After getting up super early this morning (I'm not even sure it was morning yet), we've made it to Copper Mountain. We had time in the Denver airport to grab some breakfast before we hopped on the shuttle for the ride to Copper. Today was the perfect example of why we take the shuttle instead of getting a rental car and driving up here. We drove through snow showers, snow on the roads, and lots of traffic.
There's been flurries off and on all day long but the sun is out now. Hopefully we'll have good weather for most of our stay here. The only day I really care about is Monday, we need good weather then so the competition goes off on time.
Whitney (and her coach, Chad) are all registered and checked in. Whitney got some pretty cool swag - a USASA hat, some cool socks, a army guy-type snowboard dude, and some other things. We still need to connect with the Appalachian Series director to get our App Series Nationals gear. When we checked before coming out here, there were 18 girls in the 16-17 age group who accepted invitations to Nationals. That seems to be a pretty good field, a few less than what came last year.
Tomorrow is practice day, Monday is race day. In between she's going to have some fun snowboarding, high up in the Rockies. I just hope she doesn't wear herself out having fun before race day.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Thursday, March 27, 2014
The Countdown Begins
Right now we're just about at T-12 hours until we leave the house for Copper Mountain and Nationals. Yep, we're leaving at 4am. Sigh. Way too early in the morning. On the other hand, we'll get to Denver at 8:30 and should be at Copper by noon.
We're in the middle of packing, making sure reservations for the condo and shuttle are in order, checking the snowboard and making sure all the snowboard gear is ready to go. And trying to finish up school.
Copper is having an amazing winter, they've had over 300" of snow so far, they had 5" of snow this morning and are expected to get more tomorrow. Should be awesome conditions out there. Hopefully we'll have some sunny days with bluebird skies to enjoy as well as some snow (just not on competition days).
Some pictures from last year --
We're in the middle of packing, making sure reservations for the condo and shuttle are in order, checking the snowboard and making sure all the snowboard gear is ready to go. And trying to finish up school.
Copper is having an amazing winter, they've had over 300" of snow so far, they had 5" of snow this morning and are expected to get more tomorrow. Should be awesome conditions out there. Hopefully we'll have some sunny days with bluebird skies to enjoy as well as some snow (just not on competition days).
Some pictures from last year --
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| Start of the course last year |
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| Glow on the mountains behind Copper village |
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| The mountains our last morning |
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Cleaning out the DVR
Tonight Whitney and I were cleaning out the DVR and watched a couple of things worth discussing.
Paralympic Snowboard Cross
This was rather interesting. It's run totally different than "regular" snowboard cross. First off, the athletes all had lower leg impairments. Some had other impairments but they had to have a lower limb impairment to compete. Of the women only one, Amy Purdy, an American was a double amputee. The race was run more like a time trial, rather than the crazy race that was in the Olympics. Each competitor went down the course by themselves and was timed. They went down three times, their best two times were combined and the fastest was the winner. Amy Purdy won the bronze medal in the women's boarder cross.
This was the first year that boarder cross was competed in the Paralympics and it was pretty obvious. Some of the competitors were quite accomplished, really knew what they were doing, and were very fast down the course. There were others that had not been snowboarding for very long and were much slower, more hesitant. I think this is one of the main reasons for the races being run they way they were. They did say it was a matter of safety for the racers. The course was a bit more narrow than the Olympic course, perfect for one person at a time; it also had fewer (no) jumps. There's a lot more to Paralympic boarder cross, but mainly it's a different race than the Olympics.
Last World Cup Ski Cross
I just happened upon the last World Cup ski cross this afternoon. I've always though ski cross was just a bit more crazy than snowboard cross. With snowboarders, you just have a person and a board. Yes, crashes happen and they can be pretty spectacular, but they're nothing compared to ski cross and their "gnarly yard sale" crashes. With the skiers, you've got a person, two skis, and two poles and lots of opportunity. I recorded this afternoon's show so Whitney could watch it with me since they had some pretty amazing crashes. I don't think anyone got hurt too seriously, but in one semi-final race one guy went into the air and took down two other racers as he came down. Skis, poles, goggles went flying (thus the "yard sale" comment).
There was one race that was the perfect example of why, when you fall or ski out of the course, you get up, backtrack if you need to and keep on going to the finish line. One racer made it through to the end clean. A Canadian fell towards the top; a bit further down the other two competitors crashed. Meanwhile, up top, the Canadian got up, pulled himself together and got his missing ski back on, back tracked up to go inside the gate he missed, and got back into the race. Because he got up and went down instead of giving up, he finished in second. The other two skiers eventually made it down as well so all finished the race. Even in the race where three of the skiers wiped out, two of them managed to get up and make it across the finish line.
