Blog No.3, May 2009

"The depth of suffering gives measure to the appreciation of Joy"

Welcome back Friends, Family, Aussie supporters and all whom find themselves within these pages to the Adventure Rolls On, 3rd instalment.

And do I have a cracker for you all. “It’s got it all!”

Within these pages you'll experience thrills n spills, highs n lows, tears n glory with an insight into living I hope opens your minds, to all whom YOU are! Contemplating life and my future prospects; this entry has a more philosophical tone which I hope involves you more in the read.

And as far as Blogs go, I may be bringing something new to the Blogology of Blogging, with a Foreword. That's right, a Foreword. If it's going to happen in a Blog, it's going to happen in this one. The Foreword was written, the night of the 21-2-2009 in Korea, after I briefly knocked myself out in the GS race on the 2nd day of competition at the 2009 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships.

These circumstances seemed impacting at the time. Little did I know the measure of what was unfold thereafter........

Ha, if that doesn't grab you as an opener, you’re reading the wrong Blog.

FOREWORD

Equal and opposite. Ying and Yang. Idealism vs. reality and the Mental / Metaphysical equilibrium.

The feeling of sweet victory is equally and oppositely opposed by the thought of my retirement.

I crashed out of a race today, briefly knocked unconscious, and found myself contemplating the reality of my race career. When does a Paralympian ever want to let go of the one thing that has help he or she rebuild an identity from the lowest state of existence they’ve know; i.e., early days of paraplegia. Life after death. Who would ever want to let go of a life that has provided one so much.

Well the reality is that I’m 31 and far from the all-able 21 year old resilient man of my youth. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t feel 31 to be old. It’s just that alpine ski racing comes with it risks and I’d be a fool to believe otherwise. That coupled with the restricting facts, of its time schedule, and the implications that has on one’s personal life. Let’s just say change is inevitable and could be/will be rewarding as scary as it may seem at times. The questions are; what does a retired Paralympian do with one’s self to fill the incredible void that would be left behind by an awesome race career filled with global travel, world competition, foreign people and unique experiences? Can a labour or love fill those voids? What career is available to one with, Disabled Alpine Ski Racer as the highlight of their resume? Do I have the choice? Well of course I do, that’s a fools statement. (My 2 universal truths; choice and commitment/honouring the choice) More to the point, for anything to be wholly fulfilling, 'passion' has to be at the heart of it and a balance needs to exist, satisfying, Mind, Body and Spirit.

Simplified, the question becomes- what is it I'm passionate about outside of ski racing?

A man came up to me once after one of my WorkCover/Paralympian speeches on a Monday. I’d given one of my talks with the same company on the Friday prior. This man attended the talk and wanted to tell me about his weekend.

He was an unhappy storeman whose soul had been telling him to leave his job- there was something better out there for him. He’d quit that morning and had found a job driving buses for the disabled and believed it had been what had been calling him for so long but hadn’t challenged himself to do so. Risk change.... uncertainty! (Whether it had been what was calling him or not) This man was so filled at the time he blew me away with his ‘joy’. The reward for risk and discovery of a passion!

Do we really know what our passions are? Or is it only when we open our lives to possibilities that we discovery more about ourselves and in turn that which we feel enriches us? That which we posses passion for.

I believe the talk had a base tone of something like- “our soul speaks to us all the time, telling us not to do something or to do something and we dig holes for ourselves to hide in trying not to hear our yearning. I.e., medicate with, sport, travel, gambling, work, alcohol, relationships. I think I've used them all at some time. (Medication can be any behaviour that is used in order to distract us from our reality. We all have them whatever they be for oneself.) And the more we don’t listen, nor believe in ourselves, the bigger the hole you dig, until one day, it just seems like such an all consuming effort to get out of it. And can lead to ‘Depression’. Where as if you’d listened to yourself and acted upon you’re thought, your intuition into your situation. The joy is yours to be lived. Believe in your souls works, feelings and intuition. What a person one can become when you see yourself as perfect and capable, freeing his/her own mind from the pressure created from disbelief.

“I Was Blown Away By His Joy!”

A.R.O. cont.

Hmmm, some food for thought. At the time I was feeling absolutely shattered n lost wandering for reason. Ha, as I stated earlier, little did I know what was to unfold and I tell you sitting on the other side of it all, now, in a rehab hospital in Hornsby, I'm not sure if my perspective or understanding is any greater though my mind is open, with acceptance and belief. Circumstances reinforcing old lessons learnt.

