Feb. 6th update from Rolf

Oh my... OH MY!!! What a fine weekend all around! So fine in fact, it's nearly forgotten that less than a month ago we weren't even skiing yet! Well, almost...


J1-J2 report:
For the last 19 years of coaching, I always thought it would be the poop to have a big team and have to hang around late at far away ski areas to watch one of our racers get an award. Well, while other ski teams have been losing racer population, we have been gaining. And over the last few years, awards have been trickling in. This past weekend was no exception.

The 1-2 crew battled their way to Tussey Mt. State College PA. Friday night through some fairly poor driving conditions, awaking to a bitter cold, but bright morning. A quick stop at the breakfast buffet and we were down the pike to one of the smallest ski areas in the state. Small it may be, rustic and unchanged in decades, Tussey's race crew did put on a decent event. Our troops included J2 newbie's 'powerman' Pat Callaghan, Peter-Punch Frein (you'll see why below), and Bashin' Brian Dunleavy. J1's in attendance were Dangerous Dan Cohen and Killah-Kevin Curran. For once, we have more than 1 girl on the team... FOUR to be exact! Team vet Rippin' Rebecca Reed is joined by Kool-Kaelyn Ford, Grrrretchin Carlson and lightning-Liz Carlson. Flyin' Ryan Symancek diverted his North East terror tour to descend on PA once again.

With inspection over, we were off and running. ALL 4 girls completed their first runs without a hitch! But they were scolded for not giving it more gas down the steeps. With the ignition switch cranked on, Gretchen blew away all but three girls on her second zing, scoring 4th in J2 girls, 5th overall for that run, landing smartly in 9th for the event. Kaelyn properly placed herself in the top 15 overall with Rebecca backing her up in 21st. Elizabeth put two of her best runs together for a 48th place.

Dan broke his skis earlier in the week and was racing on new unfamiliar sticks. His first run was... well, not his best. But he made it into the second run and looked as though he had a handle on his new equipment. Both Peter and Brian looked stellar but a bit too wizzy, and missed a gate and had to hoof it. Their second runs were much better. Brian snagged a top 20 run on his second try, 28th overall. Peter followed up in 59th, mainly due to a 1/4 mile hike and kissing a gate drawing a bit of blood. Kevin has really turned up the smoke the last few years and today was no exception, stomping a 16th place overall run out of nearly 80 boys. Pat was the big surprise, as he had a tremendous 1st run, scoring an incredible 19th place overall going into the second run. A little mishap in his second sent him back to 32nd overall, but still a sweet intro into big-boy racing! Ryan however, was the newsmaker. Ryan was at a few practices early in the season and looked stunning. But how would he hold up against PA's finest? Puhleeeze. After the first run was over, Ryan was ahead by 1.2 seconds. That's 1.2 seconds faster than EVERYBODY, not just J2's. He went on to win J2 boys, but fell a tick down the overall leader board to 2nd. Suddenly SNO Mt. Ski Team was a name to be recognized.

Not much in the way of free-skiing ensued. Chilly-Willy temps, an 8 minute lift ride and a 30 second drop to the bottom just isn't our bag. Back at the hotel we sniffed out the warm pool and hot tub, and man did it do wonders for the frozen bones. It was then off to the restaurant for good grub and chat. The kids ate well and scampered off the tune skis. It's noted that Gretchen and Kaelyn marched over to Camelback's hotel and had THEM tune their skis. Jeeez!! And I thought Molly Curran had magic powers to get her brother to do the tuning, these girls went to another team! Geno Curran, big Mark and I tried to coax Mrs. Carlson, and ex-Penn State alumni, into taking us for a tour of the local hot spots. She respectably declined, afraid she might keep us out too late. Geno and Mark found it laughable that I was carded upon entering the first bar. Jokes on them though, as they WEREN'T carded, for obvious reasons. Mark left us after an hour or two and Geno tempted me into one more stop before heading home. Upon entering bar #2, somehow we got in without paying the cover charge because we were race coaches. Yet two gorgeous blondes behind us were charged $5 each. Geno was thrilled, I was a bit nervous, not knowing exactly what sort of bar this was. Anyway, long story short, the band was a 60's hippy-dippy folk group playing lots of Peter Paul and Mary and yet the place was jumping with dancing and singing. It's neat to see today's college punks enjoying the oldies!

