Patrick Biggs' Blog

Maybe I shouldn’t have wished for quite so much snow… Turns out it kept snowing in Hintertux for 3 days, accumulating well over a meter. Because of the conditions, we opted to drive to Tignes, FRA where conditions were ideal.

We met up with our speed team mates that were already training in Tignes along with the French ski team. We got a bit of a shock seeing Julien Lizeroux, who apparently spent the summer in the bush without a razor and now has possibly the thickest beard of any world cup skier in history. Rumors are that he has a bet with one of his team mates that he must sport the beard until he wins his first World Cup race this year. Good luck Julien!

Training has been going great here. The conditions are Zamboni ice with a dusting of regular ice in sections. It’s been great for testing skis and getting up to race speed on race like conditions. Today was our fourth day of slalom, and things really started to come together for me. I was able to post the two fastest runs of the day. For the first time this year, I was the Canadian guy to chase. Things are feeling really solid and consistent which should allow me to continue to increase the speed.

Well, i wished for snow, and upon arrival in Europe today, it came! Training starts tomorrow, and the white stuff will keep us off the rocks for the time being.

The weather here in Ottawa seems to have changed to dreary rain and cold we are so used to this time of year. I’m looking forward to heading over Austria to get on snow and away from this. Unfortunately the weather in Austria has been warm and sunny. It sounds nice, but it’s done a number on the glaciers. I was sent this photo from a friend currently over in Europe on the Stubai glacier about an hour from Hintertux.

Looks pretty bleak, but I think Hintertux is suppose to be a little better. We have our fingers crossed for a snowfall before Tuesday, or maybe a long drive over to France where the glaciers fared a little better over the past months. Climate Change? Global warming? yes, the glaciers get worse in Europe every year. I’ve been going now for 9 years.

On a lighter note, yesterday was an incredible fall day. The leaves were coming into their beautiful reds and yellows. Sunny and 16, I was able to delay my training session with my personal trainer and spend the morning on one of Ottawa’s nicest golf courses.. Eagle Creek. A little unforgiving in sections, i didn’t score a great round, but every high risk shot to shortcut a hole I somehow pulled out a miraculous shot cutting over the water. I really like golf for this reason. It’s a lot like skiing in the sense that if you risk a lot, you can make some huge gains, but at the same time you have to balance risk to make sure you stay out of trouble and score well.

If you’re part of the Ottawa Ski Club, I hope to see you out this Saturday at your dryland training at Mooney’s Bay.