Road Trip!

January for American ski racers means heading to Europe, and just because I haven't filled out any FIS Intent to Compete forms lately doesn't mean that I will be denied my annual pilgrimage over to Euroland. This time, however, I'll be heading over with my older brother, Nicholas. He's never seen a European ski race in-person. I simply can't stay away.

While the trip will be short on days, only 4, we plan to go in with an assassin's mentality: go in, execute, get out. After landing Thursday morning, and shaking off jet lag, the night will be spent watching the baby bro, Kieffer, compete in the the biggest and best prepared FIS race in the world, the Westendorf Nacht Slalom. Located right next to Kitzbuhel, and scheduled the night before the World Cup SG, thousands of fans flock to this tiny little hill to get their ski racing fix early. The details for Friday are hazy, but Saturday has a strict schedule of watching the vaunted Hahnenkamm, taking an afternoon nap, frequenting the Londoner Pub to watch the day's athletes tend bar, and making it to the 11:40am flight out of MUC the following morning. That last part should be a lot of fun.

In true European-ski-trip fashion, no housing plans have been finalized, as the perfect solution has yet to show itself. This is making Nicholas rather concerned, which he is slowly realizing is already an experience he'll take away from the trip. Any other groups heading over, let me know!

Finally, super big shout out to Robby Kelley and Dave Chodounsky for both having career days this weekend at the World Cup GS and SL in Adelboden. The skiing was only slightly more impressive than the double fist pumps both showed in the finish area after their respective runs, Ray Lewis would have appreciated the intensity. Nice work boys!

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!