated, and pretty much took my breath away. On top of that, because I have had that ACL repaired before I am going to need two surgeries: one to remove the old screws and ligament and do a bone graph, and another in a couple of months for the ACL replacement. There is some hope that he can insert screws for the new ACL in other places and combine the process into one surgery, but it is unlikely (I'm pressing hard for this). I told him that I was obviously very bummed about the news but wanted to get surgery/start the healing process right away. He told me that I could go under the knife today at 2pm...well then, here we go.

An ending like this to my most successful season to date has been pretty upsetting and totally not what I pictured. In total irony, I got an email while in the waiting room that SkiRacing had published a Q&A I did a week ago with one of their writers, during which I attribute much of this season's success to staying injury free....too soon? On the plus side I had never seen the photo they used in the article before, and it made me feel a little better seeing myself back on skis (my knee looks so stable!). I haven't really been able to wrap my head around what the hell happened yesterday, I feel like it was a real one-in-a-million type situation, but the only thing I can do is look forward and hope to heal up as fast as possible.

Finally, I need a way to get the bad taste of this what happened yesterday out of my mouth, because other than my knee injury the weekend was a total blast. I am very impressed by the enthusiasm of ski racing on the NASTAR level, and even though it basically kicked my ass (as opposed to the World Cups, ECups, NorAms, or whatever else I raced this season) it was an opportunity that I am glad I went after. Below are some shots from the weekend, hopefully they will illustrate what I mean when I say that the passion for ski racing was in full force. Hoping for a fast surgery and a good report from the doc on the other end!

Early morning at the bottom of the race hill, bring on the crowds!

Any time I can get a picture of Hulk Hogan at a ski race with his kids I take it! Super nice family.

Race day morning smoothie made by super hunk Steve Nyman: 4 raw eggs, almonds, spinach, feta Greek yogurt, nano green, apple juice, mixed berries, Nature Valley Granola bars (not pictured)

Awards at NASTAR Nationals...slight bigger than a FIS race

The winner of the male 90-94 years old category. Apparently they have to keep making new age categories for him!

Podium for qualifiers, with Robby Zehner (left) and Mark Dunsworth (right)

Meeting a fan and fellow racer!

Racing in Bulgaria

Bankso is a pretty cool place. After a small training block in Innerkrems, AUT with the two USST GS specialists, Tim Jitloff and Tommy Ford (Ted Ligety stayed in Russia to train and Bode decided to go boat shopping in Turkey), I joined the other ski racers in bombarding the few flights that day heading to Sofia, Bulgaria. The Bansko venue is apparently different than most other World Cups in that all of the athletes' transport and lodging at the hotel are the same. We were loaded onto different busses, each with a 3 or 4 national teams (our bus was Canada, USA, Sweden, Germany), and were driven 3 hours to Bankso where we all stayed under the same roof, the Strazhite Hotel. I was paired for the week with former college skier and World Cup staple Jimmy Cochran, and after some creative furniture rearrangement in our room we were both able relax, unpack, and not worry about rolling onto each other throughout the night.

As this was the first ever WC GS race held at Bankso, everyone was essentially a rookie racing on the hill. This was pointed out to me by my former ski coach and current Universal Sports commentator Steve Porino in a nice note he sent me earlier in the week. It was comforting when free skiing the race hill the day before the race. One thing that caught most people off guard was how flat the light was at 10am, the proposed start time the next day. Ted was very active in trying to move the start back an hour or so, citing that it would be an unfair advantage to those that raced later when the sun made it over the tall trees bordering the race run. During the warmup it became standard practice to take 5 or 6 turns and then shut it down, start again, stop again, all the way down to avoid getting thrown by all of the sidehill and micro-terrain that was unseeable.

For the second warmup run I brought up my race skis, and managed to somehow hit a rock on the race course. The damage was directly under the ball of the my right foot, and extended on the base edge about 3-4 inches. In the finish arena I ran into Leif Haugen's technician Nicklaus, who helped me take it down as best he could but it was largely unchangeable. I don't know what the odds of hitting a rock that large on the race track are, but they can't be good. No one else I talked to touched a thing. Determined to take one more run on the hill I switched my edges, putting the burr on the outside left edge, and took another lap. I was feeling much more in control of my equipment this time down the hill and was starting to relax when my burred outside edge gave out, knocked out my other ski, and I went down hard.

