We drove two hours to Seattle, then flew for about 2 1/2 hours to Denver, Colorado, where we were picked up by another racer and her mom. We then drove for another couple of hours to our condo at Silverthorne, CO.
The next morning we awoke to this view from our bedroom window:
Then it was time to load up the van for the 15 minute drive to Loveland:
Loveland Ski Area is built in a horseshoe shape bisected by Interstate Highway 70, which runs through a tunnel under the mountain where we skied.
The west entrance to the tunnel:
I-70 bisecting the ski area:
And here are the magnificent views from the top on our first day:
Cory was part of a group of 10 racers, all younger than him, and no others had a disability. The coach of Hurricane Race Camps is Bob Vial, who also coached Cory at Mount Hood in 2007. Bob has been very gracious at accepting Cory into his camps, and holds Cory to the same standards and expectations as he does with the other racers. And that's fine with us...it's a challenging environment for Cory since he is expected to listen, understand, and learn at the same pace as the others. In addition, there is a lot of non-skiing work involved with preparing equipment and carrying from house to car to ski lodge, putting all the equipment on, and being ready to go at the right time. But in both camps, Cory has learned a lot about what it takes to excel at ski racing.
In 2007 at Mount Hood, Cory learned about the mental challenge of ski racing, and the courage it takes to race through a race course full of plastic poles, on steep and icy terrain. He showed at Mount Hood that he had the heart of a champion, that he wasn't afraid to attack a race course and work through his fear.
Last week, he learned about the physical challenges of ski racing, not just due to the extreme cold, but also he learned how physically demanding it has to be to become a better racer. It's no longer just a matter of pointing skis down a hill and making some turns...he learned that good racers need to put into place a long series of small body movement culminating in tremendous pressure being applied, at just the right angle, to the appropriate edge of a ski, by leg muscles from the hip, through the thigh, knees, and ankles, all the while keeping the upper body straight and facing towards the bottom of the hill. For the first time, I heard him grunting as he made turns through a race course.
The days consisted of coach-assigned drills during the morning runs and then gate training in the afternoon.
One of the drills consists of sking on one leg at a time:
And here's Coach Bob instructing the team on a drill where they ski with their hands on their hips (after taking the ski poles away from the racers, Bob asks me to carry them):
Here's an example of how Coach Bob encourages his racers to get out of their comfort zone. By suggesting they put their poles up from their heads while doing a one-ski drill. By pushing themselves into doing something out of the ordinary, Bob hopes this will encourage them to continue to try to do things they don't normally do. The video also shows how windy the conditions were that day.
And here is the Hands on Hips drill, again under very windy conditions. Here the racers learn to push their hips to the side in order to gain an angle to their legs that allows for their feet to roll over in order to get their skis higher up on their edges.
This video is just about the wind:
Then one of my favourite video clips of Coach Bob in action. A great demonstration of how to keep the upper body still while making turns - imagining a flashlight in your navel.
One of the things that I like about Cory working with Bob is shown here. Bob has the ability to observe each of this racers and give them excellent individual feedback. Somehow he sees something in each of them and then can recall it a little while later to let them know what they're doing well and what they need to improve. This was still Cory's first day at Hurricane, and Bob points out that Cory isn't getting his skis up on edge enough. He has to learn to keep his feet further apart to give himself the space to turn his ankles over to get those skis up. Otherwise, instead of doing a carving turn, his skis slide away from the turn and this forces him to pivot his feet in order to complete the turn. This removes the pressure that builds under the skis, which when released to begin a new turn, actually propels the skier forward. If Cory is to truly improve his racing, then he must learn to get his skis further up on their edges.
Coach Bob then discusses how the racers need to use their Coach's feedback even while free-skiing and keep working without the coach's presence.
The next drill has the racers holding the poles across the back of their shoulders. This drill is intended to have the racers keep their upper bodies facing the bottom of the hill. Cory's body faces the bottom of the hill quite well, but he is moving his body up and down in order to generate pressure on his skis rather than shifting his hips and knees to allow his ankles to roll over.
And the snow dancing in the wind at the top of Loveland:
And then it's off to the Fuxi Racing store. Fuxi is a bit of a legend in the US racing world, and he is certainly a character. Cory and I had visited his store at Mount Hood in 2007, and believe it or not, he remembered us and remembered what we'd bought there.
Here's Fuxi in action:
And the moon rises over the Colorado Rockies as we head home:
The next morning is Day 2 of Cory's week at Hurricane Race Camp, and on this day and the rest of the week, there will be free-ski drills with Coach Bob in the morning, then gate training in the afternoon. Here we are unloading the vans as we arrive at Loveland Basin. Cory learned at Hurricane on Mount Hood in 2007 that ski racing is very much a lot of baggage handling. And this time, even more so, since after lunch each day it's time to move to Loveland Valley for gate training.
