Preparing for the Trip | November 12 and 13
The Northwood ski team is preparing themselves for the first team trip of the season. The skiers will travel to Kåbdalis Mountain in Sweden for a training camp. “The weather is perfect for alpine ski training and has been for a few weeks already,” said coach JP. “Hirscher (a world cup skier) has been hard at work there this week getting ready for the Levi (FIN) SL World Cup openers this coming weekend.”
The ski team is looking forward to Sweden, which is a country new to some of the athletes. The skiers have started packing and tuning all of their skis. They depart from the Newark International Airport on Saturday, November 12th and will be back on November 28th. Eighteen athletes and three coaches will take approximately 900 pound of ski equipment.
“I’m so excited to go to Sweden. I think it is going to be better than last year. The conditions look great!” said Chelsea Smith.
Day 1 | November 14
It was the first day on snow for the ski team, and our schedule was pretty busy. For our first day on the slopes, we were scheduled for six hours of skiing. The goal was to be at the lift at 8:30 after breakfast and then have a good slalom day. However, Wim Roney dislocated his shoulder while free skiing. He had to drive up to Jokkmok, 45 minutes away from the mountain. We hope he feels well and gets better soon.
Day 2 | November 15
Today was a foggy day — fortunately with no injuries. We started our day with breakfast at 7:30, study hall from 8 to 10A.M, and lunch at 11A.M. We met on the mountain to ski at 11:30. We were on our GS skis for a few runs and skied down a new trail. We then switched to our slalom skis from 1:45 to 4:00, training on two paneled-slalom courses. The snow was good and hard, but the weather, however, was not the best. It was foggy and rainy but ended with snow, giving us a few inches. The day ended with a good meal and a long tuning session.
Day 3 | November 16
Today was our first sunny day. We had study hall from 8:00 to 10:00 and met on the slopes at 10:45 for a drill session on GS skis. We took the time to take team pictures before we went inside to eat lunch from 12:30 to 1:15. We ended with a 3h-45 min paneled slalom session while the sun was setting at 2:15 and finished in the dark until 4:00.
Day 4 | November 17
Today was a very snowy GS day. Study hall was at the usual local time of 8:00 to 10:00 AM and we were on snow at 10:45 AM. Free skiing and drills on our GS skis was harder than usual because of the amount of snow on the ground. After our lunch break from 12:00 to 12:45 PM, the coaches set a drill course on the trail next to the T-bar which we had to take each run. Most of the athlete’s’ feet were in pain due to the constant pressure in the boots and no break from the chairlift ride. The coaches finally moved the drill course into the main trail at 2:00 PM due to the lack of light on the other one. We finished skiing around 3:30 PM and had the rest of the afternoon off.
Day 5 | November 18
It was our first day with a full length slalom course. It was a great opportunity for the skiers to get some volume and for most of the U19 boys to get ready for their race the next day. It was an earlier day than usual with study hall from 7:30 to 9:30 AM and a meeting on the slope at 10 AM. We had a course with a mix between panels and gates until noon and were back on our slalom skis from 12:30 to 2:00 PM with a full length slalom course.
Day 6 | November 19
It was the first race of the season for some of the U19 boys today. Alex Akoundi ’17, Matthieu Côté ’17, Harrison Coull ’16 and Ethan Hejna ’16 were racing, while the rest of the team was cheering for their teammates during a well-appreciated off day. Alex did not finish the first run, Ethan came in 28th, Matthieu came in 44th with a hike in mid-course and Harrison’s result is unknown for now, due to a glitch on the website.
Day 7 | November 20
Today was another slalom race day for the U19 guys. The same boys were racing, but the team did not get to see the race due to study hall. The girls’ race was in the afternoon, but none of us were racing. However, Palmer Feinberg ’17, Lily Silverstein ’17 and I foreran the two runs. While we were forerunning, the rest of the team was training slalom.
Day 8 | November 21
Today was the first day of GS training to help the U19s get ready for their race this upcoming weekend. It was snowing, from the beginning of our training at 9 until the end of the day, but the course was still in good condition. At noon, we had our lunch break and our last study hall of the camp followed from 2 to 4pm. It must have been the most crucial study hall due to all the tests we put off until the last minute. We ended the day with a video session and a team meeting.
Day 9 | November 22
Today was another great day of GS training. Our morning session started at 8:30 and ended at noon. The conditions were perfect, with no snow fall during our session, but the temperature was colder than usual. Since we didn’t have a session in the afternoon, we decided to do a Scandinavian spa: jumping into a frozen lake and going in a sauna right after. The spa is good for the muscles and is surprisingly very relaxing at the end. The skiers who were new to the idea were skeptical at first but ended up pleasantly surprised.
Day 10 | November 23
It was another long day of GS training today, somewhat sunny and cold. We started at 12:00PM with approximately ten runs on the super G trail and had to switch into another course due to bad conditions. We had the chance to do four extra runs and ended at 4:45 PM. Finally, at around 8 PM we had the chance to see the northern lights.
Day 11 | November 24
It was another long day for us. The day started with paneled slalom from 8 to 10 am. The second session was GS and lasted from 1:15 until 4. It was a long day for all of us but ended on a good note with northern lights that were bigger and brighter than the day before.
Day 12 | November 25
Today was the first race day for the U19s. The race was supposed to start with an inspection at 8:20 AM but was started at 9:40AM, due to a power outage. The inspection got pushed back to 10:30AM and the first run started toward 11:30 AM. While most of the U19s were racing, the U16s had a slalom course and got the opportunity to get good training in.
Day 13 | November 26
It was the last day in Sweden for the ski team: a race day for the U19s and a training day for the U16s. The race started with an inspection at 8:20AM and the race started at 9:00AM. All of the U19 girls were racing except for Amanda Hinge. I had the chance to forerun the ladies’ first run and Sarah Coombs ’19 foreran the ladies’ second run. The rest of the U19s had the opportunity to do slalom on the super G trail. The conditions were great, and the track was perfect with no snow fall and no wind.
