Yesterday was day 2 and it was a busy one. Whitney got her competition bib first thing then she and Bob were off. They went up and did some snowboarding/skiing, getting used to the altitude and the slopes here. I went out and wandered around the village some and checked out a few of the shops. We met for an early lunch, then they went back out. Whitney's group had their practice from 12:30-1:45.
It was god that they had the practice time. Although she only got in three runs, it was really helpful. They use a different start gate here than what she's used to using. It was tough the first time out, especially since it's a pretty steep drop down right out of the gate. She also encountered features on the course that she hadn't seen before; don't ask me what they were, I don't know! It was a hard first run down, the course is longer and harder than what she's done before, but she learned with each run.
After practice she was pretty much done. We met up and she and Bob got changed so we could wander around the village for a bit. We found a cool Christmas ornament for our tree and looked at the various tshirts and sweatshirts. After some relaxing time, we went back out for the opening ceremonies. There was a parade of all the series teams, lots of colorful sweatshirts, and banners. Everyone gathered at Burning Stones Plaza for the National Anthem and, speeches, and awards. We met up with a friend she had met at Wisp and Whitney got some encouragement from her. Then it was time for dinner, some tv, and early to bed.
The altitude here is a lot higher than I thought it was going to be. I was thinking it was around 7,000 - 8,000' but it's 12,313'. No wonder I had a bad headache on Friday! At least it's gone now. Just need to keep drinking water, put on the sunscreen, and wait until we get back home to our measly 75' elevation.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Copper Mountain, Day 1
Yesterday we were up super early so we could head out and get our flight to Denver. Got there in plenty of time, got on the plane (saw a couple of other families heading to Nationals), had a smooth flight and landed in Denver on time. Our bags were off the plane pretty quick, we just had to wait for the snowboard and skis, then we grabbed some breakfast to go and found our shuttle.
It was a nice drive up into the mountains west of Denver. The shuttle driver was very chatty so we learned a few things about the area. We drove through some snow showers, lots of sun. After we checked into our condo, we got Whitney registered and checked in for the competition.
Copper Resort is a tpical ski resort town. We don't really see many like this in the East so I guess it's a tpical western ski town. There's a small village of shops with condos on top, a conference center, and lots of restaurants and walking space. We wandered around a bit yesterday, took a nap (it was a long day with the early morning and time change), and went out to dinner. Our condo has a balcony so we spent some time out there watching the ski lift and the minimul action in the plaza outside .
More fun coming up!
It was a nice drive up into the mountains west of Denver. The shuttle driver was very chatty so we learned a few things about the area. We drove through some snow showers, lots of sun. After we checked into our condo, we got Whitney registered and checked in for the competition.
Copper Resort is a tpical ski resort town. We don't really see many like this in the East so I guess it's a tpical western ski town. There's a small village of shops with condos on top, a conference center, and lots of restaurants and walking space. We wandered around a bit yesterday, took a nap (it was a long day with the early morning and time change), and went out to dinner. Our condo has a balcony so we spent some time out there watching the ski lift and the minimul action in the plaza outside .
More fun coming up!
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Another New Hampshire trip
I just got back from another New Hampshire trip last night. The season is winding down, with exciting things still to come. Whitney has done really well in the competitions this season at Wintergreen and Wisp and will be going to Colorado next week for Nationals. We spent the end of February going to the regular practices, went to NH for our annual visit and she did some snowboarding while we were there, then the last couple of practices at Massanutten. We went to NH for a few more days of practice since the resorts closer to home are now closed for the season. She had a really good day on Sunday and again on Monday. She was looking forward to Tuesday but we got 10" of snow overnight and into the day on Tuesday. With the roads we had to travel to get to Mt. Sunapee, we decided to stay home and be safe. Definitely the right decision! Besides the snow, the upper part of the mountain was closed due to windy conditions so she wouldn't have been able to get to the part of the mountain with the BX course. She spent the day playing with her cousin and did get out in the snow, just not snowboarding.
