First, a huge thanks to Bob Vial for continuing to work with Cory for the third time, after Mount Hood in 2007, and Loveland last year.
The week started with an early drive from Vancouver on Friday, November 18, to board a 6am flight from Seattle to Denver.
Then a short train ride from the aircraft to the Denver International terminal...
Later, after a two hour drive from Denver to Dillon, Colorado, it's time to settle into our condo and get over to the team meeting.
From brilliant sunshine on our day of arrival, to snow & wind the next day, Cory's first day on skis since his camp at Whistler last July, is a full day of free skiing drills with Coach Bob Vial giving instructions:
Coach Bob in one of his classic routines - "Schwinging the Heinie" - a very funny way to get his racers to stop swinging their bodies back and forth as they turn:
The next day brings some sun but it's still windy and quite cold:
Coach Bob starts with a safety reminder - "it's your responsibility!" - and then hits the basics talking about stance, even when the racers are standing still:
Then into a basic drill with poles held horizontally behind the neck. The idea is for the racer to keep the poles horizontal and avoid the natural tendency to let the upper body lean back uphill. For dynamic pressure into the skis, it is critical to keep as much weight and power as possible over the "downhill" ski - the ski furthest downhill on any given turn, which is the right ski on a left turn and the left ski on a right turn. Cory has difficulty with this manoeuvre as he does allow his upper body to lean. Coach Bob even started calling him "I-Lean". It's something he will have to work on during the week and in this video, he gets some shouted reminders from me.
Coach Bob exhorting the racers to "bend the skis". Race skis are stiffer than recreational skis, so they require more effort to pressure the skis to grip the snow. But the stiffness helps not only to grip, but as the pressure is released the skis bounce back, just like a trampoline, and can propel the racer forward. So it's important for racers to use their weight and their strength in a dynamic body movement to apply enough pressure to bend the skis.
Later that day, it's into slalom gate training, starting with stubbies - a less intimidating way to train slalom turns:
As he goes into this turn, Cory looks good with his skis close to the stubby and pointed right at the next stubby on the course. But on a closer look we can see that Cory is definitely leaning uphill, and as a result he doesn't have enough pressure on his downhill ski and lets the tails of his skis skid out, turning his skis far to the left and finishing his turn too far down the race course. Certainly something to work on.
A few runs through a full gate race course ends the day:
Another nice start to the next day...
One of the things we enjoy about Loveland Ski Area is their commitment to racing - they even shut down a lift and a few runs to the general public. No lift lines for racers!
Here's Cory warming up on a brush course. He shows good form as he gets his skis just outside the course and keeps his upper body inside the course.
But he has difficulty transferring that approach to a full-gate course. He does not have full slalom protective armour on his arms and shins, so it looks like it's time to invest in some.
The next morning is an earlier start than usual - we need to be on the hill by 7am, so it's a 6:15 load into the van:
It's the last day of slalom training and Cory continues to show improvement as he seems to get faster each time he goes through the course.
And in the evening video review, Coach Bob points out a flaw with Cory's pole planting:
More blue skies on the next day, Day 4 and we switch to Giant Slalom training now:
A basic GS drill...the J Turn, where the skier holds pressure on the downhill ski until the ski turns back uphill and comes to a stop:
And then it's back to gate training where Cory runs into the Canadian Women's National Slalom Team, who are also training there. He walks over and says hello and wishes them good luck for the upcoming season...that's Anna Goodman looking up from her gear and chatting with Cory:
And later Anna, Erin Mielzynski, and Eve Routhier pose with Cory....
In his first day of Giant Slalom training, Cory shows some good speed. He's working on "driving" the downhill ski - extending his downhill leg further down the hill while bending his uphill knee and trying to prevent his upper body from leaning uphill. This would put more of his weight and more pressure onto his downhill ski and result in cleaner, tighter carving turns. The result would be skiing a tighter run, getting closer and closer to the gates as he races by them:
The next day, more Giant Slalom training, but time for a father & son photo:
Time for "whirlybirds" - 360 degree turns which help in balance and for getting the feel of edges versus the snow, and Coach Bob adds the poles up to the helmet to encourage his racers to get out of their comfort zones:
And in the race course, Cory continues to work on a more dynamic body position and continues to show good speed & some good turns:
After training, a very special opportunity and Cory makes the most of it. A Nor-Am Cup race is to be held a couple of days later on an adjacent run. Nor-Am is one level below the World Cup/Olympians but since it's early in the season, many World Cup racers will participate. Cory's race team is asked if they'd like to ski the run where the Nor-Am will be held. But it's no ordinary run....World Cup and Nor-Am races are held on water-injected runs which creates an extremely hard, icy, and fast surface. A surface much icier than Cory has ever skied on.
One-by-one each of Cory's teammates took their turns, and though most of them are better racers than Cory, they all skied very cautiously, sliding sideways down the hill and often stopping. I stood watching and wondered how Cory would do. There was a real World Cup-like start hut at the top and Cory told me later he really pushed hard out of the start just like they do on TV.
What he didn't know was the next 50 yards or so were just sheer ice - I had skied on it and there was no way I could turn on it, it was frightening! Those 50 yards included a sharp right hand turn down the slope towards where I was standing with my camera...waiting to see how he would approach it.
He skied it like a racer, attacking the run and making turns, though I could hear him yelling something at times, very unusual for him. The video doesn't show how icy it was but the sounds his skis make sure tell a story. His coach and another parent were impressed...and the whoop it up as he skis by them.
I carefully skied down the run to catch up to him at the bottom and he was still out of breath when I got there. He told me he was out of breath not because of exertion, but out of FEAR! He was so scared he said he yelled "OH F...!" all the way down!! A few seconds later though, he turned to me and said it would be tempting to try it again. He really does have the heart of a champion.
At the end of this special day, there's time for a team visit to the top of Loveland Pass - 11,990 feet - and the Continental Divide...
On top, yes, but not quite the National Games podium yet....still a lot of work to do before then....
And a look down to Interstate 70 back to Denver and to the base of the run where Cory trained all week:
Then it's the last day, the last early morning cup of coffee...
Coach Bob allows Cory and I to work on his body position during some free-skiing and Cory really shows some dynamic body movement, bending his uphill knee and getting down low to put plenty of pressure on his downhill ski:
But he has difficulty using the same amount of body movement in the race course. We talk it over and he admits to a bit of fear - it takes a lot of confidence and trust to put so much pressure on a thin edge of steel on a steep and fast race course. I remind him of the courage he showed the day before on that icy Nor-Am run but it's definitely different when there's gates to get through. So it's something we'll have to work on when we get back home.
But overall, just a great start to Cory's season. He's skiing better than ever and he has 3 months to keep working and improving.
We'll look for a free-ski day at Cypress soon, then head to Whistler for gate training and a Kokanee race in mid-December, then several days of gate training with Whistler Mountain Ski Club over the Christmas holidays.
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