Be sure to check out Leah’s other dispatch from Hintertux.
Wednesday, October 6th, 2021. Yet another weather day. Major bummer, but we made the best of it. After study hall, I did an “Insanity Workout” with Hillary, Norah, and some of the FIS boys. We’re all big Shaun T fans. Then I went to an indoor climbing gym about 20 minutes down the road with Coach Patrick Purcell, Cara Dempsey ‘25, and Bodhi Boeschen ‘24. It was cool to see how different climbing is compared to the US. When you go indoor climbing in the US, there’s mats everywhere on the floor, someone is putting you on the auto-belay, and there’s typically an age limit. In Austria, there are no mats, you put yourself on the auto-belay, and there are six-year-olds going up the same climbing wall as you. It was a fun change of pace climbing. Shoutout Northwood Outing Club.
Song of the day: “My Tears Ricochet,” by Taylor Swift
Thursday, October 7th, 2021. I would count today as half a weather day. We headed up the glacier, took one look around, saw nothing but white, and left. It was one of the weirdest conditions I’ve ever skied. When it’s snowing in the US, there are trees, so there is never a complete whiteout. But this was just white. Nothing but snow and fog. I had clear lenses on, and the white was so bright that it was burning my eyes, so I closed them on the t-bar. We got back from the mountain around 2:30 pm. The FIS girls went to a pool 30 minutes from our hotel and hit the water slides and whirlpool. The FIS boys did yet another Insanity workout. I haven’t had to tune my skis since Monday, I definitely miss that part of my day.
Song of the day: “pride . is . the . devil,” by J. Cole & Lil Baby (been on repeat all day)
Friday, October 8th, 2021. Finally, we got to go skiing again today. The weather was perfect, it was sunny and just the right amount of cold. The snow was a bit soft, but that’s good for us because we typically ski on hard snow. We got around six runs in on the course and hit the free ski lane for some soul shredding. There were literally dead birds just in the middle of the trail and along the T-bar. Just straight up dead birds. Deceased. No longer living. To the birds: “You clearly haven’t adapted to living at this elevation if there are this many of you dying all at once, so why are you up here? Just go down lower.” On our way back, we made a quick stop at the grocery store. Grocery stores in Europe are so much smaller than grocery stores in the US. They still have the variety that the US has, but the shelves are higher so more items can fit. There also seems to be no store brand products (Great Value, Walmart Wegmans, etc.). I got to tune my skis today, I missed the sound of my machine tuner.
Song of the day: “Lord I Know,” by Kid Cudi
Saturday, October 9th, 2021. We went back to slap some plastic today. It was sunny and hot. I got around six runs in on the course, and around 7 free ski runs. The free skiing was really good; the snow was perfect. We headed back to the hotel, ate dinner and tuned our skis. Overall, a pretty mellow day. But “Praise God” and “Off the Grid,” by Kanye West made my day. (To be completely honest I write my diary entries the day after so I can reflect better, and I hit my head on Sunday, so I didn’t go to study hall, and I forgot a bit of my day.)
Song of the day: “Praise God” and “Off the Grid,” by Kanye West
Sunday, October 10th, 2021. Today started out strong. We had team photos on the overlook of the glacier. Then we set a slalom course and started training. I got in two runs, but on my second run I fell and hit my head, so my day consisted of sitting at the bottom of the course figuring out if I hit my head hard enough to call it a day. I did, so I headed back down to the van and chilled. Coach Worm told some stories on the van ride back, and once we got back it was sitting in a dark room for me. I took a nap, woke up and wasn’t sure where I was. But I eventually figured it out. Coach Jeremy “Worm” Transure said I had a minor concussion. Then I talked to my coaches, and we decided that I would be off snow for the rest of the camp.
Song of the day: “everything i wanted,” by Billie Eilish (pre-fall)
Monday October 11th, 2021. No skiing for me today, just whiplash and naps. When I fell yesterday, I hit the back of my head on the snow, then flung it forward. Let’s go live laugh love whiplash. I just have a tension headache and some pain in the front of my next. Maris VanSlyke ‘15 also got a concussion a couple days before me, so we both walked into town for lunch and a grocery store run. That’s really all that happened today.
Song of the day: I didn’t really listen to music today.
Tuesday October 12th, 2021. Let’s go another day of pretty much nothing. The other girls are skiing on a Europa Cup lane this morning. If you don’t know what a Europa Cup lane is, it’s just a really good lane. I’m just chilling in study hall. My neck still hurts, but not as bad as it did yesterday. I’ve been having trouble falling asleep before 1:30 am but it’s fine because I don’t really have anywhere to be. Today everyone’s packing up their skis and duffels. We hit the road tomorrow at 4:00 am.
Song of the day: “High Today (feat, Logic),” by Wiz Khalifa
Wednesday, October 13th, 2021. I woke up at 3:30 am and was on the road by 4:00 am. We made it to Munich, checked our bags and boarded our flight to Newark. When we landed in Newark, one of our international students got stuck in customs, but he made it through. When I was going through customs, I had around 40 pounds of bindings in a little duffle, my school bag, and my ski boots. Obviously, I look like I’m struggling, but trust me, I got it. This man that was behind me just insisted upon carrying my boots, but I kept telling him “No thank you I got it.”
Eventually he took the boots out of my hand and in my head, I was like “Dude, lay off. I got this.”
I get to the customs agent and this man literally comes up to the agent with me and hands the agent his passport as I’m handing the agent mine. The agent asks, “What’s the relation?”
I say, “I don’t know this guy.”
The agent is obviously suspicious and tells the man to go back behind the yellow line.
I answer the typical questions and then the border agent asks me, “Are you ok?”
“Yes,” I say.
“Are you sure you’re ok? You can tell me if you’re not ok.”
I say “Oh, that guy was just really insistent on helping me carry my boots.”
In conclusion, if a random man offers to carry your ski boots in the customs line, be more assertive about your answer: no.
All our ski bags made it to Newark, and we started our drive back to Lake Placid. It was really cool to see the foliage.
Song of the day: “Fine Whine (feat. Joe Fox x Future x M.I.A)”
Here is the playlist of Songs of the Day from both of Leah’s dispatches:
