Finally had time to take the rollerskis out of my car...

Easterns
Pretty soon it was February and Easterns. With NDC Head Coach Eric Bailey off in Europe for the OPA tour Timo [NDC assistant coach] needed help. Naturally he called in the big guns- Lisa Patterson and myself turned out to be the only ones available so the NDC had to make do…

“]

the people you get when the big guns are busy

Things I remember about Easterns are;

1. Timo gave me a radio [thereby fulfilling one of my life long dreams].
2. Timo yelling @ me into the radio “you have to go RACE-PACE to test skis. Go FASTER”
3. Midget and Juvenile boys trying to talk to me mid-way up the hill to Monte McCarthy
4. Having several Senior Men ask me which lap there were on during the 30km CL
5. Giving away THREE poles during the Juvi B race [and receive a broken Triac back]

Ontario ended up ranking second overall for Easterns, 973 points behind QC. This obviously isn’t the ideal outcome but a good reminder that we’ve got some ground to make up and that everyone’s efforts count!

Quebec NORAMS
The morning after Easterns Lisa and I left for Orford to lead the NDC athletes at the NORAM races in Quebec [Timo had been so impressed by our performance at Easterns he decided to go home]. I drove a cargo van full of gear THROUGH Montreal not once but 3x during this trip [see tweets about Dubstep, Budget, and downtown Mtl].

Back of the Budget Van

Budget/Dubstep/Montreal

In Orford/Magog we stayed at an ‘old fashioned’ roadside Motel that smelt like a thrift store, had little hot water and even less internet, but was otherwise pleasant.

A coaches life- popin' champaign, living the life so g-g-glamorous...

Things I remember about the Orford NORAMs are;

1-    the skiing in Orford was very nice. The trails there are narrow and rolling with some long gradual sustaining climbs. The snow was fast, at least during the training week until it snowed Saturday.

2-    Mark Doble joined us on Thursday to provide excellent wax room leadership.

Mark Doble- being an expert

3-    Sunday was cold. Everest Camp 3 cold.

4-    The mass start skate race [Sun] was an interesting one. In the Open men’s race the NORAM leaders made a quick break during the first lap leaving a significant chase pack in their wake which struggled to do anything that made a lot of sense. In the women’s 15km race a giant lead pack formed that no one could really pull away from making for an exciting, and rare sprint to the finish.

5-    The NDC did really well. Highlights included Andrea Lee’s 1^st place finish and Dudley Coulter’s 9^thplace finish. Props to Jordan Cascagnette who we’re sure would have raced a top 10 if he hadn’t broken his pole way out in the woods where no one could help him.

From left to right [Jack, Pav, Andy, Nick, Amanda, Andrea, Russel, Alannah, Jordan, Erin, Lisa, and Dudley.

Sunrise somewhere near Pembroke en route to Timmins

Northern Ontario did not disappoint. A giant wolf jumped in front of my car near Temagami. Snow started falling 2h outside of Timmins. By the time I arrived the Porcupine Ski Runners home base there was A LOT of pow.

Things I remember about Ocup #3 are;

1-    Saturday was a winter wonderland. I got lost trying to find a hill on the race course and thought I might be in Narnia. It snowed all morning and the sun came out in the afternoon. It was glorious.

LOOK AT AL THIS POW

2-    My favorite Midgets [twin brothers from Hearst] who I’d worked with at the Midget training camp in Sudbury came and raced on Saturday. They were so good! I have no pictures because I was too busy cheering. And doing the following

3-    The course was kind of flat, but kind of hard because it didn’t afford athletes any real recovery. Midway there were three rolling climbs, the last of which was pretty steep. I watched a lot of people get sand-trapped at the top and lose a lot of time. Don’t get fooled by ‘false-tops’- the part of the hill that is technically the top but not rest. You have to be able to push over these sections until you’re actually on a downhill before you can rest.

4-    Sunday’s classic race went well but we were missing quite a few racers from Ocup#3 making the field a bit shallow and with wide time gaps.

