Happy Canada Day to everyone! July 1st Mt Hood Update

photo update at :  http://gallery.me.com/chrispowers

We are back online here in Government Camp, Oregon. No internet access over the weekend, so lots to report on. 

We are at the mid point in the camp and what an incredible camp up till now.  The training has been amazing day after day with lots of sun and firm conditions thanks to plenty of salt.  We had our first day training GS today on the West Mile section.  The Mile is a perfect slope for skill development and making big changes.  We had a 30 gate GS rhythm section today on perfect hard snow and a moderate steepness.  This is ideal terrain for getting comfortable on the GS skis and achieving our goal of a good position over the skis and developing a proper movement pattern in the athletes skiing. Today was also one of the more quiet days which meant lots of volume in the course and lots of video feeback.  In addition, Mt Hood also provide B-Net for our GS training so our athletes can train with confidence.

There are now many teams here from all over Western Canada including the Alberta and BC Provincial teams.  We have been training directly beside them and getting great inspiration from watching them in their early season preparation.  They are working on many of the same basic things we are at the moment, which helps motivate our team to work hard in their drills.

Our team has had the opportunity to test different skis every day.  So far we have tested; Blizzard, Volkl, Head, Atomic, Rossignol, Fisher.  This have been a valuable tool to help the athletes find the right match of equipment for their skiing.

Day off in Maupin, Oregon

Maupin, Oregon is a tiny place about 80kms north east of where we are staying.  The landscape is drastically different from here in Mt Hood. Basically, you drive out of the woods and you are right into a desert. Maupin is also home to some of best white water rafting in the North West, so why not ride some class 4 rapids on our day off!? After a good safety briefing and PFD fitting, we were set to hit the Deschutes Rivers.  Apparently our boats showed some promise in the warm up sections, so our guides proceeded to take us through some signature sections on the river, appropriately named: "Basket of kittens", "meat grinder", "diaper wiper" and of course, "elevator shaft".  Amazingly, no boats flipped or high sided and we all came out of the water with huge smiles. 

Meeting Ted Ligety

Olympic champion, GS globe winner and World cup favorite Ted Ligety has been in town for the last few days and up on the glacier.  What a great opportunity for our guys getting to hang out with Ted here in "Govy" and snapping a few photos with him.  Photos are up in the photo gallery.

Dryland, Food and video

Daily we have been going down to Welches to play sports and as mentioned previously, hiking to Tamawanas Falls.  Our new favorite game is Speedball, a combination of soccer, ultimate and touch football.  Thanks Aileen for showing us.  We have also played soccer, NCO favorite Cage, today we had Yoga with Katrina, tomorrow swimming at Timothy Lake and later this week capture the flag in the woods.

Food has been great, courtesy of our chef, Robyn. The special today was chicken stir fry for Eric's birthday, along with a Canada Day brownie cake with strawberries.  As per tradition, Eric ended most of the cake on his face. 

Individual analysis as well as video presentation are part of the routine here at Mt Hood.  After every day on snow, the video is captured directly to the coaches computer using Dartfish software, and later analysed with the athletes.  This establishes our goals for the next day and allows us to validate changes and different feelings on snow.

Make sure to check out the photos, and plenty more to come here from Mt Hood!

Thanks,

Chris

Mt Hood Camp Update, June 26th 2009

We are off to a great start here in Mt Hood, Oregon with excellent snow conditions and great terrain to get back in the skiing groove.  We were greeted this morning by extremely hard snow and bright sun, perfect for our first day back on snow since the spring.  Athletes had lots of time this morning to get reacquainted with their skis, and gain a good feel for the snow before getting back to work on the basics.  The slope assigned to us today was a long, moderate to flat run, extremely wide with a sections of rollers mixed in, perfect for what we are trying to accomplish at the moment.  Weather at night had been cool for the last few days, which means the snow has setup extremely hard in the morning.  The coaches throw salt on the training lane to maintain firm snow conditions for the whole session.  

We are on the lift at 7:00am training until 11:30am.  We have afternoon dryland session planned daily, as well as video analysis in the evening.  The NCOST uses Dartfish video analysis software to provide the athletes with clear visual feedback of their on snow progression.

www.dartfish.com

Make sure to visit the Mt Hood photo gallery daily for updates:

NCO Mt Hood Gallery

Stay tuned for more from Mt Hood!