Bormio POV

Yesterday I raced Bormio.  It is the most physically demanding Downhill on the World Cup Tour.  I scored  world cup points yesterday finishing 30th which is not an amazing result, but ill take it.  World Cup points are world cup points! I just found this POV gopro footage from the training run two days ago and it is sweet! And yes it is as bumpy as it looks on this clip.  This is what we see when we are skiing downhill...

Bormio Race Day Tomorrow

Here on the US Ski Team we have a tradition that is starting to take root among rookies to the World Cup.  Ted Ligety decided to initiate the rookie hair cut on Will Greagorak before his first world cup in Solden last season, and here we are a year and a half later and well, we are getting pretty good at cutting hair!

Ace

My clippers have had the honor of cutting Wiley Maple's, Tommy Biesemeyer's, Chris Frank's, Ryan Cochran-Sigle's, and just tonight Ace Tarberry's hair in preparation for their first World Cups. And those are just the speed team guys.  Also on that list would be Charles Christensen, Colby Grandstrom, and Michael Ankeney.  All of us ski racers always dreamed about racing at the highest level of our sport, the World Cup, and like Ace tonight, racers are starting to get fired up about getting that rookie hair-cut,  because that just means one thing... You have made it to the World Cup! Look out for all of the guys in the next few years.  They are the future of American skiing!

Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas everyone! I am spending Christmas this year in Austria with my girlfriend Marie-Michele, and my parents in Maria Alm! It is so mice to have a little break from the World Cup Tour and be in a quiet, and very snowy little Austrian village.  Today was one of the better powder days that I have ever had.  Since we got here it has snowed a meter and a half and it just wont stop coming down, and the best part about it is that no one here skis powder! It is so fun not having to fight over the good snow and just make run after run enjoying the amazing skiing! 

I also had a chance to go to Flachau and watch Marie race two nights ago! She ripped and got 9th. Way to go Minou! Im sure that is a nice little pre-Christmas present! :)

Maria Alm.... It has the second tallest Church Steeple in all of the land! Salzburger Land that is...

Hitting the slopes.... Me in front, followed by Marie and my Mom.  This was about the most crowded it got all day! :)

?!hihi

Face shots every run! It was really, really, really deep! 

Real Austrian meal, Spaetzle for Marie, Grostel for me and Rick and Goulash for Jan! Maltzeit! Oh and the Apfelsaftgespritz(sorry about the bad spelling)

Wouldn't forget about the Kaserschmarnn! Kind of like scrambled crepes.

Mistletoe!!

Val Gardena Canceled...

A photo from one of the Downhill training runs this year...

Ski racing is a crazy sport.  We spend our entire summer getting strong in the gym.  Add two months of training in New Zealand and Chile to that, plus all of november in Colorado, and you start to get the picture of the kind of time dedication it takes to do this sport.  Then at the world cup races we do our morning warm ups (biking, mobility, core), inspection, warm up runs, eating right, sleeping right, visualizing the runs... and then come race time, it can be a clear nice day.... but then the wind picks up as a head wind, and just like that, the race is unfair and ultimately canceled.

Thats what happened today here in Val Gardena.  We are really at the mercy of mother nature at times in our sport. And there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it.  The FIS did the right thing today in canceling the race after seeing all the top seed skiers like Cuche, Kroll, and Svindal come down the first two splits over a second and in some cases a second and a half out from the head wind.  Its tough to see a race canceled like that, when all of us racers are prepared and ready to send it down the Saslong, but we would all rather stake our chances at another race where the wind is maybe a bit less windy, and really see how we stack up against the best skier in the world.  We will see next time...

Life of a World Cup Skier

Life on the World Cup consists of a pretty busy schedule and it is always very similar at every race we go to.  You wake up usually before the sun is up, have a euro breakfast, and jump on the spin bike for 20 minutes to warm up.  After a few stretches and other muscle activation exercises, you get your gear on and head to the mountain for inspection which is usually around 9.  After inspection you take a few warm up runs to get some good feeling on the skis, and then you go to the lodge at the top of the mountain near the start to chill and wait for your run.  After your race run, you go back to the hotel, have a late lunch, and the afternoon is filled with dryland, physical therapy, video analysis of the days run, boot work, checking in with the ski technician to see how the skis ran and to make a plan for the next day, pre-race workout, team meeting, dinner, a little free time, bed time, and then you do it all over again the next day! If you do everything right and put the effort into it, the results during the race usually follow, so the few days around a competition are very important.  After the last race it is always nice to relax and go have some fun before doing it all over again the next weekend! This is the life of a world cup ski racer!

Team Atomic Van! We got our names on it this year!

Getting ready for Christmas in Val Gardena

Checking out our skis with our tech Joe!

Parking garage tennis and mini-biking

Post race run recovery walk...

Its Always Snowing Somewhere

You don't always get to witness the start of winter, but when you do, it is a special thing to behold.  When we arrived in Val Gardena, Italy yesterday, the hills were green and it was 50 degrees...  And then just like that, it started to snow! I am glad to welcome back winter to Europe, just in time for our first European Downhill World Cup of the year, the Saslong in Val Gardena/Groden, Italy!

