Girls on Skiing

Starting off today on a little more personal note than usual, because I’ve just been thinking today about how much of a therapy skiing is for me.
In times when my life’s turned upside down and I don’t know whether I can (or even want to ;)) keep my mental health to an acceptable minimum I drift off into either watching races when they’re on, or just spending ridiculous time on finding little bits and pieces of information to put them together into a picture that I can then look at. It takes my mind off other stuff I might be thinking when I don’t do that and even tho it can only last for very little time it helps a lot. It’s a very straight-forward thing watching races, there’s only so much room for surprises. I know therapy will end soon for this season, but that’s ok because I know it’ll be back.
So thanks to all my great therapists that I can go and see every weekend!

And the drama that they’re delivering at the moment is the best suspense anyway. Nine races to go, three people within 105 points, all of them perfectly capable to win the Overall WC, what do you want more?
Almost all the discipline titles are still up in the air too, it’s gonna go right down to the wire. The way it’s supposed to be. And I dearly hope that, like last year, the ultimate decision will be made in the very last race.

For today, I’ll be off to skiing therapy very soon!

So the big day has come and gone and it hasn’t failed to deliver!

I don’t know how you feel about it, but for me the race, or should I say the seond run, was full of highlights.
From a pretty mean perspective it’s just funny how Benni keeps failing to get on the podium in Sölden. His 8th time, and he was as close as ever, but not close enough.
Also, a personal highlight for me was when Hermann Maier, as soon as he stopped in the finish after his first run, looked down on his skis. If you thought anything would change with him, think again.
But the real big deal about the first run was Bambi Markus Larsson. His GS form last season was … ah, not so good
So he had to start with bib 63 and he made it into the second run and didn’t even finish last, only second to last. But with a second-run time only 1.08 seconds off Aksel’s.
And in the seond run, come on…
Aksel was just brilliant and we saw some good old classic Bode, huge mistakes in all the places you would expect him to make them and still a really fast run. I’m expecting great things for the season!

Thanks to Ines for the great picture!

The last week before the WC opener feels a lot like the week before Christmas used to feel when I was little.

Last year unfortunately was much like when I was 7 or 8 years old and was so ill I slept right through Christmas Eve, but this year I’m sure it will keep its promise again.

The cookies are ready and smelling great, meaning the snow is falling and the slopes look amazingly inviting. It gets dark pretty early and the candles / floodlights are being lit up. The nearer the big day comes, the longer every day feels and you can sense an air of excitement. Among ski racing nutters like us at least

But it’s not long and it’ll be here, the moment we’ve been so impatiently waiting for. We’ll open our TV-broadcast or internet Live-Ticker presents and play with them enthusiastically all Sunday. And like little children at Christmas we’ll carry that excitement into the weeks to follow.

Have a merry World Cup start everyone!

The last two days Austria’s, Switzerland’s and Germany’s (if there’s more, I’m sorry, I don’t know where else it snowed) mountains have seen the first early snow of this year.
Oh how I hope this is an indication for a winter with lots of good snow!

At least it shows Petrus hasn’t yet forgotten what snow looks like…
Let there be more! But please not until the middle of October and then stop. Petrus, if you’re gonna spend all your strength on this now, better wait some more

If it means good snow for the mountains, I’ll settle for the <10°C weather and pouring rain in Vienna in October too. Thanks!

This weekend there’s ski jumping and biathlon summer competitions. Oh, what a tease!
As an alpine ski fan you can only dream about such luxury.

I know there are races in New Zealand and South America and other places, but none of the big names ever race them and if they did you wouldn’t get to see them.
But would anyone watch them anyway? In summer? When it’s warm outside and the last thing on people’s minds is snow?

Well I don’t know, but I know I would! (Hey, I did watch ski jumping yesterday! Yay Austria!) Just seeing pics from NZ training was great. So white!

Yes, I’m a very sad person. By mid-August I’m always ready to get the new season started. I mean who cares that the guys need their well-deserved rest after the season, that the summer training period isn’t the best time to go to additonal races, that apart from me and other similarly crazy people nobody would watch and it would be in the middle of the night anyway…
I’m on cold turkey!

Or rather I’m not, cause it’s just not cold enough … I’m just not a big summer person. It’s nice for some time, but I’ve had enough now. Not one for the heat, it makes me tired and cranky. And seriously, the most useless season surely has to be fall. It’s not really warm and it’s not really cold, the weather sucks 90% of the time and university starts again

I’m ready for winter. Is anyone else?

