A Day with a Paralympic Gold Medallist and Powder

So today was broken up into two parts. In the morning we woke up late (as in the sun was just about to rise, 8.30am) and had breakky . We then moved into the garage where we learnt ski tuning 101. This was really cool as I had no idea on how to take care of skis and never gave a thought to how involved it is. To think that all the rental skis I have hired were taken care of as good as it should have been is now a head shaker. Firstly it was about smoothing the burrs out of the edge of the skis. This was done with a number of different tools but they were all either stones or files Then we learnt how to file an edge (we used a 88 degree but racers generally do 87). Once the edge is sharpened a diamond stone file is used to finish it off. Then it was off to waxing 101. We learnt how to scrape off the old wax, heat the iron and then apply wax onto the skis using the iron. Finally the iron is used to smooth the wax onto the ski. I never understood how involved the process is, even though done properly it takes less than twenty minutes. After lunch it was off for a ski! It had been snowing consistently for about 16 hours straight. It was a small, light snow with a little moisture, so it was at times sticky. The road to the mountain was full of snow, over ten feet where the road clearing machines pushed the excess. I hooked up with my guide, Scott Adams, Kimberley resident but an Aussie Paralympic Medallist. He took me right around the mountain and showed me the best runs. The fall lines are amazing. Really steep in places and in windswept corners the powder averaged 60 centimeters in places. It was real leg burning material. We focussed on synchronised skiing. This is for racing purposes.My upper body problems are resolved but I am now skiing with a wider stance and it is weird especially on the steeps. Scott was doing his fair share of head shaking but for me the problems were the conditions. I am not used to powder skiing and was in a way missing the harder, more granulated man made snow of Australia! This will have to change! The Paralympic World Cup starts on Wednesday in Kimberley and I am especially pysched to see the best in the world. Hopefully I will meet some more people in my division and have a ski with them to determine how good (or bad!) I am. Whatever the case I am happy where I am now, I want to improve, and nothing is going to stop me! We finsihed the day off with beer and waffle fries (fries in the shape of waffles!) and a bit of ice skidding in the van. Tommorrow is a full day's training, 8am up on the mountain (in pitch black) for a couple of hours, lunch and recovery, then another couple of hours more training in the arvo. No muckin around here! Photos to come wednesday night (about midday thursday sydney time). Will have some photos of the best paralympic skiers in the world! signing off benski