The mental full body systems check I performed on myself was not good; my left shoulder was in a lot of pain and my right thumb had been bent back pretty far. I also managed to break the zipper on my training shorts...not bad for a crash while free skiing. I saw Mike Day on the side of the hill and told him I needed to see the team doctor. I couldn't much raise my arm and my thumb wasn't doing anything. I couldn't believe what was happening: had this ridiculous chain of events really just taken me out of tomorrow's race? For about 10 minutes there it wasn't looking to good. I've had two shoulder issues before, both on that side, and both times the pain that I initially felt upon impact only got worse. Luckily, this time it got better. After about 10 minutes and a healthy amount of Aleve things started to reverse. The thumb and shoulder were sore but they weren't really that hurt. I found a way to grip my pole that was a little different, and actually went and took a couple free runs afterwards. The race was back on!

Race day was snowy and windy, and there was some talk that it would be cancelled. To get away from this talk I largely kept my head down and focussed on the warmup courses and taking free ski runs. The body parts were still sore from yesterday's crash but nothing that was affecting performance. After getting a couple of solid laps on the training course I was happy with the way I was skiing and excited for the race.

Even though it was windy, people were going at irregular intervals, and light was coming in and out, the guys who were skiing well were still the ones that were moving up. I came out of the gate charging and skied well up top. I got a few gates of wind and lost a ski on one turn but carried good speed through the first sidehill section of the course. Into the next fallaway section I had a pretty large mistake that ended up sealing my fate for the afternoon. I got another blast of wind on the bottom flats which definitely didn't help, but I could have skied faster and made things a lot easier on myself.

One thing I was trying to do the whole time over in Bansko was to enjoy the experience and take in how lucky I was to be doing this. Crashing on the warmup day, hitting a rock on my race skis, and battling bad weather diverted from that focus, but I still ended up having a lot of fun and it was definitely one of the more memorable trips of my life. For starters, my Williams teammate and good friend Tavis Moonan surprised me at the Sofia airport, saying that shortly after he found out I was racing he decided to book a plane ticket and offer his support. The other USST guys were shocked I had a friend who would travel this far to come cheer me on, everyone realized what doing this type of thing meant. More than just vocal support, he was always on hand to help me out with my tuning duties. Since I was probably the only guy in the race tuning his own skis and was using another technician's bench (thanks Pepo!) I always did my skis later at night when the bench was free. Tavis would accompany me to the tuning compound each day, and even ended up taking over scraping duties on race night since my thumb couldn't zip up my jacket let alone push a scraper. I'm pretty sure that would have been a low point had it taken me an hour to scrape two pairs of skis, but instead it was something that we laughed about and just chalked it up as another ski racing experience.

Also, as Will Brandenburg and I were waiting for our flight home in the Frankfurt airport, we met Staff Sergeant Brian Nash who was returning back to the States after 6 months in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Staff Sgt. Nash is in Infantry in the Army, and stepped on an IED 3 months ago. The 1.5 lb IED that discharged was siting on top of a 25 lb IED, but luckily the wiring was faulty and the larger bomb never went off. He had surgery 3 months ago to repair his compound fractured foot with the hopes of finishing out his tour. The surgery did not go well, the bones didn't heal properly, his nerves got pinched, and he has no feeling in his foot. He spent the last 6 weeks taking morphine pills to make the problem go away. It didn't and eventually he was forced to pull the plug and head home. From Georgia, Nash is heading to Ft. Carson in Colorado Springs where the doctors will re-break his foot and start the healing process. He had no regrets about his experience and ended up telling Will and I story after story about his time in Afghanistan. Talking to him, my shoulder started hurting a lot less and I decided to not worry about my sprained thumb anymore. It is times like these where I am especially grateful to have the opportunity to do what I love. Worrying about other things is a waste, because you never know when things are going to change. Meeting people like Staff Sgt. Nash only drives home this point. I invited him up to Vail whenever he wants, and I hope he takes me up on it. Next stop, La Crosse, Wisconsin!