Welcome to dustincook.ca

__________________________________________________________________________

>>> Welcome to dustincook.ca!

Official website of Canadian Alpine Ski Team member Dustin Cook
___________________________________________________________________________

» Morin-Heights, QC, 2-5-2010 - 5:30 PM
Sprott's Olympic-Size Donation

My headgear sponsor, Eric Sprott of Sprott Private Wealth, has made an incredible donation and pledge for Canadian athletes. Yesterday Sprott held a press conference in conjunction with the Canadian Athletes Now Fund (CAN Fund), and pledged to donate $100,000 to CAN Fund for every gold medal won by Canadian athletes at the Vancouver Games. Yes you read that correctly, one hundred thousand dollars!! In addition to this pledge, Sprott donated $215,000 to help 35 athletes on the CAN Fund waiting list.

"With our Canadian athletes competing for gold against the best in the world, we wanted to celebrate their success in achieving their goals by supporting the CAN Fund, which provides direct funding to Canadian athletes," Sprott said in a news release Thursday.
You can read the CTV Olympics article on Sprott here.

I am extremely proud to have the Sprott emblem displayed on all of my headgear and I'm simply amazed by the generosity of his pledge. For more information on Eric, CAN Fund, and to donate check out: http://sprottgoldpledge.com/

» Les Orres, FRA, 1-28-2010 - 1:30 PM
What a Long Strange Trip It's Been..

As the title says, it's been a long difficult trip this year in Europe. Three weeks over here is a relatively short trip compared to the past years, but the difference this year was the crazy amount of racing jammed into those three weeks. Last year I was over here for a month and I did three races.

This year I arrived on the night of the 9th, trained the 10th and 11th, did DH training runs on the 12/13th, DH races on the 14/15th. Raced a slalom on the 16th, GS on the 17th. Finally had a day off on the 18th. Trained on the 19th, GS races on the 20/21st, followed by two SG races on the 22nd. One day off and one travel day on the 23/24th. Which finally leads me to where I am now in Les Orres where I've done 2 DH training days (25/26th) and a DH race yesterday. 13 races (including DH training runs) in 19 days. Phew, just looking at that and I now realize why I am so completely wiped out. I was supposed to race a second DH today but I am so fatigued, mentally and physically that I pulled myself from the race to take a few GS training runs and try to get some feelings back for the final race of the trip: a SG tomorrow.

The trip started off fairly well in Patcherkofel, which I wrote about earlier. Moving on from there I did a FIS slalom in Lenggries, where I was 2nd in the second run! Definitely a step in the right direction in slalom. Following that was a Europa Cup GS, where I fell which was disappointing. After that was a FIS race in Kirchberg that did go alright. It was stacked full of World Cup guys (many of them top-30 GS skiers) and I finished 14th, not too far off the pace. After that the fatigue of all the racing and travelling has sort of taken over and my skiing and results have gone downhill.

The thing that makes a schedule like this so tough in Europe is that after each event that we've done, we've had to drive 2+ hours (sometimes 5 or 8) to the next stop, immediately following the race. That means your muscles don't get to recover and you get very little decent rest.

Needless to say I'm looking forward to getting home and getting some rest! I'll be home for a week, possibly up at MSM for a day to forerun, and then off to Whistler to test the DH track and forerun the Olympic Downhill and Super Combined!

P1000620
The first few gates of the Les Orres Downhill

P1000623
Nice scenery behind the start

P1000618
Questionable signage?

» Les Orres, FRA, 1-25-2010 - 6:30 PM
More Photos From Europe

Click above for more photos from Euro Trip 2010. I am in Les Orres, France at the moment for another Europa Cup speed series. Full update to come soon!

» Igls, AUT, 1-18-2010 - 9:30 PM
Lenggries Slalom Vid

» Kirchberg, AUT, 1-17-2010 - 8:00 PM
Patcherkofel Video

» Igls, AUT, 1-14-2010 - 8:00 PM
Patcherkofel Photos

Click above for photos from Patcherkofel.

» Igls, AUT, 1-14-2010 - 2:30 PM
Eurotrip 2010 Part 1 - Patcherkofel DH

Euro trip 2010! Very unlike the movie but fun nonetheless!

The trip this year started out very well. I used my Air Canada upgrade certificate and was flying first class all the way, yes in one of those pods that fold all the way down into a bed. After that amazing flight I can't imagine flying any other way! Following this great start was one of the worst days of my life. We landed (an hour delayed while in the air) to a snowstorm in the Frankfurt airport. Everything was delayed, lots of flights were cancelled, it was chaos. Trav (Dawson), Marie-Pier Prefontaine and myself were all going to Munich so we stuck together through the 6 hours we waited in different lines trying to get a flight to Munich that day. After many lines and tons of blatantly incorrect information (apparently there was a complete communication breakdown in the airport), we finally got to Munich, without any of my bags. No duffle, no skis, nothing. Great.

