Training in Stubai: Day 4

Training is going incredibly well here in Stubai Glacier, Austria. I honestly couldn't ask for anything more... the snow is firm, the sun in shining and there's no need for hand warmers! One week training here is equivalent to one month training back at home (I love Mt Buller and always will but it just can't match the long runs here...)

 

(Excited for the perfect bluebird day ahead)

 

(Absolutely buggered after a long day's training) 

Yesterday after a long day of GS and Super G training, we headed back down to the valley where it's basically like summer again. We enjoyed a coffee by the river in a t-shirt, shorts and thongs (true to the Aussie style) and then once again used the cold glacier river for recovery.

 

(Soaking up the sun at a cafe by the river)

 

(Our interpretation of a recovery session... very high-tech!)

 

Today we made the most of the sunny weather and decided to once again visit the look-out point at 3200m. The stair hike was tough but completely worth it! Check out the views...

 

(Climb to the look-out point)

 

(A view of the glacier from the peak)

 

(Australian Ski Cross Team, Anton Grimus, Sami Kennedy, Katya Crema and Scott Kneller)

 

(Anton showing off his mullet)

 

(The glacier from the gondola)

 (Panoramic shot of the surrounding mountains)

From rain to perfect sunshine in Stubai, Austria!

For those of you who have missed them, the regular blogs are back!

We started the northern winter early this year with a two-week training camp in Stubai Glacier, Austria. The enormous glacier with a peak at 3200m is open year-round for skiing.

The Australian National Ski Cross Team, consisting of myself and three others, as well as the coach and ski technician, all arrived here in Austria on Monday.

We didn’t get off to a great start on day 1. It was foggy and pouring with rain (it actually reminded me a little of skiing back at home in Australia!). We also managed to get a little lost at the very beginning of the day. In search of the restaurant that was supposedly at the top of the mountain, we ended up hiking up around 200 steps to nothing but a lookout point. For our first day at high altitude, it was hard work! The view definitely would have been worth it on a clear day.

Today we had an amazing day skiing. There are a number of teams training at Stubai, including some world cup alpine teams. The conditions were great, and the training is ideal. 

(Heading up to Stubai Glacier)

(Emerging from the fog...)

After four hours training at such high altitude, we were pretty exhausted and happy to come back down to Neustift, the town we are staying in. The weather down in the valley was beautiful, around 25 degrees this afternoon…probably hotter than Melbourne at the moment! The four of us went exploring and managed to find a hiking trail in the mountains. Then we finished off the session by deciding to sit in the river with fast flowing glacial water… frickin’ cold but good recovery!

(Stubai Glacier in the background)

(Bush walking in the woods)

(Neustift)

We’ll be training here for the next two weeks before we head back home to Australia. Will keep you posted!

isft photoshoot

Last week we had our first isft. (i ski for tommy) photoshoot.

Rishy, Dan, Mark and myself got our isft. gear on for some ambassador photos to be used in future media publications, magazines etc... Ex-Mt Buller Race Club skier turned ultra-trendy photographer Charlie Payne took the shots. Thanks Charles!

Here are some behind the scenes shots...

Final week of the Aussie ski season

For the past week I have been in Jindabyne training and making the most of the spring snow.

We started off the week with two days of extensive fitness testing with OWI trainer John Marsden at Sport and Rec in Jindabyne.  Along with my teammates Scott, Sami and Anton, we spent two full days testing strength, power, aerobic fitness, anaerobic fitness, lactate thresholds, flexibility, agility etc…. the list goes on!

(The VO2 max test... everyone's favourite!)

Staring Monday I had 5 days of solid training at Perisher. We did early mornings (up at 5:15am, on snow by 7am), training GS stubbies and some head-to-head action. We then practised starts (as always!) and jumping in the Perisher terrain park.

On Wednesday I managed to psyche myself up and hit the 70ft table jump at Perisher park. The jump was bigger than anything I’ve hit before in a terrain park, and was really intimidating skiing into it. With the boys gone, I had no one to follow in to get the speed right, so I just had to balls up and go for it. My mind went blank and before I knew it I was sailing off this enormous jump, with the snow at least 3-4m below me. Thankfully all went well and I landed smoothly. Once was enough though!

