The ‘sea of red’ at the ’97 World Champs in Trondheim

With a new season has come a new team for me for the first time in over eight years! I am still a part of the Canadian National Ski Team but am training full time now with the Alberta World Cup Academy under head coach Mike Cavaliere. While still maintaining its core program, The Academy added National Training Centre to its status this spring and is able to offer an outstanding lineup of coaches, athletes and training opportunities. I weighed a lot of options in the spring and the World Cup Academy was definitely the right fit for me.

The 2010 Alberta World Cup Academy Team on the Haig, Photo: AWCA

I have already had an outstanding spring and summer of training with a camp on snow in Silver Star, a great dry land camp in New Denver, BC and most recently a week of skiing up at the Haig Glacier…Oh The Haig, it’s almost impossible to describe my feelings about the Haig Glacier Camp. On paper it seems like it should be paradise but as many of the veterans on the team will tell you, the novelty has worn off long ago. If you’ve never been to the Haig you’re probably thinking to yourself ‘How can this be?’ Well I have one statement for you: The smell of burning, human, feces!

Being from Alberta and having the luxury of the Haig Glacier in my own backyard, I think that there are very few who have logged more days training at the Haig than I have. Last week, on one of my morning hikes up to the glacier from the camp, I tried to tally how many days I have spent at the Haig in my career. I couldn’t come up with an exact number but suffice to say that it is well over 150 days! It has been a long time since I have done a week long stretch at the Haig and I wasn’t thrilled about prospect of being there for an extended period of time, but with a young energetic team to keep the entertainment going it ended up being a pretty decent week. The highlight of the camp’s recreational activities was the highly anticipated 3^rd Annual Haig Glacier Disc Golf Championship. This four day affair saw some intense competition and I’m proud to say that I came out on top, winning the coveted AWCA trophy.

The shot heard around the world! My final shot to take the championship. Photo: Kevin Sandau

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The podium, L-R: Bob Thompson-3rd, Drew Goldsack-1st and Coach Eric Groneveld-2nd, Photo: Kevin Sandau

The camp wasn’t all fun and games though, of course there was a little training to be done too! One of my pet peeves is the approach many coaches and athletes take to training at the Haig, so here are a few recommendations from a guy who has logged some serious time at the Haig Glacier Camp:

1. You are there to ski and ski well. Leave the ‘look how many hours I can do’ attitude at home and focus on good quality skiing and technique. If this means only skiing 1 or 2 hours a day then so be it, avoid turning into the ‘Glacier Yeti’ as some of the AWCA team have coined the term for someone who shuffles around the loop, head down and technique the furthest thing from their mind.
2. Keep the afternoon training to a minimum or cut it completely, afternoon workouts are mediocre at best at the Haig and in my opinion are largely a waste of time and energy.
3. Unless you do elaborate hour long core/strength circuit exercises with little oxygen and no rest at home as part of your regular routine, the Haig is no place to start! Stick with some very simple and short strength maintenance and fill the rest of your time with some balance work and/or stretching.
4. You are living at 2400m and skiing at over 2600m so train accordingly, this means keeping the heart rate at the low end of zone 1, especially on the run in to the camp and the morning hike. For some reason, both the run in and the hike tend to turn into strong man competitions and will only speed your transformation into the ‘Glacier Yeti’. If you run into the camp in less than 2h15min you are going faster than 95% of the National Ski Team and more importantly, YOU ARE RUNNIG TOO HARD!
5. The words ‘Training Camp’ tend to invoke thoughts of huge hours and hard workouts, but in my opinion, this shouldn’t be the case for the glacier camp. Although it’s very easy to crank out the hours at the Haig, this is the best training camp of the year to worry about quality and forget about quantity. If you’re doing hours for the sake of trying to match a number on a piece of paper then you may be missing the whole point of the Haig Glacier Camp!
6. Have fun and enjoy the incredible setting of the glacier camp, and yes, that smell is in fact burning poo, spend as much time up wind from it as you can!

