Timberrr!!

The weather in Calgary has been horrid lately. We had an incredibly dry winter until 2 big snowstorms with excessive wind on April 27 and May 5. Wind speeds at Canada Olympic Park were clocked at 94 km per hour.

We got a taste of how powerful weather can be in that April storm. I met our new neighbour when she came over to tell me that our tree was in her backyard. We were very lucky that it didn't land on the house or any furniture and just took out a small piece of the lattice on the top of the fence.

The lady from the tree company suggested that the reason so many spruce trees in Calgary fell during the storm was because after a long, dry winter, the tree roots were too shallow to anchor them in the big winds. I believe it.

Ski Season Finale 2010

In case anyone was wondering, I did in fact, beat Sarah in the fun race. So what if her coach held her back until I was 3 gates from the finish? I still crossed the line first!

Sarah disagrees with the overall fairness of this.

In the picture above, Sarah "Pyjama Girl" is on the green course and Alison "Shiny Wig" is on the yellow

Earrings

Alison has always been interested in fashion and anxiously awaited the time when she would be allowed to have her ears pierced.

The time has arrived! She has been fastidiously caring for her new pierced ears and is counting down the days until she can change out of the piercing studs and into some exciting, fashionable jewelry.

Before and after photos:

March Races, Part 4

Four weekends in March, four races.

The last weekend in March was devoted to the K1 Finals at Panorama. The one nice thing about Panorama is that we can get on-hill accommodations, which means it is a very social event. Most of the families on the team were staying within shouting distance and we got to spend a lot of fun time together.

The races were confirmation for Sarah that her hard work was worth the effort. She had her best ever GS finish - 14th, and was back in form for slalom - 7th and even the kinder kombi - 12th. That's 3 first page finishes! Woo hoo!

The Sunday evening banquet featured an awards ceremony where "Canadian Cowboy" John Kucera (World Cup Downhill Champ!) handed out ribbons and former World Cup downhill champion Cary Mullen gave an inspiring presentation aimed at the young athletes.

March Races, Part 3

The third weekend of March was taken up by the annual Doug Meyers Memorial Cup at Lake Louise. Doug was a racer and ski coach that grew up skiing at Louise. He died of cancer at the age of 31 in 2004, and together with his parents and sister, the Lake Louise Ski Club hosts a race in his memory.

It takes a lot of volunteers to pull off a ski race, before, during and afterwards. Both Bob and I were involved during the race, which meant I didn't take video - but I did manage to get my camera out!

Sarah was a forerunner for the race - she went down ahead of the racers to give the race officials an idea of what the course was like for a racer. I'm not sure what kind of preparations she and her friend Alex are making in the picture...



Alison was the first kid to go on the Gun Barrel course (part of Men's Downhill. Yes, that is where they have the World Cup races), so she wore bib 150. The littler kids had their own race on Easy Street, so the big kids started at 150! Why not?

The event finishes with a parade. Each racer is given a yellow Doug Meyers t-shirt (Doug's favourite colour) and then the children snake down the mountain. It looks stunning from the base of the mountain!

March Races, Part 2

Nana and Papa also had the pleasure of watching Alison race at the Caribou Cup. This time, we got to go to Mount Norquay, in Banff. So, no giant mall (whatever), but instead, BANFF! Nana and Papa were suitably impressed.

Alison did not have great results at the Caribou Cup, but enjoyed herself nonetheless, because ski racing is lots of fun.

I have a video of this too, but this one won't load for me. Maybe Nana and Papa could send me a picture or two from the weekend that I could post?

March Races, Part 1

Our March calendar was completely full. I've been running purely on adrenaline since.... November?

Anyway, a recap:

First weekend, Sarah raced at Rabbit Hill, a river valley hill outside Edmonton. The big thrill at that race (besides being all slalom events, which is Sarah's favourite) is that we get to go out for dinner at the West Edmonton Mall. And, of course, we had the pleasure of hosting Nana and Papa for the big event! They even got to stay in the Edmonton Airport Super 8 Hotel next door to Sarah, Rustle and I. Now isn't that just living it up?

If it will post, the video of the Rabbit Hill runs:

Castle Mountain

In the deep south-east corner of Alberta is a ski resort called Castle Mountain. Two years ago, Bob and Sarah went there for a race and came back gushing with praise about the place. This year, Alison went to the Terrain Event at Castle, and oddly enough, Bob insisted that he be the one to take her.

The West Castle Mountain Terrain Event has the kids doing all sorts of events around the mountain - there were downhill and GS races, a jump competition, moguls, and even skating. The kids entered as a team and traveled about the mountain, attempting all of the exciting activities.



Alison was thrilled to be a part of the Gold Medal Winning Team of 9 year olds! The Lake Louise 10 year olds also took top prize in their age group. What an exciting weekend!

Maybe I'll get to go someday...

K1 Westerns

Sarah was very excited about going to Westerns this year after her first race at Nakiska had gone so well. This race, however, held some disappointment for our girl. She had to hike in the slalom (her favourite) and lost a lot of time. The next day, she had a crash in the Kombi and got her first ever Did Not Finish. She pulled herself together a bit for the GS race on the Monday and managed to finish 16th on the day. Even though Mom compared her to Lindsay Vonn crashing in the Olympics, it was hard to cheer Sarah up.

Her teammates had a much better weekend. Her friend Alex was 11th in the Slalom, also crashed in the Kombi, and was seventh in the GS. Cleodie got two Most Improved medals and made sure she received them at the top of the podium! Tristen, who has always been a great skier in training, finally put together some good runs and got his best-ever finishes in the slalom and kombi, but broke his hand on a gate in the first run of the GS. He'll be racing this coming weekend with a cast on his hand that the doctor fit around his ski pole!

It's a crazy sport. Good thing she loves it.

Kicking Horse

Both girls were training with their teams, so the grown-ups got to try out a new ski area. Here we are at Kicking Horse, in Golden, B.C., up above the clouds. Or is it the ocean?