PART I: SOLDEN - U.S. Ski Team Training Base in Europe. We spent a few days here to train and get acclimated before we began our Europa Cup racing.
A cool hut we skied to on our first day of skiing at Solden
Poor visibility and soft snow warranted a hot chocolate break
After skiing we came across an Audi test driving center...this is the A6 I got to drive!
A look at the track and all of its cool obstacles we drove over
At the end of the test drive, we were lead to their promotional site where we got our pictures taken for our own personal magazines
As you can see here!
PART II: Sarnen/Melchsee Frutt, Switzerland for 2 Slalom Europa Cups
10 min from our hotel in Sarnen was Lac Sarnen. My teammate Resi and I found it the first afternoon shortly after we arrived and immediately fell in love...so we had a little photo shoot. The lighting was too good not to!
The next day we walked back to the lake to do some quickness drills and dynamic warm up exercises before our night slalom a few hours later. Definitely not a bad view for warm up!
This is a view from up on the mountain at Melchsee Frutt. Huge mountains surrounded us in every direction!
PART III: Maria Alm/Hinterreit, Austria for 2 GS FIS Races
The view from the top of Hinterreit
Another view from the bottom of the T-bar at Hinterreit
My teammate Lila and me after the first day of GS racing
In Maria Alm where we were staying (5 min from Hinterreit), we found a store that sold dirndls so we had to try them on. Lila went on to get hers, I found another one later in the trip that I ended up buying. We decided they can be our Halloween costumes for the rest of our lives! But really they will be fun to have for other occasions too!
PART IV: Kirchberg, Austria for 2 Europa Cups (1 slalom and 1 GS)
We got to Kirchberg a couple days before the racing started so we were able to free ski Kitzbuhel. Not much snow on the mountains!
Here we are at the start of the famous Hahnenkamm Downhill where the men would be racing in a few days. We were all blown away by how steep and technical it was right off the bat. Our smiles are saying "Thank god we never have to race this hill!"
The view from the start
Checking out the "Maussefalle"
Here's a look at the race hill in Kirchberg. Not much snow on either side, but the snow on the hill itself was in great shape. The races were extremely competitive with many World Cup athletes racing. Starting in the 70s and 80s in GS and Slalom respectively was tough to say the least! But I skied well and moved up a considerable amount in each event.
PART V: Pozza di Fassa, Italy - a week of training (and powder skiing) in the Dolomites before we headed back to the U.S.
The Italian Dolomites are definitely on my top 5 list of favorite places in the world! This is a shot from our first morning of training at San Pellegrino.
This was our view while training at Pozza di Fassa. Again, not too shabby!
Our second to last day in the Dolomites we woke up to a foot of new snow at our hotel, which meant around 3 feet of new snow on the mountain. That morning at breakfast our coach gave us the option to train slalom or go powder skiing. It was a unanimous decision to go powder skiing, and boy, was it the right choice!
Face shots like this one...all day long!
We couldn't wipe the smiles off our faces!
This is what snow banks are supposed to look like!
Snowy beard
Snowy braid
I missed the tram up to the Marmolada thanks to my faulty ticket so I had to wait for the next one. At least my teammates waited for me at the top!
Made it on this time and got the tram selfie too :)
Checking out all of the untracked snow...
My coach Seth getting the goods!
Team pic at the end of an epic day
And just when I thought the day couldn't get any better, it did :)
PART VI: Sunday River, Maine for 2 GS and 2 Slalom NorAms
Although I never made it on to the top step of the podium during these races, I had some of the best results of my season and was really happy with how I skied. It was a great way to cap off a long, but successful trip.
In a couple days I'm heading back to Europe for more Europa Cup races and then World Junior Championships in Slovakia. I'm looking forward to a great second half of my season. Stay tuned for updates!
