Ski season will soon be upon us! We are quickly getting cooler temperatures below zero and less-urban areas are getting flurries of snow.
The GDHL Committee is excited for another great season on the slopes! We’ve got a new event to launch and some fun ways to track your training progress, both of which will be detailed below. We’ve also included important upcoming event and race dates for you to put in your calendar, and information regarding the different training programs.
Just in case you hadn’t noticed, ski racing is just around the corner! The GS races at Soelden begin on Saturday, but it looks like no one told Mikaela:
31.3k Likes, 193 Comments - Mikaela Shiffrin ⛷💨 (@mikaelashiffrin) on Instagram: "Everyone keeps talking about Saturday..."Are you ready for Saturday?"..."Who is going to be fast on..."
IMPORTANT DATES AND INFORMATION:
Registration is open! Early Bird deadline is November 15th, so get to it!
Calcutta will be January 5th
First GS race will be January 6th
Our NEW mid-season event will be the afternoon/evening of February 2nd
End of year banquet will be March 2nd
GATE TRAINING
This year the gate training program has expanded to include an exclusive women’s class! Women of all levels of skill are invited to join as long as they are comfortable in gates. There will be 2 different days of women’s gates, on Fridays and Sundays, with multiple training times. Last year we bifurcated the Saturday unisex program into two time slots, early morning and late morning, and that will continue this year.
Our 2018 Gate Training Schedule is as follows:
Fridays:
Unisex and Women only gate training at
Mornings begin at 10 am, afternoons at 1pm
Saturdays:
Unisex gate training at 8:30, and 10:45 going until 12:30
Early group is full, late group has limited space
Sundays:
Women’s gate training only 10:45 - 12:15
OFF SEASON REPORT
Every summer the GDHL committee members take time while drinking beers on their docks to brainstorm new ideas, and fun activities for our membership. Traditionally this has produced mixed results without much action… Not this time! There has been some new blood added to the committee and they have brought some inspiration and creativity.
Mid Season Dual Slalom Afternoon Event and Evening After Party
On the afternoon of Saturday, February 2nd, we will host our inaugural competitive and GDHL Homologated, Dual Slalom! The event will pit respective teams up against each other for the glory of the Dual Slalom title! Think World Cup Dual Slalom Night Event! Pundits have already chimed in with commentary concluding that this event will be an instant classic.
Following the afternoon race event, the GDHL will be hosting a family friendly dinner event at the club, to award the winners of the races, and bring the teams together. There are still details to be finalized, however we guarantee this to be a fun afternoon and evening!
We’re expecting a crowds similar to this:
For those of you with 25 minutes on your hands, here is a video of Team Canada coming 2nd to the Austrians at the 2015 world championships. It is definitely worth the watch! Fun note, three of Canada’s four skiers are from the escarpment, Erin Mielzynski, Phil Brown, and Candace Crawford!
Timing equipment
Since the beginning of Jeff Sutherland’s career in the GDHL, he has always asked himself “how do I know I was faster that run, than the run before that?”. It is tough, we skiers tend to think slows runs are fast, and fast runs are slow. It looks like we have found ourselves a solution…
Our team of experts have started consulting a company out of the USA – Free Lap – that supplies timing equipment for amateur and pro training. The system is meant to be cost efficient, user friendly, and exceptionally responsive. This would mean that GDHL gate trainers could learn about their skiing as they trained for a very low cost, and they could even see the live updates on their phone app as they ride the chair between runs.
If you’d like to hear more and/or would like to invest, please email David Henderson here
So Long and Farewell
After a million (probably) publications, and countless hours of research and writing, James Mathers has retired from writing the GDHL Newsletter. You will still see lots of James, as he will be racing and training with us, and busy around the club in his role on the Alpine Committee.
I know I speak on behalf of all GDHL members past and current, with a giant THANK YOU! James, your Thursday morning e-blasts have always been a source of great entertainment!
Your new writer is Doug Jarvis… if you buy him a drink around the club he may include something nice about you in the newsletter (just a thought).
FIS SEASON BEGINS IN 2 DAYS!!!!!
Some of us haven’t even raked leaves yet to welcome in fall, however the ski racing season begins in Soelden on Saturday! Women’s GS race Saturday, Men’s GS Race Sunday. If you’d like to catch up on your favorite winter athletes you can follow them on their Instagram pages, which feature tons of training content, below!
430 Likes, 5 Comments - Candace Crawford (@candacecrawford) on Instagram: "3 days and it's go time! #sölden2018 #calmbeforethestorm #CANskiteam"
Candace Crawford – candacecrawford (above)
Erin Mielzynski – erinmielzynski
Phil Brown – philbrown77
Marie-Michèle Gagnon – mmgagnon
Mikaela Shiffrin – mikaelashiffrin
Ted Ligety – ted_ligety
Marcel Hirscher - marcel__hirscher
Aksel Lund Svindal - asvindal
And for those of you who want to see the fun side of skiing and life, you can check out:
Slalom Tokyo Drift – slalomtokyodrift
Jerry of the Day – jerryoftheday
Lindsey Vonn
Yesterday, Lindsey (lindseyvonn) announced her retirement from racing! For those who would like to read her release you can find it on Sports Illustrated here. For those who would like to familiarize themselves with Lindsey’s accomplishments in ski racing click here. Below I’ve pasted a nice piece that she uses to sign off her article in SI.
“I have nothing left to prove to myself or anyone else. I am not the nervous little girl standing on top of a mountain anymore; I am a woman ready for the next chapter. I can do this! My legacy will be more than skiing and there are many chapters left to write.”
REMINDERS:
Remember to sign up before the early bird deadline, and to mark your calendars with all the important dates! We are beyond ecstatic to see you on the hill in nine weeks or so!
-Doug