Sunday morning in Timmins

5-    Monday was the Prologue [Epilogue]. The race ran in a modified format with Juvenile’s and Juniors starting together in a seeded order from fastest to slowest. Awards were still given out by category. I thought this worked REALLY well as it increased both the depth and competitiveness of the field. Junior woman now really had to push the pace in order to stay ahead of some of the fastest Juvenile girls.

Waiting for racers....early on a Sunday morning...

After Monday’s Prologue/Epilogue I jumped in my car [which is having LOUD muffler issues btw] and drove to North Bay. Toivo and his lovely wife Leanne were kind enough to put me up for the night. I woke up in their cabin, skied at North Bay Nordic where I ran into GBN, then drove to Huntsville to meet with North Bay’s program director.

I’ve been in Huntsville ever since. Why? Because of OFSAA of course!

OFSAA pre-ski day at 13:00h

Today I pre-skied the OFSAA race courses at the Arrowhead Provincial Park. This is my first ever OFSAA experience and by all accounts the event is going to be WILD. There are going to be sprints DOWNTOWN Huntsville….Stay tuned to the ever developing, ever exciting world of XC Ontario….

PavOUT

A few weeks ago the following video caught my attention.

The gist of this 9min video is- vulnerable young girls are being bombarded by the media with unhealthy, unrealistic projections of beauty.

Everyone’s a Player

Issues centered around beauty and self-esteem are something everyone needs to be prepared to deal with whether you coach girls, have a daughter, are a girl or just generally like girls and want to date one someday. It’s important to start this conversation by understanding this is an issue that affects, and is affected by everyone.

Women of Pop Culture

I was thirteen in 1999 when Britney Spear’s Baby One More Time topped the Billboard Charts and the Spice Girls carried significant cultural clout. I didn’t own a TV and only listened to CBC Radio- it didn’t matter. I remember looking at a picture of Britney Spears with my heart sinking and thinking oh god, I do not look like that.

The lack of resemblance is uncanny.

I can guarantee that is a feeling every single person has had at some time. I don’t believe things have gotten any better or any worse. I mean- check out the reality of my highschool pals and I vs. the kids of 90210- our supposed hollywood ‘peers’.

Just to clarify- these are the kids from 90210. That is NOT me on the top left.

. “]

The kids of 807 [Whitehorse

The media has always- and will always offer a mixed bag of tricks when it comes to it’s portrayals of women. We can’t control it and we certainly can’t shield girls from it. So what do we do?

What Really Matters

The real people girls interact with on a daily basis have the greatest impact in shaping who they will become.

No matter how prevalent pop culture is- it will never be as powerful or have a greater impact as real life examples girls see on a daily basis.

Take a minute to reflect on who’s examples have really had a meaningful impact on your life. For me it was Sara Nielson and Elizabeth Doering who were awesome, strong athletic women in their twenties who came back after University to coach with the Yukon Ski Team. There was Tiny Brobby another supportive female coach of mine who also happened to be a spastic wax tech. The importance of female role models never fades or looses it’s value. You need them all of your life. Megan Cummings shows me every day how to be awesome person with 2 kids in your 30’s, Jan Downing shows me how to enjoy life and be a wonderful mom and human being at 50.

The Role Models Responsibility
Whether you realize it or not- you’re a role model for someone. As such it’s important to take a minute to think about the message you are sending. What are your core values? What would you like young girls to see and learn from you?

For me it comes down to two things;

1-    Never be afraid to try anything- even if you look stupid doing it.The number one thing that breaks my heart is when girls are too scared or shy to try something for fear of failure or looking stupid. It is such a damaging mentality that closes so many doors so quickly. Having said that, it’s not always easy to walk this walk. I end up doing stuff that scares me and makes me look stupid a lot. But I believe once you stop caring about what you look like- you loose yourself to the moment. Once you stop focusing on the optics and start focusing on the content- the people around you do too.

Constantly doing foolish things is the name of my game.