Well, well, well… I finally took some time to get up-to-dated with skiing world. And found this site (www.mensalpine.com), which is kind of fun (apart from the fact that the whole idea is great and I really hope they make it). Especially the Reserve Now part. I’d so reserve Steven, but I guess my account wouldn’t allow me visiting the USA for a golf tournament after holidays. (Like this is the only problem, hehe…)

It’s only the middle of holidays (since I’m visiting the university in automn and we don’t begin before October) but I can say I can’t wait to see some white slopes.  I have few plans for the remaining time, so I think I’m not mistaken if I say that the season will start again soon. Really soon. Happy time.

Enjoy the summer as much as you can!!

S.

 EDIT: Congatulations to Daron and his wife Michelle!!!!! Their twins are on their way to become amazing crazy skiers!! (Surprisingly he didn’t name them Han and Cam, I guess it’s because they aren’t both girls. ) Welcome Dreyson  and Miley!!

So little Vladimir has got himself a new toy: Sotchi 2014.

I hope he will have lots of fun with it after all the trouble he went through getting it and all the pocketmoney he had to spend.
Who cares about some problems in the infrastructure and a few minor disagreements about environmental damages? As long as little Vladimir is happy his parents, the Gazprom, are happy.
And I’m sure their offer to become a sponsor of the IOC had absolutely nothing to do with any decisions in Guatemala.

Congratulations, little Vladimir!
Great job!

I guess most of you have heard of the conspiracies of the Illuminates that are always linked to certain numbers. 3, 5, 23 for example.
Now start to get scared, skiing has a number like that too: it’s 14.
You don’t believe me? You will after reading this:

There’s numerous clues, the first one is pretty obvious and more sad than scary
Bode set out to win 14 times and ended up not finishing races exactly 14 times.

Ok, but it goes on: Aksel needed 14 people and not more to go faster than him in the last slalom to win the Overall WC, 14 did.

The one who didn’t was Markus Larsson, who in his 14th ever WC race scored his first points in Schladming 2001. It’s true, go check it if you don’t believe it.
Last season Markus had his first WC win and 15 times he didn’t get through to a second run. 15 -1 = 14
Ok, I know that last one was far fetched, but it’s gonna get worse, just wait

The guy who finished 14th in the Overall WC was Didier Defago.
He went to 2 Olympic Games so far, and both times he finished 14th in the Giant Slaloms. Spooky…

But, here goes the ultimate proof that even the gods have their part in this:
(I warned you it was gonna get worse, better stop reading right here!)
2.7. is the saint’s day of Petrus. We all know Petrus’ role as traitor of Jesus I guess, but in popular belief he’s also responsible for bad weather. And if there was one thing this last season had more than enough, it was bad weather.
Now multiply 2 by 7. What do you get?

I’ll keep my eye on this next season…

A quiet and uneventful off-season on skiing terms once again?

Think again … Mr. Miller is really leaving the USST, shutting up everybody who always said he wouldn’t dare to really do it. Yes, I was one of them.
It’s so short and I haven’t heard of him about it, so I can’t say much about it, but hey, this just has to be commented on right? The slightly worrying thing is that in most reports it says “if he’s racing next season” again, which I thought had been settled but I guess time will tell and I strongly believe he’ll at least try it for one season just to prove a point.
Not sure if he’s gonna be successful on that to be honest, we’ve all seen it fail before (Team Koz anyone?) but I wish him all the very best on his independent ways.

Also, Hermann Maier is testing head skis these days and is supposed to make a decision before the end of May.
I personally wouldn’t like to see him on Head, I know it’s ridiculous but for me he totally represents Atomic and the guys who are chased. I don’t think his personality would go very well with the other team members and if he keeps up his the-world-revolves-around-me atitude he’s definitely in the wrong place on a team that doesn’t have the quantity like Atomic to go and work on his boots with 15 people for 2 weeks. Yes, I’m exaggerating and yes, Bode is a difficult guy to work with too I’m sure and I didn’t mind him joining Head, but let me hold my little grudge against the Herminator, we have a history.

Of course there’s lots of retirements also this season and I wish every single one of them only the very best for their lives in the non-WC-skiing future!

You probably will have heard Bode’s name in the news about something else, completely unrelated to skiing, if you read this, so all I’m saying is that my thoughts and sympathies are with both families.
That’s it, cause it doesn’t belong here.

God, why does it always have to take so long for the WC start again?

I was quite surprised when reading my mail from USST few minutes ago, so just a quick note.

I can’t say I cheer for USST anymore. I cheer for USST and Bode Miller. Huh. I guess it’ll be the best to simply say the Americans.