In the tape deck:

Artist: The White Panda, Track: Drake & Diane

Artist: Stromae, Track: Alors on Danse

Artist: Mike Posner, Track: Cooler Than Me(Gigamesh Remix)

Artist: Hoddie Allen, Track: You Are Not a Robot(feat. Marina & The Diamonds)

Overheard:

“No helmet on da bike? My mom would lose it!” –Alex Harvey

On the tube:

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Graham Nishikawa and Chris Butler heading for home after a hard day at the office… Photo: Drew Goldsack

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Slackline slack time, Heidi Widmer and Jess Cockney show off their skills on my slackline. Photo: Drew Goldsack

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The moon rising on a picture perfect evening up at the Haig, Photo: Drew Goldsack

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The Haig Camp in all its glory! Photo: Drew Goldsack

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Heidi Widmer, Emily Nishikawa and Marlis Kromm on the morning hike up to the clacier from camp. Photo: Drew Goldsack

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Enjoying some excellent conditions on the Haig, photo: Drew Goldsack

This article as well as other blogs and photos can also be found at skitrax.com

Thanks for reading!

-Drew Goldsack

For more photos from the camp can be found here: http://albertaworldcup.com/main.php?p=47&cat=127

A question I’ve been asked quite a lot lately is: ‘So…how was The Olympics?’ This seems like an obvious question but it’s almost a nearly impossible question to answer, especially in passing conversation. My standard reply has been what will surely be my number one memory from the 2010 Games: How unbelievably incredible the Canadian fans, volunteers and people of Vancouver were during the Olympics! Just being a part of the Canadian Olympic team was a thrill…unfortunately I didn’t race all that well but it was great to be able to share in the success of my cross country teammates and the success of the rest of the Canadian Olympic Team.

To try and answer the ‘How was the Olympics?’ question more accurately, here’s some of the highlights of the games for me (In no particular order):

-Watching Ivan, George and Alex all finish in the top 10 in the 30km pursuit, incredible!

-Watching the women’s Gold medal hockey game live!

-Seeing Alex and Devon finish 4th in a very close sprint relay.

-Watching the Finland-USA semi final hockey game with most of the Canadian Men’s hockey team, very impressed with the Men’s team, really friendly guys.

-Devon’s 5th place finish in the 50k.

-Seeing the gold medal awarded to Jon Montgomery and topping off the night with front row seats to The Stars concert in the Whistler Medals Plaza.

-Walking down Robson Street and feeling like a total celebrity!

-Watching the Men’s Gold Medal hockey game from the Canadian lounge in the Vancouver Athlete Village and hearing the roar of the city after each goal…

-Front row seats at the closing ceremonies.

-Being able to compete at the Olympics in front of my Family, Friends and all the incredible Canadian fans!

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In the tape deck:

Artist: Matt & Kim, Track: Daylight

Artist: Bag Raiders, Track: Shooting Stars

Overheard:

George: ‘Ivan, what’s in the box? [for breakfast]’
Ivan: ‘Waffles and chocolates.’

View from the front row at the closing ceremonies!

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Now these are fans! Mike Argue, Steve Heart, Brady Dunne, Andrew Leoni, Adam Hull and Matt Jeffries cheering on the boys in the 4x10km relay.

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GOLD! Women's gold medal hockey celebration.

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The view of BC Place and downtown Vancouver from the Canadian Athlete Lounge in the Vancouver village

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The always watchful eye of Olympic security forces who did an outstanding job!

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Alex and Brent enjoying the closing ceremonies.

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Myself, Stef and Brent, front row at the closing ceremonies!

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Good times at a Lululemon/Budweiser event during The Games!

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This post and others can also be found on skitrax.com

My debut at the 2010 Olympics was in the classic sprint race. Things didn’t go well and I ended up a disappointing 40^th place, narrowly missing qualifying for the heats. Although my result was very disappointing, the opportunity to race in front of the home crowd here in Whistler was one I’ll never forget. The crowd was deafeningly loud and it was so great to be able to compete in front of a large group of family and friends who came to see me race in the Olympic Games. My goal however was not to simply compete but to perform and unfortunately it just wasn’t my day. I was happy to see that at least a few of my teammates had a better sprint than me. Canada put two skiers into the top 30 and Stefan Kuhn skied a very strong heat, narrowly missing the semifinals. He ended up with an all time best Olympic sprint result for Canada, finishing in 15^th place, very impressive Stef!

The Olympic stadium at WOP

All of the volunteers, mission staff and spectators here in Vancouver/Whistler have been so incredibly supportive. I’ve been ski racing for many years but I’ve never experienced anything that has come close to the excitement and energy that has surrounded these Olympic Games. On one of the first days of The Games, I rode the bus in the evening from my arrival at the Vancouver airport to the Whistler Athlete Village. We drove through the middle of Vancouver and it was surreal to see almost every home, restaurant or bar we passed lit up by a TV broadcasting The Olympics. I have to give a big THANK YOU to all of the supporters out there!