2-    It’s not about being pretty. Our value is much, much greater than that. Confidence and self-esteem need to be built upon foundations other than physical attributes. When I was born my mother famously said “Well- she’s not pretty but at least she’ll develop an interesting personality.” I was a giant growing up with a big nose and gapped teeth [ok- that still describes me]. I was never going to fit into the mold pop culture provided. Instead I focused on values such as intelligence, strength, wit and kindness. If you focus on developing and being proud of your amazing qualities outside of looks- by the time you hit your mid twenties and realize you’re absolutely beautiful the way you are- you also happen to have a full arsenal of badass qualities to go along with it.

EVERYONE has a Responsibility

So what role do coaches, fathers, friends and boyfriends play in all of this?

#1- Give a girls something to value about herself beyond what she looks like. This is why sport is so key to building healthy self-esteem in females. It gives girls a place to shine for qualities independent of looks.

#2- Think about what you say.

The oldest compliment to a girl is “you look beautiful”. What does that say about our values, about what you see in her that merits a complement? Surely there’s more fantastic things about her than her looks? There’s nothing wrong with telling a girl she’s beautiful but mix it up- try complementing her on other things you value about her that aren’t dependant on her physical attributes.

The conclusion of Pavlina’s ramblings.

I didn’t like that video I posted at the beginning of this blog. I felt like it was depressing and fear mongering. I think the power to lead young people [boys and girls] in a positive direction is in our hands everyday. I think of all the wonderful women breaking trail in their lives just ahead of me- I think of what a great influence they’ve had in my life- and I think, maybe, just maybe we can all make a difference.

Share the link if you know someone who could benefit from this message.

Thank one of your everyday role models for making a positive difference in your life.

PavOUT

Snowfall at 7:00am

Wax skis- [HF White with FC 7 topper and aggressive chevron rill].
The groomer stopped rolling through the race course 10min before the first qualifier. Even then- by the time our athletes went through the course they were skiing through an inch of fresh pow. This dramatically changed the dynamics of the race. I was lucky enough to have brought a team that was prepared to fight through the slow, boggy downhills.

What was once a wicked fast downhill turned into a sand pit

Jenn Jackson absolutely killed the qualifier keeping her tempo quick and light and pushing as hard as she could through the corners and downhills. The effort paid of BIG time as Jenn qualified as the 5th JrW. Eli Hayden-Thomas also had a wicked race- he pushed massively hard and qualified as the 13 JrM [first for his YOB].

Snowy. Like I said.

Sprint heats ran at 11:00. By then the snow had slowed down but the course still had not been re-groomed. This meant passing was almost impossible [or at least VERY ineffective] through 1-2″ of fresh snow. The advantage fell to those with a good starting capacity. The heats were also timed making the position of Lucky Loser determined by the fastest heat time.

Good starts are key

In the end the heats didn’t go quiet as well as they could have. Jenn fell on the climb out of the stadium which put her back in 5th position for her heat. She pushed like a champ to get back into 3rd position for the finish but did not advance as LL. Eli had a great heat but fell in the finishing corridor. Scott, Emily and Ashley were unable to advance as well. But that’s the nature of the sprint day- and overall I was really proud of how well our athletes fought during both their qualifiers and heats. You never give up- not even if you’re last- because hopefully someday it will come down to a sprint for gold. You want to be ready for that day.

AND- I have to send a shout out to Emily and Katherine Stewart Jones who battled for every second in the heats. Both of them ended up being Lucky Looser and advanced to the A Final. It takes a lot of chutzpah to fight that hard and still have jam for a final. But they did. Emily ended up finishing 2nd for a silver medal with Katherine just behind her in 5th. Wicked performance from those two.

heartbreak of Sprints

Stadium in the afternoon.

Sunday:
was our final race- the distance classic. The previous days pow had been groomed into deep tracks and the -11 overnight temperatures had hardened the track. This snow was SQUEEKY. The course for the classic race [10km for Women, 15km for Men] was a combination of Thursday’s courses with a few additional loops [mostly uphills]. The pitches were steep, both up and down with little opportunity for double pole. Many athletes struggled during this race with the fatigue from the previous races. The wax was also surprisingly enough a bit of a challenge. Between the start and finish of the mens race the track warmed considerably and glazed over making the steep hills tough to climb over.

