Silver Star to Canmore

On Monday we made the 7 hour drive from Silver Star B.C. to Canmore Alberta. It was one of the most beautiful and most scenic drives I have ever experienced! We lucked out with a clear, sunny, cold day which made for some spectacular views of the Canadian Rockies!

The view from the car window!

All ten of us, trying to peak our heads out the front windshield (all the windows were foggy)

After hearing so many wonderful things about Canmore, I am finally here to check it out myself. The Canmore Nordic Center is an amazing venue with world class trails, racing and facilities. They hosted the nordic ski events for the 1988 Winter Olympics and have hosted several world cup events. It is truly a high-caliber racing venue...and the amazing scenery tops is off!

A glimpse of the beauty at the Canmore Nordic Center

We arrived to some colder temperatures, -14 Celsius. A weather front with warm winds, also known as Chinook Winds, moved in on Thursday bringing in some warmer temperatures, +3 Celsius.

Today we raced our first of two back to back classic sprints. Temperatures were warmer than expected, resulting in moredifficult and more technical waxing. The course is a long climb to the top (3 minutes of climbing) before a long sweeping down hill brings you into the stadium for a 150 meter stretch of hard double pole. Today I finished 13th (3rd American) in the prelims...not a great or satisfying result. In preparation for a strong race tomorrow, I decided to sit the rounds out in order to get rested and ready to go! I feel like todays effort was a good "practice-run" for tomorrow. Now I know how my skis run, where to push harder and how to ski the corners. I learned some valuable things from todays race and I am ready to learn from those things and use them to create an even better performance tomorrow!

Ski on!