Hintertux, Austria Update
November 1, 2002
This year’s annual trip to Hintertux, Austria proved to be another awesome training camp.
It began with a complimentary upgrade to business class on the way from Toronto to Munich, which made the trip much easier. Unfortunately, didn’t sleep much in my fully-reclining seat, as the movie selection in business was great. Plus, sitting next to a team mate, we both enjoyed the FULL service of Air Canada staff…(hint: see the “new” travel-tips section on the site to be posted in a couple days).
Everything from the food to the accommodations was the same as last year. Hintertux is about 1.5 hours south-west of Innsbruck, and 2.5 hours south of Munich. Driving on the autobahn in Germany is always a blast, but us Canadian drivers are always humbled by Porsche or Ducati passes us at double our speed.
All together, I got in 12 days on snow, with a day off every four days. The snow was wicked: a little soft during the first session, but gradually firming up as the temperatures dropped towards the end of the camp. We even got a powder day on day 2!
During the first couple days, the focus was to “get the feeling” back from the end of last season, since it had been over three months since I was on snow last. I feel that my intensive dry land training this summer has helped me immensely, and by the end of the camp, I was laying down some of my best runs EVER. Greg (coach) and I are modifying some of my old habits, replacing them with new techniques which have already paid dividends in shaving off precious seconds. I’m anxious to get in to the first race in two weeks time (Mammoth Mt., California), and we’ll see how this all works on race day!
NEWS:
While I was killing it on the snow, lots of things were changing in the snowboarding world. The most devastating comes with team mate Melissa Barclay spiral fracturing her fibula (leg) when she slipped on some black ice in the parking lot of the hotel on the third day. Melissa was formerly the #1 ranked female in Canada. Her surgery later that day went well, and now she’s back in Quebec recovering.
Secondly, teammate David Vaughn blew apart his knee in dry land training shortly before we left for Austria. David was just recovering from knee surgery six months earlier, and now he’s out of commission for at least another season. Get well Dave and Melissa.
FUN STUFF:
Jasey Jay Anderson wins first prize for the stupidest-but-funniest snowboarding move ever. After qualifying 15th at the Solden World Cup, Jasey was determined to get a good jump in the slalom duals. The starting gates in duals are operated by a hydraulic hinge, which swings open after the starter finishes the countdown. The idea is to time the starter’s cadence precisely, and exiting the start just as the doors swing open. However, Jasey learned the hard way not to go before the doors opened…his timing was off, and he tried to pull out when the doors were still closed. The result? He did a cartwheel over the closed starting gates, fell out the other side, rode fakie for minute, and then started his race run. Needless to say, Jasey’s day at the World Cup (which was live on T.V.) was short.
Jasey also gets the lucky Canadian award…after a day of training, we all piled into the van for the short drive back to the hotel. Jasey, being the crazy Quebecer he is, floors the van out of the parking lot, swerving and honking the horn narrowly avoiding skiers and boarders walking in the lot. As soon as we get of the parking lot, three uniformed Austria police officers cordon off the road, and proceed to pull the van over…they had been watching the whole affair! To make a long story short, the police come up to the window, and demands 21 Euros (about 25 Canadian dollars). The police officer puts the money in his pocket, and lets us by! But we weren’t about to argue with some mean looking foreign police…
Second place in the lucky Canadian award, Greg Salmon. Greg’s driving, doing 150km/h on the autobahn, when a Mercedes rips by us, pulls in front of the van, and turns on this cool looking light in the back window which lighted up to say “POLICE.” They pull us over, and ask for our passports. Before we can get them out, they ask us if we are American, and Greg obviously replied “no, we’re Canadian.” The police officer quickly says “sorry” in accented English, and tells us to be on our way! We later learned that the speed limit in that area of highway was 100km/h! Lucky Canadians…
NEXT UP:
· RCMP D.A.R.E. Fundraiser Dinner Gala (November 2)
· Vancouver Island ESTEEM Team Tour (November 4-8)
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