And yes, I woke up just fine the next morning. Geno was rumored to have set the alarm clock that night for a way to early 5am. Lesson learned, set clock BEFORE heading out for an evening on the town :-) Brian failed to give me his Ipod for a few songs, therefore I started the day out with the last song of the evening rattling endlessly over and over in my head... Puff the Magic Dragon of all things. Another cold one on tap, but this time with wind. I soon forgot about the silly song. First run provided no follies, but some awesome results. Second run was a bit interesting. Peter scored two back to back runs without flaws, scoring 24th out of nearly 80 boys. But Peter didn't finish the run without problems. It seems he got into a fight with a spineless flex gate and proceeded to get tuned-up, ending with a bloody lip and swollen snout. Face guard time Pete! Brian didn't fair all that much better. While he won the flex gate fight, he somehow managed to leave his pole planted firmly at the start, while he and the rest of his equipment headed briskly downhill. Tighten those straps Brian! He still managed a 21st though! Dan was still having issues with his new sticks but had a great run going (and I mean GREAT) until he missed a gate and boogered his run. Is anyone going to have a clean run?? Not Mr. Consistent Kevin either. After sitting in an outstanding 11th place after the first run, Kevin did a full-skull-bongo after hooking a gate near the finish... brutal! Alas he shook it off and was OK. Kaelyn was ahead of best-bud Gretchen by a tenth going into the second run, sittin' pretty in about 8th place, but she bailed and dnf'd, most unfortunately. It was looking like a great finish for our girls team up to that point. Finally we had some finishers. Gretchen combined two excellent runs for 9th overall and 5th in J2's. Becca also glued two together for 15th overall and 10th in J2's. Liz put two solid runs back to back for a 45th place. So to this point, she and Becca are the only ones to count on for clean runs! Well, them and Ryan. All eyes on Ryan this weekend. And they were focused on his style for the second day. Ryan's like no other racer I ever had. Instead of telling them to get off the tails and lean forward, Ryan needs to lean back! Yup, he's affectionately known as the anti-Bode. Anyway, Ryan's overall score slipped to 4th today, but only .7 seconds out of first, Youch! But he still brought home a 1st in J2 boys. Another SCORE!! Unfortunately Patrick was MIA Sunday, having sped home for the big game I guess.
Special thanks to team mom Mrs. Cohen for hooking the team up with a sweeet hotel deal with pool, food and fun. Thanks also to both her and assistant team mom Mrs. Carlson for providing the team with nutrients prior to the race. Thanks also to Petra Reed and the other parents, as well as the kids themselves, for being a team by rooting on fellow teammate and running coats to the finish. You guys and gals rock!

Rolf, Mark and Petra


DEV Crew:

It was another exciting, but cold weekend for the
Dev Crew. On Saturday, Ryan, Brianna, Chris, David, Sammy, Artie, and
Haley were all on hand for some great skiing. We did another quick run
through of our work from the last few weeks. We made sure we
remembered how to find our edges and use them during our turns. We
also did lots of just plain skiing. The group set a new record for
time before their first break. They actually lasted longer than the
J4/J5's and freestyle groups. We also checked out the slalom course
from the lift on our way in so we could talk about it inside and
practiced our tucks on the lower half of Easy Street on the way in.

After lunch, Ryan headed out to his basketball game and reported back
on Sunday that his team won! Good job Ryan! While he played b-ball,
the rest of us hit up the slalom course to try our hand at it and
learn how to ski the combinations. The first time through, we split
into two groups and followed the coaches to get the feel for the
Slalom course. Then we worked on skiing it in parts. Sammy took to the
slalom course like a natural, getting super close and blocking the
gates with his arm and shoulder. We also took a page from the J4/J5
practice book and put our poles in front of us to let them block the
gates for us. Everyone was able to get closer doing that and started
to really get the hang of the combinations? After a few runs through,
Sammy and Steph headed in to warm up and the rest of us headed to
Cannonball. Haley had an AWESOME run down Cannonball, finally
conquering the second headwall. She went right down it, without
stopping, making smooth turns and maintaining her speed. Way to go
Haley! Chris, David, and Brianna all had a blast on Cannonball and
really showed just how much work they have been doing on their turns.
Artie had a little trouble on the second headwall, but the rest of his
run was great ? just work on keeping those hands in front of you and
slow down your turns a bit, you'll conquer that headwall in no time.
Everyone was definitely tired at the end of the day, Haley even slept
through practice Sunday!!

Sunday was cold and it seemed as though Haley wasn't the only one
sleeping in. Brianna braved the cold to join us the morning and we
headed back to Cannonball for some nice free runs. After that it was
up to Iron Horse to look at the slalom course and then in for a quick
break. Steph showed Brianna all about combinations during the break
and after the break, we headed to slalom course to put that learning
to use. Brianna had some excellent runs in the course before we headed
in for lunch. After lunch, we were joined by Ryan and it was back to
the slalom course. Both Brianna and Ryan's turns were looking great
after a few runs. Ryan also demonstrated for us just how much he has
been practicing his boot drills to help get his feet to do some of the
work in his turns. Excellent work Ryan, way to hang in there and work
hard. Brianna had to leave a bit early, so we used it for a warm up
excuse and then it was back to the course to hang out for the rest of
practice.

Steph and Colleen

And Freestyle:

What a weekend! First, huge thanks go out to Dick Ford, Mark
Siekierka and Paul Reed for getting us a ramp built on the Mainline
side of Switch. It is awesome! The best part is the steep landing.
Once we soften it up, by chopping at it with the shovels, the setup is
perfect for learning tricks. THANKS AGAIN GUYS!!! So, to all of you
freedoggers, make sure that when you see these gentlemen, you go up to
them, look them in the eyes and say a heart felt thanks.

