Merry Christmas

We are having a great family Christmas in Whistler.  Here are the four of us out on the deck in the afternoon.  

This year nine Whitneys and Charlotte's friend Tiffany all gathered here for about four days of fun.   Our days are filled with lots of great cooking, feasting, playing games, skiing, reading, talking, more cooking, more eating, and plenty of noisy talking and laughing.  Tiffany survived the Whitney craziness, always smiling and laughing, and a good time was had by all.

Our tree from under the power lines is possibly our best ever, a fir with three trunks.  Why?  We think we must have cut this same tree many years ago and since then the branches we left behind have been competing to become the new main trunk!   Re-harvesting the same tree seemed like a good environmental decision to us.  Maybe in ten years we can harvest the same tree again!

Christmas eve we sat down to a multi-course sea food feast and we started Christmas day with Al's famous Belgium waffles as we opened gifts hidden in our stockings.  We must have been good because not one of us got a lump of coal this year.  After skiing on Christmas day we feasted again, with Al's turkey and wild rice stuffing plus a variety of delicious veggie dishes by Charlotte and Tiffany.  A game of Cranium kept us laughing through the evening.

Now we have a week of festive house parties to keep us laughing into 2010.

More ski racing news....

There sure are a lot of ski races in December.  The racers must be ready for a break, and some powder skiing.  And, just in time, we got a LOT of fresh powder for the holiday break.

Look at our house, almost buried!  Yes, that is our friend's car in the driveway.

This past week-end our local Whistler ski club hosted the first "kinder" Coast Zone GS and Slalom racers of the season.   On Saturday - with a firm track and clear skies - we provided 2 one-run GS races per gender.   On Sunday we had heavy snow but still - thanks to grooming - we were still able to offer 1 one-run slalom per gender.   This week-end gave the racers (aged 11-14) an early-season opportunity to compete and earn results, and gave both racers and coaches some ideas on what to work on during the holiday training camps.   Thanks to the 100 volunteers who came out to make this week-end a safe, fair and fun event for all.

Racing at the higher levels continues. If you have been following the  news you will know that four of our Canadian Olympic hopefuls have been injured this past month (John, JP, Kelly, and Larisa) which is very sad.  However, other Canadians have also had some great results.  To follow CAST news click on the links in the side bar.

Lake Louise NorAms

We just completed our volunteer stint at the 5-day NorAm series at Lake Louise.   It is always great to be part of the team, and to re-connect with the volunteers who - like us - return year after year to make this event happen.

My days are long because as the Start Referee I have to be in the Start area before the racers and their coaches arrive for course inspection, I don't leave until the last racer has crossed the Finish some time in the afternoon. 

Just after 7am I ride up two lifts, then - before first light - ski carefully across the "top of the world" to the Start hut.  It is definitely exciting to be up there before first light, and to see the first hint of daylight as the mountain peaks begin to emerge from the night.   Depending on the schedule, the racers and their coaches begin to arrive before 8am and wait for me to open the course for inspection.  They drop their race skis for their technicians, who also arrive early to stake out an area to prepare skis with special race wax.

After inspection I work with the Timing people who arrive around 9am, about an hour before the race. We set up the Start wand, clock and all sorts of connecting wires.  Then I clean set up the Start area a little more while course crew come by to prepare the track.  One team dyes the course, which involves carrying heavy packs with nozzles so they can paint lines across the course.  This helps the racers see the terrain in flat light. 

Soon medical personnel arrive, the racers and coaches return, and we get underway.    During the races I make sure everything happens the way it should at the Start, which - like sailing - is easy so long as everything goes well.   I am always alert for potential issues, and always ready to stop the race when another Jury member calls about something happening further down the course.  It may be a broken gate, some damage to the track, or a fallen racer.  

Start Referee is my favourite role at the races and I am excited to have this role during the Paralympics in March.

Toria was racing in this series.  One day she earned a 3rd place overall, 1st place among Juniors, and was the top Canadian.  One other day she went out on a tricky section and on another race day she did something acrobatic that cost her a few seconds, and her anticipated podium result. 

In this article you can read a couple of quotes from her:
http://bcalpine.com/news/article/?1784

Lake Louise race up-date

It's cold here in Lake Louise, and the sky is deep blue. 

World Cup racing has gone well, despite some stormy weather and fresh snow that passed over this area a couple of days ago.   Canadian women racers have been doing well, especially Emily Brydon who was on the podium both Downhill race days.  Toria skied well too, but WC race day quota spots were limited and went to the senior racers. Here is Toria racing on the World Cup track.

This is our first time as accredited CAST family members rather than as volunteers. It has been most enjoyable to mingle in the VIP area at the Finish, join other families at the parent-athlete reception, free ski, skate ski, attend the WC gala, and even sleep in! 