We need to be accepting of the need for growth. Complacency for beings as complex as we are, is unhealthy.

Anyway before I get to the World Champs, let me fill you in on what happened in the space-time continuum between Spain and Korea.

For the first time in my adventures as a representative for the Australian Paralympic Alpine Ski Team, we were blessed with the opportunity to return home to Australia for some R n R...

As previously stated. Time constraints on anyone involved with our team are huge. Basically, I'm involved in some form of training for 5 months of the year. 5 months of the year! Try and find anyone whose going to be happy in a relationship where you’re together for 7 months out of 12 in the year. It takes a special person and I guess I hadn't found one until now. And that’s not to say it didn't take some work to create something special, to say the least.

Homeward bound, for my first taste of peak Australian summer in 9 years and it didn't upset.

Starting with an unexpected airport greeting that literally shocked me. My partner, Meagan and an old school buddy, Nathan Stimpson, had arranged a few friends and family to welcome me home with the only ever welcome home celebration I'd ever had. Like I said, shocked, though truly moved. It was surprisingly warming. Why would such a greeting be 'surprisingly' warming? Why wouldn't a greeting organised, in your honour of your accomplishments, be surprisingly warming? Well I guess to be honoured in such away, by my friends, or by anyone was a first for me, and a first after 9 years. It was just moving! One of most treasured experiences. Thank you all.

Any worthy excuse to have a beer at 9 in the morning for an Aussie would move us, Ha.

The next 10 days were spent enjoying my closest relationships, friends, family and the like. First day was spent out supposedly fishing off Terrigal. The highlight of all my donated baits and hooks to the Pacific was witnessing a massive shark full body breach as it swiftly accepted another of my begrudging offerings. A lot of quality time indulging in the essence my back deck radiates when drenched in midsummer love. All finished off with a road trip out to Western Plain Zoo to visit my Old Man and his lovely wife.

The 2009 International Paralympic Committee Alpine Skiing World Championships beckoned. As an athlete contemplating retirement, this was to be one of the final, more illustrious, opportunities left for me to reach for the stars. Last World Champs, 2004 Austria, I competed in I think I crashed out of all but one race. Ha, Bad habit.

Have you ever watched, Boarder Security- all entertaining from your lounge room? Put yourself in the shoes of the entertainers in question; Travellers embarking on overseas endeavours. Thousands spent on tickets having to make deadlines, expensive deadlines, however valued. Maybe this is why it's a prime timer. CUSTOMS! Passport, boarding pass, all the questions- have a nice flight. Not to be the case. Handed over my documents only to have the Customs Officer rise up and walk off. 2 years ago in Bali I decked a mate, spun around to escape by diving into a pool only to have my wheelchair follow me in, passport and all. Passport being a little water damaged from this point forth, it still has served its purpose for the last 2 years. Travelling to Asia, Europe and Nth America twice over. NO GO! Passport confiscated Areivo Derchy team.

How long do you think it takes to get a passport? (3 days min where my thoughts) It was a Sunday, so I rocked up on the doorstep of the Foreign Affairs office, the next day at 8.30 in the morning and by 3pm; I had a new passport and flight booked for the next morning. Sweet Schweet Schweetness! Ha, never the easy way.

I landed in Seoul Wednesday arvo and by 12pm after a 4 hour drive arrived at High 1, Kangwongland Ski Resort in the mid east of Korea. Skied the next day rather than rest, which is what I felt like doing considering the 3 days of 5am starts, all the rolling around, jet lag and late to bed. A decision my coach and I reached based on building rhythm and confidence as it had been 2 weeks since my last day on snow.

Day 1
Day 1 of competition was the Slalom
event, which was to be filmed for local T.V. This meant that it was going to be a long day as the usual 30sec start intervals where on going to be extended to cover the entire run of each racer. Great for lifting the profile of the sport but sucky for the racers as far as the day was going to be a long one.

The first run took 2 ½ hours to get through an hour and half longer than usual. I finished 10th in the first run way too far out of first to achieve a podium out of the day. So after a long morning and busting for a toilet stop I scooted up to the start for the second inspection, which was scheduled for 12.30. Due to the T.V. The schedule was put back ½ hour and as first stated busting for the toilet, I was outta there B-lining it to the base station. Missing second inspection I knew I had a ways to wait till second run so I made a lunch out of it. After some satisfying Korean western quizine (American Burgers) I remobilized into my mono and headed to the start with what I thought was an hour to spare. Thanks to the Network in charge of the filming deciding only to film the top 5 of each category’s second run, I missed my start by 5 skiers. What the.........!