But well worth the effort since Loveland Ski Resort closes the Valley area to the public and reserves it only for race training, giving the racers the opportunity to access lifts with no waiting so they can maximize their gate training time.
And that attracts race teams from not just all over North America, but from all over the world. Here's a racer from Scotland with her coach from Team Great Britain. During the week we saw racers from France, Croatia, Norway, Argentina, and Canada. We had the opportunity to sit with the Canadian team in their trademark yellow race suits. And we really enjoyed talking with Team Argentina, 4 women who had raced at the 2010 Olympics so we had seen them in action there. Two of them were sisters: Maria and Macarena Simari-Birkner and they wished Cory good luck in his own quest to race on an international stage.
Back on the race course, a short course has been set up with brushes just to give the racers a warm up for a normal slalom course. It is easy to see here that Cory is not getting up on his edges enough and is making his turns by pivoting his feet, which results in the tails of his skis sliding along the snow.
His next run really shows his pivoting as he goes around the red brush just before the camera position as he slides down the mountain rather than hold the turn towards the next gate. But you can already see some improvement in the space between his feet:
And then his first run though a normal course, though it's quite flat near the camera and so his speed really slows. But he hasn't had much experience at attacking gates and knocking them down. There will be a total of 3 days of slalom training and 3 days of giant slalom...this is still day one.
The next day, more slalom training and Cory seems to be more comfortable knocking down gates. He's wearing new padded gloves that he bought at Fuxi's and is now wearing a "stealth" armoured vest for additional protection.
Each night at Hurricane, Coach Bob does a video review of each racer's work during the day. Here's Bob's analysis of one of Cory's runs and he tells Cory that his pole plants should be up near the tips of his skis rather than by his boots. This will move Cory's body into a more aggressive position with his weight forward and over his boots rather than behind.
Back on the way to Loveland the next morning, some old American west architecture....
And a gorgeous bluebird day on the mountain...as Bob instructs his Team Hurricane racers for another drill...
And then much to the delight of the Team, Coach Bob takes a tumble!
Team Hurricane November 2010:
Then it's back to the racecourse:
It's the first day of Giant Slalom training and Cory is showing some good speed through the course, though with all that slalom training for two days he forgets he can tuck in a GS course to pick up speed....you can hear me trying to remind him! He's now learned to keep his feet further apart and he's getting better edge pressure on his skis. He has an agressive athletic stance but needs to relax his arms a bit and keep his pole plants closer to his ski tips. He does need to move his stance up and forward a bit more as well, but as Coach Bob said, he's really starting to look like a racer now.
And a beautiful end to the day:
The next morning during a drill, Cory gains some unexpected air on a sharp turn and flies off the course and down an embankment. Fortunately, he crashed into some safety netting which pushed him away from that tree just to the right of his ski in this photo, taken as he made his way back up.
Back on the race course, this sequence of photos shows Cory in that same aggressive stance, but in this case much too far back on his skis.
And after hard day of training, a nap on the way back to the condo:
Next day, Thanksgiving in the USA, it's back into slalom training and under extremely cold conditions. With a wind chill factor of -35F, we managed 11 runs in the morning before heading over to the race course for another 7 runs through during the afternoon.
Looking really good here, attacking that gate, up on his edges, looking down the course, and his left ski bends under the pressure he's putting on it.
And after another couple of runs through, he's starting to show more confidence as he starts skiing right at the gates, getting his ski tips very close to the poles, moving his body forward a bit more, and really pushing on his edges. And for the first time ever, I can hear him grunting with exertion as he skis by me.
And yes it was cold! Cold enough to form icicles on your clothing!
And after all that work out in the cold, time to tuck into some Thanksgiving turkey dinner!
And then it's our final day at Loveland with the Hurricane Race Team. It's a day of training on a full-length Giant Slalom course and a chance for Cory to put all he's learned into the last few runs.
Here's his last run....feet apart, body forward, up on his edges, poles plants closer to the tips of his skis, and showing some good speed even on the flat part of the course.
So a very good week of learning....a week of travel, dealing with new surroundings and teammates, early mornings, new skiing drills, lots of hard work, plenty of baggage handling, listening to Coach Bob's instructions and feedback, coping with extreme cold, and racing at a whole new level.
Cory has his first race of the year in mid-December, just a Kokanee race at Whistler, but on difficult terrain and competing against non-disabled athletes who have more experience. It will be a good test of his new found skills.
But the true test remains with his qualifying races in Kelowna next March 4 & 5. There he will learn whether this very demanding week at Loveland helps put him at the top of the podium with a chance to join Team BC at the 2012 Special Olympics National Games in Alberta.
But first, he has to put all his gear away for another day.
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Look for an update after the Kokanee race on December 16.
