Travis Ganong DH 2011 Chamonix

This week the world cup tour swung over to Chamonix, France for a Downhill and a Super Combined. Our team was a little unlucky as most of us fell victim to a virus and or food poisoning!!! The night before the race I didn't sleep at all and couldn't hold any food down leading up to this race run. I tried to race still and it was one of the toughest things physically that I have put myself through. I crossed the finish line and could barley even stand up. After I clicked out of my skis I was so dizzy and dehydrated that I felt like I was going to pass out! Steve Nyman and Wiley Maple also were under the weather as well as a few of our coaches. Things like this happen and we just have to take it for what it is and move on to the Hinterstoder WC Super G next weekend and the the World Champs in Garmisch the week after!

Kitzbuhel

Hausburg Jump/Red Bull Jump

This past weekend I raced in my first Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbuhel, Austria.  It was an amazing experience.  The hill is by far the toughest downhill in the world and really is the highest level of competitive ski racing.  It is the super bowl of skiing.  Marco Sullivan tweeted me after the race saying, "Congrates you are no longer a rookie"!  I had a decent run, but I am definently looking forward to next year now that I have my first experience behind me.  The hill is so intimidating that I really couldnt push it as hard as I wanted to, but now that I know where to go and now that I know how everything runs, I think that I can be really fast here! Daron Rahlves commented after the race saying,  "‎#1 on last speed trap! nice run. Get those splits up top on par with the last one and you'll be knocking on the door. Good work!"  As a kid growing up I always dreamed of one day being able to race Kitzbuhel, and now that it has happened, it feels almost surreal. Did that actually just happen!?  I think so! It was one of the most special moments of my skiing life so far.  Standing up in that start house getting ready to absolutely send it down the streif is an amazing feeling (not to mention that there was a 20 minute hold just before me from a crash).  It comes close to standing on top of a big line like McConkey's (EaglesNest High Line) at Squaw Valley,  and thinking about what you are about to do, but it is brought to an entirely higher level as there are 80,000 people watching you on the side of the hill, plus millions more on TV all over the world, and it lasts for over 2 minutes! Haha Kitzbuhel is amazing. I was really happy to score World Cup points on my first try.  Ill be back for some more next year! 

Night time view of the strief from my room in Kitz

My family made it to Kitz! Thanks for coming! 

Mattias Ekstrom, Ted Ligity, Steve Nyman and myself at the Audi ice driving track outside of town! We got to race A4's around on the ice! A whole lot of fun!

The bottom of the Hahnenkamm! I had the fastest speed here on race day! 137 k/h!!!!

Inspection on race day.  It was such a nice day! Coach Pete, Mick and Buddos down on the Hausburg jump!

Travis Ganong Kitzbuhel DH

My first Kitzbuhel downhill! I did it and even scored some world cup points finishing 28th! That was a lot of fun! I can't wait to come back next winter!

Wengen Downhill Run! I got 28th!

Wengen is one of the classic downhills. Last year was my first year racing it, so I had a little experience coming into it this season, but it is still one of those courses that takes time to master. I feel like I learned a lot this year and now feel super comfortable with the hill and I am ready to really make things happen next season. I was really happy to finish within the top 30 for the second time in my world cup downhill career. 28th is not so bad!

The Lauberhornrennen: Wengen Switzerland

Reflecting after my race run last season...

The Lauberhorn, Wengen: Its over two and a half minutes long, it has all the elements of DH, plus some very unique features like a train tunnel that you ski through, and in two days, I will be racing it for my second time. Last year was my first Lauberhorn, and it was quite an experience.  It was tough getting used to the shear length of the thing. I have never been more physically exhausted than I was after my race run last year.  And the fans are crazy here! At last years race there were estimates of 50,000 people scattered all over the track from top to bottom! And all of them had horns, and were in a festive mood, because I remember hearing them screaming top to bottom during my run!

Since I have more of an idea of what to expect from last season, I am really excited to see what I can do here this year, and I have a good plan for race day! Its also going to be even more special because my family is going to be over here chearing me on wearing the GoTrav, Traa from Squaw scarves!  Wengen is truly a special place. Trains whisk you up and down and over the mountains past waterfalls and old forests, and through little villages and over a bridge crossing the downhill course.  And all this time looming above are some of the most famous and largest peaks and glaciers in Europe like the Eiger and the Jungfraujoch.  Then, throw in one of the most fun and demanding downhill tracks in the world with jumps like the Hunshaft, and crazy 90 degree turns like the "S" turns, and you have a perfect venue for one of the most special World Cup Downhill races of the season.

I am having so much fun this season getting to travel and race at all the amazing stops on tour.  When I sit down and take a moment for it to all soak in, it is still a little surreal to think that I am actually on the World Cup tour, a place that I always dreamed about getting to! Being a ski racer is a lot of fun!

Action shot from last years race

 

Another action shot from last years race...

High Fives Promo Piece 2011.mov

Check out this promo video for the High Fives Foundation. As a professional skier running World Cup downhills I put myself on the line every run, and its really nice knowing that there are foundations out there like this that would help me if something happened. Its also really cool to know that the Tahoe community has people out there that are dedicated and passionate about this. So go check out the video and share it with your friends!

Travis Ganong Juniper Mountain Pow Skiing

Action Shots from Bormio, Beaver Creek, and Val Gardena

Here are some action photos from the last few weeks on the World Cup Tour...

Bormio!!!!  My first World Cup points in Downhill!! 

Beaver Creek Super G.  I was 31st, 1 hundredth of a second out of the top 30!!!

Groden..flying off the Camel jumps!

Groden again...

Beaver Creek Downhill training run. I got 7th!!  But the race was canceled.  Next year!

Beaver Creek...Checking out my time

Christmas Nacht Rodeling .m4v

Happy New Years!!! I woke up this morning in Tahoe to about 6 inches of new snow and cold temps... a great start to 2011! Here is a video that I edited from Rodeling on Christmas day in Kirkberg, Austria!! Marie-Michele Gagnon and I had Christmas dinner on top of this mountain and then took two laps rodeling (and yodeling) (they go hand in hand) down in a snow storm!!! It was a lot of fun. We need to get some rodel tracks going here in the US! It would be sweet to take the Tram up at Squaw at night and rodel down the entire mountain run under the lights!!! Check it out!