Day 2
Day 2 the GS (Giant Slalom) event was also to be covered by the local network. Yeah Sweet! Evidently still affected by the first days outcome, I balls up what was an event I had more chance of achieving a result, finishing 9th after the first run. Looking to increase the overall performance I went after the second run and K.O.'d myself mid was through the run.

Awesome World Champs thus far! You gotta be kidding. I wanted this to be the pinnacle of my career thus far and all considered leading up to the event, it could've been. I was lost for understanding, and being the case, I usually write! A skill I picked up after time spent with a psychologist in dealing with my paraplegia. Which brings us back to the Foreword............

Day 3
Day 3 was the Super Combined event. An event comprising of 1 run of Super G and 1 run of Slalom an event I'd won earlier in the season. I finished 3rd in the Super G run and made a big mistake on the 6th gate of the SL run to finish 5th overall. Harsh, as it was a real podium chance that got away. Immediately after the race I was still found wanting. It took some longer reflection to realise that all wasn't so bad. I'd won the previous Super Combi in Italy earlier in the season and a 5th placing today, still had I placed in 1st in the overall. And a 3rd in the Super G run due to a Super G event being cancelled in Italy meant the result was going to contribute also to the overall points tally. So this wandering mind needed a little celebration. Down to the local mini mart, purchased 2 dark ales and sat well satisfied in the town square for some traditional Aussie reflection time.

Day 4
Day 4 was the Super G. An event which over my career has proven to be my most successful. The night prior I'd spent some moments with my coach contemplating the week’s events. Steve Graham, our coach is a genius at what he does. Not so much in the fact that he was a World Cup able bodied ski racer and has an absolute technical perfection but he just understands sport and athletes. A real passion for both. And all he said to me after watching video of my races was, “it looks like you’re trying to do something you don't normally do.” With that thought resinating through my head all night, I awoke the next day with the conclusion that I was trying to ski close to the gates. A bunch of technical jargon later. Steve pulled out one of his drills we use for training. 4 warm up runs and a race later and I was World Champion of the Super G. World Champ, I'd won.

Bewildering change of circumstances. When I finished the race before seeing the result in the finish area I had so much adrenaline and energy pulsing through my body, I felt I could've emitted a burst of energy. In reflection, I'm amazed at the level of existence I was feeling at that point. I was truly aware, extremely attentive and after looking up at the electronic finish board at my position I just stopped. My state of being seemed to move inwards. Thoughts and feelings encompassed all pain, suffering I'd ever felt, reaching a heightened sense of personal achievement and awe like none I'd experienced.

It's lonely at the top. Quite often I've passed glances at the predominant Worlds Best mono-skier, Martin Braxenthaler (German), with contempt in my emotions after witnessing him win yet another event. Looking at him as a foe when he's really a pleasant person. What's that about? Not thinking I'm a vindictive person, maybe I am at this level. I feel it's when so much focus and living goes into reaching for the stars the intensities so high it brings about your deepest motivator/anguish. Possibly being what drives us to endure so much in training in order to achieve the highest results. As I felt all my sufferings in that finish area, so is, maybe, everyone else on some level within their moment however brief.

Though I guess it's probably different for all. These are but my own personal feelings and accounts.

I received congratulations from most everyone in the finish area but felt I only shared the overall experience with a few of my closest competitors. More likely, what I was experiencing was the fact that, though fulfilling in that finishing moment, overall life does not change. I am still the same person with all the same challenges/issues. No outcome will ever fulfil me. A realisation I'd had previously after winning my first World Cup in Canada 2007.

If I'm not satisfied in this moment right now, then I'll never be satisfied in any moment. This moment right now, whatever it maybe is the most important moment of my life. That understanding takes all the pressure off. In this moment I am all I can be.

Day 5
So philosophy aside, Day 5 was the start of the Downhill. Training run had me placed in 5th but this was no issue to me all considered. Only a second out and the fact I ran way off line across the flats, meant I could go a lot faster on line. Confidence was high. I did however on the race run opt for a shorter, slower ski that would allow me stay on line and I achieved the result I deserved for not putting it on the line, 3rd, 16 hundredths out of first. Awesome. Still happy with this as I knew I had it in me to go faster on the day if I stepped it up.

