Real Life in Jackson, Wyoming

Walking for Exercise.

And saving their race skis.  Those people walking up the side of the course are racers walking up to the race start from the top of Cougar lift which goes most of the way up.  The kids could have ridden to the top and skied down to the race start but the cattrack  and top of the ski run where the course started was full of small rocks and the kids didn't want to trash their race skis.  Can't blame  them.  Maybe today I will get the chance to get some slalom photos.

Photos From Wild Western Classic FIS Race.

Couple photos from the second day of the WWC FIS race with the women's first run GS.

No photos of the guys: no interest.

And Now the Fun Begins.

The Wild West Classic FIS race is starting Saturday at the Kaiser with 260 racers.  The age group is J1s so I guess that is age 17 and up (no comments Philthy?) and it sounds like 8 US ski team members will be here competing (probably C or B team as the A team is competing on the World Cup circut right now).  The best thing is I get to wake up at 5 am Sat-Tuesday and be on the hill ALL DAY.  Whee!  I'm so excited I could just piss myself!  At least I can get some photos.

Little dribs and drabs of snow during the week and more dribs and drabs forecast for rest of week.

Current Conditions on the Kaiser: Ski Racer's Wet Dream.

The last storm we had was a mixed blessing: we got snow above 7000 feet but sleet and rain below that.  The storm allowed us to open all of Snow King (still use yer rock crushers because it is still quite rocky and thin), and added some moisture to the snowpack.  Below the magic snow line, the snow was pretty marginal and we got a fair amount of water out of the storm.  Post-storm it got cold (again) and now the lower half of Snow King is a ski racer's wet dream: rock hard, icy, and fast.  Good thing we have a four day event starting tomorrow, some western FIS open race.  Expecting over 200 racers of all ages so it should be an interesting couple days.

Quiet Days.

After a hellish day on Friday, we had nothing happen Saturday or Sunday.  It was a welcome break.  The only fly in the oinment is the fact that we have an arctic blast of cold air coming down from Canada sometime tonight and it is supposed to get butt-ass cold for a few days.  Thank god for movie day Monday.

Olympic Training Videos.

Found a bunch of Olympic Training races videos from February 2010 at Snow King ski area here in Jackson.  I will post all of them on the Real Life blog and the best of them on the Ski Europe Now blog.  Enjoy.

Heres a couple of the videos:

 

 

 

Not a Bad Day.

Aside from my whining yesterday morning about the time change, at least the patrol made it in time to work.  Despite our warning to the race crew, several of them didn't get here on time.  Could be because they went to 43 North last night and tied one on.  I went home and had a quick dinner, shower, two beers and an ambien and presto!  Good night.  Slept like I was in a coma.  Burgers and brats on the grill for lunch, nice sunny spring weather (temps in the high thirties) so not a bad day.

It was quite cold up high, especially in the shade because we had a pretty stiff north wind all day.  Down low in the sun it was tropical, and at top patrol it was Africa hot.  I got a little burned on my arms without even thinking about it.  I think the daytime high yesterday was pretty close to 45 degrees, and up to 50 according to our base patrol thermometer.  All in all it turned out to be a nice day yesterday despite my whining.

More burgers and brats on the grill today.  Had to order another webbie camera from JR in New York.  I had ordered an earlier model last year and took it to France but was never really happy with the quality of the video, especially when zoomed.  The adaptive anti-shake optics would fuzz out the videos.  It also had the annoying habit of turning on in my pocket and running down the battery.  Hopefully the new one doesn't have these issues.

Daily webcam video:

Fucking Daylight Savings Time.

Didn't realize until almost 4 yesterday afternoon that today daylight savings time was taking effect so instead of getting up at 5:30 this morning it was actually 4:30 in the morning for my body.  Sheeit.  Good thing we told the race crew about the time change otherwise the town downhill would have been off to a bad start this am.

The time change is going to be hellish on Wed when I normally get up at 3:30 (2:30 for my body).  Crap.

Unlike my friend Philthy, I AM ready for this winter to end.  None to soon in my opinion.  I would even welcome rain (we need moisture).

High School Blues.

Worked the Wyoming High School ski championships at Snow King yesterday and I wish we could hire the JH ski club to work the race.  Coaches and workers loaded Cougar at 7:45 am and didn't have a simple GS course and lane ribbon up until 9:30 am.  Sloppy, sloppy.  Some of the kids in the race are certainly good, others need a lot of work.  FIS racing this ain't.  I don't think the race will take all day with only 90 competitors total.

Some light snow today but probably will add up to about an inch.  Damn.

Maintenance is making headway on the Summit lift but what a cruddy season for lifts.

Olympic Training Part III.

Some videos of the US and French ski teams training in a ski race before the olympics.  A giant slalom race.  Not sure who some of the racers are but the second video is of Sarah Schleper of the US ski team.  Enjoy.

Fun, huh?