It is unlikely that I will get another start at the Olympics, so all I can do now is stay ready should the opportunity to race arise and cheer my teammates on. As our team builds momentum going into the last half of the games, I’m sure Canada is in store some very exciting ski racing still to come!

In the tape deck: Artist: LMFAO, Track: La La La(Hyper Crush Remix)

Overheard: ‘The Olympics is kid of a big deal.’ –Devon Kershaw

Perfect conditions up in the ‘Norwegian Woods’ training trails in Callaghan Valley.

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The grandstand at the WOP cross country stadium.

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The perks of having Coca-Cola as a sponsor of the Olympics!

Our arrival at The Virginian

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A trip is never complete without a little ‘local flavor’…flip flops, a husky guy, a mini bike, I can only assume alcohol and roads of solid ice, I thought I was about to see a real live episode of Fox’s: ‘When motorcycles attack’!

Methow Valley boasts over 120miles of groomed ski trails which left me wondering why I had never been to the area before! Warm weather and a busy weekend of racing meant that I would not see much of the trail system but maybe someday I’ll make it back to explore more…

Four days of steady rain is never a good start to a race weekend but with a little cooperation from the weather and some really hard work from the volunteers (trail workers shoveled ton upon ton of snow onto the race course Friday afternoon.) they were able to pull off two solid races. The sprint event on Saturday was held at the Liberty Bell High School near Winthrop and despite all the rain in the days prior, the course was in excellent shape. Unexpected clear skies and cold temps overnight helped the course set up really well and made for rocket fast sprint racing. The day started off poorly for me, I turned in a terrible qualifying time but was able to turn things around in the heats. I felt stronger and stronger through the day and in a hard fought final, I was able to come away with a 2^nd place finish.

The sprint stadium at Liberty Bell High School

Due to the warm weather and lack of snow in town, Sunday’s 15km classic race had to be moved from the high school up to a nearby alpine ski area called Loup Loup. Unfortunately, the warm, wet weather returned for Sunday creating really difficult conditions. With new snow overnight and heavy wet fog through the day, harries was about the only thing working reliably. With the soft conditions, the track quickly got washed out and squirrelly. Almost the whole field ended up racing on some form of harries and despite the miserable conditions, harries were actually working quite well. I put together another decent race, finishing 3^rd in a very tight 15km.

The atmosphere in Methow Valley for the race weekend was great, the locals were very friendly and it seemed that everyone in town was excited about the race. There was a great turnout for spectators and the races ran quite smoothly considering the difficulties with the weather. It was great to be a part of such a top notch event put on by the organizers and thanks to the volunteers for all their hard work…hey, any place that gives out coffee and beer for awards is alright with me!!

In the Tape Deck:

Track: Doctor Doctor (Fred Falke Remix) Artist: Just Jack

Track: The Freshmen, Artist: Villains (An old one but a good one! This one will take you back to the 90’s!)

On the Tube:

This kid cracks me up! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqiwrbYGrs

I think maybe the Counting Crows put it best: “A long December and there’s reason to believe / Maybe this year will be better than the last / I can’t remember the last thing that you said as you were leaving / Oh the days go by so fast…”

December was quite possibly one of the most important months ever for ski racers in Canada. For the first time since 1997, Olympic Trials would be held in Canada to select the final members of the Canadian Olympic Team, meaning that any ski racer in Canada had the extraordinary opportunity to fight for a spot at the 2010 Games in Vancouver. The criteria was relatively straight forward; win one of the four selection races (10/15km Skate, 2 Classic Sprints and a 30/50km) and you’d put your name at the top of a very competitive list of Olympic hopefuls…virtually guaranteeing a spot at the games. Skiers selected at the trials would be added to those already having met the primary selection criteria from the previous World Cup season; Devon Kershaw, George Grey, Alex Harvey, Ivan Babikov, Sara Renner, Perianne Jones and Chandra Crawford.