Day 6
Day 6 the final day of the W.Champs was the last run of the Downhill and I was going all out. Longer ski and a few more adjustments to aerodynamics had me in a winning mind set.
I crashed into a fence in the fastest turn of the race, tearing my bicep off the humorous, severally dislocating my shoulder and possibly ending my race career.

S.Dallas

Blog No. 2, February 2009

“Every blog has his day!”

Servus, Hola and Guten Tag to you all.

Welcome back Friends, Fam and Aussie supporters. ‘The Adventure Rolls On’, Part Two - The European Leg of the Disabled Alpine World Cup 2008-9 pre-Paralympics season. Thanks again for your well wishes.

In my last blog I spoke of the Australian season with the predominant focus being on my equipment. Well it feels as if this Blog account is going to be all about Austria and equipment and the Mind Body Spirit approach. Sounds exciting hey. Ha. I will attempt to make it as interesting as possible… so please read on.

First destination: Praschberger factory in Ebbs, Nth west Austria, Tyrol Valley - an enormous valley bookend by the Austrian Alps, with famous ski destinations such as Innsbruck (1984 Olympics), Kitzbuhl, (home of Austrians premier able bod World Cup); with my equipment development back on top of the priority list.

Though my first conquest was to be far from what you would expect form the pages of a paralympians blog…
Excess baggage! Here is an insight into a disabled skier’s luggage. “There’s a lot of it!” As far as a certain airline was concerned, $5450 worth of it. Nice, NOT!

Here I was, sitting in the airport with a Roller Bag, Wheel Bag, Sit-ski and a Ski Bag. The team had also freighted 15 ski bags via international shipping. Each discipline eg. Slalom, Downhill requires a different shaped ski. Most athletes have 6 pairs; we have 5 athletes this year, previous years 9. I was running late for the flight and wasn't about to pay $5450 for anything ha! It was getting closer to departure time. After some negotiation and speaking with the ‘Manager’ we agreed on 10% of the excess cost. A far more reasonable figure in my opinion. “Schweet!”

The flight involved 9 hours to Singapore with a 2 hour stop over. 8 hours to Frankfurt with a 6 hour stop over. Hour+ to Innsbruck where I'd pre-cautiously booked a hotel for the night in case what seemed to me like the dodgiest internet car booking I'd ever made, didn't work out. Hey it was something like $1000 dollars cheaper than the nearest quote and I was willing to risk it. So rocked up to Innsbruck Airport, loaded my $5450 worth of excess baggage onto a trolley and with a sceptical demeanour, proceeded onward to try and locate this hire car.

Lucky I booked that hotel room!

A foot of snow on the ground outside, trying to push a well loaded trolley around caught the attention of many onlookers. I located 5 car hire companies within the airport grounds; though none of them seemed to bear the name I was looking for. Nor could airport information locate the company. Brewing in my mind was the challenging logistics of getting me and my excess baggage back to the hotel. After my interaction with Airport Information, they directed me to the unbelievable assistance of The Red Cross service men. Basically The Red Cross is in charge of all disabled services within the Airport. Manfred and Harry of the Red Cross Airport Service packed me up and escorted me and my luggage to my hotel room. “Schweet!”

Insight international car hire. Well firstly you need an international license. Secondly, you’re meant to be able to operate a vehicle without the aid of ‘clamp on hand controls’. Ha, small print! Well after a period of time on the telephone with the car hire company, I was directed to their “Innsbruck airport office”. It was a bi-company of 1 of the 5 I originally visited. Anyways, should've seen this dudes face when he realised I was trying to hire one of their cars, “No international license and you’re, pardon me sir, a paraplegic?” Said in the most polite broken English possible. It wasn't looking good. A little negotiating and I were on my way.

Q: What's faster than a Ferrari?
A: A hire car. Well maybe a foreigner in a hire car on the autobahn. “Schweet!”

After an exciting drive to Praschbergers factory (did I say “Schweet!”) I was informed that the sit ski frame I had confirmed over the internet, and in the numerous telephone calls from Australia prior to my arrival that I required in Austria 3 weeks prior to the teams arrival in Europe, wasn't able to be made for me. Apparently Alois Praschberger had been inundated by orders (50 monoskis, we’re lucky to have 5 monoskis in our country) that needed to be completed before the peak snow season. Not so schweet! A night spent brewing in the hotel had me return the next day with the old negotiation back on the agenda. Alois came to the party.

