The last few days we were racing and training slalom on injected snow in Obdach, Austria. Injected snow is basically pure ice. Creating such a hard surface involves fitting an injection system to the back of a snow cat injecting high pressed water into the hill every two inches. It makes the whole hill look and feel like an ice rink which produces a better, fairer race since the snow doesn’t deteriorate, at all, from one racer to the next.

Both days of racing I had a little difficultly getting up to speed without mistakes. These days proved the rust doesn’t come off with a few runs. In the first race I skied conservatively in the first run and the second run I turned up the intensity only to make a few mistakes. I did cross the finish line which is always a good thing. Although I was way off the pace, I learned my knee can hold up to the most intense slalom training and racing out there. The second day I blew out in the second run, but was finally arcing some slalom turns.

Either way, we’re back in the saddle and another lesson learned. We are taking tomorrow off and race on Tuesday in a giant slalom at Hinterreit, Austria. Then we’ll be racing slalom on Thursday and Friday in St. Michael, Austria. Both ski areas are relatively close to our home in Salzburg. We’ll be up to speed soon.

It’s time to pin it and not worry about anything else.

Hope all is well, w