![Steffen Hoos, aka "Hoosie", Toko's International Race Service Manager](http://images.fasterskier.com/2010/02/132.jpg" "Steffen Hoos, aka \"Hoosie\", Toko's International Race Service Manager")
Yesterday was a crazy day here. The weather once again played the leading role.
Ladies Downhill training was supposed to have taken place this morning. Once again, it had to be canceled because of poor conditions.
With the Biathlon Sprint competition of the men, everything seemed to point to a race with sunshine despite evidence of rain and snow squalls in the area on the radar. As Toko Nordic servicemen Jens and Björn conducted glide tests in the morning, it was dry and the air temperature was 1 ° C. The products that went well on Saturday were going the best. After the first 10 racers had started however, light rain began which then turned into a strong sleet and wet snow squall. The fact that the strongest racers started in the second starting group and later meant that there was going to be a lot of surprises on the results sheet. The disadvantage today was far more pronounced even than with the women’s race the day before. Almost exclusively starters from the first group made up the top 10 on the results sheet. This is an outdoor sport where anything can happen. However, this happened at precisely the time where it affected the results the most. Had today been a mass start race, like the Nordic Combined skiers had, it would have yielded a more predictable top 10.
![Nordic Combined skiers going to the start.](http://images.fasterskier.com/2010/02/137.jpg" "Nordic Combined skiers going to the start.")
In general, finer structures on the ski bases are going best compared to what would work in Europe with such moisture in the air and in the snow. Additionally, here in Callaghan, an additive has been added to the snow to harden the track which worked well. Skiing on untreated sections of the track will often yield sinking up to 20 cm deep in the slush.
The upcoming classic races for the cross country skiers will be exciting. Here one has to test, test, and test again to understand the prevailing conditions as well as possible and to be able to predict what wax will work when the weather changes next as it almost certainly will. Even without falling snow, the possibility of skiing on Zero Skis (No Wax) is high. Such are the conditions here in the Callaghan Valley.
So we can be curious to see what will happen next.
Until tomorrow from Whistler
Steffen
