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ITime Flies
Time flies when you’re having fun! Tomorrow is the last day on snow of a very successful camp. I’ve learned a ton this camp and I think things are heading in the right direction with my skiing. Still a lot of work to do, but a good start. Having a whole bunch of (new to me) coaches around throws a lot of new perspectives at you, which I think is really good. I’m working on some things that I’ve never tried before, and although things don’t always click or stick right away, I think it’s going to help tremendously in the long run.
Skiing with some of the top skiers in the world doesn’t hurt either.. Robbie Dixon has been skiing insane GS this camp. Watch out for him this year on the circuit, he is going to tear it up! And training Super G with the likes of Erik (Guay), Manny (Osbourne-P), Jan (Hudec) and Robbie has it’s advantages.
Tomorrow we have what we call the ‘Candy Bar Cup’. I guess it should be called the ‘Chocolate Bar Cup’, but our head coach is American... Anyways we’re grouped into teams of 4 racers (3 teams). We each take 4-6 runs, and the fastest 4 from each team member (so 16 runs per team) is added up to determine the winner. Everyone on the team gets into it because each team also has a handful of the coaches/staff as a support group. Heckling, betting, tactics and antics are to be expected! Theres nothing on the line other than pride and bragging rights for the rest of the year, which is huge of course! My team consists of Manny, Trevor White and Ben Thomsen. Should be fun!
Matt Price, our conditioning coach has started GPS tracking our courses and uploading them to Google Maps. It’s pretty neat, and when you switch to satellite view, you can actually see almost exactly what we are skiing (down to a few meters of satellite error). Check it out here. (Be sure to click satellite in the top right)
Beautiful morning at Cardrona
Cardrona
Kelby, Nella, Louis, Trevor, Ryan, and Trav watching the NZ Freeski Championships
These guys were good! (60 foot tabletop)
This is what I get for not wearing a stealth!
Mmmm.. tasty
New Zealand countryside
Ottawa to New Zealand In Only 22 Hours (Plus Layovers!)
I’ve travelled quite a bit in my life so far and taken a lot of plane rides, but nothing compares to yesterday’s (or was it today? I’m not sure when I left anymore) Ottawa to Queenstown, New Zealand treck. 5 hours to Vancouver, a 5 hour layover there, 13 hours to Auckland, NZ, and finally 1.5 hours to Queenstown. I lost track of what day and time it was pretty early into the journey, but now it’s 5:30pm and I’ve been up since around 2 this morning. I’m not bogging down with tiredness though, so I hope I will avoid the worst of jet lag.
My first impression of the country is that it is simply beautiful. Flying from Auckland to Queenstown showcased the surreal terrain and snow capped mountains. As I wrote that sentence I turned around and saw this sunset.
Of course the photographer in me ran to my room and grabbed my camera to get some shots!
Needless to say I’m pretty excited for my first camp with all the World Cup guys. Sharing a condo with Jan Hudec, Robbie Dixon, and Louis-P Helie should make for a good camp! Tomorrow is our first day on snow. Can’t wait to get back on the white stuff and try out my new equipment.
Also put up some new photos on the Recent page
Some new skis
Crazy tree formations. Seems to be the norm around here
Our condo overlooks a golf course, with several ponds in front
Hockey Camp!!
The week I’ve been waiting for since I found out about it 2 months ago has finally come and gone. And boy, what a week it was. Each day went like this:
8am - Arrive at rink, 30 minutes of agility/warm up
9am - 10am - On ice skating & passing drills
10am - 11am - Scrimmage (White vs Red)
11am - 2pm - Eat & rest
2pm - 4:30pm - Gym workout
Needless to say it was an insanely tough week. Without a doubt the most difficult week of training I have ever done. But it was so much fun to get up every morning, lace up the skates and play hockey for two hours.
Check out a bunch more photos from the week here (I’m #32)
First morning. Lining up for skating drills
Followed by passing drills
And more skating drills!
One of the coolest aspects of the camp was that it was run by Felix Potvin, who played in the NHL for the Leafs while I lived in Toronto. It was super neat to meet my childhood hero and even play with him for a whole week. (Little known fact about me: I wanted to be a hockey goalie when I was growing up)
The Red team took the first two games with scores of 8-4 and 6-3. Being on the White team this was unacceptable! So we changed out game plan and evened the series, winning the next two games. Going into the final and deciding game tensions were high! But we managed to pull out of a 2-0 deficit after the first period and came back to win 5-4. I even scored the series winning goal a few minutes into the 3rd period!