Now we're looking ahead to Copper Mountain and Nationals next week. We leave on Friday, she competes on Sunday, we'll have a couple days to hang around, then home, and the season is done.
Now we're looking ahead to Copper Mountain and Nationals next week. We leave on Friday, she competes on Sunday, we'll have a couple days to hang around, then home, and the season is done.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Wisp
Wisp was interesting. It's in a really pretty part of Maryland and I'd love to go back, either in the winter or summer. The day we were there it was REALLY cold, 5* when we got to the resort and windy. Not sure it made it much above 20* that day. Check in was easy this time, we waited around in the lodge a bit, then drove around to the top of the mountain, which was much closer to where the race was being held.
Again, there weren't too many racers so if things went smoothly, we should have been done in good time even though there were two races. Things did not go smoothly however. Whitney said that the course was hard (a good hard - challenging but not too hard), it was also longer than ones she's been on in the past. It had a couple of jumps, a hip turn, a banana turn, and some other things. On one of the practice runs, a boy fell going over the first jump. While he was swinging his arm all around, complaining that it hurt, the ski patrol was on it's way. Found out later that he broke his arm. That was a long delay while they took care of him. Finally the races started about 10:30. Later there was a delay in the afternoon race when a girl in the 14-15 group fell on the same jump (bruised tailbone and looked like she did something to her elbow).
Whitney was the only one in her age group. Usually when that happens, the racer can either go down by themselves or be grouped with a higher or lower age group that has fewer than four racers. This time was a bit different and they had to get the ok from the race judges. There was a guy in the same age group as her plus an older female racer and an older male racer that were also the only ones in their age groups and they decided to race together. This worked out really well; it was good to have the competition even though they weren't racing against each other. It was kind of funny, they were the mixed age/sex group, the odd-balls.
So being the only one in her age group meant that Whitney came in first and got a couple more snowflakes to add to her collection, this time with blue ribbons. She also picked up the medal from Wintergreen that we missed getting last week. All this raises an interesting question - is she going to get an invitation to Nationals? We think so, but we're not really sure. She will be the Series champ for her age group but does that get her an invite or does she need to be the regional champ? Is she the regional champ? With 2 first place finishes and a second, I don't know. I just know she's got a lot of points. Nationals is the last week of March at Copper Mountain in Colorado. I sure wouldn't mind a trip to Colorado! I guess we'll have to keep checking the website and see what happens but for now, the race season is over.
Again, there weren't too many racers so if things went smoothly, we should have been done in good time even though there were two races. Things did not go smoothly however. Whitney said that the course was hard (a good hard - challenging but not too hard), it was also longer than ones she's been on in the past. It had a couple of jumps, a hip turn, a banana turn, and some other things. On one of the practice runs, a boy fell going over the first jump. While he was swinging his arm all around, complaining that it hurt, the ski patrol was on it's way. Found out later that he broke his arm. That was a long delay while they took care of him. Finally the races started about 10:30. Later there was a delay in the afternoon race when a girl in the 14-15 group fell on the same jump (bruised tailbone and looked like she did something to her elbow).
Whitney was the only one in her age group. Usually when that happens, the racer can either go down by themselves or be grouped with a higher or lower age group that has fewer than four racers. This time was a bit different and they had to get the ok from the race judges. There was a guy in the same age group as her plus an older female racer and an older male racer that were also the only ones in their age groups and they decided to race together. This worked out really well; it was good to have the competition even though they weren't racing against each other. It was kind of funny, they were the mixed age/sex group, the odd-balls.