Here we are with Toria in the Finish area.

Tonight we shift our focus to the NorAm race series, and our volunteer roles.   Irene returns for her 9th season as Start Referee while Al takes on the role of Chief of Environment.  For Al, this involves monitoring animal activity on the race hill, making sure the animal fences are closed prior to each race then opened up for the animals asap when racing is over.   We will both be up by 6am, on the hill before daylight and fully occupied until well after the racers are over each day.

Charlotte becomes a ski coach

For several years since she retired from the BC Alpine Ski Team and took her coaching certification,  Charlotte has been invited to coach skiing at our local clubs.  But she was too busy with her under grad studies at UBC until this winter.  This month she accepted a part time coaching position at Grouse Mt in Vancouver.  Her Nancy Green Ski League team think she is the best, and Charlotte is having a lot of fun too!

Check back later for a photo of Charlotte and her team.

Race Season has begun!

World Cup race season began last month with GS and Slalom races in Europe.  Now the excitement is closer to home with DH and SuperG races at Lake Louise, Alberta.

We were impressed by the men's results:  a strong showing in the DH yesterday and three Canadians in the top five in the SuperG today.  Now it's time to watch the women.

This will be Toria's first chance to race at a World Cup DH.  Her results in the three official training runs on Dec 1-2-3 will indicate where she fits among her team mates, and may earn her a coveted Start on race day.  If not, she will fore run the WC and gain more experience for the NorAm speed series that follows.

To view the races live on line go here:

http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/1228.html?event_id=26926&cal_suchsector=AL

then select the correct race date and click on LIVE

Epic

That's the word I keep hearing all week.

Our view...snow falling, falling, falling....

Ski season has begun!

We are five days into the ski season and it's already great skiing! Here is our morning view from the living room.  Can't see the mountain but we know it's good up there.

After skiing we have some fitness oppportunities at home.  Here is Al getting fit while dealing with snow accumulation on our deck.  Irene gets fit shoveling the driveway, but it's a constant battle with the muni snowplow, which sends compacted road snow back into our yard.

The view from our house

We love our home base in Whistler, especially  the view.

It's mid-November and we just woke up today to a beautiful sunrise over Wedge Mountain.

The trees in the foreground are in our yard,  a private forest of fir, hemlock, pine, & spruce towering over huckleberry and blueberry bushes with a ground cover of bunch berries and wild orchids.

"Red sky in the morning...sailors take warning!"

We are excited to see this sunrise/weather warning because it's time for a storm to bring us snow!

And a little later.....just thought I would add this....here comes our first snow in the valley! 

Our view is hidden by clouds dumping snow but that's fine with us because we will soon be out there in our view, skiing!

Ski team announcements

Early November is the time when Alpine Canada Alpine (ACA) confirms the team for the coming season.  While we already knew that Toria was on the team,  ACA tends to hold back official recognition of team status until after all summer training and fitness testing has been completed.

Today the announcement was made public.  To read the ACA announcement click here:

http://canski.org/canadian-alpine-ski-team-building-momentum-toward-2010-olympic-winter-games

For the BCAlpine news article click here:

http://bcalpine.com/news/article/?1758

This news was also mentioned in the Pique, one of our local Whistler papers:

Whistler skiers confirmed to ski team

The 2009-2010 Canadian Alpine Ski Team was unveiled in Calgary on Tuesday with a strong group of returning skiers making up the core of the team. There are also nine additions from the development group.

All told there will be 38 Canadians racing World Cup this year, 13 of them with Olympic experience, with the goal of qualifying as many quota spots and athletes for the 2010 Games as possible before the cut-off in the third week of January.

Whistler will be well represented on both the men's and women's teams.
On the men's side Whistler team members include slalom specialist Mike Janyk and speed racer Robbie Dixon, while the town can also lay partial claim to speedster Manuel Osborne-Paradis as a veteran of the Whistler Mountain Ski Club.

Britt Janyk, who is racing downhill, super G and giant slalom this season, will represent Whistler on the senior women's team and will be joined at training camps and events by development team skier Victoria Whitney, who also tends to specialize in speed events and GS.

"There is a veteran core that has achieved World Cup and World Championship success," said chief athletics officer Max Gartner. "They will be pushed by a group of younger skiers who will be looking to 2010 for experience, with their ultimate goals being success in 2014 and even 2018."

More Race Officials education

This week-end we are holding our first Race Organizing Commitee (ROC) meetings at WMSC. We are hosting three Kinder events this year before the Olympics comes to town so it's time to get planning!

Our first club-hosted race series takes place December 19/20.  It's a K1/K2 GS and Slalom series, which is a great way to start the season.  The kids sign up for ski racing because they want to race, after all, so it's great to start the season with some racing.  And, it gives them some ideas about what to work on over the holiday training camps so they can race better and faster at their next races in January.