Paralympic Snowboard Cross
This was rather interesting. It's run totally different than "regular" snowboard cross. First off, the athletes all had lower leg impairments. Some had other impairments but they had to have a lower limb impairment to compete. Of the women only one, Amy Purdy, an American was a double amputee. The race was run more like a time trial, rather than the crazy race that was in the Olympics. Each competitor went down the course by themselves and was timed. They went down three times, their best two times were combined and the fastest was the winner. Amy Purdy won the bronze medal in the women's boarder cross.
This was the first year that boarder cross was competed in the Paralympics and it was pretty obvious. Some of the competitors were quite accomplished, really knew what they were doing, and were very fast down the course. There were others that had not been snowboarding for very long and were much slower, more hesitant. I think this is one of the main reasons for the races being run they way they were. They did say it was a matter of safety for the racers. The course was a bit more narrow than the Olympic course, perfect for one person at a time; it also had fewer (no) jumps. There's a lot more to Paralympic boarder cross, but mainly it's a different race than the Olympics.
Last World Cup Ski Cross
I just happened upon the last World Cup ski cross this afternoon. I've always though ski cross was just a bit more crazy than snowboard cross. With snowboarders, you just have a person and a board. Yes, crashes happen and they can be pretty spectacular, but they're nothing compared to ski cross and their "gnarly yard sale" crashes. With the skiers, you've got a person, two skis, and two poles and lots of opportunity. I recorded this afternoon's show so Whitney could watch it with me since they had some pretty amazing crashes. I don't think anyone got hurt too seriously, but in one semi-final race one guy went into the air and took down two other racers as he came down. Skis, poles, goggles went flying (thus the "yard sale" comment).
There was one race that was the perfect example of why, when you fall or ski out of the course, you get up, backtrack if you need to and keep on going to the finish line. One racer made it through to the end clean. A Canadian fell towards the top; a bit further down the other two competitors crashed. Meanwhile, up top, the Canadian got up, pulled himself together and got his missing ski back on, back tracked up to go inside the gate he missed, and got back into the race. Because he got up and went down instead of giving up, he finished in second. The other two skiers eventually made it down as well so all finished the race. Even in the race where three of the skiers wiped out, two of them managed to get up and make it across the finish line.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
(Almost) End of Season Wrap-Up
We just got back from our last trip to Massanutten for the season. The next couple of days Whitney can go, the weather just isn't going to be cooperative - too warm and/or rainy. Also at this point in the season she's getting pretty physically beat up and tired. It's time to take a break for a week or so before Nationals. The ski area closes on Sunday so it's the end.
The "bad" things this season:
The "bad" things this season:
- Coaching chaos! After Scott got hurt and was out for the season, for a while Whitney didn't know who the coach was going to be on a given night. It was rotating coaches for a while.
- The crazy weather. The snow started falling early and lasted long into March. That was good, except that we also had several rainy days, sleet, and crazy thick fog.
- Ten year old boys. Enough said.
- The long drive. For whatever reason, the drive seemed really long this year. Maybe it's just because we know how long it is now.
- The coaches! Even though it was crazy for a while, Whitney had fun meeting the different coaches and felt it was good having a different set of eyes every so often on her skills. She also learned different things from the different coaches.
- The weather was both good and bad. The early snow got the resort open early, which meant that she could start boarding early. Even though she was there on several rainy days, the plus side was that a few times she was the only one there for the team practice and got individual coaching. The snow has kept coming, they got almost a foot the other day and spring is just around the corner.
- Improved skills. For a while, especially because of the coaching problems early in the season, Whitney felt she was stagnating and not getting better. Once things stabilized (there was one pretty regular weeknight/Sunday coach, rotating ones on Saturday), she said that she really felt her skills were improving.
- Awesome boarding! Because of the early snow and all the snow that's fallen this winter, there was some pretty awesome snowboarding. Whitney really enjoyed her time at Massanutten again this season, learning from the coaches, having fun with the team, a trip to New Hampshire for a couple of days of boarding there.
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Winter, Extended
Since we live in Virginia, usually by this time of year the trees are starting to bud, the early flowers are blooming, and the cold and snow is becoming a distant memory. Alas, that is not this year! Right now, it's beautiful - almost 70 degrees, sunny, light breeze but big changes are coming our way. We're under a winter storm watch for tomorrow evening into Monday afternoon, supposed to get 5"+ of snow. This is the cold, snowy winter that never ends. It has been much colder than usual with lots of "big" snowstorms. Even I, as much as I love snow, am ready for spring. At least you can start to see the trees getting that red blush of buds and we have been seeing green fields on the drive to Massanutten. Soon enough spring will be here and winter will finally be over! That also means that snowboard season is done for another year, just another couple of weeks.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
National Rankings
So the competition season is over, all the results have been sent in to USASA, and Whitney is ranked 7th in the country. We are so proud of her and all the hard work she's put in this year. After the crazy season she's had, she ended up doing really well.