The week really rekindled my love for hockey, which I haven’t played in several years, but am now playing several times a week. It’s great training and a ton of fun so why not?!
Revving Back Up
Sorry for the lack of posts lately.. I’ve been busy and I’ve started working with Tyler Brown (one of my first coaches and current MSM Ski Team K2 coach) on redoing my website. I like the general appearance now but updating things is a pain in the butt. So Tyler is helping me transfer everything over to an easier and better system, while also revamping the look of the site. I think it will turn out very nice!
Well my vacation is almost over and its time to start the dryland part of the season. I’ve gotten into the gym a few times in the past week and boy is it hitting me hard! The first few workouts of the year are always tough. Other than the gym I’ve rekindled my love of tennis. I got a wicked new racquet from Head and played a few times while Mari was in town, and played with the Alex and Phil Mach for a 2.5 hour monster session today. It was great and I learned a lot but my hand is simply destroyed with blisters!
At the end of last week I also had the chance to attend both the OSZ and MSM Ski Team Banquets, which were fun. Both banquets recognized the up and coming talent in the region which is always good to see! I was very flattered to be presented with a special award at the OSZ Banquet. Once again I was amazed by the support of the people in the region, and I want to thank every one of you.
As far as my schedule is concerned I leave for physical testing in Calgary on Thursday evening. I’m staying out there for 3 weeks after that to be near the ACA trainers in order to get as strong as I possibly can for the tough season ahead.
Malcolm Carmichael, a Banff based photographer, sent over a couple wicked shots the other day from National Championships in Nakiska:
Super G
Downhill
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More Photos From the Weekend
Two time Olympian and fellow Ottawanian Pat Biggs is selling a special edition quilted HBC Team Canada Olympic jacket from the Vancouver games. Pat is auctioning it off on eBay to help cover his expenses for this year. So if you're interested in helping out an Olympian and owning a piece of Olympic history check it out: http://bit.ly/bR4PpH
You can also check out Biggsy's website and blog at www.patbiggs.com
Grippin' and rippin' on slalom skis
Left: 2010 | Right: 2005 | Not a lot has changed..
My dad, Brett Frip and I. Brett Frip is one of the organizers of the Ski-A-Thon
My mom and I after the medals
And for good measure a new shot from the Lake Louise NorAms in December
Rest Week
First off, can anyone believe the weather outside in Ottawa right now? Unbelievable.. But as nice as it is, it needs to get colder because I'm not finished with the winter yet!
After podiuming in the second Super G in Aspen I was ready to tear it up in downhill, but it was not to be. Evidently I like to turn (oh really?!) and need to figure out how to glide faster, because the top flats of the downhill track were killing my times. Oh well, live and learn! Even with the mediocre downhill results I managed to hold onto the NorAm overall lead going into the NorAm Finals next week in Vermont and New Hampshire.
After Aspen I returned home for a week of rest, racing, forerunning and fundraising. The first few days were nice and relaxing as Mari came to Ottawa. After a few days with her and a day of training at Fortune with the Quebec Team, my dad and I went up to Tremblant for the Boys and Girls Club Ski-A-Thon (www.skiathon.com). Todd Brooker (Canadian HEAD rep) was another guest of the event. It was a lot of fun to ski with a Crazy Canuck and the man who got me involved with HEAD skis. The event was a huge success, raising $106,000! I met a bunch of really cool people, and it was a ton of fun. I just might have to attend again next year!
The day after the Ski-A-Thon was the annual GMC Cup race at Camp Fortune. Canadian Olympians Pat Biggs and Ryan Semple (both slalom specialists) were racing that day, so my expectations were to be as close as possible to those two. Things worked out a little better than I had planned as I came through the finish of the first run to find myself in the lead. More than a little surprised, I tried to duplicate that success in the second run but it was not to be. I made a bunch of mistake and Pat ended up with the win, but I did come second, 0.01 in front of Ryan. Hundies matter!
The next day was the K1 OSZ Championships GS race at Mont Ste Marie. My younger sister Becca even convinced me to wear all of my Olympic forerunning gear. The forerunning was a lot of fun and made me realize that I really miss skiing on Outaouais because it is so fun! Rebecca didn't do as well as she was hoping, but did end up tying for the overall medal win for 1998's because of how well she did in the slalom the previous weekend. Way to go Bec!
