Myself, Brad and Erik - GS podium

I was having a great run in the slalom on the final day but blew out near the bottom. Oh well, that’s slalom!
After that was the provincial dual at COP for the March Of Champions event put on by GMC which was a lot of fun. Quebec was unfairly ousted from the competition after the first round but I won’t go into that!! Following that was the annual end of year party with most of the racers which was a blast as usual.

I’m at home now for a few days of rest before going out to Quebec for the Spring Series at Stoneham and Le Relais. The Springs are a lot of fun and are a nice way to end the season on a relaxed, fun note. After that I will be more than ready for a break away from skiing and just relax for a few weeks after a long season.


I normally wouldn’t post something like this but I think they’re pretty cool so here they are.. The trophies I won for (from left) Canadian Champs GS, NorAm Super G Title, and the NorAm Overall Title:

I can’t believe it but it’s true! I’m completely happy and a little bit amazed at everything that happened this season, and today especially to make it happen.

Coming into today’s race Will Brandenberg of the U.S. was ahead of me in the overall standings by 18 points. I hadn’t given up yet, but Will is an amazing slalom skier so I had prepared myself for the fact that he would probably win the title. This might have helped me a little because I was totally relaxed in the start of the first run, and laid down one of the better slalom runs of my career. As predicted Will laid down an even better one from bib 1 and was sitting in second.

Going into the second run I was a little more nervous because I knew that if I wanted to even have a shot, I would need to have another run like my first. But I figured it was better to lay it all on the line and blow out knowing I had given it everything, than put down a mediocre run and know that I could have been faster. With that in mind I laid down another of my better slalom runs, made a decent mistake at the bottom, but was still in there. Mari and I were standing in the crowd at the finish watching the remaining 10 racers and I remember saying, “Well, I was second on the season, that’s pretty good right?”. I knew that in order for me to win, Will had to ski out, and I had to be somewhere inside the top 15. (The whole season I’ve been trying not to get stats and numbers in my head because that has thrown me off my game in the past) Watching Will come down was one of the most stressful things I’ve done in my career so far. As he came over the knoll onto the last pitch and into view I thought, oh well that’s that.. So when he crashed through a hairpin on the 2nd last roll in the course, I couldn’t even believe it! The crowd (mostly Americans) let out a collective groan, while I let out a mini scream of joy before I caught myself! I still wasn’t sure I had won until Travis told me I was 13th in the race and that gave me 2 more points in the overall. I was stunned. I was ecstatic, relieved, surprised, overwhelmed. It was incredible!

Will and I have had a good battle over the last half of the season and I can’t even imagine what he’s feeling right now, because we were both so close right up to the last run. If he had won I couldn’t have been too disappointed because he deserved it just as much as I do.

The title means I have a spot in every World Cup race next season! That doesn’t mean I will race every, or even close to every one, but if the coaches feel I’m ready, I’ll be in there!

It means so much to me to have won the title. I can remember a few years back when I first started racing Nor-Ams, watching the top guys and wondering how in the world I would ever be able to compete with them.. And now I’m the one on top. It’s a little surreal when I think about it! A lot of hard work has paid off this year, and although this is a big step in my career, it’s only one step and hopefully there are many more to come!

After moving to Burke Mountain after training in Orford, the first of two Super Gs was held there on Sunday. The hill at Burke is pretty cool with lots of terrain, jumps and blind knolls. After several delays the race finally started at noon and I had a pretty good run and wound up third! I was happy to have another Nor-Am Super G podium (my third of the year) and still hold onto a good lead in the Super G standings. There was also a slalom run to be done that day because it was also a Super Combined race. Due to the girls also racing we had to wait until nearly 5pm to start the slalom!! I had a fairly conservative but mistake-free run in the slalom portion and moved back to fourth.. 15 hundredths away from getting a World Cup spot in SC! I wasn’t too worried about it because it’s not one of my preferred events but it was still a bummer.