OST athlete Alana Thomas

Another bluebird bomber day

The verdict from Sunday’s race was that conditions were slow and challenging. Our athletes had generally wished for better results for that day- but were satisfied by their efforts and performance.

Pav managed to fulfill her personal goal of getting out for a ski

On an interesting side note- Whitehorse athletes DOMINATED trials with 5 athletes from the Yukon heading to U23′s. AND Peri and Chandra won BRONZE! WOOOOHOOOOOO

http://www.cccski.com/Media/Haywood-Race-Report/Haywood-RACE-Report–NorAm-Live-Timing.aspx

Monday: Disaster Morning.

My flight out of Vancouver departs this afternoon at 4:00pm and officially marks the end of the past 42 days of travel. I was counting on a good sleep in and a relaxed drive from Whistler to Vancouver. That was- until Eli burst into my room this morning at 5:00am declaring that the flight he thought was leaving at 10:00pm was actually leaving at 10:00am.

Eli Hayden-Thomas. Handsom- but a bit scatter brained .

Much muttering under my breath ensued as I stuffed my belongings into a duffel and fled Whistler like one of America’s Most Wanted. Of course it had snowed in Vancouver slowing traffic to a standstill. Eli made his flight- mostly due to my amazing hustle and Boss driving skills.

I am currently listening to this song and feeling completely wrecked and waiting for a plane to take me to the place I pay rent….

Until next time folks, it’s been a trip!

Pav got to ski 4km today!

A difficult- rewarding day of races here at the WJT in Callaghan Valley.

Waxing
I’m not going to lie- it was a tough one for me. Skiathlon’s mean you’re waxing 2 pairs of skis per athlete. Callaghan Valley means you are stressing about weather and snow conditions. Mega props to Eric Bailey and the NDC wax team for helping us out [and for reminding me that for the first 4 years as a training center coach Eric went to every race alone].

Waxing late Wednesday night

Wax decisions went as follows;

Glide: Vauhti Spectra Purple
Topper: Goldfox
Grip: Vauhti Blue klister covered with Vauhti Purple hardwax- later upgraded to Vauhti Blue mixed with Universal and topped with K21.

Also a big thank you to Eric Jackson and Don Hill- excellent reinforcements that arrived Thursday morning to help wax and shuttle our athletes.

Racing
Now that we’ve established that the wax was perfect let’s move on to the more exciting stuff- racing. Today’s Skiathlon was comprised of a series of laps that led athletes up out of the stadium on a series of switchbacks, then down some screaming fast sketchy corners back into the stadium [Petra 'Mad-Ditch' Majdic anyone?].

What this meant is that if you weren’t really warmed up, or if you went too hard off the start you were cooked. This happened to A LOT of skiers out there today [13 DNF's today]. Lesson: even in a mass start race your own race.

Knute battles into the finish for 2nd place in JrM

The best result of the day for us was definitely Scott Hill’s outstanding performance in the JrM category. He finished 9th! Scott looked strong and relaxed for the duration of the race and hammered it hard into the finish.

Scott heads into the finish after a hard fought 20km

A big high five to OST athlete Alana Thomas’ for her outstanding performance in the Open Women category. Alana finished 3rd overall only 7sec behind the winner Emily Nishikawa. It was a hard fought race and Alana was right there with the best of them. It was really awesome.

OST athlete Matthias Purdon had what I would consider a breakthrough performance today. He finished 8th in U23 less that 2.5min behind NST athlete Micheal Sompii. Hitchhiking out West over Christmas suited him well!

Tomorrow is a training day here in Whistler. We’re going to ski, eat sleep, and generally live the dream. Skate sprint on Saturday. Tune in!

Stadium. Wax room is behind me.

Today we will be focusing on pre-skiing the race courses for the Skiathlon tomorrow and selecting the appropriate skis.

Yesterday the snow here was humid, granular and super hard packed. Similar to what we had at the Whitehorse Nationals in 2010. What does that mean? In all likelihood it means Klister. Blaarh.

Sledding to the waxroom

But- today Eli made me an epic breakfast so things are looking up. Check in soon!

Epic breakfast courtesy of Eli.

WE’VE ARRIVED IN WHISTLER.