From Munich we moved on to our home base in Kirchberg, Austria. Without any clothes or anything I had to borrow a lot of equipment from the devo girls that were there, and from our physio. So for two days we trained GS and slalom in Kirchberg, me looking like a total yedi with shinguards over pants, full jacket, etc. Oh well, the training was great! I even skied well in slalom which hasn't happened in a while.

Our first races are here in Patcherkofel, Austria, for 2 Europa Cup Downhills. The hill is fairly easy for a downhill, but has a lot of little terrain changes and bumps that make it hard to master. The first two training runs went alright. I had some really fast sections and some really slow sections for some mediocre times. Today was the first race and I had my worst run so far but finished up 17th. Not a bad result, plus I scored my first Europa Cup points, but I know I can do better.

Race #2 happens tomorrow. Immediatly following the race we move to Germany for a slalom race there, then after that I head back to Kirchberg for a Europa Cup GS. My schedule over here is full of races, just the way I like!

» Montreal, QC, 1-8-2010 - 5:30 PM
Photos and Such

Cynthia Stewart of Photo Buddies was at the Mt Blanc slaloms and took some pretty wicked pics of me skiing slalom of all things. These are by far the best slalom pictures I've ever seen of myself. I always watch a few people from the start, and usually end up thinking "dang, those guys are good!" It doesn't really occur to me that I might look like I know what I'm doing as well haha.

I also put up some new shots in the Recent album in the Photography section of the site. Theres a bunch from earlier in the season in Colorado, Lake Louise, and some from the Chirstmas break. I got a new lens a few months ago and I've been playing around with it quite a bit lately and I love it. Let me know what you think!

Unable to Launch Flash Player

This message is being displayed because the browser was unable to load the Flash Player required to display this content.

There are several possible causes for this;

Your current Flash Player is outdated or it is not installed on your system. Download the latest Flash Player.
Your browser does not have JavaScript enabled, this is required to load the Flash content.
The Theme file used to generate this site may be missing the required JavaScript to launch the Flash player.