The next day was the final Nor-Am Super G of the season, and I was in the lead. Everyone was gunning for me to try to overtake the lead for the title, so some nerves were definitely present! Having said that I’m a pretty laid back person and I try not to let things rattle me too much, so I put all thoughts of the standings and any sort of pressure aside and just did my thing. I had a run that I’m really pleased with, just let it all hang out and went for the win. I was sitting in third, less than 2/10ths of a second behind the leader (Jan Hudec, who had just come 17th at World Cup Finals). However the race was cancelled after 10 racers because the conditions on the bottom were not going to hold up well enough for everyone to complete the race. And so I became the Nor-Am Super G title winner for the season!

I couldn’t be happier about the accomplishment, and I’m really pleased with how I handled myself under the pressure and threw down a great run. As a result of winning the title, I have a guaranteed spot in all the World Cup Super Gs next season!

ACA Press Release on the title

Now my focus shifts to the slalom tomorrow, which will decide who is the winner of the Overall Nor-Am Cup. I’m currently sitting second, 18 points back of the leader. I did a few slalom runs this morning to get myself ready to surprise some people tomorrow!

Check back soon for video from the races..

Grippin' and rippin' on slalom skis


Left: 2010 | Right: 2005 | Not a lot has changed..


My dad, Brett Frip and I. Brett Frip is one of the organizers of the Ski-A-Thon


My mom and I after the medals


And for good measure a new shot from the Lake Louise NorAms in December

Front page of the Aspen/Snowmass website


Arcing it up at Fortune. Photo courtesy of Cynthia Stewart of Photo Buddies


Mari and I after the Fortune race


Camp Fortune Podium


I think it's too big Sprout...


Handing out medals at MSM

Flowers for my Super G podium

Tomorrow is the start of DH training. I'm excited to ski it, it looks like a laid back and fun track.



An interesting side note on the two Super Gs.... A relatively unknown U.S. racer won the first SG by a large margin; nearly a full second. He was also sitting in 5th today before it was noticed that he was on some illegal equipment. Namely his skis and their stand-height. After a protest was filed it was determined that his skis were illegal and he was disqualified from today's race. I have never experienced something like this and it was quite interesting to see the procedure and the lengths people go to get away with cheating..

Trav, Dave (Trav and my technician) and myself moments before the start


What an unforgettable week! My Olympic experience was full of delays, snow, fog, but most of all fun. It was awesome to be at the Olympics, especially a home one. The support from everyone was unbelievable even though I was just forerunning. I ran into a ton of people from the Ottawa skiing community while out in Whistler. A bunch of them were volunteers (working their butts off!) and some were taking in the sights and sounds of the Olympics. But everyone was really supportive which was awesome, so thanks a lot!

When race day finally rolled around the atmosphere was like nothing I've ever experience before. There were TONS of people at all of the viewing areas (7,000 in the stands!) hours before the race even started. It's a pretty cool feeling when people cheer when you come through the finish.. of the inspection! Due to only having one official and incomplete training run, everyone had a chance to run from Coaches Turn to the finish. After that I had to head straight back up to the top because I would be the first forerunning and would open the Alpine events at the Olympics.



The view from the start on race day (20 min before start). Notice the line of people forming on the top left.

At precisely 10:20 the beeps started for me to begin my run. Leaving the start and hearing the roar of the crowd up there was something I didn't expect and will never forget! I almost broke into a smile before the first gate (good thing I was only forerunning I guess). Since I was the guinea pig and the first one down, I found out pretty quickly that the jumps were huge that day. The track was way firmer and a little faster than training, but was also a lot bumpier. Coming through each viewing area I could hear people cheering, which is something I have never heard before. Coming over the last two jumps, which were massive that day, I could see all the people in the finish and was just awestruck by how many were there. As I came through the finish I was so excited to be there and that I had just been a part of the Olympics that I let out a scream and fist pump, which I guess the crowd liked because they went wild! I will never forget that moment.

A view of the crowd

So with that said I'm really glad that I had the experience of running in such a big event because of all the little things that kind of took me off guard. For example the noise, people, and cameras everywhere. I think the experience will definitely help me in the future and hopefully in Sochi 2014!!!