Here’s the view from our kitchen window.

Whistler from our kitchen this morning.

Whistler [or more specifically the Whistler Olympic Park in Callaghan Valley] is the site of this years World Junior Trials, as well as the site of Nationals 2013.

Hardwood and Ontario Ski Team athlete Jenn Jackson is currently here with me. Ashley Huet and Erin Yungblut of Highlands, Scott Hill of Hardwood and Eli Hayden-Thomas of Georgian Bay Nordic will be joining us later today.

The first race is a Skiathlon on Thursday which will combine both skate and classic techniques.

For a really wicked video showing the tiny community of Whistler as if it were a snowglobe check this out!

For real up to date weather forecasts from C-Valley check out this site;
http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/CallaghanValley/6day/mid

Also- check in soon for the latest breaking news here in Whistler…also- Jenn and I are keeping track of the ugliest downhill gear we’ve seen. Check in for our Top 10 Ugliest list before the week is over.

Pav OUT

For eight months our athletes have been training hard in the relative isolation of their home clubs. Every once and a while a district camp affords athletes the opportunity to train with new people and test themselves against old rivals…but mostly the seasons been full of team practices and even more solo workouts.

Ocups are like a family reunion [if your family is full of a bunch of badass skiers and coaches]. All your favorite people, some of whom you haven’t seen in ages, are all back together! Better yet- I’m guessing your arch rival is here as well- and even though you may act like you hate them we all know you became a better athlete this season knowing they were pushing you.

Probably the best and most nerve inducing thing about the first Ocup of the season is that while everyone knew where they stood last year…it’s a whole new bag-o-tricks this season. No one knows where they stand. Maybe you’ve grown three inches, or maybe you’ve perfected a piece of your technique. Either way you’re a better skier than you were last year and now’s the time to show it.

Today’s classic prologue was short and sweet. Athletes wound there way down from the stadium into the valley before climbing back out on Lappe’s trademark strideable classic hills. This course was a great opportunity for athletes to put all their skiwalking and classic rollerskiing to work. I saw a lot of great technique improvements there. Athletes skied- and some even won medals. Standout performances were had by 1st year Junior girl Jessica Demers of Porcupine who won her category by 23 seconds and Austin Valjas who won his category by almost 27  seconds. Beat that Lenny. http://www.zone4.ca/results.asp?ID=4257&cat=all

Madi Fraser of North Bay

Victor Hopper of Walden

Daphne Haggerty of Big Thunder/Lakehead

Tomorrow we do it all again with a classic sprint starting at 9:30am. So far the conditions are holding up despite the warm temperatures and semi-rain. And if it all falls apart- well, there are always pancakes and the Hoito.

Hoito WIn.

Jan 1st is an extra awesome time to reflect on the year that’s past. And it’s been a pretty awesome year. To celebrate 26 years- here are my six favorite workouts/adventures of 2011! See if you were on one of these ones!

Ski: Fish Lake- Whitehorse, Yukon. One of the best skis of my life.

View from the climb out of Fish Lake

I did this ski a week after Nationals with a crew of Nakkertok athletes and the Yukon Ski Team. We started at Fish Lake and climbed the back fact of Mount Mac. The view was epic. When we reached the top we started descending the skidoo made moguls at equipment breaking speeds. I had to ski like Jennifer Heil to stay alive. About 3km down we hit the most fantastic, double wide groomed corduroy trails. I jumped in the track and tucked for a full 15min watching Whitehorse below me get bigger and bigger. Unreal. When we finally connected with the larger network of Whitehorse trails we skied another 2h. It was an epic ski for it’s challenge level, epic for the view, epic for the downhill, and fun because I got to show some of my favorite boys [Hudson, Kieran, Patrick, Nolan, Julien] all my favorite Whitehorse ski trails.

Kieran Tomlinson, Patrick Marshall, Hudson Lucier.

Bike: Kingdom Trails, Vermont. Really good Mountain Biking.

