End of a Successful Season

We ended the season with a day at Whistler Blackcomb.  It was a lovely day at our favourite mountain, but the warm weather did make the snow a bit grabby.

But certainly nice to spend a day on a mountain with jackets open.

And a last look at Blackcomb, before...

Heading down to Whistler Village for a pitcher of Okanagan Springs Pale Ale and a toast to the end of a successful season where Cory qualified for Special Olympics Provincial Winter Games in Kamloops, BC next year.

CADS Festival 2014

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!

FIRST STEP - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED


Cory took the first step on the long road to the next World Games when he competed in the Regional Qualifier at a familiar ski hill - Crystal Mountain in West Kelowna, BC.  Under cold but mostly sunny skies, Cory took first place in the top Advanced Division in all three events.

In the 2 slalom runs, he beat his main Special Olympics BC rival by 1.7 seconds.  Here's his first run:



And his 2nd Slalom run:



The Giant Slalom was only one run but the timing mechanism didn't work for Cory's run so he had to do a re-run.  He was wearing only his thin race suit and had to go back up the chair for his second run.  He looked really good in that first run but a bit stiffer for the 2nd run - not surprising since he was likely cold by then - but won the race by nearly 2 seconds.

His two runs:






Unfortunately, the race organizers decided not to release results after the race so there was no podium presentations.  But mission accomplished just the same, so now his next important race will be in February 2015 at Sun Peaks near Kamloops BC, where he will try to qualify for his second National Winter Games to be held in Newfoundland in 2016.

It's a Bronze Medal for Cory and his SOBC Delta Basketball teammates at the 2013 Special Olympics British Columbia Summer Provincial Games!  Having qualified last year as a 'C' Division team, they have improved enough since then to move up into the 'B' Division.  That's the good news, the bad news is of course they met some very strong opposition.  It was certainly a weekend of learning to deal with much more aggressive opponents playing a much faster-paced game then they had ever faced before.

The weekend started out with a couple of seeding games, and the team easily won its first game against the Surrey Cyclones 14-0, with 6'4" Matt scoring most of the points, though Cory did chip in with 2 points of his own.  But then they met their first bona-fide 'B' Division team in the form of the North Shore Wildcats, and fell 14-2.

They then played a mini-game against Coquitlam to determine final seeding and won 6-4, pushing the team into the 'B' Division.

Even though the Games were held in neighbouring Langley, at Provincial Games all athletes travel and stay together throughout the weekend.

So it was mid-day on Thursday that the boys joined Coach Andy to load the bus and head to the Langley Event Centre for the Opening Ceremonies later that evening.

Athletes from Region 4 arriving for the Opening Ceremonies...Cory waves at the sound of the bell which he was expecting to hear....sitting with his Region 4 teammates.....the lighting of the Special Olympics Flame...Elvis gets the athletes rocking....

Cory in action....teammate Alex misses, Cory's there to put in the rebound...

Passing the ball around to teammates and chasing rebounds....

And grabbing a great hard pass from teammate Jeff and just beating an opponent's challenge for 2 points:

The team takes the floor to receive their Bronze Medals:

With the 2014 National Games right here in Vancouver, it's disappointing that Cory's team will likely not qualify.  So it's time to enjoy the rest of the summer, with some surfing in Mexico, and then prepare for the next Basketball season starting in October and of course preparing for the downhill skiing winter Regional competition in Kelowna next March.

Almost time for 2013 Summer Provincial Games

Just 2 days to go until the Opening Ceremonies of the 2013 Special Olympics British Columbia Summer Provincial Games in Langley.  Cory started playing basketball just 3 years ago and his team qualified for the Provincials last year.  The Provincial Games are the qualifier for the 2014 National Games to be held right here in Vancouver.  Cory participated in the last Summer Games in 2010 in London, Ontario, where he won both Individual and Team Gold in 5 Pin Bowling.

Cory has been practicing with his Basketball team every week since last October.  Cory and his team have come a long way since they started back in 2010, and his shooting is quite good....

But it hasn't been all work...there was time to enjoy the local fair too, at the Ladner May Days...



And to participate in a few Special Olympics fundraising events...like the Law Enforcement Torch Run...

We'll update again with results from the Provincial Games basketball tournament.

Silver Finish to Cory's Season!

It was the Rotary GS and SL races at Whistler this weekend and Cory finished in 2nd Place in each race.  These races are open to any ski racers with a disability, not just Special Olympians.

Cory with gold medalist Mark and fellow Special Olympian Jesse.

It was a weekend of very changeable weather, one minute very springlike, the next definitely wintry.  For the GS on the first day, the snow was quite soft on the Ptarmigan run, which is now the National Training Centre as a legacy from the 2010 Olympics.  It is one of the best runs in my opinion on Whistler, with marvelous terrain changes that make for some fun and fast skiing.  Now that it's the National Training Centre, it is generally closed to the public, so we are indeed fortunate to have such a terrific training and racing venue for our private use.  Cory has trained and raced there several times now, with Whistler Mountain Ski Club, the Kokanee and Gatebusters programs, as well as these Rotary races that are organized by Whistler Adaptive Snow Programs.

