Summer training camps are now in full swing with the choice of training on the glaciers in Europe being taken by many of the children's camps, others like Alex Tilley and Charlie Giest have already started doing some racing in New Zealand (with great success), David Ryding is also training in New Zealand as his pictures on Facebook show (click here). Many of the top teams are also training in South America and Jai Geyer is out in Argentina with his group of racers. Jai is one of the more proactive racers around and regularly keeps people up to date with how things are going on. Here he gives an up date on how his summer training is getting on:
Hi!
The internet here is absolutely infuriating. It cuts out every minute. Trying to upload these 30 photos and videos is a complete nightmare. I will have to try and find another to get the videos to you because I'm about to throw the computer out the window. Anyway...
The time in Ushuaia has flown by. There were not as many days training as I thought so we have just taken two days off so far and hammered through. The low altitude is awesome, you don't fatigue the same way you do on normal mountains  (400m here). Because we are close to the sea its quite humid which makes some parts of the pistes really icy.
A lot of people in our group have broken skis or had them de-laminate but so far I've been ok.
Although it hasn't been super cold this year (-5) it feels a lot less due to the humidity. My back has been sore, mainly due to the skiing and taking a tumble, in GS training early on. It has made sleeping tricky and has inhibited training but I've done what I can and have been able to carry on. To be honest it has unfortunately made things quite tough on the skiing side. Have been doing everything I can so there is not much more I can do.
The place is awesome. It's certainly South America. Pretty grim in parts but nice to see somewhere different. Lots of stray dogs everywhere and the streets are a total mess. Most houses are half finished and look like a tip. Going for a recovery jog in the evening was an eye opener the first few times. Taxi drivers are mad too.
Days are long. Leave at 8am and get back at 4pm if we are doing a double session. Usual stuff after training, video analysis, fitness/going to the gym (we have a membership at a gym 5 mins away), tuning skis, stretching.
Snow conditions have been mixed, some parts of the slope are awesome, then other parts are soft and sugary, but certainly far better than Europe when slushy.
The pistes we use for GS and Slalom have fantastic terrain. There is a bit of everything, steep, flats, medium, corners, trees. We have done half GS and half SL. Have only seen the sun for a couple of hours since arriving and I am yet to ski in it. We always have to use our orange lens due to the flat light.
German and Swiss teams are already here; the French, Italians and Austrians are coming.
Went on a boat trip on day off and saw penguins and sea lions. Amazing. Got some great photos. I've also been swimming in the sea twice which was fantastic. Great for recovery too. 4 degrees. I would like to go more often by don't have much time.
Leave hotel on Friday and race on Saturday. We have lost a race because they have been moved forward and we can't change our flights (There is an Argentinian election on that day and there can be no public events taking place before midday, so the race got moved).
We have been doing all the training on the new regulation GS skis to prepare for next season, but the races here are on the old skis with a turning radius 8m less. Therefore we have switched back to get used to the timing and difference in performance on the last 2 days.
I just free skied today while the others were in the gates because my back was particularly sore after a 2 x slalom yesterday and I don't want to over do it before the races. Looking forward to those of course.
Lots of packing and organising to do tonight before flying up to Bariloche, via Beunos Aires as there is no direct flight. Apart from loosing my bag I didn't have to pay anything on the way out while everyone else coming from France paid over 120 euros excess.
More to come.
- 10 Aug Chapelco GS
- 11 Aug Chapelco GS - moved to 9th August due to Argentinian Elections
- 13 Aug Cerro Catedral SL
- 14 Aug Cerro Catedral SL
- 15 Aug Cerro Catedral GS
- 16 Aug Cerro catedral GS
- 17 Aug Antillanco (Chile) GS
- 18 Aug Antillanco (Chile) SL
Adios amigos
Jai