I had some time to thrill, as it was going to take Alois's son 2 weeks to build the frame. So after some sightseeing (20Km push along the Inn River. On a cycle path that is over 500Km long apparently) I thought I could use some ski love. Called up a friend I have on the Austria Ski Team, Renni Sampl (2007 World Cup in Canada, when my bags were lost by the airline, Renni lent me his ski to race on, My only World Cup win to date). I discovered Renni and the Austrian team were training at Kitzbuhl (also home to the Austrian Tennis Open), a 1 hour drive away. Arrived the next day.

A few days of skiing and some ‘International Relations in The Boomerang Bar, Kitzbuhl’; I had a super headache and some new ski plans. Renni had a unit in the ski area of St Michael (Nth East Austria) he wasn't using and informed me I could stay there as long as I liked. “Schweet!” Awoke the next morning with a few directions scribbled on a scrunched up napkin and headed off for a new adventure. The drive took the whole day, far from the 3 hour drive I thought it was. A tad ‘void’, I arrived in this tiny little village, Muhr, immersed in darkness with no idea of the address due to its illegibility and foreign format. Feeling totally lost I pull up outside a church just as man appears from its entry. It’s the Pastor. After overcoming our language barrier - my broken German and his broken English, I discovered Renni's unit is next door. Chances of? Divine.

St Michael was beautiful. A traditional old school Austrian mountain village. Well, almost everything outside of the cities in Austria is a traditional mountain village. Spent the week free skiing at Aneck. 13euro a day for lift passes. “More Schweeeeetness”. Snowfalls all week lead to some serious inconsistency in snow conditions, ideal for testing the boundaries and getting intimate with the settings of my new shock. In reflection, this time was to be an invaluable period of my preseason development, as knowing and understanding your shock settings is an important ingredient for mono racing.

After a further week of ski love, I headed back to Praschbergers factory to tie up some loose ends in the tale of my mono-ski evolution. Basically a few days of hanging out with Stefan, Alois son, and Pimpin My Ride with all the bells and whistles. New straps, clips, washers, bushes, bolts, brackets and the like. A new Canadian mono racer made a comment once about my mono-ski that it looked like a piece of ….. you know what. Ha, not to be the case anymore.

It was now off to Barcelona to hook up with the rest of the ski team for some preseason training in La Molina, Spain.

Ok, so... Espanola training turned out awesome. The team was stepping out of its comfort zone a little with the decision to train in Spain. It wasn't a destination we hadn’t used for training purposes before. You know the old saying, if it isn’t broke, don't fix it. Well, the team had previously undertaken successful training in other regions of Europe and the change to another hill was a bit of a gamble. Though, mixing up training is positive. We were never going to be too far from the mark and thanks to the help of our contacts within Spain’s disabled ski circles; it turned out to be a huge success.

The race hill we trained on was one of the most “extreme” hills our team had ever had the privilege to train on. If you can imagine, the closing down of certain ski runs in order for a team to solely utilise; the setting up a safe race environment, always comes at a cost. Well, not for the Australian Disabled Team in La Molina. We were honoured guests. Nice! I have nothing but praise for the people, culture and every experience that I had in Spain. I love the extravagantly comforting tradition of Siesta. Brilliant! Every arvo everyone and everything closes down for a snooze. Schweeet! Quick lunch time hangover cures for the locals as they enjoy a craft of red with every lunch. Ha. Loved it. This did, however, throw out or eating habits as it was impossible to get dinner before 8.30 at night. Ah, small price.

Whilst on eating habits, Merry Christmas or Felis Navidad as it’s said in Spain. Our team was invited by our host with the most, Head of the Disabled Ski program in Spain, Selvana Mestre, to join her for lunch. Spent on her luxurious veranda gazing out over Pyrenees, eating traditional Cantanese quizine and drinking French wine. Right up there on my list of experiences as bitter sweet as it may have been due to some personal issues and not being home for Christmas, though life is quite often like that.

La Molina in all its majesty still wasn't able to satisfy all our training needs. It was traditionally used as a Technical race hill (Slalom (SL) and Giant Slalom (GS)), not having enough vertical drop to host a Speed event. So, as you do when you’re in Europe, we just ducked up the road to Andorra. More Schweetness. It was my first time to both destinations. Andorra, originally used as a smuggling route between Spain and France in the days of War, was now little more than a huge ski resort taken up mostly by snow fields and shopping districts. Oh and a few more shopping districts, next to some shopping districts. I believe it took us an hour to drive from one end to the other, and if we weren't winding our way up the side of some very vast and rugged mountainous terrain, we were bumper to bumper in CBD traffic.

