Burgers, Hotdogs and Fries.... USA

We had an easy flight into San Fransisco with all our bags turning up after making it through endless security checkpoints. We drove four hours, passing by the Golden Gate bridge and driving through Sacramento, the capital of California and finally we weaved our way into the snow and arrived in Truckee, CA.

The Tahoe area is a neat place. The scenery is beautiful and they have had record amounts of early snow. Truckee is split into two parts, the new part and the old pioneer township. Reno is the closest city just 40 minutes away in Nevada with a population of around 400,00 and a crazy, mad gambling city.

We are staying with a host family in Tahoe Donner a massive subdivision in Truckee, they are a really nice family and they are great fun, it is an awesome set up for us here. The first dinner we had was classic American food of burgers, hotdogs and fries. Very tasty!

We have now had 4 days on snow and the feelings have now come back into the system. We look to build our speed and tidy up any issues with our technique that will make us faster. But for now we pray for some harder snow as it has been very soft so far...

Guenther (our coach) has been great to us, getting everything set up and we look forward to working more closely with him. The whole set up at the Sugar Bowl Academy is top notch with its own physio working full time and world class physical trainers Douglas and Candice Brooks working with us to maintain the physical component during the season. We also have Pete Sprock who is working with us trying to tweak the equipment set up, to receive the optimal performance from our equipment that we can.

Looking ahead we have 2 Slaloms at Steamboat, CO followed with 2x GS's and 2x SG's at Winter Park, CO starting on the 18th of December through till the 23rd. However unfortunately it will be a 14 hour drive to get there, an epic road trip playlist is going to be needed for that car ride.

We hope to drive down south to Mammoth, CA to spend Christmas with our oldest brother Sam, our cousin Katie and an old mate Al Till, and also we will have a few days tearing up the powder there.

Hope you like the short video below.

Cheers Nick and Jamie

Wanaka Summer Fun

Just home from a really nice long weekend in Wanaka with warm weather and lots of outdoor activities and a rare chance to sun tan. It was an early Xmas gathering for our family and our Cousin's, the Jackson family, before we all head overseas in different directions.

We scoped out a couple of big rocks to jump off into the lake. It was such an adrenalin buzz standing ready to leap off, and the hang time in the air felt like an age, before eventually hitting the water with a decent slap.

We also got in a little water skiing, relaxing and enjoying the warmth before we head into winter.

And lastly some intense games of volleyball on the front lawn.

All in all it was a great weekend, and we all enjoyed some chilled out time with the families before the trip away!

Last Day training NZ Super G for 2010

Sunrise 6:30am drive up Mt

Our last days training couldn't have started any better, with a beautiful sunrise as we drove up the mountain. We were training with the Alberta Men's and Women's team who were training at Mt Hutt for a month.

The course was a very turny Super-G but it was great to have some quality training and sign of the season with a good mornings training.

As a bonus we had the US Ski Team speed boys ripping Downhill on the course next to us. They were getting some very impressive air over the knoll's knoll jump. I would think about 50m ish. It was awesome to watch, the biggest air I have ever seen live.

Peak to Pub

 We managed to find a team at the last minute to make it on the start line for the annual Mt Hutt, Peak to Pub. It is a multisport event that consist of skiing (a mass start) followed by mountain bike down the access road and a 11km run to the Blue Pub.
Nick did the ski leg and made it down in first place, the running at the start and end of the ski leg made sure Niick was exhausted at the end!

Nick end of ski leg

Jamie did the mountain bike leg. The road was very bumpy and rough and those uphill sections seem a lot longer on a bike! He was passed by one other rider fully kit out in Downhill gear and managed to hold on to 2nd place to the next transition.

Jamie getting bib on in transition (in the green)

Our runner was Daniel Thoms, a school friend who ran very strongly. The run course had some obsticals including swimming across a canal and a finishing 'castle' into a ice cold pond!' He held us onto our finishing place of 2nd. We are pretty happy with the race, a shame we couldn't defend our title from last year but is a very fun and exciting race.

Daniel Thoms (bib 77) through finish

Back in Christchurch

Back in Christchurch for a few days break before we head back to methven for a speed camp