On our return from our long trip to France, we have brought back 2 trophies, 2 medals and some handy 20 and 30 point results.
Our journey kicked off in Villard-de-Lans for a days GS race. After the first run we had an impressive 1st,2nd,3rd for the kiwis. However we were unable to hold on, eventually ending up with Nick in 1st, Jamie in 3rd, letting a Frenchy squeeze into 2nd.
We then moved onto Val D'isere, the super expensive but amazingly awesome Val D'isere. Over the next 2 days we threw ourselves down the technically challenging Super-G piste, the same piste where the World Cup is held. Although we wanted to post some faster times, we were still reasonably happy with sections of our skiing and know we need some tweaking of a few technical and equipment changes. The speed is still there!!
We were lucky enough to explore around the resort after our second day and we were fascinated with the size of this place!!, we only managed to explore a small area! It has 10 000 hectares of skiing (the big NZ ski areas have 400).... but still smallish compared to the biggest ski area in the world, Les 3 Vallees (40 000!!!!)
Following the Super-G's we headed south to Ancelle, France for 3xGS and 2xSL. In the first GS Nick placed 3rd and scored a career best 28, he was also 1st junior.
On the second day Jamie built on the momentum of a solid first day lowering his second best GS result to a 36. After the first run we were both sitting in 5th and 6th but Nick was poised for another great result after the first run but bad luck struck when he lost his ski before the first pitch. We are stocked that we moved up our rankings and can mix it with the tough international field especially after being ranked 17th and 26th at the start.
After flat performances in the 3rd GS at Orcieres we looked forward to skiing some Slalom. As we found out, our lack of Slalom training showed through ending in some fairly average slalom skiing. Watch this space!
We are still both on a major high from the success of the racing. Everything to do with our skiing is right on track and we are now highly motivated to find more speed!!
Back in Brunnen we are looking forward to a productive training block to iron out a few issues before we rip into our next block of racing wherever it may be!!!
Have a look at the short wee video below of our movements throughout January, hope you like it.