Ok, with the training out of the way it was down to business. First leg of the World Cup races, staged at La Molina, consisted of 2 GS races and 2 Slalom races. The entire team was suffering from a flu which was like none other I had ever experienced. All in all it lasted 3 weeks and at times it had everyone ‘flat out’. Some pleasing results for me all things considered. I finished 7th first run and 6th second run, to finish 6th overall on the first day of racing. Second day GS, first run I finished 6th and went one better second run to finish 5th overall. I didn't participate in the next 2 days of racing as I've never been a good SL skier and was completely overwhelmed with exhaustion due to illness. Considering the following week of races consisted of my preferred speed events, my coach and I decided it be better if I rest.

And that was that, as far as the first leg World Cup, La Molina Spain came and went!

Off to Italia, Sestriere, in Northern Italy to be more precise. The home of the 2006 Paralympics where I had possibly the worst week of racing in my entire 8 year race career. 2nd n 3rd in Downhill training, at the Games, only to crash out in the race. 9th in the Super G, after a podium the week before at a World Cup. 30-Something first run of the GS, when I hadn't finished out of the top 10 all season and a sickness thrown in amongst it. I didn't even compete in the last event. My Nan passed on in between it all, God rest her soul. To add to what, at the time was a dark period in my race career that I wish not to revisit.

So I'd be lying if I didn't say I felt I had an old score to settle.

Sestriere was experiencing a record snow fall season. 3+ meter banks of snow lined the frozen streets. Snow ploughs could be heard at every turn and the town was alive with excited powder seekers. This isn't a good scenario for holding a Downhill in, and everyone was expecting the event’s to be cancelled. Everyone assumes that lots of snow is good, right, well this isn't the case if you’re wanting to race at speed upwards of 100Kms/hr. Excessive snowfall means that off the race line, which is often where you can find yourself at that speed, there is ‘excess snow’ (the race line excess snow is slipped to the sides by course workers). Skiing into excess snow at those speeds is highly dangerous. Also, often when it's snowing, your visibility is reduced. Federation Of International De Ski (FIS) has rules around visibility and what’s requires to host a safe DH.

The World Cup week scheduled, was a speed week consisting of 2 DH's, 2 Super G's and a Super Combi (combined times from one run of DH and one run of Slalom). Downhill unlike other events requires each competitor to perform a training run due to the speeds that are reached in the interest of safety.

Day 1 the first scheduled training day was cancelled due to snowfall.

Day 2 however, we were blessed with sunshine and I finished 2nd in the training run after landing a little sideways off the bottom jump and doing everything in my ability to stay upright. This did involve almost stopping which had me in high spirits for the following race day.

Day 3 was cancelled. Everyone was feeling this was the way it was going to finish. But day 4 a race was staged and I almost crashed again higher up the course coming onto the steepest pitch, Aqua Mineralli. I wasn't able to keep it going, coming to a complete stop, finishing 15th. This week felt like it was following the blue print of my last visit to Sestriere. Not good.

Day 4 turned out to be the day ‘I'd envisioned’ to occur at the Games 2 years prior though it didn't start that way. I made the same mistake coming onto ‘Aqua Mineralli’ again though not as big. I kept the momentum going and crossed the line in 3rd. Sweet, a podium! This I felt satisfied by. But it was short lived. About half an hour later as I was about to start inspection of the Slalom run (Super combi), I was informed I'd come 4th by a hundredth of a second. Kidding Me! Whatever!

Alpine skiers are broken up into 2 categories. Technical skiers, i.e. Slalom (SL) and Giant Slalom (GS) and Speed skiers, ie. Super Giant Slalom (Super G) and Downhill (DH). I'm a speed skier. I've had most of my success in speed events. Well not on this day. I won the SL run and combined time with my DH run I finished 1st to win my first World Cup in 2 years!

As bitter sweet as it was, I was over the moon. I've always said my most fulfilling win would be a SL win. It wasn't quite a SL win but it was close enough. Stoked.

Thanks for reading. I hope you have felt entertained and informed. Stay in touch. Next posting will be the last entry of the Northern hemisphere season, World Championships - High 1ski area in Korea, then onto the World Cup finals, Whistler B.C. Canada, the mountain/country where they will be hosting the 2010 Winter Paralympics!

Enjoy!