Lots of pictures and video this week, including a new GDHL champ. But first

What You Need to Know Next

Friday training is GS at 9:30 AM and i:00 PM. Contact Laurel to register.
Gate training is GS at 9:30 AM on each of Saturday and Sunday. The sessions will include timing, so bring your ChronoSplit watches if you have them as the sessions continue to build towards more race simulation and emphasis on quality rather than quantity of runs. Remember also to use the radio at the top of the course to check in with coaches.
Technical training is at 9:30 AM on each of Saturday and Sunday, meet at the National chair
The next of the new technical free ski / gateless training sessions is on Saturday from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM. These are freeing skiing sessions with Jacques Reid, using personalized drills with a technical focus aimed at improving your skiing in gates. Contact Laurel to register. Participation is limited.
The penultimate GDHL race is a GS on Big John and starts at 1:00 PM on Sunday. Inspection is from approximately 12:15 PM to 12:40 PM.
Looking a little bit ahead, the Track 3 Family and Friends Ski Day is on Friday, 14 February. Click here for details and registration.

Soon after that comes the Athletics Fundraiser, on Saturday, 22 February. GDHL is contributing a cool collection of goodies for auction, consisting of registration for GDHL and Saturday 9 week gate training in 2014, a private lesson with Jacques Reid and a race tune from Squires.
And looking a little farther ahead, the GDHL closing dinner and awards presentation is on Saturday, 1 March (frighteningly soon) and our outstanding team of social co-ordinators is planning another great event. International themed food stations, new after dinner activities and more - full details soon, save the date in the interim!

A Changing of the Guard

Last Sunday's long(ish) SL led to Alec Libert's fourth bullet in four GDHL starts. As we count only four races of seven for the overall standings, Alec has amassed an unassailable lead, unseating reigning champ Greg Cavers with a fine display of skill and athleticism.

Results are here. Here is some video (and audio) of Alec's winning run. And here is video of Alec training on the bottom part of Landslide. The training video was shot by another skier alongside Alec, Jacques likes Alec's "spine angle" of less than 90 degrees to the slope that he achieves by flexing at the waist and rounding his shoulders forward.

As for the rest of us, Greg Cavers was second with a comfortable margin over Doug Macmillan, Scott McLorie and Dave Raymond. Doug Jarvis recorded his first top 10 of the season, while Ian Latimer continued his tradition of strong SL results, jumping to 12th from his 26 ranking. Brittany Stainer won the women's division with a GDHL personal best 16th place, followed at a distance by Leslie Morgan and Lisa Warll. Chris Clark, Glenn McKay, Jamie Coulter, Mack Barford and Will Andrew all had big jumps to finish in 26th through 30th from their rankings of 47, 45, 82, 58 and 69, respectively, while (a bit) further back, Rob Bruce, Brad McMullen and Daina Dunlop were big movers. Forerunners Norman Struthers and Rowan Darlison comfortably beat their progenitors.

On a darker note, the committee has noted with concern that this year's endurance SL was about 20 seconds shorter than last year's event, and will be pressing for a longer challenge next year.

And note that our results database is providing overall standings complete with year end adjustments as needed to give people four results. Team Landslide has a comfortable lead despite presently incurring 20 points in adjustment penalties, while things are tight between Millennium, Venture and Funnel for the rest of the positions in the money.

Fashion News Returns

Shelley Johnston has rolled into town with a big collection of what is ostensibly Belgian World Cup team outfits. A big advantage of being on a small team is that you can attach a flag to your own fashionable attire and it becomes teamware. See below for Saturday's innovative Top Gun outfit.

Meanwhile, reigning fashionista Carrie Grinter-Lenauskas doesn't appear to be getting over-excited by the challenger. As usual, she sports Spyder and scores high on technical merit for identifying the components as the Hottie jacket and Sharp Lime pants.

*Not Just an Outfit, But Careful Picture Composition!*

Interclub Round 3

Results of last Saturday's GS at Alpine are here. While TSB's comeback win at the Peaks apparently left his knee a bit tender and he was on birthday party duty, his recruits notched another dominant victory, winning by 27 points over the Peaks, with Alpine uncharacteristically just three points further back. As usual, the male baby boomers laid the foundation for victory, with Jeff Sutherland and Bebe Zoricic placing 1, 2 in their age group and Trent Winstone, Craig Shibley, Rob Burnes and Randy Dalton finishing 2 through 5 in theirs. Meanwhile, newcomer Paul Atkinson had the fastest overall time of the day by half a second. Margaret Isberg, Daina Dunlop and Scott McLorie also won their respective age groups and Paul Woodhouse, Kat Zoricic, Doug Deeks and Greg Cavers were among the high scorers.

Other Notable Events

Erin Latimer, daughter and sister of GDHLers Ian and Sarah, will soon be off to the Sochi Paralympics, although not before making an appearance at the Track 3 event mentioned above. Read more about Erin's exploits here.

Some good video of Ted Ligety dominating the St. Moritz World Cup GS and Mikaela Shiffrin being toppled in the Kranjska Gora World Cup SL:

Doug Jarvis is awarded the first Bieber Fever medal by the Friday training coaches, apparently for applying Bieberish crash and burn techniques to ski racing.

And finally, Prince Hubertus von Hohenlohe will represent Mexico at the Olympics again, at the age of 55, and will sport a mariachi-inspired race suit. It seems that he's probably a pretty decent GDHL level skier, with a nice bank balance and a convenient passport.

See you on the weekend,

James Mathers