The Kingdom Trails in East Burke Vermont have some really, really good mountain bike trails. Super flowy and moderately technical [i.e. I can mostly get around] these trails are super fun to ride. My adopted family [Jan, Al, Hudson] and I all piled in for the May long weekend and went down to ride for three days. One day we started on the Mountain side- cranked uphill for a good 1.5h then road down Moose Alley, Whiteschool and a bunch of trails inbetween. In our defense we didn’t realize Moose Alley had been closed due to hurricane damage. We just thought they’d added a lot more technical aspects. Over 4 hours we went through scrubby spruce forests, muddy swamps, cedar groves, and pastoral fields. Good times.

Hike: Giant’s Head- Thunder Bay, Ontario. Sweaty hiking.

Our sweaty krew atop the Giants Head

On the last day of the LSSD camp in Thunder Bay the group of 60+ participants ran a half marathon in the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park. I had never been to Sleeping Giant, and discovering new and exciting trails in Ontario is always a highlight. First we ran in. Then we hiked up. Then we ran over the top. Then we looked down. Then we ran back. It was exceptionally hot that day {+30} but the conversation with my new friends from Thunder Bay and Sudbury was stimulating. A fun, sweaty time.

Hike: some parking lot in Kananaskis Country to the Haig glacier- Alberta. An epic hike.

This map shows the final 1/4 of our hike.

This hike makes the list because it was both beautiful and painful. The Ontario Ski Team was in Canmore for a 14 day high altitude training camp. To get the Haig glacier [where we trained on snow for 9 days], you have to run/hike up. The trail is roughly 20km and climbs to 2400m [7, 900 feet]. It’s pretty gruelling. I hiked it with Rob, our team physiologist from CSC. I was pretty sick and Rob had  only had 3h or sleep. 10min in I got an aggressive nose bleed. We only had 1 kleenex. It was pretty messy and disgusting. That didn’t stop me from talking though. I talked Rob’s ear off for the next 6 hours, stopping only when I thought I might be blacking out on one of the harder switchback sections. I didn’t learn too much about Rob that day but he sure learned a lot about me! Good times. And scenic too.

At the end of our 5+ hours

Hike: Adirondack, Upstate New York. A pleasant hike. 

After summiting Phelps....I'm not sure where we are here

After taking a month and a half to recover from my aggressive illness on the Haig glacier I was ready for something more civilized. Hiking in the Adirondacks is always pleasant. Even when it pours rain for all 8h of your hike. I liked this hike because a- the fall colors are AMAZING, and b- I got to hike with my favorite LSD companions a bunch of midget girls [special mention Bronwyn Williams and Catelyn Stowe]. After 6h it felt like my legs were about to fall off. When this happens the best thing to do is start running. It hurts about as much as walking and you reach your destination much faster. Running for several hours through deep muddy puddles with a group of hardcore 10-13 year old girls is what skiing is all about.

Ski: Silverstar to Sovereign Lakes- Silverstar British Columbia.

Taking the chairlift. Instant win!

This ski started off with a ride to the top of the mountain on a chairlift. I wouldn’t want to do it all the time, but for once a year it was a win! From the top of this double black diamond run the OST skied down Paradise and Aberdeen to the race site at Sovereign Lakes. It was sunny, technical and totally fun.

Not bad for the 2nd ski of the 2011/2012 season!

Ski: Winter Solstice- Whitehorse, Yukon.

Climbing the Ridge

Nothing beats being on your home trails at Christmas. On Winter Solstice [Dec 21st] I went for a perfect, personal ski at 2:00pm to watch the sun set on the shortest day of the year.

So there you go, my favorite 6. Behind those were many more, fantastic, fun and inspiring adventures with a ton of awesome people. My favorite thing about my birthday/New Years? Knowing Im on the brink of another year of unexpected adventures.

Happy New Year all.

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.

Maya Angelou

Post Script.
Funny story: In order to avoid throwing me an actual birthday party my parents used to walk me down to the Commissioners Levy, a fancy party the Yukon Government throws every Jan 1st, and tell me it was my birthday party. Being the well-mannered 4 year old I was, I used to walk around the ball wearing a little plastic crown thanking everyone for attending my birthday party. The belief that all of Whitehorse would turn out for MY birthday party is one of the factors that contributed to what my parents call “Pavlina’s delusions of grander sickness”. My parents are jerks sometimes. lol.