(70ft jump at Perisher)

(I'm going to go ahead and say that it's much bigger than it looks....)

After a long week training, I spend Friday night up at Thredbo with the “One Hit Wonder” crew. This is the second time the competition has been held, and has attracted some renowned international skiers. If I thought 70ft was big, they’re hitting an enormous 90ft + jump at the top of Thredbo. And not only that, they’re throwing triple spins off it. I sound like a total woos compared to what they’re doing!

In the afternoons, my spare time was spent catching up on the uni work I was missing out on...

Multiple hours went into the making of my model for Architecture Design Studio....

Yesterday I drove back to Melbourne. Once again, the 7-hour solo drive was long and arduous! Now I’m in Melbourne for only two weeks (dryland training and studying my bum off to catch up on uni) before I leave for Europe for a two-week training camp in Stubai Glacier, Austria. I’m really excited to go back over to Europe for some good skiing, long runs, and of course….kaiserschmarrn (for those who have never had it, you’re truly missing out!)

Australian University Games at Mt Buller

This past week I competed in the Australian University Winter Games at Mt Buller. It was a lot of fun, and I had a fantastic week skiing and competing with friends.

I won all of the four events I competed in; slalom, GS, super G and ski cross. My university (Melbourne University) also won the overall title, which was very exciting. In total, there were 22 universities competing from all over Australia.

Here are some photos from the week...

(Paul Diamond and I at the GS)

(Prisca, myself and Millie at the Super G)

 (Having fun on a bluebird day at Buller)

(Melbourne University wins the overall AUC title)

 (Women's Individual Overall Alpine title)

After a long and busy week, I headed back to Melbourne with the dogs, gearing up for another big week at uni... lots of catching up to to! Models to make, plans to draw etc....

 (Road trip with the dogs spooning in the back seat)

On Friday I well drive back to Jindabyne for another week of training at Thredbo and fitness testing. Given the horrible weather recently, I'm praying there will be some snow left!

Gold at the National Champs SX

After a successful week of training and competition in Thredbo, we headed to Mt Hotham for the National Championships / ANC Cup Ski Cross events.

Training was scheduled for Friday, however gale force winds up to 80km hour and poor visibility meant that training became a 'high speed inspection'. The following day, the weather improved slightly and we were able to get qualifications for the first race off. I qualified 1st, with a lead of 0.75 seconds. There were a few Olympians and international competitors at the race, including the Russian Ski Team.

On Sunday we completed both races. I took gold in the first race, with 2nd and 3rd going to two Russian competitors. In the 2nd race, I qualified first however finished in 2nd place in finals.

 

 

I was extremely happy with the results. It was great to shake off the nerves and compete again on home turf. Hotham did an incredible job getting the races off given the weather! Also thanks to Steve Cuff for the photos, and to Suzuki for sponsoring the event.

Rip Curl Freeride Pro

Training has finally 'officially' started for the Australian National Ski Cross Team here in Thredbo.

I've been here in NSW for the past week training early mornings, starting on snow at 7am. Although it's early and requires waking up in Jindabyne at 5:15am every morning, the skiing at this time is unbeatable and well worth it.... beautiful sunrise, perfectly groomed snow and no one on the hill. We've also been training on the ski cross course which Thredbo gratefully built for us. It has some cool features, including a wu-tang at the start, some rollers, berms and a big table jump.

On Tuesday I competed in the Rip Curl Freeride Pro for the first time. It's a prestigious big mountain competition held every year at Thredbo for Australia's best big mountain skiers. A few international competitors also came for a chance to show off they're skills. 

The weather happened to be perfect, with blue skies and 15cm of fresh snow from the night before. The top four female skiers make it to finals, and I finished in fourth. Unfortunately finals on Wednesday were canceled due to gale force winds, so results went off qualifications. The Buller girls dominated, taking out the first four places in the comp. First was Zoe Jaboor, second Anna Segal, third Nat Segal, and myself in fourth. Go Buller!

Here are a few shots from the comp...

 (The girls enjoying the sunshine... Myself, Zoe, Anna, Nat and Karinya)

(Going big off the hip jump)