Thursday, December 16, 2010

Finland 2010

The competition in Finland went really well for me. I got my first top ten at a World Cup event! The course was a difficult course and the first day of training did not really go how I wanted it to. I got a couple of bruises but the second day was much better. I was able to do some top to bottoms with tricks and push through the difficult parts of the course. Comp day was really good for me. It was my first time competing in the dark and it was a really cool experience, I hope it get to do it more. The lighting is much more consistent at night. Getting out of the top air was still difficult during the competition but the rest of my run was solid. I was really excited to be in tenth place after qualifying. I had a better final’s run and stayed in tenth place. The competition was really tight and it was really fun.

Finland is a cool country, the sunrise/sunset was beautiful the day that the clouds cleared out. It was defiantly cold there. The mountain was pretty small and you had to put the bar down on the chair lifts otherwise they would stop the chairlift and yell at you over an intercom on the chairlift tower. The food was a classical European breakfast and they served us some different things at dinner. The fried reindeer was not as good as the grilled reindeer fillet that I had in Åre Sweden last year. I can defiantly say that I tried some interesting combinations with my food and made most of my team question me. I was just trying to eat enough food. The set up in Finland was really nice because there was a gym right next to our rooms so we do some exercises without freezing because it was really cold outside.

Heidi Kloser

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Austria 2010

Training in Austria went well. I felt like I was making improvements in with my skiing. I feel so much stronger this year and I am really excited for this first comp in a few days. My comp season starts December 11th with a World Cup in Ruca Finland.

The mogul course in Austria was fun when we could see it. The course was also really fast! And was good jump training. I was able to do lots of backlayouts, backfulls, and 360’s. All of the strength training from this summer is really paying off.

The View from the mountain was amazing when we could see it. Some days the clouds prohibited us from seeing very much. The course never got much sun because there was a peak blocking the sun from us. It was probability just preparing us for Finland.

While in Austria I also got to experience a bit of their culture. Our team was there during the Krampus day holiday (a day where men dress up in super scary costumes and go around beating people with sticks and other weapons). It is very different than any other holiday I have ever seen but it was a really cool experience.

We decided to go to the parade, where most of the ceremonies take place, and see what it was all about. When we got there, we walked up to the end of the parade and saw an ambulance there just in case. That made it a bit more frightening; then we start to see the creatures walking out of the path and hit people with horsetail whips and sticks. I back up against the wall and try to be unnoticed. We make out way into the crowd and I feel safer behind a line of people. Some of the masked men seem to be relentless with the whipping and some of the others were not as harsh. My teammate Dave DiGravio (the only one wearing a helmet) decided to tease some of them, some times he hot a high-five and other times he got beaten with a stick. I posted a video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/HeidiKloser. We went back to the hotel and later that night I heard some screaming. It was really cool to get to experience their culture like that.