El Colorado, Chile - August 2019
After finishing my university exams in May, I completed a 2 month block of Strength and Conditioning to prepare for my ski camp in Chile. I’m already stronger than I was before the start of the winter last year, which has given me a lot of confidence going into this new season.
After 10 years skiing on Head I finally made the decision to switch to Rossignol – thank you to them for their support coming into this new season. I’ve also decided to change to a new team called Excel Race Academy set up by two of my former coaches from BSA.
You may have heard that this year there was no snow in Chile… Yes, not all the runs were open and we did receive a free base grind on our skis from the rocks on the piste. However because we didn’t have any fresh snowfall, we were actually able to train on bulletproof snow for the entire camp. The worst weather we had to deal with was some overcast clouds. Since the snow and weather were so consistent we were able to make great technical changes to our skiing, which is what summer training is all about. I was also able to make some changes to my equipment set up that has benefitted me a lot - many people will be relieved to hear that I’m no longer canted in by 3 degrees. As we approach Winter we will start increasing the intensity and focus more on tactics.
At the start of the camp we focused on Giant Slalom. Then we progressed in Pro Slalom and finally Slalom. Each day we did a mix of gates and free-skiing. We were also lucky enough to train Super G and had British Downhill champ Jack Gower showing us how it’s done.
Many of the days we were waking up at 5.15 A.M so we could get all our training done before the slope opened up to the public. We would be warming up in the pitch black if it wasn’t for some light from the moon and city lights in Santiago at the bottom of the valley.
Not only were we treated to some amazing views at sunrise, but Chile is also notorious for its sunsets, which we were treated to every evening before dinner.
Training at 3000 metres above sea level is tough on your body; in fact one of the days we trained only 6 runs of 45 second slalom and I embarassingly vomited from fatigue. To help our bodies recover from this battering we spent our days off 2000 metres lower in the capital city Santiago.
The coaches found us a great hotel right near the centre of town and we made sure we utilised the room service, sauna and rooftop pool to its absolute maximum. Having visited Santiago several times before, I showed the rest of my team some of my favourite parts of the city. These included the San Cristobal hill, street art at Bella Vistas and a traditional market in Los Dominicos:
Overall I think this has been the best preseason camp I’ve ever had. I narrowed my focus and made great progress technically and psychologically. Made some clear goals for this year. I got to know my new teammates and coaches; the team atmosphere is incredibly positive and hard working but also amazing fun off the hill. I was definitely challenged a lot physically, so that’s going to be my focus for the next 6 weeks back at University in Bath. I’m looking forward to our next camp in October at our base in Wiesing, Austria!
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