Leaving Åre.

Dear winter – please be considerate, you’ve had your turn, it’s mid March so please let Spring come play!

I woke to the first sunshine I’ve seen in weeks and it was gorgeous!


Not only that but the stomach virus that had debilitated me for the previous 24 hours was gone and I felt great! It’s a travel day. Farewell to Åre – I will be back. It is such a beautiful town and the rest of the resort is begging to be skied so it will go on my “to ski” list.

To finalise some travel arrangements this morning I had to poach internet from a closed restaurant sitting outside on a seat with a foot of fresh snow in a balmy -5C. With my fingers freezing and butt melting ice accumulation on the seat I check into today’s flight to Stockholm, confirm accommodation details and email a friend I’m meeting tomorrow in Spain to bring a spare pair of shorts. I can not believe that when I land in the south of Spain tomorrow it could be 15C!!! OMG HOW exciting!! I don’t think I have ever been this shade of moon tan that I am currently!!

Four seasons in one day

So with less than 10 hours in transfer I opted to stay a night close to the airport. So close I was on the tarmac in an old Boeing 747!! Hilarious. At 5am I reluctantly drag my luggage out into blustering winds and on the icy pathway (Stockholm has had a record winter of snowfall) and head back to the airport. The landscape changes dramatically during the course of my flights today. From Scandinavian whiteness to the green hills of southern Spain I feel that spring has finally fought winter off. The blue waters off Barcelona make me smile just seeing the ocean (without ice bergs) and remind me that back home you are just coming out of summer. Twinges of jealousy float up…


Killing time in Malaga we kill a couple of hours in the sun, and a visit to the beach. It definitely aint Bondi but for now it’ll do because tomorrow we are back on snow training.

Not happy as a clam...

3.30am morning of the second competition. I woke up dreaming that I was drunk and needed to puke. No, this wasn’t a dream, I am awake, but wait - I still need to puke?? Irony or premonition? It was only at dinner the night before I was wondering how catastrophic it would be if something in the meal (all the athletes were eating at the same restaurant) created everyone to be sick!

So after painfully losing some much needed dinner in the early hours of the morning I retreated sorrowfully to the couch. When my alarm buzzed and I came to – I felt awful! Almost hungover without any good memories from the night before!! Over breakfast, a slowly consumed glass of OJ my coach questioned if I should compete but that was a no brainer and I contemplated a new game plan for today’s competition. Luckily one of the girls on the US offered to introduce me to their team doctor where I had a few words, given some good advice for getting through the day and felt lucky for having such a considerate friend around. Training was painful. The nerves of competition were gone however a fear of throwing up somewhere untimely (like in the start gate) was present instead. One run in training and I was shattered. The aches had set in like the flu and everything hurt. I was utterly miserable. With plans of increasing the aggression in yesterday’s performance still there but a body refusing to participate there was a huge battle of tensions.

The result was the same – another 18th place, but much of my skiing was a huge step on yesterday’s. My jump scores were much higher, time faster but there was a pretty big boo boo half way down which was very disappointing. Interesting placing the same as yesterday but having such different feelings about it. Late afternoon and solids are back on the menu. By dinner salad and tea seems appealing but unfortunately the party of the circuit will not be attended by KT. Everyone heads off to the live band and famous after party in Åre, and I home. And so another World Cup came to a close.

Sweden

Land of the beautiful people. What a race these Swedes are! Amazing.

Following in the weather of the last few weeks I arrived to wind, rain then heavy snow. I think I won't see sun till Sydney... My arms are a shade of moon that I haven't seen before and I think Vitamin D deficiency is imminent.

Inawashiro was a bit of a wash out. Even though it was my first World Cup and the steepest course on tour it was a bit of a let down. Fog delays, cancelled competitions and performance below training levels were disappointing. Mixed emotions. Åre was a mixed bag as well.


Not particularly pleased with sharing a room with a dude I didn’t know, promised didn’t snore (and did) and a couple of other not so accommodating persons of general interest I try to settle in for a long few days in odd and unknown company.

Training was under rainy skies and incredibly soft slushy spring snow. Completely the opposite to what we inspected on competition morning at the top of the course by the ungodly hour of 7.40am. -7C and everything had frozen solid. Kind of scary and completely different to the last two days of competition preparation.

The first event I skied a clean complete run and was happy to put one down. Some incredibly creative judging was displayed here so even though I may have been particularly happy with specific parts of my run I honestly think the judges were distracted by bird in the sky because the scored did not reflect the performance in front of them. Now to step up the game for tomorrow, I’m so ready!!

Getting recognised

So the trip from Japan to Sweden was pleasantly uneventful. I did have an entertaining incident entering Helsinki's customs. With no visible ski paraphanelia as I handed my passport to customs the guy looked at me and asked if I was a skier.. obviously answering yes he proceeded to tell me that he knew as he recognised my name!! Random! I have no idea who he thought I was!! Entertaining non the less!

Inawashiro, Japan to Åre Sweden

FOG FOG FOG. End of story.

Inawashiro was a bit of a wash out. Even though it was my first World Cup and the steepest course on tour it was a bit of a let down. Fog delays, cancelled competitions and performance below training levels were disappointing. Mixed emotions.

Åre was a mixed bag as well.

Not particularly pleased with sharing a room with a dude I did’t know, promised didn’t snore (and did) and a couple of other not so accommodating persons of general interest I tried to settle in for a long few days in odd and unknown company.

Training was under rainy skies and incredibly soft slushy spring snow. Completely the opposite to what we inspected on competition morning at the top of the course by the ungodly hour of 7.40am. -7C and everything had frozen solid. Kind of scary and completely different to the last two days of competition preparation.

The first event I skied a clean complete run and was happy to put one down. Some incredibly creative judging was displayed here so even though I may have been particularly happy with specific parts of my run I honestly think the judges were distracted by bird in the sky because the scored did not reflect the performance in front of them. Now to step up the game for tomorrow, I’m so ready!!

KT's year starts in Tokyo

TOKYO

A birthday during ski season means I could end up anywhere. Last year I was on route back to the US from Spain, so breakfast was in Malaga, lunch in Paris and dinner in New York. This year year it's Tokyo on route to Inawashiro in the afternoon. Luckily one of my best friends was there to keep my company. An incredibly appreciated Starbucks coffee later and we were on the road for a sneaky trip to the Imperial Palace before I had to head off to the airport. All good, just another day on the road really, but with better than normal company :)

Imperial Palace and Bec encountering some vending machine confusion..

Where will I be next year....