Official naming of the Olympic team is still a week or two away and will be largely  influenced by the head scratching new system put forward by FIS which limits each country to a ‘quota’ of athletes that can be named to the Olympic Team. This quota is based on a Nation’s World Cup results, FIS points as well as other factors of performance/international ranking. The final number of skiers that Canada will be allowed to send to the Olympics is currently unknown and will be decided shortly after The Tour de Ski is over but should be somewhere in the range of 12-16 skiers.

With the Olympic Trials now behind me, I am proud to say that I did what I had to do! My road to the trials was a tough one and certainly not ideal or as planned, but thanks to the outstanding support of those around me I was able to persevere and perform when it really counted. Though I had a realistic chance to qualify in any of the selection races, the sprint events were definitely the focus for me and my best shot at qualifying for the games. I finished off the Olympic sprint trials with a 2^nd place finish on day one and a 1^st place finish on day two to essentially clinch a spot on the Olympic Team.

Men’s day 2 sprint podium, 1st Drew Goldsack, 2nd Brent McMurtry 3rd Graham Nishikawa. Photo: skifaster.net

The men’s sprint field was stacked with some of the best skiers in North America, including Canadian and US Champions, past Olympians and a number of skiers with multiple top 30 World Cup results.  It’s a great testament to the level of skiing in North America when you have more skiers with potential for top 30’s and podium finishes at the Olympics than you have spots on the Olympic Team. Unfortunately some of those skiers, who are not only teammates but some of my closest friends, will be left behind when the team departs for the Olympics this February.  It’s hard to look ahead and think of competing in Whistler without teammates like Sean Crooks or Phil Widmer who were by my side at the 2006 Games. We have pushed each other hard for the past number of years and have always been neck and neck for countless workouts and races. Any one of us could have taken a spot on the Olympic Team and I just happened to be the one who came out on top that weekend. I owe these guys and all of my teammates for constantly pushing my limits and driving me to be stronger, better and faster. This kind of cut-throat competition is after all the nature of high performance sport and though it is certainly disappointing for the skiers who didn’t make the team, it’s very encouraging for the future of cross country skiing in Canada to see the level getting so high and the competition so fierce.

There’s lots of exciting racing to come in 2010 so check back soon for updates on all the action!

In the Tape Deck:

Song: If I Ever Feel Better, Artist: Phoenix

Song: Heads Will Roll (Digiraatii Dance Til You’re Dead Remix), Artist: Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Overheard: “Is that weird that Devon Kershaw was doing core in my room, pant-less? Oh well, at least George was filming.” –Alex Harvey

This article and other updates can also be found on skitrax.com

Have a read here: link

The early start was also aided by a ‘test’ project to farm (or store) snow made the previous winter. A large pile of snow was blown at the Nordic Centre last winter and then covered with sawdust in the spring to help slow the melting through the summer. The crews were then able to clear the sawdust from the pile in the fall and spread it out for skiing. I think to the surprise of many, the snow farming worked very well and in my opinion, it was a resounding success! Farming snow is a common practice in Scandinavia but as far as I know this is the first time it has been attempted in North America. Hopefully this winter we’ll see a much larger scale operation that will rival the mountains of snow they make in northern Finland!

We’ve had some of the earliest skiing I can remember in the Canmore area and though it started out as an extremely short (<5min) loop in Canmore, it was great to get back on the boards again!! Not too long after we were on snow in Canmore, the Old Faithful of early skiing…Moraine Lake Rd. in Lake Louise opened for the season. The team spent two weeks at a mini training camp based between Lake Louise and Canmore and we had a great opportunity to get in some big hours of training, test new skis and even get in a few time trials…all before the middle of November!

Graeme Killick and technician Joel Jaques test out some new skis in near perfect conditions on Moraine Lake Road.

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Gearing up for an interval session in Lake Louise.

The start of the ski season is always loaded with excitement for me, new equipment arrives, the snow starts to fly and the racing season is just around the corner. Some of my most memorable and enjoyable ski workouts are the first long ski sessions of the year, flying over freshly fallen snow, many times guided only by the light of my headlamp and fully enjoying the silence of trails winding deep through the woods.

A few years ago I came across this great letter from the editor of Axis Magazine in the first issue of the season. Axis is a freeride ski mag and the letter was written with alpine skiing in mind but I think it applies really well to cross country skiing as well.  I couldn’t have put my feelings for skiing and the ski lifestyle any better!

