Cory attended his first ever Canadian Association for Disabled Skiers Annual Festival at Kimberley Alpine Resort in March 2014. It was also his first ever visit to Kimberley.
Kimberley is close to the US and Alberta borders, so it's a long 12 hour drive from Vancouver. We chose to take a couple of days to get there and drove through the US via Spokane, Washington and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. It was a picturesque drive through the Cascade mountains until we arrived at the Holiday Inn in Coeur d'Alene where we were greeted by a special front desk clerk:
Upon arrival at Kimberley, we quickly saw that the drive had been well worthwhile:
We had clear blue skies, great smooth, fast "racer" snow, and terrific terrain that we seemed to have all to ourselves. Cory worked with a new race coach - Jamie McCulloch from Rocky Mountain Adaptive Sports Centre in Canmore, AB - and Jamie turned out to be one of Cory's best coaches ever. Cory wanted to work on his starts as well as learning how to take a more aggressive line through a race course. And in just the 3 half-days of training that he had at Kimberley, he improved significantly. So we hope to work with Jamie again soon!
Here's Cory getting a more powerful start under Jamie's guidance, and then he takes a much more aggressive line than he has before, much closer to the brushes and stubbies that he hits many of them with his shins as he goes by:
Time for a lunch break...
with this view from that chair:
Then back to work:
But the CADS Festival was more than just about work....
some snow bocce....
...a chance to try a sit-snowboard, a prototype that is believed to the only one of its kind in the world...
Then there was the mystery of the lost ski...."where did it go???"
gotta be in here somewhere....
ok, found it! now to get it out...
ok, got it now....Cory laughed through the whole thing...
We had the opportunity to meet Krystina and David, from the Czech Republic....she was training with us and is a sit skier who had to withdraw from the Sochi Paralympics due to injury, but she hopes to compete at the 2018 Paralympics in Korea. They told us that if Cory does qualify for the World Games in Schladming in 2017, they will see us there!
A final run back down to our rented condo....
a last minute tip from Coach Jamie, trying to get Cory to move his hips more to the side when he's turning at speed in order to get more carving pressure.
and a final look at Kimberley, we certainly hope to return soon!
A brief rest stop on our way home, sporting our new CADS hats....
And, barring perhaps one day in Whistler this spring, brings an end to our 2013-2014 ski season. Next season will include Cory's 3rd Provincial Winter Games, and that will be his chance to qualify for his 2nd National Winter Games, in Cornerbrook, Newfoundland, in 2016.
Feel free to leave a comment about your visit to our blog, and we'll see you soon!