Saturday.... COOOOLLLLDDDD! BUt Great Skiing from everyone. Loco nice
turns when you concentrate on finishing your turns. Always think round and
finished up the hill. Also don't turn your body back up the hill.... Let
it aim toward the next turn even though your feet are slightly climbing.

Tom you too. Your turns are getting much more defined and powerful. Follow
the same advice I used for Locco. We definitely like where you're going
with everything. Guys every once in awhile read the "Tea Leafs" to see you
ski shape... Make them look like Ours.

The real action took place after we left the ramp on Sunday afternoon.
Mory, SC (NASTAR # POW479) and Coco ran NASTAR. On Phoebe Snow on the way back up, Loco commented that he had never won anything in skiing.well, that was about to change quickly. After 2:30 p.m., we
took a run down White Lightning and Mory started rounding out his
turns, magnificently. The light was incredibly flat. It was amazing
for him to ski that well under those conditions. Mory: try to
practice that technique a few times before joining us again next
Sunday. Get it ingrained in your skiing. Great job! BTW, your
NASTAR # is BEL919.

We then skied Cannonball, and again, Mory was making more uniform
turns. Subsequently, we proceeded up Phoebe Snow and Iron Horse. And
Loco stepped up to the plate. By rounding out his turns and turning
early (instead of skidding at the end of turns to control his speed
and direction), he won a Bronze. Yea baby!!! Keep focused on the
exercises we are teaching you, and we predict Silver by the end of the
season. Your NASTAR # is COC215

At around 3:30, we were calling it a day. Well, we couldn't have been
more wrong. JJ was there and started discussing his competition at
Mount Snow. We decided to go up to the ramp and work on his airs. JJ
- keep focused on landing at 90 degrees (forward/aft) to the landing
area. When you hesitate (at takeoff), you tend to land in the back
seat. After about 5 TSs and some 3s, we went down Mainline, and JJ
threw a perfect 3.

Tom and Will Steinbach coerced Mike Griffin, Coach Chad and JJ to go
(back up) to the freestyle ramp. After we got back into our gear,
nabbed the shovels and headed back to the ramp, Will convinced Tom to
go for a 7. You could hear Tom's skis rotating overhead like
helicopter blades as he was soaring through the air. He floated his
first, and hopefully last, 810. (He over rotated a 7 by 90 degrees.)
Then Tom stuck his first 7.

We then invited Casey Ferguson to join us. He was working on 3s on
his own. Casey is a definite Sno Freestyle hopeful. After looking at
Mike's photos of Casey's first attempt and talking it over with the
gang, Case hit two perfect 3s. Tom then hit another 7. For any
naysayers out there, Mike has the proof that Danny says will soon be
on the website. JJ started throwing some fantastic 3Xs, some of which
would definitely qualify for stickers. We finished the outing with
Tom one 7 short of getting his 7 sticker, but he did qualify for
4PT&L, X and 3 stickers and Casey got his 4PT&L and 3 stickers!!! See
that Colleen and Steph, racers and freestylers can and do get along!!!
Have a great week guys and get ready to fly this weekend!
Chad and John

There you have it! Ya know Colleen, if you wouldn't ski those kids so hard, maybe my daughter would not have been so dern tired Sunday ;-) Great job Colleen/Steph, Haley loves skiing with you guys! And jeeez, freestyle gets a ramp one week after asking for it? That's it, I'm now formally putting my request in for a team Cat with 1200hp, dual chrome stacks and tinted windows. Oh, and I'll need an 18 wheeler with flatbed to tow the creation to our away races. Or maybe we can tow it behind the team bus?? Speaking of the bus, c'mon J4-J5 racers!!!! The 1-2's goofed their chance to be the first to ride to Tussey, let's not let this puppy go un-used! Email Paul at pprcj@msn.com and tell him how many of you are going to ride! Bring friends for crying out loud!



Notes: Wednesday night gate training is Slalom!
Saturday training will also be Slalom!
Sunday training will be GS

Ex-Teamer Mike Mitchell scored a 12th overall in the VT J2 State SL Championships at Stowe. Good job big buddy!!

J1-J2 racers meet at Boo Mt. Friday and Saturday around 7:30am. Meet in the UPPER lodge. It's also come to my attention that there has been allot of vehicle break-ins at Blue here of late. Please hide all valuables!

It appears that our 4-5's are off to Camelback for a Sunday Slalom! Good luck little dudes!

That's all! Any stray updates will follow later this week as usual. Enjoy the cold weather!

Coach Rolf

JAN 19th MINI-UPDATE from Rolf

Just another quick note, the weather for this weekend, notably Saturday, looks brutal. Highs in the mid 20's with 30mph winds and snow showers... please bundle up! Hey, you wanted winter, you got winter, here we go!!! :-)

Happy New Year!!

Just wanted to wish everybody a very Happy 2007!!

Hopefully, Mother Nature will resolve to bring back our cold weather come 2007!!!

Cheers,

Steph :-)

Sno's making snow...

According to their website, anyway... And can probably continue to do so well into the weekend according to the chilly weather forecast!

Yea!! Sheer excitement!

Keep thinking snow :-)

Cheers,

Steph :-)