USSA U14 Far West North Series Dual Slalom Races

Another amazing race day today at Alpine Meadows here in Lake Tahoe C.A.

A very competitive field of 87 of the best U14 Girls in the Western United States raced a Dual Slalom in near perfect weather, sunny clear skies and warm temperatures.

I posted the fastest time of the morning on the Blue Course and then the 6th fastest time on the slower Red Course in the afternoon finishing 4th overall, an OK result and I achieved my goal of a top five finish :)

Tomorrow my goal is a top three podium before heading home on Monday...

 

Back On The G.S Skis

After a long drive back from Utah yesterday and a bit more shopping in Reno on the way through it was time to put the fat skis away and get back onto the good old G.S Skis :)
Training today at Alpine Meadows was awesome, only a few of us there as most of the local kids were in school, the snow was dry and chalky and we skied hard in the gates until late afternoon.
It's so nice to be training in a race suit and hoodie, working on the goggle tan and making small technical changes to my technique. Looking forward to another great day tomorrow - Thanks SVST

Epic Utah!

There's only one word to describe Utah - EPIC!
After a long 8 hour drive through Nevada and across the salt flats into Utah we arrived in Salt Lake City full of expectation, it had been snowing hard since we crossed the state line and the forecast was for the storm to continue throughout the night!
We skied at Snowbird the next day in windy but clearing weather, what a wicked mountain, steeps, trees, and long unforgiving runs, it was pretty windy so the Tram was closed but we managed to skis some great runs and amazing powder!
The next day we once again skied at Snowbird, the storm had passed and the wind had dropped, the Tram was running and the Peruvian Tunnel through to Mineral Basin was open. We skied a couple of lines off the Tram just because we could then rode the magic carpet through the Peruvian Tunnel (So Cool) into Mineral Basin, we made a couple of runs there then connected across to Alta, really amazing to have so much terrain and variety connected by an amazing lift system all on the one ski pass!
Alta was great but with many of the lifts closed for avalanche control work we made a few runs then headed back to Snowbird to finish our day as another weather system rolled in.....!
The following day was very windy and it was snowing hard so we decided to take a drive across to Park City and Deer Valley to see if things were any better weather wise there, they weren't in fact it was worse there so we decided to have a rest day and shopped at the outlet mall in Kimble :)
The snow continued throughout the night and the next morning it was still dumping but the wind had gone, we packed early and headed too Alta with the hope of an epic powder day!
We got it, knee to thigh deep champagne powder as only Utah can deliver, with it been Monday everyone was either at work or at school so there were no crowds, endless powder runs and no lift lines!
We skied hard all day in the trees, it was so much fun skiing together as a family in such amazing conditions, we explored so much unbelievable terrain finishing up skiing untracked steep lines through the trees off the Supreme Lift at 11,000 feet!
Thanks Utah, we'll be back... :)

Utah - Snowbird / Alta Here We Come...

With California seriously struggling in terms of snow we have decide to pack up the truck and head east to Utah.
A 10 hour drive tomorrow should see us in knee deep powder by Saturday :)
Stay tuned...

Bigtruck Hats Truckee CA

What a great day off!
We went across to Truckee for some shopping and a late lunch, we ate at a really cool retro diner called Jax on the Trax and then looked around the shops in Downtown Historic Truckee, Mum and Dad bought me a pretty snowflake necklace ( which I love ) for doing well in my races over the weekend at Sugar Bowl which was really cool!
We then decided to try and find the Bigtruck Hat Factory and after some clever use of free Wifi here and there, Google Maps and some sleuthing about we managed to located it.
We entered the warehouse factory to be greeted by both Galen and Kelsen the two really cool guys that created the now very famous Bigtruck Hat Company a few years back and a brand now worn by many well respected athletes including my inspirational idol and Truckee local Julia Mancuso!
So what was really just supposed to be a quick drive by of the Bigtruck base in Truckee turned out to be so much more...
The guys were stoked that we had travelled all the way from Queenstown, New Zealand and had made the effort to call by their warehouse and say hi that they gave us a full tour of their operation showing us each stage of the design phase and how they make their wicked hats, after which Galen says "So Andie how about you design your very own one off Custom Bigtruck Hat" - I'm like speechless and grinning from ear to ear!!!
Then Kelsen rummages about in a drawer and produces a really cool Goggle Patch and says "Andie, you can be the very first person to use the new and yet to be released 2014 Bigtruck Goggle Patch".
I'm like wow, that's way cool, thanks guys!
So I spend the next 45 minutes with the guys in the factory choosing my hat, thread colour, custom flags and then I watch as Kelsen hand stitches it together right there in front of me, my very own one off, custom designed AndieG Bigtruck Hat, I'm so stoked, thanks guys :)
So then we are about to leave and Galen goes, so Andie I think you should have this pair of really cool KOSS Headphones just like Jules wears and oh, here's a Julia Mancuso Olympic Hoodie too...
I'm now totally blown away, a Custom Bigtruck Hat, Koss Headphones and a Julia Hoodie - Simply the best day off I could have hoped for!

Thanks guys, thanks Bigtruck!

USSA Far West North Series U14 SL Races

Having just finished two days of Slalom Racing at Sugar Bowl Resort here in Lake Tahoe I'm pretty happy with my results given the very challenging snow conditions - very slick, hard packed ice!
With the severe lack of snow in the greater Tahoe Region the races were limited in terms of where the ROC could set a SL Course that would hold up throughout the two days of racing and be fair and consistent, to the 170 + racers both boys and girls.
Day One saw the boys run their course first, a large proportion of them crashed hard as they struggled with the very icy course, this made for a very intimidating hour and a half for us girls as we watched the carnage and waited for the boys to complete their run and our race to start...
My first run saw me 8th in the gate out of 86 entrants, I started solidly then bang, went down hard as the tip of my ski clipped a gate, I got up and skied the rest of the course reasonably well but having fallen early I finished well down the field but qualified for a second run!
My second run was much better, 80th out of the gate I skied well putting in the 6th fastest time enabling a semi respectable finish in the middle of the field.
Day Two wasn't much better, conditions were still very slick, I started 77th in my first run of the day, I skied well putting in the 8th fastest time.
I was 9th out of the gate in my second run and although I didn't push 100% as I wanted to be sure of a result and a top 10 finish, I managed to improve my standing and finished 7th overall on Day Two to take home a nice, very heavy Far West Regional Medal :)
So, I'm generally happy with my weekend, I learned a lot, made some new friends and watched my very talented team mate A J Hurt ski two beautiful runs to take home a well deserved win which was really cool and very inspiring!
Thanks Sugar Bowl ROC and all the volunteers that made for a great weekend and my first race in the U.S.