Last Training Day

Wow.. cold this morning. -30C in the valley. Not much warmer at the base lodge. Fortunately, I had packed my Coaches coat to wear.

When Coop and I got to the top, most of the mountain was still in the shadows of sunrise. Amazing view across the valley with the warm gold mountain tops.

When the Sun finally hit us in the start hut, it went from -22C to about -8C in minutes. Now most of you are still going to think that is pretty cold, but we were able to sit in front of the start hut with only 7 layers of clothes on instead of 12. Didn't even need gloves. Palm trees not included.

CBC was also fully set up today as practice for tomorrow's broadcast. You should be able to hear the starter (me) doing the final count down for the racer to start. Tomorrow (Saturday) looks like a pretty cold day with the high for the day being about -22C. That means the full length Grey Coaches coat for me.

Thursday - Training Run for Women

After standing in the start hut all day (from about 9:30am till 3pm), no matter how warm or cold it is, I usually am cold by the end of the day. This results to a bee-line to the hot tub as soon as I'm able to get back to the hotel.

Yesterday, most of us headed down to enjoy the tub, only to find it at about 45 degree F. Well, it wasn't that cold, but it wasn't that warm either. It was actually about 97F. Just not that warm for a hot tub. It should be about 103F. 102 can feel cool, while 104F feels pretty hot. Well..... I jumped in it today and almost jumped out. It was 108F. Now I know how a lobster feels. At least I lived and didn't end up on some plate with warm butter.

This brings up a point. How hard is it for the guy who stands near the desk at the pool to check the temperature from time to time?? All he has to do is fold some towels and then sell some beer to those in the tub. Maybe it was his ploy to sell more beer today. Who knows........
Saturday is the live TV show, if your in Austria, or some other place in the EU. Canada will see it on tape delay, likely starting around 4pm ET. As the starter, I stand on the right side of the TV picture in my Red Spyder Precision Timing issued jacket. ORF (Austrian TV) will likely show only the first 34 skiers or so. CBC will show the first 30, any other Canadians and any crashes.

For those of you looking for new pictures, it is going to be tough for me to grab any during the actual race. I might be able to mount the camera with a remote shutter release and see what I can get. I might get lucky, but it is tough with so much going on during the start.

Stop reading here for most of you. Propeller heads, carry on----

The attached picture is the junction box that we install at each start. Brian Cooper built a couple of these to make our lives easier. On it you will find the following:

• System A start and a feed to a Timy to record start times
• System B start and a feed to a Timy to record start times
• Headset for the starter
• Headset for the backup hand timer
• Display data from from the bottom so we can make our cute display boards at the start show real running time just like in the finish area
• Data going from the Radar gun to the finish hut - we are practising for another venue to see how well it works

Wednesday - Ladies Training Day

Big news today, I was the starter for my 1st World Cup ski race. Pretty cool actually.

However, it is very easy to screw up those in the timing shack, not to mention those that do the graphics, live to web, etc.

Well, when you accidentally go to return the start gate (it automatically stays open after the skier leaves the start house) and it 'bounces' you managed to set another skier on the course. Well, lots of things happen down below, usually followed by some screaming in the headphones.

So, the gate 'slipped' out of my hand about 10 seconds after a skier had just started. Suffice to say, I won't let that happen again. Sorry Ted and Jim and Peter and Toby and Tami. They all had to scramble to correct my error. Good thing we weren't live to TV today. I can't let that happen tomorrow.

Backing up to Monday. I had an amazing skate on Lake Louise. It has just started to snow, but I was able to skate the entire lake on perfectly smooth ice. If you look closely at the picture, you can see the people skating around with hockey sticks.

Monday - day of rest

Well, not really. Although I'm trying NOT to head up to the finish hut, the slow Internet here might drive me to do that. We have a full T1 connection there for the 10 of us, while here at the Chateau Lake Louise they have a T1 connection for the entire resort.
I've posted a number of pictures at http://www.portcredit.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=25.
Yesterday's race went off without a hitch. Pretty cold at the start of the Super G. However, it was a good thing the start wasn't at the top near the Downhill start as it was blowing a gale up there. I spent the day near the television tower at the first interval time. About 24 seconds into the race.
Today? Laundry and maybe a skate on the famous Lake Louise outside. Still looks amazing as it has only frozen a week ago and it hasn't snowed since. For $8 I can rent some skates and blast around for miles.
Tomorrow, we get back on the hill and start setting up for the Ladies DH. Training starts on Wednesday and the DH is on Saturday.

Internet at the Chateau

Did I mention that the internet in the inn would have to reach up to be brutal? Seriously, I have more bandwidth at my house.

Saturday - Race Day

The morning started pretty early. I ran out to grab some pictures at 6am of the full moon shining on the mountains and the lake outside my window. Yesterday people were skating on the lake all the way to the end. Apparently the ice is so clear that you can see to the bottom in some places. In the picture to the left, the peak towers above the lake about 300m away. However, the wide angle lens on the camera seems to flatten it. It is truly breathtaking.

As for the race, again, it is up the hill to get the equipment in place and running pretty early. We are often on the lift around 8am or earlier. Pretty cold in the valley, and a little warmer as we went up the lift. About an hour later, the sun disappeared and the wind came up. It was about -13C most of the day, but where I was standing near the first interval eye, it was blowing about 20~25kph.

The amazing news of the day is that Canada won the race today. Jan Hudec pulled off a great run. Of course, since I work on the hill it takes a text message from Austria to let me know this. During the race, I don't wear a headset to the timing building, so I'm not connected to the real world.

Coming back to the hotel, I took a look at the window to see a Canadian tradition. The entire lake is covered with people ice skating. Of course, there is the customary set of hockey nets and a bunch playing hockey as well. You can click on the image to get a larger view.

Thursday - Training Run

One training run in the can. We are all still alive even after arriving at the hill at 7:30 in the morning to jump on the lift while it was still dark out. Still one of my most favourite times of the day with my ski boots on.

Today went as planned, but not without a few challenges. The first interval (or push) eye seemed to have a life of its own. Same thing with one of the sets of eyes that make up the speed trap. They will be replaced and tomorrow should be better.

However, even a couple of our fancy display boards don't like the -20C air and wouldn't start up this morning. Both had to be dragged back uphill to the finish hut to be warmed up.

Tomorrow is a repeat of today. Another training run. And, yes I was correct. Several people did manage to fall on 'Sunset' and do a slide for life towards the start hut.

I've attached a picture of the amazing view. This was taken at about 8am just as the sun was rising and lighting up the peaks across the valley. You can click on the image for a larger view.