Date: 16th of January 2008

Hi All,

The ‘wakey wakey’ made a return today with yours truly on wake up this morning. The call went around at 7.30pm and I must admit that everyone is getting much better at getting out of bed. That is with the exception of Jules and Ash who always seem to be comatosed until at least the 3rd or 4th wake up attempt.

The mogul group headed for the air site today with the rest of the gang and Ridley made the call that today was not a day to practice moguls style tricks and the group was given free rein to throw down freeride style. Everyone brought out their fat skis and proceeded to hit the big jumps with Bryn first to give it a crack landing some amazing corked 3’s. His good start was short lived as he ended up a little too corked on one jump and ended up landing on his hip coming out a little worse for wear with skiers thumb. Brodie put down some nice 3’s and turned them up to 7’s with mixed success. Brighid and Kate were content on their small jump with some nice straight airs while Airlie was out of action with a niggling knee injury. Annabelle was on fire jumping some perfect 360’s and taking them onto one of the bigger jumps and making some great progress. Alex C was attempting his famous truck drivers in a 360 with limited success and may move to straight 720’s in the coming days. Alex E landed a couple of very nice 360’s and is progressing very quickly while Alex W began throwing some corked 720’s and a number of D-spins. A little more work on the air site and on tramp and he will have them dialled 10 out of 10 times.

The afternoon was spent on the competition course with Pez grabbing some great shots. This was the first chance for the group to ski on the course after the weekend’s competitions and all athletes skied well with the girls beginning to jump and ski into the bumps.  Alex E stomped some great 360’s and Alex W was again on fire landing a number of corked 720’s in his top to bottom runs.

The boarders had a full day on the big air site for the first time during the camp.  Everyone was amped and happy they weren’t doing laps through the park as it was so cold. Jordi finally stepped it up and hit the medium sized booter which surprised even the coaches, he also seemed to be very impressed with himself high fiving the rest of the team. Rowan (big bro) was not to be outdone and after a little urging from the coaches he also hit the medium booter with a nice lofty straight air. Jack and Henry both were perfecting there backside 3's while Jack took out stack of the day when he only managed a 270 on his first attempt. Not to be beaten he got straight back up and threw the best backside 3 he has done for the camp. Henry was stomping his but they were looking rather ballerina like and still need  a little work. Oli was hitting the big booter and was looking very impressive with his smooth style. After lunch Oli started throwing his first frontside 3’s and after a few more days he should have them on lockdown. Jay was also trying his frontside spins and on one occasion even he somehow managed to throw a 540 – surprising everyone. Emma also stepped it up to the medium booter with some smooth straight airs as did Steve as he is still getting used to the steep outrun.

Phil and his alpine/snowboardcross group headed out to upper Big Dipper for some
GS gate training.  The snow was solid and the course was really fun but the visibility was not great which made things challenging. The girls had good training on the course with Ash working on her body position and line. She did well and probably had her best day in the gates so far. Julia was really fast and managed to make some great changes to her body position. She was carving everything very aggressively which was a good positive step for her. Chrisy, the birthday girl had a good day as she worked on her heal side turn while still carry good speed.  In the afternoon they were on soft boots and hit the rollers in the terrian park and then headed to the air site to work on jumping techniques. Julia hit the small jump and was very good in the landing section. Chrisy is still getting her confidence riding down the landing area and she will soon be ready to jump.

The freeride group was out in full force this morning and headed straight over to the air site for a full day of jumping.  They joined the other groups where they all prepped the takeoffs and landing which took about an hour to complete. Conrad mixed it up today and was working on his switch take offs and was nailing switch 3’s no problem. Marnie, Kate and Bassett were all skiing awesome by the end of the morning with huge improvements in their takeoffs.  In the arvo all the girls were trying to introduce grabs all be it with mixed success but at least they gave it a go.  Mike and Piers were working on their take offs also and made some good improvements by the end of the day.  Both of them have also been working on their grabs and in no time they will be hitting the bigger jump.  Nick joined us for a session in the afternoon and was working on his take offs getting back into the swing of things after of couple days off.

The alpine racers being James and James had the day off today from their race training but headed out for a free ski this morning with Pez. The caught up with Phil and his snowboard group on Big Dipper for a few runs and then they headed off again with Pez for a couple more before lunch. James P decided he wanted the arvo off while James L planned on heading out again but had a run in with a door (see below)

Tonight’s activities included some very intense singles table tennis and some skillful pool. The pool comp was taken out by Rowan and Ridley who luckily beat James P and Jordan with both teams on the black. Nick and Nate were unlucky not to make the final after an amazing game against Hamish and Michael.

Table tennis was taken out convincingly by Ridley who bypassed Alex C, Jordan and Rowan on his way to victory. The first official singles competition of the camp was hot, with balls flying left right and centre. (luckily for me Ridley does  not get the prizes being $10 Starbucks cards – yes they still go to the 2nd place getters)

Lunch today for most was sambos and the left over chicken lasagna from last night while dinner saw the return of Greek night with souvlaki, falafel and Greek salad.

Pinky today goes out to James L who had an unfortunate run in with the laundry door. While down stairs being very domesticated and doing his washing he kicked/ stubbed his little toe on the bottom of the laundry door taking a good layer of skin off.  A quick trip to the doctors, a few butterfly clips and all is fine. (mum and dad, he tried to call – he’s all OK)

I’ve officially declared to tomorrow ‘Stowie Day’. It’s one of those famous holidays that everyone looks forward to but really has no idea what they mean. I desperately need to get out for a ski as I’ve spent far too many days in front of this computer so I’m taking an official holiday tomorrow, well at least in the morning with the aim to get out for a ski.

Until then.

Stowie

PS: Nearly forgot but a big happy 14th birthday must go out to Chrisy Richardson.