Wa Wa - Week 1

This was our first week back at the summit of Mt. Wachusett. The skiing was as fantastic as we all remember. The newcomers were greeted with the perfect snow conditions and super fast lift we have come to love. The routine begins at 620 when we leave for the ski area. Some of us enjoy what DR affectionately calls the "Willy Dozen" which is two dozen donuts of my own choosing. Wachusett is about an hour from campus and located just outside of Worcester. We usually arrive at about 740 and move as quickly as possible to be on the lift by 8.

From 8-9 only racers are allowed on the mountain. This year we will be training alongside Boston College and Babson. This makes for some excellent competition, though also some decent sized lines. We set the courses as fast as possible on Smith Walton (aka Smitty Dub) which is the steepest trail on the hill. While the coaches are setting, everyone else tries to get free runs on Smitty Dub and on 10th Mountain Division (10MD) under the chairlift. Usually by about 830 we have the course up and running. On Tuesday this week we trained GS and on Thursday it was slalom. From the GS Day, men's Cpt. DR provided these words:

"The snow was soft. the sky was blue. the liftlines were short (though it got crowded by 10:30). the course was nice and easy, a couple tricky turns over the knolls (more on that later). One of the coaches set up some brushes in the course to help with our lines. Unfortunately no one knew the point, and we thought we were suppposed to ski around them, or at least I did. I figured out about three runs into it that we were supposed to straddle them rather than go around. Whoops. The knolls in the course made for interesting terrain - Downhill-style jumps., though also some near-mccartney crashes."

(The McCartney like crashes may be an exaggeration, but for those of you who missed a harrowing fall from the Hannenkham downhill check out this link )

Yesterday we had the benefit of being able to set two full length slalom courses - one for the men and one for the women. This meant that the hill held up stronger and longer than usual. We were able to get away with just one slip run on each course. Both the men and women seemed to have fantastic days on the hill. The work of a coach on slalom days, however, has almost as much to do with course maintenance as working with the athletes. In one morning of training 10 gates on the men's course were destroyed and many needed replacement as well - this meant lots of hiking.

We are excited about the Waterville Slalom and GS this weekend. The ski area has rented a hut just for the ski racers so if you are coming be sure to look for it in front of the normal lodge. It should prove to be an exciting Carnival. Hope to see you there!