New Season, New Opportunities

While it's 70* here today in Virginia the snow has started to fall in Maine and the resorts are open. Whitney was home for a quick Thanksgiving break but had to be back in Maine on Saturday to hit the slopes. She was meeting up with her Never Summer rep during his demo day at Sunday River to try out boards to pick a new one for the season. She was so excited to be back on snow! She really enjoyed trying out several boards and should be getting her new one by the new year. She's also working on finding a few other sponsors for the season.

One huge opportunity, that she's been working on since last spring, has come together. Whitney and the head coach of the UMF Ski and Snowboard team have been talking with the Carrabassett Valley Academy (CVA) about getting Whitney some coaching time there since she hasn't been able to get good coaching at the school. She's excited, if a bit nervous, about working with CVA but considering who has gone there (Seth Wescott among them) and what they've accomplished she'll be in good hands. She'll get on-mountain coaching at practices and she should be able to get coaching at some competitions if other CVA athletes are there.

Speaking of competitions, all the USASA events are now posted. I looked over the schedule of races near her or close to her aunt in NH and she'll have a busy winter if she gets to them all. Starting the second week of January she could be racing every weekend until the first week of March except one. Most races are in Maine or Vermont although she will be coming home for the one at Massanutten in February. She's planning on going to the USCSA Nationals, which are March 5-11 then she'll have the rest of March off, at least from competitions, before heading to Colorado for USASA Nationals. She's also planning on racing in a Rev Tour/Hole Shot Tour race which is at Sugarloaf.

On a family note we need to get our passes for Massanutten so we can hit the slopes there. I also have to get over to the ski shop to get my season rentals. I need to be on the slopes much more often this winter; I was sorely out of shape when I went to Colorado last year and don't want a repeat of that! I also need to look at schedules and see if I can get up to Maine or Vermont to watch my girl race a time or two this year. Here's to a great winter and competition season!