‘While the world awaited the court’s decision on who would be the next American president, I went skiing. While men and women continued to clean up ground zero, I went skiing. While soldiers fought and died in the Afghan desert, I went skiing. While “shock and awe” shook the ground of the Middle East, I went skiing.

A certain amount of guilt came over me this year, as I would turn off the 24-hour war coverage to go skiing. Why wasn’t I over there documenting this war, trying to make a difference in this crazy world? This question and doubt in my chosen path would often haunt me while I rode the lifts or sat in the backcountry on a picture-perfect powder morning.

I never found an answer to my troubling question. I still don’t know if I am doing the “the right thing.” I do know that skiing makes me happy- it helps me to forget about all the negative things waiting for me when I turn on the TV. Some people may say I’m just hiding from the world’s problems, soaring high above them on ski lifts of ignorance. I say skiing is not an escape but a better way of life. Skiing is a worldwide community that celebrates life and nature, and is fueled by boundless creativity and positive energy. I don’t think that’s such a bad thing to contribute my time to. So I dedicate this issue to everyone else out there contributing what he or she can to making this world a little bit better.’

-Matt Levinthal, Editor Axis Magazine

Enjoy the start of a new season, hope to see you on the trails!

-Drew Goldsack

In the Tape Deck:

Artist: La Roux, Album: La Roux

Overheard:

“Who uses italics anyway?” –Sean Crooks on his disapproval of the use of italics

On the Tube:

Andy Newell of the USST throws down on cross country skis!

Newell X Ski from Andrew Newell on Vimeo.

This article and other skier blogs can also be found on skitrax.com

Mammoth, our final dryland camp of the season finished off without a hitch. The highlight of the last few weeks in Mammoth was a trip to Yosemite National Park to do a run/hike up Half Dome peak.  Not only is Yosemite a world famous National Park, but it’s also one of the most famous and popular climbing destinations in the World! The towering granite walls of Half Dome and El Capitain are a hardcore climber’s dream, not to mention a spectacular sight to see.

A great view of the Yosemite Valley with towering El Cap on the left and Half Dome on the right.

Our first day in Yosemite was a rest day so we took advantage of some free time to check out the Yosemite Village and then get settled in our accommodation to rest up for our 5 hour run/hike up Half Dome the following day. Unbeknownst to many of the members of the team we would be staying in army style tents in an area fittingly called Tent Village. Now normally this wouldn’t be so bad but tenting in October with sub zero temps and no heat made for one chilly night spent huddled under the army issue wool blankets. Needless to say there were some unhappy campers in the morning. Peter Larsson said it best- ‘For sure this is the coldest I have been in my life!’

Tent Village…

Inside our tent, not bad at all except for the cold!!

The next morning we got up bright and early, shook the frost off our gear and headed out to tackle Half Dome. A trip that takes your average (Insert fat American joke here) tourist anywhere from 12 hours to 3 days, took us just 5 hours! Half Dome is a truly spectacular hike, climbing around 1500m over 8 miles, this is a grueling trek but well worth the punishment. With some incredible waterfalls and great views along the way, this is easily one of the coolest hikes I have ever done.

The view of Half Dome from the valley floor.

The crew on our way up Half Dome.

As you approach the summit of Half Dome there’s one last pitch that is insanely steep, cables and poles have been attached to the rock to help hikers make their way to the top without need for extra gear. It’s tough to tell from the photos just how steep the pitch is but I assure you, it would not be possible to climb without the help of the cables…

Catching a breather before making the final push for the summit, notice the cables on the left side of the pic. used to make the final climb possible without gear. (L-R) Sean, Stef and I

With our final dryland camp in the bag it was time to return to Canmore for some much needed reast and recovery. Thanks to mother nature and some hard work from the snow making crew at the Canmore Nordic Centre, we were lucky enough to return home to a short but sweet 400m loop of skiing. It isn’t much but for October you can’t complain! I’m happy to say that I’ve only rollerskied once since returning from Mammoth and it looks like that session will have been my last!

In the tape deck:

Album: The Blueprint III, Artist: Jay-Z

On the Tube:

Only in Russia! http://www.biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=16560

Overheard:

‘For sure this is the coldest I have been in my life!’ -Peter Larsson

The whole crew at the top, Back row l-r: Sean, Graeme, Peter, Myself. Front Row l-r Stef(Don’t let the smile fool you he’s terrified!) and Brian

This article, and other skier blogs can also be found on skitrax.com , Check it out!