I'm leaving for Mont Orford tomorrow for a few days of training before the NorAm finals, where I'm aiming to wrap up some World Cup spots for next season!!
Front page of the Aspen/Snowmass website
Arcing it up at Fortune. Photo courtesy of Cynthia Stewart of Photo Buddies
Mari and I after the Fortune race
Camp Fortune Podium
I think it's too big Sprout...
Handing out medals at MSM
An Incredible Olympic Experience
Trav, Dave (Trav and my technician) and myself moments before the start
What an unforgettable week! My Olympic experience was full of delays, snow, fog, but most of all fun. It was awesome to be at the Olympics, especially a home one. The support from everyone was unbelievable even though I was just forerunning. I ran into a ton of people from the Ottawa skiing community while out in Whistler. A bunch of them were volunteers (working their butts off!) and some were taking in the sights and sounds of the Olympics. But everyone was really supportive which was awesome, so thanks a lot!
When race day finally rolled around the atmosphere was like nothing I've ever experience before. There were TONS of people at all of the viewing areas (7,000 in the stands!) hours before the race even started. It's a pretty cool feeling when people cheer when you come through the finish.. of the inspection! Due to only having one official and incomplete training run, everyone had a chance to run from Coaches Turn to the finish. After that I had to head straight back up to the top because I would be the first forerunning and would open the Alpine events at the Olympics. 
The view from the start on race day (20 min before start). Notice the line of people forming on the top left.
At precisely 10:20 the beeps started for me to begin my run. Leaving the start and hearing the roar of the crowd up there was something I didn't expect and will never forget! I almost broke into a smile before the first gate (good thing I was only forerunning I guess). Since I was the guinea pig and the first one down, I found out pretty quickly that the jumps were huge that day. The track was way firmer and a little faster than training, but was also a lot bumpier. Coming through each viewing area I could hear people cheering, which is something I have never heard before. Coming over the last two jumps, which were massive that day, I could see all the people in the finish and was just awestruck by how many were there. As I came through the finish I was so excited to be there and that I had just been a part of the Olympics that I let out a scream and fist pump, which I guess the crowd liked because they went wild! I will never forget that moment.
A view of the crowd
So with that said I'm really glad that I had the experience of running in such a big event because of all the little things that kind of took me off guard. For example the noise, people, and cameras everywhere. I think the experience will definitely help me in the future and hopefully in Sochi 2014!!!
The volunteers deserve the biggest medal of all. It was ridiculous how much work they were doing! Even making snow-slides to clear the track. Genius.
A bunch of the speed guys training Super-G on one of the nice days
Trav and I had the chance to watch the women's Super Combi. This is Vonn after straddling and a collective "oouhhhhhh" from the crowd. Just goes to show that anything can happen in this crazy sport.
After watching the Super Combi we went up top and took a 25 minute hike to find some freshies.
Todd Brooker hooked me up with some fatties for the trip
Awesome.
Olympic DH Walkthrough
I had a lot of great feedback the last time I did a course run-through at Lake Louise, so what better place to do another one than at my favourite downhill track, the Dave Murray Downhill for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics! This track has a lot more to it than the LL course so it's pretty long!
It's a little crazy how different the TV cameras make the track look, compared to what it looks like while actually on course. So much so that while watching the guys come down after I did my forerun, I found myself thinking "Where is he right now?!" A little embarassing but oh well. Anyways, without further ado, here is the walkthrough:
Olympic Start House
They really built up the start gate from previous years. Its about 75 meters of straight bully before you need to turn!
This is the first section of the course. Flat and rolly. It's hard to see because
there are no panels, but the track follows the dye over the rolls.
The first "challenge" in the course is this camel hump. Light on the first one, air off the second.
After a few Super-G turns you get to a decent-sized right-leg turn.
Same right legger. You can see how it drops off at the end because it's a jump as well! 
Off the jump you need to get straight onto the left foot to make this cranker into the Weasel Flats section.
This angle gives you a little more clarification on how steep the previous section is.
The Weasel section ends with a big left-footer turn. You can feel yourself slow down
significantly through the left legger because it's such a big, flat turn.
But not to worry! You drop into the extremely steep Toilet Bowl section after the big left footer. Don't scrub
any speed on the left footer at the bottom of the pitch because that's a big flat/uphill ahead.