The volunteers deserve the biggest medal of all. It was ridiculous how much work they were doing! Even making snow-slides to clear the track. Genius.



A bunch of the speed guys training Super-G on one of the nice days



Trav and I had the chance to watch the women's Super Combi. This is Vonn after straddling and a collective "oouhhhhhh" from the crowd. Just goes to show that anything can happen in this crazy sport.



After watching the Super Combi we went up top and took a 25 minute hike to find some freshies.



Todd Brooker hooked me up with some fatties for the trip



Awesome.

Thank you guys VERY much!!!

During the down time I've been getting some practice playing this very neat ski game from ORF. It's got a bunch of tracks from Kitzbuhel, Wengen, Beaver Creek and even the Whistler track. If you've got some time to kill check it out here: http://skichallenge.orf.at/sc10

This has been the scene in the finish for the past three days. Pretty depressing.


More questionable signage


The most ridiculously amazing house I have ever seen!


My amazing birthday dinner at Mongolie Grill. Who needs veggies anyways?

Olympic Start House


They really built up the start gate from previous years. Its about 75 meters of straight bully before you need to turn!


This is the first section of the course. Flat and rolly. It's hard to see because
there are no panels, but the track follows the dye over the rolls.


The first "challenge" in the course is this camel hump. Light on the first one, air off the second.


After a few Super-G turns you get to a decent-sized right-leg turn.


Same right legger. You can see how it drops off at the end because it's a jump as well!


Off the jump you need to get straight onto the left foot to make this cranker into the Weasel Flats section.


This angle gives you a little more clarification on how steep the previous section is.


The Weasel section ends with a big left-footer turn. You can feel yourself slow down
significantly through the left legger because it's such a big, flat turn.


But not to worry! You drop into the extremely steep Toilet Bowl section after the big left footer. Don't scrub
any speed on the left footer at the bottom of the pitch because that's a big flat/uphill ahead.


Following another right-footer "tunnel" jump, you drop off of the Fallaway turn. I've never seen a fallaway
like this one, or experienced a compression as big as the one at the bottom of this pitch!


After a short flats after the Fallaway, you are sucked into The Sewer. This huge sidehill is new for the Olympics.


Off the sidehill you really get into The Sewer. Sewer is by far the fastest section of the course,
and with a nearly 180 degree turn (Coaches Turn) at the bottom it's quite intimidating.


After Coaches you come across a long, slightly sidehill, left-footer that we nicknamed The Punisher.
By this point your legs are burning and the long left-footer does little to help your legs!


After a cranky right-footed turn out of The Punisher there are a few single gates
before the final two jumps of the course. This first one is called Boyd's Chin.


The landing of Boyd's Chin and the takeoff of Murr's Hoppe. It's a fairly small flight off of
Boyd's Chin, but Murr's Hoppe can have some decent air and distance!


The view off of the last jump, showcasing the giant stands! Can't wait to see those packed full of cheering, screaming (hopefully Canadian) fans!!

The Olympic Start House


Trav decked out in our forerunner gear


The stands in the finish of the DH


The back of the stands

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/

The first few gates of the Les Orres Downhill


Nice scenery behind the start


Questionable signage?

The Lenggries piste


Trav and I after Lenggries. (Trav joined the sweet shades crew)


The Geisberg pitch in Kirchberg


The famed Londoner Pub in Kitzbuhel. Never judge a book by its cover!


Jeff came 2nd at the Kirchberg FIS race that was stacked with World Cuppers


Nella got a new haircut for Wengen!


Trav loving slalom


Some of the terrain in Les Orres


The start of the downhill in Les Orres

This should not sleep two!


Site of the 1976 Innsbruck Olympics


Tom and I - Sweet Shades Club


Tom, our physio, doing what he does best


Slalom/GS training after the DH runs. (Europeans are organized when it comes to ski racing)


Innsbruck as viewed from the course


I now consider myself a wuss because this is how they used to ski downhill! No safety nets, just safety trees apparently!


Trav spent an afternoon completing this masterpiece.