Back to the roots....

2004 / 2005 was my first year that I raced under the Canadian flag for Mont-Tremblant ski club.

Lots of you might not know my history. So here is a quick review... 

My mother is Canadian and my father is Italian from Suedtirol. I skied until I was 18 years old for Italy, and because of injury I did not make the Italian National Ski Team. 

Since I was a young boy all I wanted to do was ski race and to be a World Cup winner and I often thought about racing for Canada. So when I got injured and the Italian National Team did not take me, I thought now would be the best opportunity to switch nation and race for Canada. So I called Alpine Canada and they told me that I would need to race the Nor-Am Cups to qualify for their National Team and that they would be happy to have me. 

Because of my mom, I had my Canadian passport which made the nation switch a lot easier.

To make a long story short. 

The first time I came to Canada to race, I landed in Calgary early one evening and I did not know where to go. All I knew was that I would be racing 3 days upon setting foot in Canada and I needed to get to Lake Louise somehow. 

After hanging out at the airport for some time, because no bus would depart that late in the day, some friends of friends ( that I didn’t know ) told me that they would have someone pick me up and that I could stay at their home for a few days.

Two days after hanging out in Calgary I took a greyhound bus to Lake Louise for the Nor-Am Cup races.

That year I raced Nor-Am Cups, National Championship races and lots of F.I.S. races and I qualified for the Canadian National Development Team. The year after that, in April 2006 I was racing with the Nation’s Team. 

Last year I was supposed to race the GS at the Olympics in Vancouver, and 4 days before the race I tore my ACL in my left knee and could not participate. 

Since April 2010 I am officially not on the National Team anymore.

5 years have passed since I started my Canadian journey. I am still following my dream of winning a World Cup and will once again try to qualify for the Canadian National Ski Team. 

The task will be tough (and expensive) but I am willing to go the extra mile to reach my goals.

Back to the roots, me in the bus from Nakiska to Calgary airport. 

Thought this is a cool shot.

My flight to Denver and then one more flight to Aspen.

Leaving Calgary behind...

Getting closer to Aspen. 

Now I am in Aspen and I am staying here with a friend of mine from team TNT ( team no team ) Warner Nickerson. Tomorrow will be my first race back after my knee surgery. I am really looking forward to being in the starting gate and giving  it my best.

We are staying at one of Warner' s family friends' home It is a beautiful home which overlooks the whole town of Aspen.  Stay posted and you will soon see more.

Thank you Sport Dinaco.

I am proud to announce one of my new sponsors. Sport Dinaco passion for quality, is the exclusive Canadian distributor for quality high end outdoor products.

Larry Nardone, is not only the head of Sport Dinaco, but also a great friend of mine and a strong supporter of ski racing. I have been using some of the products that Sport Dinaco imports.
X bionic sportswear is one of many of these products. It is the most comfortable and efficient system gear which I have ever used. It is reliable in all weather conditions. 

I just love it.  Check it out. 

It keeps my body always at the same body temperature, whether I am inside the tram getting ready or outside skiing in the cold, my body never gets too hot or too cold.

It was really super cold the last days here in Nakiska so it is always nice to be warmly dressed. 

After all these cold days of skiing it is nice to think about the summer. 

Larry and I this summer at World Disney in Orlando.

Thank you very much for all your support and your help.

Jeff 

Brrrrrrrrrr -25°C and colder

The past days have been really cold, and the up coming days look like more of the same. I think this is one of the coldest days I have ever skied, and there have been several. At the same time the humidity was super high as well, so it even felt colder. We have to go in to the lodge after every run and warm up our bodies before heading back up for the next run.

Marie-Pier Prefontaine, one of the girls on the national team, started making a bunch of cool neck warmers over the last years, and it seems to be picking up more and more every year. The name of it is I GOT SWAGG. She hooked me up with one, and I am so happy to have it, without it it would make it a lot worse out the in the cold.

To find out more about MP and information about I GOT SWAGG, check this out:
http://www.teamigotswagg.com/

On the way up it looked cold already.

MP, the founder of I GOT SWAGG. Yea, you rock!!!

