August 28, 2009 – Last week the team and I departed for our biggest and possibly most important camp of the season; three weeks of training on snow in New Zealand. The trip to New Zealand is not a short one by any meansSit’s approximately 17 hours total flying time from Calgary to Queenstown and about 24 hours from my door in Canmore to the Snow Farm in New Zealand. Luckily I have been blessed with an innate Goldsack Family ability to sleep pretty much anywhere, anytime, which certainly makes the travelling/ski racing lifestyle a whole lot easier.

Last year, Air New Zealand added a direct Vancouver to Auckland flight which means we are now able to avoid connecting through the U.S. and more importantly we no longer have to clear US customs which knocks hours off of our total travel time. The travel day to New Zealand turned out to be quite painless. Having done the trip many times before, I can easily say that this was the most painless trip yet. I managed to crank out a solid 9.5 hours of sleep on the Vancouver>Auckland flight, a feat I’m quite proud of! This means that the 14 hour or so flight didn’t feel much longer than a flight to Toronto! We arrived late in the morning in Queenstown to a bright and sunny winter day.

The Mountaintops were blanketed in snow and the air had that fresh wintery smell to it. Quite the contrast to the warm August weather we had left behind in Canada just 24 hours before. This is by far the biggest Canadian contingent to descend on the Snow Farm, the entire Senior A and B team is here as well as athletes from the CNEPH (Quebec National Training Centre) and the National Para-Nordic team. All told our group is 30 strong including athletes and staff (which includes four coaches: Dave Wood, Inge Braten, Eric De Nys, Louis Bouchard , Wax Tech- Graham Maclean, Physiologist- Jodi Hawley, Massage Therapist- Stephen Waterus, aka Wolf Man and Physiotherapist- Ronnie Neergaard) plus another 10 or so Para Nordic athletes and staff! After getting the rental cars organized the team mobilized like a small army.

We loaded our gear into three vans each towing a small trailer and departed for our assault on the Snow farm, an easy 45 min drive away. This was my first time on snow since having surgery on my ankle in March and needless to say I was anxious to get back skiing. We arrived to spring like conditions, very warm sunny weather and loads of snow. It has been one of the best winters on record in New Zealand and the snow base is definite proof of that, with close to a meter of base on much of the trail system!

Most of our first week was spent getting over mild jet lag and getting used to being back on snow. The main focus for the camp is to get in good quality time on snow and lots of it! With an average of 3-4 hours of skiing a day, and up to 6 hours for some of the big boys, it’s a hard three weeks of training for the team. There’s lots of hard training ahead and it looks like the snow will be solid through to the end of the camp so check back soon for a report on the New Zealand Winter Games races and the final few weeks of the camp.

One last thing, there’s a great fundraising campaign going on right now for Canada’s Olympic Athletes. If you’d like to help support Canada’s Olympians, please visit this website: www.snowday09.com and get in on the fun!! Encourage everyone you know throw a snowball too!

Overheard:
‘Schlappin’ da bass man’ – Heard echoing through the halls of the Snow Farm after nearly everyone on the team watched the movie ‘I Love you Man’ on the flight to NZ.

In the tape deck:
– Track: In for the Kill, Artist: La Roux
– Track: I got a feeling, Artist: Black Eyed Peas
– On the tube: This video is a classic, especially if you’ve ever talked to a Kiwi!