Here’s a blog article from Jon Ahlsen on the recent ski training camp at TC.
Interski 2015 is drawing ever closer. We’ve just finished camp number 3 at Treble Cone. Here’s an update on what we’ve been up to.
The preparations for Interski 2015 in Cerro Castor, Ushuaia, Argentina, are intensifying. Last year we skiers got together for two camps. We worked on our skiing. We toyed with ideas. We discussed formations. We discussed indoor and on-snow presentations. We came up with plans to raise funds. We discussed potential sponsors.
Our on-snow camps have so far been separate from the snowboarders, since we’re working on different things. Off snow, we keep close contact, particularly for the indoor presentations, including an evening session during this camp.
We’ve made some very exciting progress.
Equipment
Skis – We will be skiing on Völkl Racetigers, 175 cm with an 18 meter radius. This is a very exciting ski! It’s easy to tip on edge with its slight tip rocker while the tail provides ample kick out of the turn. Big thanks to Völkl for providing the skis and to Garett for taking charge!
Helmets and goggles – We will use Pret helmets and Smith goggles. Big thanks to Ben for taking charge!
Uniform – We’ll be in black jackets and grey pants provided by Eira. Very stylish in my humble opinion! Another big thanks to Garett for taking charge. The silver fern on the sleeve is a nice touch!
The ski team sporting new uniforms, skis goggles and helmets…very sharp
Presentations
Our presentations will revolve around the theme Attract – Retain – Develop. This was agreed with the Executive Committee last year. At this year’s NZSIA Trainer’s training, we presented the on-snow workshops in a condensed format and received some very relevant feedback that we’re currently taking on board. Big thanks to [Ben, Tim, Garett and William] for spearheading the effort so far. Myself and Scott complete the on snow presenter team for Interski.
The indoor presentations will revolve around the same theme. Here, we will have the additional benefit of presenting together with our snowboarding colleagues. Meetings, e-mails and telephone conferences are held to get these to come together with a sharp concise message. Big thanks to Toby and Ashley for leading the effort from the skiers’ side to date! They will be joined by Scott who has put his hand up for a big workload at Interski presenting both indoors and outdoors.
Skiing
training with Nils
For a third time, we had the pleasure of being coached by Nils Coberger, the NZ alpine national team coach. His coaching is very concise and clear. His message has been heard: we’re looking more similar each time we come together to ski.
Formations
During the summer months, Tim and William have been devising formation ideas that we’ve seen on paper. Finally, we have been able to try them on snow. Formation, or synchro skiing, is something I have not done much. Turns out to be difficult once you go beyond simple op-sync short turns down the fall line! Work remains to be done on these, but we have the outlines and we know the counts. Big thanks to Tim and William for coming up with some exciting formations! Also big thanks to Steph for a sharp coaching eye with the formations and patience when we get lost in the counts!
And finally a huge thanks to Treble Cone for their great hospitality. Conditions were great and as always the terrain was amazing. Jon.
back to basics as we build up our synchro runs on the poma….and then a little faster further up the hill!