So being the only one in her age group meant that Whitney came in first and got a couple more snowflakes to add to her collection, this time with blue ribbons. She also picked up the medal from Wintergreen that we missed getting last week. All this raises an interesting question - is she going to get an invitation to Nationals? We think so, but we're not really sure. She will be the Series champ for her age group but does that get her an invite or does she need to be the regional champ? Is she the regional champ? With 2 first place finishes and a second, I don't know. I just know she's got a lot of points. Nationals is the last week of March at Copper Mountain in Colorado. I sure wouldn't mind a trip to Colorado! I guess we'll have to keep checking the website and see what happens but for now, the race season is over.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Heading to Wisp
It's been a crazy week weather wise; first it was cold early, in the 70*s Wednesday and now it's back below freezing and windy. There was no practice on Wednesday night, the ski area closed at 4:30; we were getting lots of rain on top of the really warm temperatures. Practice last night was cold! It was windy and they were blowing snow like crazy. There were also some passing snow flurries/showers happening as well.
Tonight we're heading out to Wisp resort in Maryland. This is the makeup BX from last month. It looks like they've got plenty of snow out there and more snow coming this weekend. It's going to be COLD though, high of 21* tomorrow. There's two races tomorrow then this will probably be it for racing this season unless we head north.
Tonight we're heading out to Wisp resort in Maryland. This is the makeup BX from last month. It looks like they've got plenty of snow out there and more snow coming this weekend. It's going to be COLD though, high of 21* tomorrow. There's two races tomorrow then this will probably be it for racing this season unless we head north.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
One down, two to go!
Although it's 70* as I write this, winter has returned! We had a long cold snap of five or so days where it never got above freezing so the ski areas were making lots of snow. Whitney has been to several practices and it appears to be a small team this year. The good thing about a small group is the nights where it's just her and one other so they can focus on boarder cross skills, which they were able to do last week.
Sunday she went to her first competition of the season down at Wintergreen. It's a rather spread out resort and you start at the top of the mountain and ski down. The resort itself was pretty nice and the course was pretty good. There were only 30 or so people registered and most of them were in the younger age groups. There was only one other girl in Whitney's age group, five or six boys in the next younger age group, three in the 21-24 age group, and the rest were probably 10 and under (maybe 12, but pretty young).
They start with the warm up runs and unfortunately Whitney was only able to get in two runs. I think she would have done better with a couple more. The race is run youngest to oldest age groups, snowboarders first, so she had to wait through all the young kids. She did pretty well for her first time out this season and felt she did better than she did last year.
There's two races this weekend at Wisp. We'll be heading out Friday night since they start early on Saturday morning. Winter is coming back tomorrow and it'll be in the low 40s Friday and Saturday so that should make for some good snowboarding. Good luck, Whitney!
Sunday she went to her first competition of the season down at Wintergreen. It's a rather spread out resort and you start at the top of the mountain and ski down. The resort itself was pretty nice and the course was pretty good. There were only 30 or so people registered and most of them were in the younger age groups. There was only one other girl in Whitney's age group, five or six boys in the next younger age group, three in the 21-24 age group, and the rest were probably 10 and under (maybe 12, but pretty young).
They start with the warm up runs and unfortunately Whitney was only able to get in two runs. I think she would have done better with a couple more. The race is run youngest to oldest age groups, snowboarders first, so she had to wait through all the young kids. She did pretty well for her first time out this season and felt she did better than she did last year.
There's two races this weekend at Wisp. We'll be heading out Friday night since they start early on Saturday morning. Winter is coming back tomorrow and it'll be in the low 40s Friday and Saturday so that should make for some good snowboarding. Good luck, Whitney!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Wacky Weather!
We've been having some pretty non-winter like weather around here. It's been pretty warm and rainy. Much of the snow down at Massanutten has melted. I'm surprised that they can stay open right now. They're just skiing during the day and have cut their night hours. Of course that means that there's no team practice. Hopefully by this weekend things will be better. We're supposed to get about 5 inches of snow tonight and by the weekend it's going to start getting a lot colder. Next week it's going to be in the 30s all week and much colder at night. Sounds like they'll be able to make snow around the clock soon. It's a good thing since I was seeing lots of grass and thin spots on the web cams this morning.
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