Cook and I on the way up reppin' the I GOT SWAGG for warmth. 

This is the chair we are taking up to get to the start, 95 % of the time it is in the fog because of the snow guns. 

Frank Bourque trying to keep warm.

I tried to get the shot of the rainbow on the left side of the picture, it was difficult to capture. 

On the top of the run, getting ready to ski into the snow making fog.

Cheers and talk to you soon. 

Jeff 

Snow in Nakiska!?

This morning when I woke up and looked out the window I could not  believe my eyes. Although the weather forecast predicted snowfall I did not really want to believe it.  The teams pre season ski training is always here in Alberta but in four years of training here it has never snowed as much as it did last night. Because of that we had a day off instead. Apparently it snowed about 25 cm on the top of the mountain.

So we spent our day a bit differently. First I went and did some slacklining with the girls in the garage and then we went to play soccer in the deep powder out side.

Check out the pictures and you will see....

Snow in Nakiska!?

 Giorgia on the slack line...

I thought I would give it a shot... It's pretty cool.

Kelly just jumping off as I take the picture.

In the lobby of the hotel.... Christmas is coming soon. People are putting up christmas decoration.

On the way to soccer, Dustin could not wait to get the first shot under his belt!!

The soccer team, from the right. Louis P.Helie, Dustin Cook, Kelby Halbert, Ben Thomsen, womens coach David White, and my self. 

P.S. Where is the soccer ball!!!????

Louis with his white beard, tried to stop sliding with his face.

It was a good day, but I really hope that the weather will get better tomorrow so we can train some SG and GS.

All the best!

Jeff

A good day in Calgary!!

Yesterday morning we trained GS with the French team here in Nakiska. It was a good morning, and I am feeling better each day. I am still not fully in race mode, but getting closer each training session. 

After our training on snow we drove to Calgary for a good dry land session with Matt Price, who is the teams dryland coach. We worked out at the Canadian Olympic Park.  It is about an hour car ride from Nakiska to get there, but the drive was really worth it.  

C.O.P. is a great training facility for athletes. You’ll find all sorts of equipment from lifting platforms to ice baths and services like physiotherapy. It was a really good workout with Matt and the rest of the team.

On the way to Calgary. 

Warming up on the bike.

Me doing some jumps.

Matt explaining an exercise on the vibration plate.

On the vibration plate.

Crazy hamstring exercise, as you can see in JPs face!!

After dry land we met with Derek Robinson the teams sport psychologist. He is the best sport psychologist I have ever met. I worked with him  about four years ago when I firs qualified for the national team. He helped me in a lot of ways to achieve my goals. I was really happy to see him again, and I will work with him in the next few weeks before the racing season starts. 

Talk to you soon,

Jeff

Back in Canada!!

Last week I traveled back to Canada. I spent the weekend with my girlfriend Julie,  the Langevin family and my parents in Mont-Tremblant, one of my favorite places.  It’s very calm and relaxing up there.

It was nice to enjoy the beauty of Tremblant, it’s the “in between season” where the leaves have fallen from the trees but the snow hasn’t reached the ground yet.  Only the top of the hill was covered in snow!

Now I am back with the Canadian Team out west, in Nakiska. I will be training here for about ten days. There is not that much snow yet, but the temperature is good to make snow 24 hours a day. 

One of the training hilsl is ready, it is a difficult one, especially now because there is not that much snow, it makes the terrain a lot stronger shaped then in the mid winter.

I am really happy to be back with the boys. I did not see most of them since my surgery in February. It’s always nicer to be part of a group and not flying solo!

Line up in the morning, not as intense as in Europe. 

Dustin Cook warming up in the lodge before hitting the slops. 

They are making as much snow as they possibly can. 

What a great day it was today, super snow and a wonderful day overall. 

Lisa the physio, still adapting to the cold weather, she just came back from a three week surf vacation in Indonesia. 

Pat of our GS course this morning. It is a really cool GS hill.

JP is all exited and ready for the day. 

Our team Picasso, coach Kip dyeing the course. 

I will keep you up to date on my training here in Nakiska and all sorts of things. 

Cheers,

Jeff