	Dustin Cook Home Photography Purchase Equipment Twitter Bio Blog Results Videos Sponsors I __________________________________________________________________________ >>> Welcome to dustincook.ca! Official website of Canadian Alpine Ski Team member Dustin Cook ___________________________________________________________________________ » Morin-Heights, QC, 2-5-2010 - 5:30 PM Sprott's Olympic-Size Donation My headgear sponsor, Eric Sprott of Sprott Private Wealth, has made an incredible donation and pledge for Canadian athletes. Yesterday Sprott held a press conference in conjunction with the Canadian Athletes Now Fund (CAN Fund), and pledged to donate $100,000 to CAN Fund for every gold medal won by Canadian athletes at the Vancouver Games. Yes you read that correctly, one hundred thousand dollars!! In addition to this pledge, Sprott donated $215,000 to help 35 athletes on the CAN Fund waiting list. "With our Canadian athletes competing for gold against the best in the world, we wanted to celebrate their success in achieving their goals by supporting the CAN Fund, which provides direct funding to Canadian athletes," Sprott said in a news release Thursday. You can read the CTV Olympics article on Sprott here. I am extremely proud to have the Sprott emblem displayed on all of my headgear and I'm simply amazed by the generosity of his pledge. For more information on Eric, CAN Fund, and to donate check out: http://sprottgoldpledge.com/ » Les Orres, FRA, 1-28-2010 - 1:30 PM What a Long Strange Trip It's Been.. As the title says, it's been a long difficult trip this year in Europe. Three weeks over here is a relatively short trip compared to the past years, but the difference this year was the crazy amount of racing jammed into those three weeks. Last year I was over here for a month and I did three races. This year I arrived on the night of the 9th, trained the 10th and 11th, did DH training runs on the 12/13th, DH races on the 14/15th. Raced a slalom on the 16th, GS on the 17th. Finally had a day off on the 18th. Trained on the 19th, GS races on the 20/21st, followed by two SG races on the 22nd. One day off and one travel day on the 23/24th. Which finally leads me to where I am now in Les Orres where I've done 2 DH training days (25/26th) and a DH race yesterday. 13 races (including DH training runs) in 19 days. Phew, just looking at that and I now realize why I am so completely wiped out. I was supposed to race a second DH today but I am so fatigued, mentally and physically that I pulled myself from the race to take a few GS training runs and try to get some feelings back for the final race of the trip: a SG tomorrow. The trip started off fairly well in Patcherkofel, which I wrote about earlier. Moving on from there I did a FIS slalom in Lenggries, where I was 2nd in the second run! Definitely a step in the right direction in slalom. Following that was a Europa Cup GS, where I fell which was disappointing. After that was a FIS race in Kirchberg that did go alright. It was stacked full of World Cup guys (many of them top-30 GS skiers) and I finished 14th, not too far off the pace. After that the fatigue of all the racing and travelling has sort of taken over and my skiing and results have gone downhill. The thing that makes a schedule like this so tough in Europe is that after each event that we've done, we've had to drive 2+ hours (sometimes 5 or 8) to the next stop, immediately following the race. That means your muscles don't get to recover and you get very little decent rest. Needless to say I'm looking forward to getting home and getting some rest! I'll be home for a week, possibly up at MSM for a day to forerun, and then off to Whistler to test the DH track and forerun the Olympic Downhill and Super Combined! The first few gates of the Les Orres Downhill Nice scenery behind the start Questionable signage? » Les Orres, FRA, 1-25-2010 - 6:30 PM More Photos From Europe Click above for more photos from Euro Trip 2010. I am in Les Orres, France at the moment for another Europa Cup speed series. Full update to come soon! » Igls, AUT, 1-18-2010 - 9:30 PM Lenggries Slalom Vid » Kirchberg, AUT, 1-17-2010 - 8:00 PM Patcherkofel Video » Igls, AUT, 1-14-2010 - 8:00 PM Patcherkofel Photos Click above for photos from Patcherkofel. » Igls, AUT, 1-14-2010 - 2:30 PM Eurotrip 2010 Part 1 - Patcherkofel DH Euro trip 2010! Very unlike the movie but fun nonetheless! The trip this year started out very well. I used my Air Canada upgrade certificate and was flying first class all the way, yes in one of those pods that fold all the way down into a bed. After that amazing flight I can't imagine flying any other way! Following this great start was one of the worst days of my life. We landed (an hour delayed while in the air) to a snowstorm in the Frankfurt airport. Everything was delayed, lots of flights were cancelled, it was chaos. Trav (Dawson), Marie-Pier Prefontaine and myself were all going to Munich so we stuck together through the 6 hours we waited in different lines trying to get a flight to Munich that day. After many lines and tons of blatantly incorrect information (apparently there was a complete communication breakdown in the airport), we finally got to Munich, without any of my bags. No duffle, no skis, nothing. Great. From Munich we moved on to our home base in Kirchberg, Austria. Without any clothes or anything I had to borrow a lot of equipment from the devo girls that were there, and from our physio. So for two days we trained GS and slalom in Kirchberg, me looking like a total yedi with shinguards over pants, full jacket, etc. Oh well, the training was great! I even skied well in slalom which hasn't happened in a while. Our first races are here in Patcherkofel, Austria, for 2 Europa Cup Downhills. The hill is fairly easy for a downhill, but has a lot of little terrain changes and bumps that make it hard to master. The first two training runs went alright. I had some really fast sections and some really slow sections for some mediocre times. Today was the first race and I had my worst run so far but finished up 17th. Not a bad result, plus I scored my first Europa Cup points, but I know I can do better. Race #2 happens tomorrow. Immediatly following the race we move to Germany for a slalom race there, then after that I head back to Kirchberg for a Europa Cup GS. My schedule over here is full of races, just the way I like! » Montreal, QC, 1-8-2010 - 5:30 PM Photos and Such Cynthia Stewart of Photo Buddies was at the Mt Blanc slaloms and took some pretty wicked pics of me skiing slalom of all things. These are by far the best slalom pictures I've ever seen of myself. I always watch a few people from the start, and usually end up thinking "dang, those guys are good!" It doesn't really occur to me that I might look like I know what I'm doing as well haha. I also put up some new shots in the Recent album in the Photography section of the site. Theres a bunch from earlier in the season in Colorado, Lake Louise, and some from the Chirstmas break. I got a new lens a few months ago and I've been playing around with it quite a bit lately and I love it. Let me know what you think! Unable to Launch Flash Player This message is being displayed because the browser was unable to load the Flash Player required to display this content. There are several possible causes for this; Your current Flash Player is outdated or it is not installed on your system. Download the latest Flash Player. Your browser does not have JavaScript enabled, this is required to load the Flash content. The Theme file used to generate this site may be missing the required JavaScript to launch the Flash player. Home Photography Purchase Equipment Twitter Bio Blog Results Videos Sponsors I © 2009 Dustin Cook Contact Me