USASA sent out the invites to Nationals today. As the Appalachian Series champion, Whitney got an automatic invite, which she accepted (obviously). It'll be interesting to see how big the field is this year. The series champions get automatic invites, then they'll fill out the field by going down the rankings. They invite up to 35 girls in her age group, but last year there were only 22 there. Snowboarding girls are few and far between. It's pretty easy to get an invite to Nationals if you're a girl involved in bx; even though they invite twice as many boys, it's harder to get invited since there's a lot more that participate.
We have our flights booked, room reservations made, shuttle from the airport is set. Now we just need to get in a few more practice days before we head out to Colorado. She decided that she didn't want to spend any more time in the car driving up to New Hampshire again so we're staying home. A cold front is coming through tonight and it'll be a good day on the slopes here tomorrow. We'll head down again on Saturday. New England is getting a pretty good snow storm today/tonight/tomorrow and she may regret not wanting to head back up for some fresh powder. It's off to Colorado on the 28th, ready or not.
USASA sent out the invites to Nationals today. As the Appalachian Series champion, Whitney got an automatic invite, which she accepted (obviously). It'll be interesting to see how big the field is this year. The series champions get automatic invites, then they'll fill out the field by going down the rankings. They invite up to 35 girls in her age group, but last year there were only 22 there. Snowboarding girls are few and far between. It's pretty easy to get an invite to Nationals if you're a girl involved in bx; even though they invite twice as many boys, it's harder to get invited since there's a lot more that participate.
We have our flights booked, room reservations made, shuttle from the airport is set. Now we just need to get in a few more practice days before we head out to Colorado. She decided that she didn't want to spend any more time in the car driving up to New Hampshire again so we're staying home. A cold front is coming through tonight and it'll be a good day on the slopes here tomorrow. We'll head down again on Saturday. New England is getting a pretty good snow storm today/tonight/tomorrow and she may regret not wanting to head back up for some fresh powder. It's off to Colorado on the 28th, ready or not.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Paralympic Athletes
If you want to see some pretty awesome athletes in action, watch some of the Paralympics! I was doing some catching up late this afternoon and watched the downhill ski events. I am so amazed at what these people can do. Whether their disability has been with them since birth, was the result of a degenerative disease or accident, or the result of military service, they are impressive.
For the downhill ski events, they first had the vision impaired skiers race. These skiers have limited vision and follow a guide who has on a shirt that the skier can see. For some, it's a bright neon color, for others it was black. The guide also has a mic so they can talk to the skier they're leading and help guide them down the mountain.
The next skiers down were the standing skiers. OK, some of these have amazing strength and balance. It looked like to ski in this event, the skiers were either missing a leg or part of their arm. By not having a second ski pole, it's much harder to keep your balance. Of course, watching the skiers with one leg keep upright and make it down the mountain was impressive.
Last to go were the mono-skiers, or sit skiers. These guys (and girls) have a lot of upper body strength to control the mono-ski.
The downhill races were run on the same course that they used during the Olympics earlier this month. There were similar problems - a warm day, soft snow that froze overnight and became a sheet of ice, a tough course overall. We saw some pretty spectacular crashes, one American ended up in the hospital (no serious injuries from what I heard).
I can't wait to watch more of the Paralympics, we've got a bunch on the DVR as we're not up in the middle of the night to see them live. In case anyone is wondering, the snowboard events are Friday night.
For the downhill ski events, they first had the vision impaired skiers race. These skiers have limited vision and follow a guide who has on a shirt that the skier can see. For some, it's a bright neon color, for others it was black. The guide also has a mic so they can talk to the skier they're leading and help guide them down the mountain.
The next skiers down were the standing skiers. OK, some of these have amazing strength and balance. It looked like to ski in this event, the skiers were either missing a leg or part of their arm. By not having a second ski pole, it's much harder to keep your balance. Of course, watching the skiers with one leg keep upright and make it down the mountain was impressive.
Last to go were the mono-skiers, or sit skiers. These guys (and girls) have a lot of upper body strength to control the mono-ski.
The downhill races were run on the same course that they used during the Olympics earlier this month. There were similar problems - a warm day, soft snow that froze overnight and became a sheet of ice, a tough course overall. We saw some pretty spectacular crashes, one American ended up in the hospital (no serious injuries from what I heard).
I can't wait to watch more of the Paralympics, we've got a bunch on the DVR as we're not up in the middle of the night to see them live. In case anyone is wondering, the snowboard events are Friday night.
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