Today was the last day of racing. We ran a Super "G" race which is similar to a downhill but a bit shorter and more tighter gates. I was running the speed trap at a place called timing flats. Obvious name. And just above me was Gun Barrel and Fall Away. With names like that you know there would be something interesting happening. In fact it's where John Kucera broke his leg during the men's Super "G" world cup race two weeks ago. Needless to say there were some great wipeouts but nothing serious. After the race all the racers removed the netting from the hill. It was pretty impressive since the course is 3 km long and is netting the whole length. It may have taken an hour and a half but not more. What other sport has the participants take down their facility after they are done. It would be like asking a football team to mow the grass after their game, or a hockey team to scrape and flood the ice after the game.

Today's picture gives you an idea of the netting involvedly to run a race safely.

Today was day two of the actual racing. No more training runs. Yesterday the temperature was below -20 and the wind was howling. I was located up at the bottom of Tickity chutes running the speed eyes. The frost on my glassed got to be about 1/8 inch thick so I had to watch for racers over the top of my glasses .

The kids were hitting speeds over 110 kph. I think our ski team would have had a blast on the course. It's not as scary as the tv makes it out to be. Sure a few people get hurt but not too many.

Today I was down towards the finish and was able to get a shot of what the skiers see coming home after 3 kilometers of tucking. You know the legs are burning at this point.

I was also fortunate to take an hour from the race to meet up with an old school friend, Andy Mueller. Andy drives the tour buses that shuttle people from Calgary to the ski hills in Banff and Lake Louise. We didn't have a lot of time but managed to get a lot of updates on our lives and find out where everyone else from school is. Tomorrow is the Super "G" race and shouldn't go as long as the Downhill.

Nor-Am week

It's Monday morning, 6:30 am and it's -35. I'm in the timinng shack getting ready for the first downhilup l trainging run. The training runs are actually timed and set up the same as the real race, so everything has to be in place for this morning. Yesterday there was a big changeover as the timing crew for the world cup shut down and the Nor-Am crew got set up. I was part of both crews so was taking stuff off the hill, and then heading up the hill to test cables and eyes for the next crew. We didn't get finished on the hill until after dark so had to ski down in the dark. It's sort of like a torch run without the torches. Witht he cold this morning we're sort of hoping that they cancel the training run. It is pretty hazardous for both the racers and the crews on the hill. They are forcasting a wind chill of -51 for today. If they do cancell, that will give me some time to do some display board troubleshooting. There is one board that was to be used on the world cup races that never got running right.

Saturday at the World Cup

Today was my first day on the hill. I went up the hill to help install intermediate eyes and the second radar gun. So it's my first ski run of the year and it's down the world cup downhill run. I did a lot of side slipping. The radar is the same one I tested a couple of year ago at our hill. I managed to get a video of the finish of Emily Brydon's third place run while at the finish line. You don't appreciate the speed until you are there. Right after the race we were back onthe hill moving the start to the super G start location which is down the hill a bit. That means running cables and testing them all. The volinteer crew had the cable set up in record time and everything worked first time. Tonight there was a great awards ceremony and meal at the Chateau Lake Louise with all the racers and course crews and officials in attendance. A great event to end the day. Tomorrow will be a cold day but hopefully the Canadians can have another great showing.