This
year was a tough season all around for winter sports. In the Swiss Alps, which is my home base we
had extremely warm weather into the beginning of December. I was hiking in a T-shirt into the end of the
year, even at high altitudes. By New
Year we had some of the biggest storms of the century, downing trees, blocking
roads, trains, cars and the ski resorts were forced to close due to high
winds. For those of us who were
motivated to be out there no matter what we found ways to skin up, but the
conditions going back down were treacherous, making normal descents of a half
hour, into 2 hour skis, on, skis off, hop over trees, crawl under trees, to get
home in one piece. An adventure it sure
was.
Things
calmed down a bit mid season, but high temps caused the abundance of snow to
melt away quickly. Leaving many of our
speed ski tracks barren on top, with several race cancellations. It was still possible to race, but only by
climbing to the highest snow covered point on rocks wearing nothing but a
rubber suit, carrying 8 foot long skis that weigh 15 kilos, speed helmet and
poles. At the race in Vars, France I
unfortunately was influenced by the bad conditions and placed 5th.
Last
week we were inundated again with heavy snow in Verbier, Switzerland for the
World Cup Finals. During a one week
race, we had 1 sunny day of racing, the rest of the race was cancelled because
of thick fog and high winds.
At the
Speed Ski World Cup Final, I came in 3rd place. It was great to share the
podium with two other amazing women. Sanna Tidstrand (Swe) the women's world
record holder took first, and Lisse-Anne Petterson (Nor) Olympic silver
medalist came in 2nd, with me trailing in 3rd by .1 km/h.
It was
a beautiful race with sun and perfect track preparation. At 3300 meters
the air is very thin, and the acceleration on the piste is outrageous. In about
10 seconds the race was over. It's a good thing I spent 3 hours waxing my
skis!!! I feel
that I performed my best and I'm satisfied with my latest podium finish, which
was my 40th World Cup Podium of my career!
Starting
tomorrow I will be assisting in the organization of a World Record attempt in
Verbier. This is an invitational race in
which the top 5 men and 2 women in the world will attempt to ski off the
infamous ramp on the Mont Fort glacier.
Everyone is waiting with great anticipation to see what the speeds will
be. The first run tomorrow will start at
around 200 km/h, and I’m betting the track record will be broken by the
afternoon. Stay tuned for more
information about the ramp.
