I woke up this morning to a beautiful day at the Loaf. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, not even a slight breeze, it was a picture perfect day that reminds us all why we love skiing so much.

I started 2nd and put together a solid first run. I did a little sliding in snow bowl, about half way down, and was able to carry great speed off the headwall. All and all, it was a solid run, nothing spectacular. I was sitting in 5th place about seven tenths out.

In the second run, I pushed out of the gate and skied alright up top (I actually had a pretty slow split), but once I hit snow bowl I was able to link up some good turns and carry a lot of speed off the headwall onto the lower course. I slid a turn on the bottom just before a big roll. After second run I moved up two places to 3rd and was on the podium at US Nationals for the first time.

I was really hoping for a win, but as a old coach of mine, Crawford Pierce, always said, “Any day you’re on the podium is a good day.”

Today was a good day and my best finish in this race. Not to mention, third place takes home 750 bucks so all and I was quite satisfied with the performance. It was fun to share it with both my parents.

Now I’m off to dinner and a few beers. Hope you all had a killer day. W

Tim Jitloff ended up winning and Tommy Ford was second. They both put together a solid first run and a great second run to be out in front of the rest of us by quite a bit.