So here I am, almost 4 weeks into a great ski camp in New
Zealand. It is like I have been on my
own little “lonely planet” tour, just through the eyes of a ski racer. Once I got over the fact that I was leaving
summer behind, I have been able to fully embrace the Kiwi winter (which really
isn’t all that bad!). On a little side
note, I realize that I am not sure I handle Canadian winters anymore as my skin
seems to have softened and I am finding -10 awfully cold!
I have probably skied 20 days so far, skied more slalom
gates than my last couple of season combined and have raced in races put on by
a couple local Canadians here in New Zealand at the New Zealand Winter Games
and had some of my best training and some of my most challenging and humbling!
Our whole team has been together since arriving down here but last weekend, our
team split and the speed girls went mountain hopping all the way to Mt.
Hutt. The plan was to get in 10 days of
speed training but since this resort is aptly named Mt. Shut it was a little
ambitious! I am pretty sure that I have never seen wind as fierce before and
needless to say we missed the first 4 days.
The good news is that we did manage to get in a day of downhill training
today which turned out to be a blast. It
felt good to get back on the old skis again; it is like coming home J
Our two week block in Coronet Peak was great preparation for
this speed portion and I feel that all the blood, sweat and tears (lots of
those!) was definitely worth it. Now it
is time to capitalize on the speed training here and get as much as possible
out of it before heading home in a week!
Unfortunately I have not been on any real Kiwi adventures….but then
again there is still a week to go and who knows what can happen in that time. I do know that I love black liquorice, flat
whites, timtams and a good glass of local wine!
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