Skiing on Last Year’s Snow

We woke up in beautiful Canmore, Alberta today.

Canmore, like other places around the world, saved snow from last season to provide an on-snow training opportunity before there is natural snow and before it’s cold enough to make snow. They made a huge pile of snow last year. Then they covered it with a thick layer of sawdust. Somebody said they lose 40-50% of it during the summer. Last weekend they spread it out to make just over two kilometers of skiing. Here’s a picture of what it looks like:

It was warm today so we were klister (a type of wax for warm wet snow) skiing for our two hour classic in the morning. The loop only takes five or six minutes, but it’s worth a lot of laps to be skiing on October 19th. Other places that I know save snow include Davos, Switzerland and Munio, Finland.

Canmore calls their snow Frozen Thunder. Today was the official opening of Frozen Thunder and the debut of the new Canadian National Ski Team Mascot!

Above my teammates Simi Hamilton (left) and Sylvan Ellefson cuddle up to the head cheerleader.

The snow is dirty with rocks and sawdust. We aren’t using race skis. Here’s Kris Freeman finishing up his session:

And here are Stratton Mountain School Teammates Andy Newell and Annie Hart:

This afternoon I ran the course for the World Cup that will be held here in less than two months (on December 13th, 15th, and 16th.) It fired me up to come back here to compete and psyched me up for the race season in general! The course here is challenging and really good for me. After my run I did a hard core strength session.