December racing also gets all the parents our to volunteer, and find out what they like to do within the race team. To help the parents prepare we are also running a Level Two Race Officials course this week-end, then a Level One course on November 28.  Knowledge is power, and knowing what the race roles are all about makes volunteering a lot more enjoyable.

100-day countdown to the Games!

Last night we attended the VANOC 100-day count-down party at the Telus Conference Centre in Whistler.  This was an exciting pep ralley including live entertainment, appies & beverages, plus exposure to some local Olympic hopefuls. 

Our news:  Toria will be here during the Olympics.  At this point her involvement will be as a Forerunner for the Downhill & SuperG races.  The older racers ahead of her will be racing, but all team members have been alerted they must be ready to race in case any spots open up that will allow some of them to race too.  Either way, Toria will be here with the CAST and part of the Games.

A face lift at the ski club?

This past week-end a work party got together at the club cabin to spruce up the member lounge.  We put in a couple of long but fun days, filling, sanding & painting.  To us, the area has been transformed into the much more appealing space requested by members at large and we are very satisfied. 

Not only the main lounge was painted, but also the entrance room and also the stairwell leading up to it.  Of course, seeing these newly painted rooms serves to remind us there are more rooms in the club that also need fresh paint!  Our work party is not done yet! 

Officials Education is on-going

This past week-end we attended the annual Alpine Technical Delegates "up-date" here in Whistler.  It is always a wonderful opportunity to mingle with race officials from all over Canada and the US, to learn more, and generally to discuss all things "official" in terms of alpine ski racing.  This year an added component of the week-end included a 2010 Olympic reception and presentation with time for  mingling with many of the key Games volunteers. 

Irene got together with some of the key Jury members for the ParaAlpine events where she will be Start Referee.  Being Start Ref is Irene's favourite role at alpine races so being nominated for this role at the Olympics is a real priviledge. 

Al got together with his Timing gurus and discussed ever-evolving processes and systems that can ensure greater perfection in gathering and ensuring correct results.  Al is managing the back-up timing crew for the Olympics.  (The Omega team from Switzerland runs System A.)

TD up-dates consist of two days of meetings each Fall, one meeting in the east and one in the west.  Usually we don't attend but this year the western meeting took place in Whistler so it was easy for us to join in.  Prior to the meeting homework is sent out and this homework must be handed in by active TDs or order for them to retain their licences.  We did the homework but didn't hand it in because we are "high level officials", not FIS TDs.

In order to stay "green" during the meetings no papers were circulated.  Instead, wireless internet allowed every participant to be on line and link to the many resources we needed throughout the week-end.  Picture a large meeting room with over 250 people sitting at round tables covered with 6-8 lap tops and surrounded by 6-8 intense people all focussed on the question at hand while two large screens displayed the same or similar information at the front of the room.  Roving mikes allowed for plenty of questions and discussions too.  The TD fraternity is intense and it's exicting to attend meetings where everyone is engaged.

Of course we each had our own small ICR (FIS rule book) along for doing the case studies.  When the case studies were presented these same 6-8 Officials at each table also consulted their well-thumbed rule books, finding specific rules to support decisions.  Most case studies lead to discussions and we all come away with new insights.

The race season will soon be upon us and well be putting some of this learning to the test!

Winter is coming!

Whistler is the winter home base for the Whitney family, our permanent anchorage when we are not off wandering the world on SV Darwin Sound.

Al has been skiing here since Whistler Mountain opened in mid-1960s.  In the mid-1980s we moved to our ski-in ski-out condo above Whistler village, a seasonal home between Pacific Synergies sailing charters around the world through the 1990s.  Then we moved from the condo to a "real house" and began to experience some summer months in here too.

Both Charlotte and Toria spent their early years skiing in Whistler every winter, and both earned spots on the BCAlpine Ski Team. Charlotte has since shifted her focus to academics, recently earning a degree in Conservation through the Department of Forestry at UBC.  She spent a year on the Varsity Rowing Team, then  returned to alpine skiing in her spare time, twice winning the famous Peak to Valley Race here in Whistler. She is currently based in Vancouver - now with her own sail boat - and is pursuing a Masters degree.  Toria followed in her sister's ski tracks five years later, and is still racing.  Last year Toria was the only female picked up by the Canadian Alpine Ski Team (CAST) and she is currently enjoying her full-time carreer as an athlete.


The 2010 Olympic Games are coming!  And the alpine events will be taking place in our own back yard.  Will we be involved?  Yes!  

And so, considering the many requests from family and friends about our involvement in the Games - and life in Whistler in general - we are starting this web log.  

We suggest you bookmark this page so you can easily return for photos and news....