Hey guys,
Sorry this is a bit later than planned, I had quite a lot of
uni work to come back to, so that took over.
First of all, Les Deux Alpes was amazing. We were lucky to
get a dumping of powder before we got there.
The weather was stunning all week; every day was glorious sunshine,
except the last day where it snowed.
Les Deux Alpes has a variety of different slopes and I was lucky enough
to have got a hotel right next to the main gondola (like a cable car) so I did
not have to trek far with all my gear.
I met my university Ski Team out there. There were roughly
40 – 50 of us that had come over from Preston for a week in the Alp’s. There
were planned socials on and off the mountain. There were some interesting fancy
dress nights, ranging from Rubik’s cube night (I must say I was the only
dressed up on that night, the team forgot to pass the memo on) to toga night.
Although these were nights out and the focus was on having a good time, this
did not detract away from my skiing, although made it a little more difficult
at times. I skied roughly 4 -5 hours a
day and was on the slope for roughly 10:30am every day. I tried to plan time for recovery and rest
after I had been skiing in order to maximise my performance on the slope for
the next day.
The first couple of days I focused on just getting myself
settled on the hill and used to skiing some of the steeper runs, whilst also
using my new outriggers. After a couple of days, I alternated between my Giant
Slalom skis and my Slalom ski’s, working on the goals I explained in my earlier
blog.
The new outriggers worked a treat; I found I was able to
hold an edge on the ice easier and found that the turning was more reactive. I
was able to get a bit of feedback back to my Chief Engineer (Dad) for some
tinkering when we next get time together. I also found that, although the
weight had dramatically increased it did not bother me too much. There were a couple more tests I wanted to
try (removing the break pin and the comb break) but due to the icy conditions and
the poor visibility on the last day, I didn’t want to risk it but I will be
conducting these at Chillfactore when I get the chance.
My goal for the Slalom skill’s was to work on my
consistency, this involved finishing my turns and getting a stronger edge
angle. I believe this was a success; it was great to get out on the hill and
just ski. There was some really nice runs, so I could play around and challenge
myself.
I found it quite difficult to get back on the Giant Slalom
ski’s these are considerably bigger than my Slalom ski’s, I struggled with the
tips of my ski’s crossing. After a hard day, I soon reassessed my goals for
them. Over the week, I just worked on
skidded turns, keeping the skis separate and trying to get a better position
over the ski. Towards the end of the
week I managed to do just that and was consistently skiing some steeper blue
runs without the tips crossing (which is a start J.)
I have taken everything that I have learnt/development over
the week and I am putting them into my skiing lessons and race training to Chillfactore.
Tomorrow (18th January) is the first day I get to try the new
outriggers in slalom gates, I am hoping from the feedback and the experience I
gained from Les Deux Alpes this will make a massive improvement, I will report
back when I know more.
Overall a great week, missing it already.
Speak to you soon
Alex
X
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