Travis Ganong, US Ski Team Member
Season Update Straight From The Horse's Mouth... New Year to End of February
Since the new year has rolled around, I believe that I have brought my skiing to new levels. Refocusing and rededicating myself to the simple important tasks involved in skiing, I have had success come my way. From Maine to Europe and back again through Canada and Montana, it has been a whirlwind trek across the world living the life of a ski racer on the US Team.
Leaving a few days after Christmas, our first stop included four Nor-Am Cup races at Sunday River, Maine. I arrived in Maine to warm spring like conditions and little to no snow. Luckily they had snow making, so the race conditions were great. Aside from the fact that I was really sick, I was skiing fast and finished two out of the four days, finishing top 15 in a slalom and a GS, earning top honors for juniors in the slalom and second in the GS. After the races we were off to Europe for a few weeks.
We arrived in Munich, Germany to summer like temperatures, and green grass; a hint of things to come for our trip. Our first stop was in Radstad, Austria for two SG races. Conditions looked minimal with not even one patch of snow to be seen down in the town we were staying. The ski area proved to be no better. There was so little snow, that the gates wouldn't even stand up in the ground. So, between the grass patches we had a race, and I had a bunch of big mistakes and didn't ski to well. I couldn't wait to redeem myself the following day, but that night it rained and washed away all the snow so they cancelled the race. This meant that we were of to Trento, Italy for some rest and training at the European training center for the US Ski Team.
We spent four days training, sightseeing, and relaxing in Trento. The skiing was really good with hard injected snow. We were only going to stay for a few days, but all of our races continued to be cancelled so we had nothing to do but wait for some snow or colder temps for snow making. We just keep training on the good snow in Italy. It was so frustrating just sitting around and waiting when you were so ready to go race. That's pretty much how the rest of our trip went. We tried to race in Val Gardena, Racings, and Phelders, Italy, but the condition were horrible at all three places. We decided to turn the rest of the trip into a training camp and went to Altenmarkt, Austria to get some experience on the Junior World Championship hill. Training there was great and I personally made a lot of progress. Then it was time to head home after such a frustrating three weeks in Europe with no snow or racing. Ironically, it snowed three feet the day we left!
It was so good to finally be back home in Tahoe! Even though there was not as much snow as there usually is, the skiing was amazing compared to Europe. I spend about a week recharging and regrouping for the next trip by free skiing as much as I could and getting my feet back under me on KT at Squaw. I felt really prepared and ready for the next trip.
The first of February we were off again to Apex, British Columbia for some Nor-Am Super G's. Arriving there it was a relief to finally be somewhere with a lot of snow, but as it turned out, it rained the entire night before the first race and they had to cancel it. The next day however, the temperatures dropped and the hill became really icy and we could race!!! They decided to have both races that one day. I was super fired up and was so ready. Pushing out of the starting gate, everything felt great! And I skied great as well. The first SG I finished 4th and then I won the second one! Wining both SG's for juniors was overshadowed by the fact that I won my first Nor-Am. I also scored the best FIS point results of my life and was so happy. That was a great day. Next we were off to Big Mountain, Montana for some more SG's and some DH's.
Big mountain is notorious for its bad weather and foggy conditions and this year was no different. Out of the three scheduled DH training days we only got one off, but I skied well in it and finished 3rd. In the two DH races the conditions were still foggy, but after a few postponements, we got the races off. I didn't ski as well as I had in the training run and finished 9th and 10th overall and 1st and 2nd for juniors. Then it was time for the SG's. The first day we sat around while they kept pushing the start time back further and further. Then after sitting outside until 3:30pm, they decided to cancel the race due to the fog. The following day the weather finally cleared up and we got to race. I skied really well, and executed all the little tasks that make you fast and ended up 4th overall and 1st for juniors. I was really happy as I clinched 3rd in the overall Nor-Am SG standing for the year, one spot away from a World Cup birth. Then it was time to come home once again to prepare for the Junior Worlds.
Its always so nice to come make some turns back home at Squaw. I'm currently training and getting ready to leave for Europe on Feb 24th. Thanks again to Granite Chief for their continued support this year. I really appreciate it. And thanks for the foot-beds as well. They are defiantly helping me reach my goals in ski racing. Until next time...
By Travis Ganong
