It's not as cold as last time I was here, which is a bonus! I remember getting off the plane and walking outside Calgary airport, almost not being able to breathe! Going from 30 degrees to -30 is quite a shock to the body!
We headed up to Nakiska yesterday for our first day on snow. There were a few World Cup alpine teams there, including Canada, France and Austria, all training for the up and coming Lake Louise World Cup. On the main training hill was a sea of GS gates.
(See of gates at Nakiska)
We spent the day free skiing and 'finding our feet'. In the afternoon I started to feel a bit off. By the next morning, I could hardly walk! My vision was blurry, I went temporarily deaf and I had trouble breathing. I almost felt like I was about to faint. I went straight to the hospital, and was put on a drip where the nurses pumped in almost 2L of water into me. Apparently I had suffered from an accute virus and severe dehydration. My blood pressure had dropped to as low as 79 over 43 (normal is 120 over 80).
After a few hours on the drip and another 3L of gatorade, I was feeling much better by the afternoon. Not the best start to my overseas trip! Hopefully things go up from here.
It has started to dump with snow, so the plan is to free ski at Lake Louise tomorrow. I'm looking forward to a bit of powder skiing, as it doesn't happen every day, especially on the race circuit!