Whitehorse.

I arrived here at 2:00am Tuesday morning after a harsh 10 hour layover in Vancouver. I stumbled from the plane onto a snow-covered tarmac swarming with polar bears. My dog sled team was nowhere to be found. “Looks like I’ll have to snowshoe to my igloo” I mumbled to myself.

Kidding.

Rudy picked me up at the airport. As soon as dawn broke [10:00am] we were on the ski trails. Since I had already been in town a whopping 7 hours my dad figured it was time to put ‘Operation Coach” into high gear. But first.

Rudy.

For those of you who don’t know- Rudy is my dad. He is very short and bald with a crooked nose and hairy eyebrows and ears. At first glance he looks more like a Troll than a human. Chronologically he is 70, physiologically he is in his mid 40′s. He grew up in the Czech Republic but fled the Russians in 1968. He lived with gypsies growing up and used to wrestle bears in the circus. Over the past 30 years he has been a ski coach. He has a fearsome reputation as a slave driver. He has earned this reputation fairly [eg. he once made a woman who had broken her leg WALK back to the ski chalet].

Operation Coach.

Rudy is constantly working on the path towards personal excellence. When you hang out with him you are inadvertently [and sometimes unwillingly] drawn onto that path. Our ‘family ski’ began with a quiz about waxing;

“Iz -4, 80% humidity, and soft powder packed snow. Vat vax ve use todai?”

I start sweating. It’s a trick question. In Ontario we would use Swix VR45, Thunder Bay would use Vauhti Carrot, but we’re in Whitehorse where Rode is the king of waxes.

“Two layers of multigrade purple covered with special extra blue for high humidity.”

Rudy laughs.

During our ski. Rudy decides my herringbone is all wrong and ski’s behind me giggling and giving me obnoxious advice.

Skiing with my mom and dad.

Down the section called ‘the rollercoaster’ he lets me go first. I realize this is a trap. Rudy’s biggest passion after skiing and fine wine is tracksetting. He has been up all night grooming the trails in the Pisten Bulley. If I so much as think of getting out of the track around one of the corners he will lose it. The problem is I weigh a good 50lbs more than Rudy and I have Goldfox on my ski’s. Around the second tight corner I am tucking at about 60km/h, and suffering G-Force sickness. I can still hear my dad laughing behind me.

By the end of Tuesday I’d skied for 4+ hours and only slept for 3. It was a pretty good day.

Broken PB- cancelled Christmas.

No track- no Christmas.

Wednesday morning when I woke up no one was home. I waited for the sun to come up then made my way to the ski chalet. I could see Rudy inside. Despite owning everything Arcteryx and Mountain Hardware have in their 2010 catalogue he is dressed in his favorite garbage can finds. These are clothes he has literally claimed from Lost and Found boxes or fished out of garbage cans.

Rudy in his garbage can finest.

He is currently waving his arms around and yelling wildly in half Czech, half English [which he does only when really upset].

“I break the PB. Christmas is over.”

So there you have it. While driving around the ski trails at 3:00am the track on the Pisten Bulley broke. Rudy can’t get the parts from Calgary before Christmas. He is heartbroken.

Saving Christmas.

Sudrich Christmas Tree

Rudy didn’t end up cancelling Christmas entirely. I still had to make him his favorite dish, a cold Czech potato salad which is essentially just potatoes, onions and white vinegar. He decided at the last minute to make a Christmas tree- so he shlepped outside and cut off a tree branch from the yard which he stuck in a vase. While drinking a fine bottle of red wine Rudy informs me it’s been a good year and that his latest money saving scheme involves saving stamps that Canada post has forgotten to mark as used.

All in all I don’t think I could have asked for a nicer Christmas. Skiing and spending time with my family [however strange they are] is pretty awesome.
And now that Christmas is behind us- it’s the start of Birthday Week! The seven day lead up to Jan 1st when I turn 26!

Merry Christmas!
“It is better to go skiing and think of God, than to go to church and think of Sport” Fridjof Murray.