With soft snow for the GS, we took the time to apply some flouro powder to Cory's Volkl race skis just before the race, and he completes his run just .2 seconds ahead of Jesse, his main rival at Special Olympics.
For the 2nd run, as he often does, he shaves a second off his time and takes 2nd place by just over 1.5 seconds.






For the slalom the next day, the snow had hardened considerably and it was an icier race course.

Cory's 1st run put him in second place again, 1.7 seconds ahead, and he really sped down the slalom course on his second run, 3.5 seconds ahead of Jesse.

(check out the speed training happening on the course to the right...towards the end of this video a racer training Super G very quickly catches up to Cory's slalom racing...)






So a very satisfying end to Cory's ski season, a season very different from the previous few with less than half of the usual training and racing sessions.  Next year is the Regional Qualifying year, which will allow Cory to compete at the next Special Olympics BC Winter Games in Kamloops in 2015.  He will need to continue to edge out his rival if he hopes to get to Corner Brook, Newfoundland for the National Games in 2016.

For now, it's a renewed focus on basketball as Cory's team prepares for Special Olympics BC Summer Games in Langley in July - the qualifier for the Provincial Summer Games in 2014 right here in Vancouver.

We'll update again soon.

3 Bronze Medals At The National Games

In 2007, Cory set himself a goal of qualifying for the 2012 National Winter Games, getting on the podium, and hopefully qualifying for the 2013 World Winter Games in Korea.

He qualified for the National Games by winning his 3 races at the Provincial Games in 2011, and then placed 3rd in his 3 races at the National Games at Marmot Basin Ski Area in Jasper, Alberta. But it wasn't quite enough, as only the 1st and 2nd place finishers qualified for Korea.





He is now waiting to hear whether he has qualified for the 2013 BC Provincial Summer Games in either Basketball, Softball, or Bowling (he is hoping for Basketball). In the meantime, he is planning to keep racing next winter though he will reduce the frequency and intensity of his training as it will be 2015 before his next important race.

Treating Those Skis Like Gold

With 2 weeks to go now until Cory's participation in Special Olympics British Columbia Provincial Winter Games, and those 3 qualifying races he'll be competing in, we'll take a look at some of Cory's behind-the-scenes work that he hopes will carry him to the top of the podium and a chance to compete at the National Games in Alberta in 2012.

Besides the 3 times per week training and racing, Cory makes sure his skis are always in top condition by tuning and waxing them after each use. Having raced yesterday at Whistler in his fourth Kokanee race, it's time for another tune and wax.




First thing to do is use large rubber brake retainer bands to hold the ski brakes in place and out of the way:




Then a gentle brushing with a nylon brush to remove any dirt, wax residues, etc.





First is to sharpen the edges in order to remove and burrs and nicks. Race ski edges are not square, they are bevelled according to the racer's abilities. Cory uses a 3 degree side edge:




The sharpening stone on the opposite side:





And it's simply a matter of sliding the multi-tuner along the side edge of the ski. This is everyday tuning and 3 or 4 times per year we bring the skis into a ski shop for a machine tune:




A similar procedure for the base edge, the part of the edge that lines the base on either side of the ski, but with the base edge, Cory uses a 1 degree bevel, or an 89 degree angle:

With the sharpening stone in place:

And again it's simply a matter of sliding the multi-tuner back and forth and let the sharpening stone do its work:





Once the edge sharpening is done, a quick wipe to remove and bits of metal:





Then it's time to wax. Using an iron specially made for ski waxing,




it's a matter of dripping wax onto the ski, making sure to provide enough wax to cover the ski and to ensure the iron is not so hot that it damages the ski:




And then ironing the wax into the base of the ski, again being careful not to overheat the ski base:




This leaves a flat layer of wax on the base, that needs to be scraped off.






The idea is over time and repetition, the wax penetrates the base and provides a longer lasting layer of protection that allows the ski to glide more effectively over snow. The type of snow and its temperature determines the type of wax to be used. Warmer temperatures that create more moisture require a softer wax while colder snow with less moisture requires a harder wax.

To begin removing the wax, we use a specially made plastic scraper with a notch in one corner:








And simply scrape it across both the side edge and base edge to remove the wax:





Next, using the same scraper to remove as much wax as possible from the base:




Then brushing the base with a nylon brush. The will give the ski "structure", basically grooves in the waxed base of the ski that acts like tire treads and moves the moisture in the snow away from the ski base, allowing the ski to glide more efficiently across the surface of the snow:





Once the ski wax has been brushed (we finish with 10 full-length strokes of the ski with the brush), the wax is polished using a clean cloth. The amount of polish depends on the temperature, the colder the temperature the more polishing is required. Less polishing is required on warmer snow to allow for deeper structure to handle the increased moisture.





This leaves the base of the ski with obvious grooves - the structure - that will take moisture away from the base:




And that's about it. With Cory doing this after every training session or race, he hopefully will have skis to race on that will carry him to the top of the podium on March 4th and 5th.

We'll know soon enough.