I put together a little time lapse (the first one I have ever attempted) to try and show the transformation. 

So everyone...lets get fired up for snow!  Wash your car, take the deck furniture out of storage, go jump in the lake, have a snow party (snow dances, and burning old skis), get like the Aztec and sacrifice something (scratch that last one)......   BUT DO SOMETHING!!!!!!!   And the snow will come! I just got a new camera (Nikon D7000) and so I thought I would try doing a time lapse of the storm...  This is my first real time lapse! Let me know what you think! Lets pray for another big winter!

Time Lapse Val Gardena: Winter Welcome Back!

Winter, Welcome back to Europe.  We arrived to green grass and 50 degree sunny weather, and now, well, its dumping! This is a little time lapse of the beginning of the storm, and winter for that matter...  This is also my first time dabbling in time lapse photography, so bear with me! The good news is that we have snow now, so the race should be good to go.

Here is to another big winter everywhere! All the mountains of the world are hurting for snow right now, so everyone, get out there and do some snow dancing and pray for snow!

Val Gardena... Where is the snow!?

 We made it to Val Gardena/Groden, Italy.  Over the last few weeks, the European World Cup tour had to be shifted over to North America, with races in Beaver Creek due to lack of snow in Europe, and well, there is still a "lack of snow" here...  We rolled into town today to a temperature of +7c and green grass covering the hills, with a slight dusting of snow covering the shady areas! To say the least, they are hurting for snow (even more so than we are back home in Tahoe).  All that considered, it is getting cold at night, and they have made a lot of snow on the race hill so we should be set for the first training run starting on Wednesday!   I am really looking forward to racing the Saslong again this year. It is another one of those special races for many reasons.  We race high up in the Italian Dolomites, with jagged rock spires rising in all directions surrounding the quite little valley villages with their picturesque churches and small hotels.  The Saslong it self has more jumps than any other Downhill in the world, which makes it a whole lot of fun.  Its pretty much a three mile long terrain park that is closed off for us to go as fast and as big as we want to down it!  The jet lag is starting to set in, so ill finish it up there, but keep checking back throughout the World Cup Speed season for updates straight from the racers perspective! 

Check out the huge snow banks! Should I go powder skiing tomorrow???? Val Gardena, Italy December 11th, 2011 

Squaw Creek Is Ready to Shred!

Today was my first day skiing at Squaw this year, and although it was limited to only Red Dog, I had a great time getting up on the mountain and making some turns.  There was a lot of work going on over at the Squaw Creek side, so this afternoon I hiked up there to check it out, and BAM! Squaw Creek is ready to shred!  The snowmaking crew has laid out a nice swath of snow top to bottom on Squaw Creek and it is groomed and ready for our enjoyment! I think they will open it tomorrow, so get out there and enjoy! I am off to Europe tomorrow morning where there is even less snow than there is here in Tahoe, so go make some turns for me! 

-Travis 

Fresh Bear Tracks!

Tahoe

Tahoe.....  This is home! Check out this time lapse montage.  Sand Harbor, Squaw Valley, Emerald Bay, Incline, Tahoe City, and Truckee. 

Five Lakes Ice Skating is All Time Right Now!

When life gives you lemons, make lemon aid! And so following that advice, my day ensued in search of the next best thing to do on December 8th besides powder skiing.  With the lack of snow in Tahoe right now, a lot of the hiking trails on the southern aspects are still snow free, so I decided to venture up to Five Lakes with my hockey skates to see what was going on up there.   And it was amazing! 

It was way better than expected with perfect smooth fast ice shore to shore all around the lake. And due to our epic record breaking winter last season, the lakes are very full with means that you can even skate between the two lakes on a small ribbon of ice.  

There were only a few other tracks out there on the virgin ice, and it was so fun arcing off turns and going as fast as possible all while in the shadow of Headwall, the Palisades, and the snow-less Sun Bowl!  No doubt it would be way more fun to be skiing powder off of KT or Headwall right now, but skating on the perfect ice up at Five Lakes was pretty damn fun! It looks like the weather is going to stay the same for another few day and the weekend before we start to get a little snow by Sunday night, so I highly recommend taking advantage of the rare perfect skating conditions and hike up to Five Lakes for a slide. 

(Caution- There are some very slick icy spots on the hike up to Five Lakes, so bring a pole or good traction)  (Also always skate with a buddy just in case--- The ice along some of the edges looked a little thin, but the lake proper is rock solid!)




The Bear Creek Pond (below) is also skating great.  Local Alpine residents have been playing hockey every morning down there! 

Also, Alpine is ready to start spinning it's lifts on Saturday! It looks like the trail skiers right of Roundhouse is groomed with man made snow and ready to go! 

It was just another fun day in Tahoe!  Im going skiing at Squaw tomorrow morning and then it is off to Europe on Saturday to start racing again in Val Gardena, Italy! Watch the races on the 16th and 17th on Universal Sports (Channel 625 Direct Tv)

Alpine Meadows Sunset

I highly recommend the Nikon D7000.  In one day I have taken better photos than ever before. Just as I posted that last post, I looked outside and the sunset was going off, so I snapped some photos and they were stunning! Check it out!