Following another right-footer "tunnel" jump, you drop off of the Fallaway turn. I've never seen a fallaway
like this one, or experienced a compression as big as the one at the bottom of this pitch!
After a short flats after the Fallaway, you are sucked into The Sewer. This huge sidehill is new for the Olympics.
Off the sidehill you really get into The Sewer. Sewer is by far the fastest section of the course,
and with a nearly 180 degree turn (Coaches Turn) at the bottom it's quite intimidating. 
After Coaches you come across a long, slightly sidehill, left-footer that we nicknamed The Punisher.
By this point your legs are burning and the long left-footer does little to help your legs!
After a cranky right-footed turn out of The Punisher there are a few single gates
before the final two jumps of the course. This first one is called Boyd's Chin.
The landing of Boyd's Chin and the takeoff of Murr's Hoppe. It's a fairly small flight off of
Boyd's Chin, but Murr's Hoppe can have some decent air and distance!
The view off of the last jump, showcasing the giant stands! Can't wait to see those packed full of cheering, screaming (hopefully Canadian) fans!!
More Photos From Europe
The Lenggries piste 
Trav and I after Lenggries. (Trav joined the sweet shades crew)
The Geisberg pitch in Kirchberg
The famed Londoner Pub in Kitzbuhel. Never judge a book by its cover!
Jeff came 2nd at the Kirchberg FIS race that was stacked with World Cuppers
Nella got a new haircut for Wengen! 
Trav loving slalom
Some of the terrain in Les Orres
The start of the downhill in Les Orres
Patcherkofel Photos
This should not sleep two!
Site of the 1976 Innsbruck Olympics
Tom and I - Sweet Shades Club
Tom, our physio, doing what he does best
Slalom/GS training after the DH runs. (Europeans are organized when it comes to ski racing)
Innsbruck as viewed from the course
I now consider myself a wuss because this is how they used to ski downhill! No safety nets, just safety trees apparently!
Trav spent an afternoon completing this masterpiece.
Photo and Such
Cynthia Stewart of Photo Buddies was at the Mt Blanc slaloms and took some pretty wicked pics of me skiing slalom of all things. These are by far the best slalom pictures I've ever seen of myself. I always watch a few people from the start, and usually end up thinking "dang, those guys are good!" It doesn't really occur to me that I might look like I know what I'm doing as well haha.
I also put up some new shots in the Recent album in the Photography section of the site. Theres a bunch from earlier in the season in Colorado, Lake Louise, and some from the Chirstmas break. I got a new lens a few months ago and I've been playing around with it quite a bit lately and I love it. Let me know what you think!
R&R
After being on the road for almost two months in a row this break has been very nice and was definitely needed. I've just been recharging my batteries for the last few days up at Mont Ste Marie. The lifts up there didn't open today due to freezing rain so I decided to drive back to the city and do some stuff I need to do. For example get in the gym, do some shopping and see friends. Hope everyone is having a great holiday and I'll see some of you up at MSM in the next few days. I'm going back up tomorrow morning to coach for the next three days, should be fun!
Here are a couple pictures from the Lake Louise DH a few weeks ago:
Lake Louise Photos
The 3 a.m. wakeup this morning was no fun, no fun at all! I'm sitting in the Calgary airport right now waiting to board a 6:30 a.m. flight to Denver, Colorado for the NorAm races there starting this Monday (the 30th). I foreran the final training run of the mens World Cup downhill yesterday, which was super fun! The track is great this year with a lot more terrain to deal with at the top compared to previous years. The rest of the track is pretty much the same ripping fast downhill as always. When I went it was bluebird and not too cold making it probably the best conditions I've ever run a downhill in, which made it all the more fun.
Here are a few shots taken during inspection yesterday:
Tickety Chute
Wiwaxy Flats
End of Wiwaxy/Entrance to Coaches
Coaches Turn
Coaches Jump
Gunbarrel Drop Off
Gunbarrel (This photo really doesn't do it justice!)
Photography Page
I've updated the photography page so that things are a little more simplified. I also fixed the Purchase page so that it actually works now. If you like any of my photos and want to support me, purchase a photo!
SIRC Photo Contest Update
Thanks to anyone and everyone who voted for me in the SIRC Photo Contest. Thanks to you I won!
SIRC issued a press release a few days ago announcing the winners and I was quite flattered to see that I was on top of the list. The press conference can be read here. Thanks again!!
