This fall I was supposed to join the Canadian National Team on their camp in Saas Fee. I was really excited to go and have a great camp with them but, alas, it was not to be. The National Team wanted me to bring my own coach to the camp which would already have been expensive...to bring my own coach would have meant nearing the $10,000 mark for a 16 day camp. This.....well this is DEFINITELY above my budget! I started looking around for other opportunities for good skiing and ended up coming down to Chile with the BC Mens team with Brandon Dyksterhouse. I arrived in Santiago with my homework in my backpack and a stoked feeling about skiing! When we arrived at Valle Nevado it became very apparent that they were badly in need of snow! This was negated however by how good the snow that was there actually was! I had two days of amazing training in Slalom when Dykster broke the news that the BC team was going to pull out due to the lack of snow in two days. To say I was surprised and a little disappointed would be a little mild. I decided to stay because who comes to Chile only to leave after four days? AND the training that I was getting was great! After the BC boys left I continued to have great training. I did a day of training with the US mens europa cup team which was great followed by two days of training with the Whistler Club which were also great. So despite some challenges (including having to tune my own skis...which got shredded here by rocks and also delaminated...MY NEW SKIS!!! BOO) this has been a very successful short camp. I feel I am skiing the best slalom of my life and more consistantly too.
I would really like to thank all the people at home who have made this trip possible including Tim Schmidt, Sun Peaks Resort, my Mom and Dad and John Crichton (coaching from afar!). You guys make my dreams come true!
On that note here is the link to the video edit I made of my camp!
Thanks!
Elli
