Les Deux Alpes

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 (18^th 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

If you would like to donate to my cause, please click here

or Contact me on alexclarke1992@outlook.com

A New Year

First of all I would like to wish you a very happy new year and hope you had a great Christmas.

As I had not written for a while I thought I would let you all know what I have been doing and what my plans are, moving forward.

Since coming back from Landgraaf I have had meetings with my coach at home (Steve from DSUK.) We have discussed plans to move forward and how to best capitalise on knowing what class I am and also from my experience in Landgraaf.

I have been having lessons weekly and been attending race training at Chillfactore.

Steve has took be back to basics, focussing on getting a much better position on the ski but really getting a good edge for control in the steeper and icier conditions.  Steve has even been getting me doing drills going up the lift, in order to get a strong edge initiation. I feel like my technique has improved dramatically over the last month, I have been exhausted after every lesson and even not been able to gym train as much because of it….Which I am hoping is a good thing.

Race training has been fun so far (I am not enjoying the getting up at 5 am on a Sunday part though!) Carl at Chillfactore has been tailoring a lot of the drills for my style of skiing and seems keen for me to improve. I am finding time in gates is imperative to my improvement, I intend to carry on doing this for as long as I can, I have only been twice so far but I plan on keeping at it.

My dad and I have also been out in the garage creating our very own kit. We noticed that whilst I was out in Landgraaf, my outriggers (the poles I have in my hands) were skating over the ice and I was losing my line and slipping out.  So over the Christmas break, we acquired a set of old ski’s that we chopped down to size and screwed them to the bottom of my outriggers to trial.

On first test, they were brilliant. I found I was finishing my turns much easier and even felt in more control but there was a few points that we have taken from it i.e. The Weight and the edge kicking back slightly. Now we are going down the path of tuning these for performance, we have been discussing length, sharpness of edges, shapes of the skis and amount of brake. There is a load for us to play with, so it is an exciting time ahead.

On Saturday I go with the University Ski Team for a week in Les Deux Alpes, France. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough time to go race again but I am hoping to go again in March. On the other hand, a week out in the Alp's gives me a good amount of time to bed in my new outriggers and get some concrete feedback on what works and what doesn’t. Although this week will have nights of debauchery and drinking (water of course) I have set some targets for myself in order for me to improve and continue on my path.  

These are:

Able to ski red runs on my Giant Slalom Ski’s

Consistency on my Slalom ski’s

Feedback for my new outriggers.

Hope you all have a good start to 2015, Update to follow when I am back.

Thanks

Alex

If you would wish to sponsor me on my Journey Please click here

Or if you would like to contact me please email Alexclarke1992@outlook.com