With snow only at the highest elevations of course, it means early starts to get onto hard snow before it softens by mid-day, and plenty of baggage handling - carrying skis, poles, boots,helmets, jackets, sweaters, gloves, food, water, even sunscreen, to the top, and then back down again at the end of the day. Summer race training really is a special experience, being part of a dedicated group of young athletes and coaches who are excited about giving up a part of their summer to return to winter-like conditions for a few hours each morning.
And as it happened on Mount Hood, where Cory memorably first demonstrated the characteristics of a champion, this time it was his chance to race head-to-head against a Canadian World Cup racer, that will provide life-long memories for us both.
As we often do, we arrived first at the Wizard Chair on Blackcomb Mountain each morning:
But not too much longer, there was a large group of racers ready to get their day going:
But it would take a while....first a ride on the Wizard Chair....
transfer to the Solar Coaster chair.....
From Solar Coaster to a bumpy bus ride with driver "Jean-A" as Johnny calls himself...and finally some snow around...
To 7th Heaven chair....
And finally on with the skis...and our first day at the top is a foggy one:
A few warm-up drills, first time on skis in two months...and yes, that is snow...it's snowing on us in July:
Summer camps are of course conducted on glaciers and they are well utilized with ski teams and clubs from all over North America - Vermont, Colorado, New York, we even met a racer from Florida! And some come from even further...here Cory is warming up next to a coach and athlete from Team China:
With the visibility as poor as it was, the day was limited to short slalom-type drills. The coaches quickly observed that Cory's body was too static, not enough up and down movement to place pressure on his edges and then release at the end of a turn. Done properly, the skis, stiff race skis, will bend under pressure and then act like a trampoline when released, pushing the racer upward and forward if the racer has the correct forward body position.
The difference can be seen in these two videos, taken about 90 minutes apart. In the first video, while Cory's skis do get up on edge, he is not using his upper body to apply pressure, just his legs.
Here, by using his upper body to drop at the hips without bending forward to place more weight down into his boots, through his bindings, and onto his skis, he not only applies more edge pressure to allow him to make sharper cleaner turns, but as he rises to complete the turn and initiate the next, the sudden release pushes him upward and forward into the next turn, allowing him to actually gain speed as he turns. It's still not quite right here but certainly an improvement over his earlier runs.
With no improvement in visibility, the coaches end the day a bit early and we start our trek back down to Blackcomb Village.
Downloading on Solar Coaster...
where we saw over 30 bears during the 5 days, including a mother and two cubs...
After lunch, a "short" 3-hour bike ride around Whistler where we just happen to run into Whistler Mountain Ski Club's Program Director, Rob Boyd, on the Whistler street named in his honour:
Cory wearing his hoodie from Bob Vial's Hurricane Race Camp in Loveland, Colorado last November:
The next morning, heading to Wizard Express for day two...and the fog is gone and it appears it will be a sunny day:
At the top of 7th Heaven, looking down at Horstman Glacier, with the WMSC Giant Slalom race course set up on the right, a bright sunny day indeed:
And the view from the top:
Onto the race course, Cory goes back to a very static upper body:
Then, a visit from Britt Janyk, a Whistler resident who just retired from the Canadian Alpine Ski Team last month:
Perhaps inspired, Cory gets back into the race course with a much-improved dynamic upper body, with me verbally willing him to get up and down, and showing some really good speed at the gate closest to the camera. It was after this run that Coach Jeff McClennan said "Cory is really ripping it up out there!":
Then here in a couple of videos taken by Rob Boyd who makes some observations on Cory's technique....his body now much more dynamic but a bit far back in his boots:
That's the end of Day 2 training and time to head back down...
And more bear sightings:
And there's no 3-hour bike rides on this afternoon, it's a beer in the hot tub instead! Ahhhh....the life of a ski racer....
The next morning is another bright sunny day and Cory is ready to rip it up again:
A couple more videos by Rob Boyd, and Cory continues to do well with a more dynamic body, just still needing to stay more forward:
A bike ride in the afternoon through some old growth forests:
and then along the Whistler Golf Course:
Then back to our rented condo at the Aspens and all that equipment to get dry and ready for tomorrow:
Day Four looks good and clear once again:
Looks great at the top:
And it was another good day of training for Cory and a very good day for bear sightings!
And the next day, the last day of camp, would turn out to be a very special one for Cory. Looking good here, upper body down, body forward, long extended leg, up on his edges and putting plenty of pressure on those skis:
Some really good dynamic body action here, and he's gonna need it even more on his next run!
Because for this one, he's racing head-to-head against Canadian Alpine Ski Team member Britt Janyk, who won a World Cup Downhill at Aspen Colorado a couple of years ago:
And here they go, Britt on the right on the blue course and Cory on the left on the red course, with Coach Jeff cheering him on!
Certainly the highlight of the camp for Cory who will remember the moment forever, as will I. Thanks so much to Britt...what a role model she is for Canada's young ski racers....after years on the World Cup circuit, Britt is just there to help out anyway she can...talking with the racers....racing against them...even carrying salt bags or equipment down the course:
Time for two last runs:
And that was about it for Cory's 2011 summer camp.
He will now take a break from skiing for 3 or 4 months, get as many shifts as he can at Safeway to rebuild his bank account, do some dryland strength conditioning, and enjoy some summertime R&R like fishing, biking, skimboarding, going to the local waterpark, maybe a day at Playland - Vancouver's amusement park.
We'll look at a November camp to get next season going - perhaps in Colorado or maybe Sun Peaks near Kamloops BC. An early season start will be critical to Cory's chances at the National Games in Jasper next March.
See you then! And please, leave a comment about our blog. We'd love to hear from you.
