The last word...

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:02:19 -0600

And so it ends... Fall Camp. It was a great camp for everyone. As usual the we all had a lot of fun, including the coaches. And I think the kids certainly learned a lot. Not only about skiing, but also about life and friendships. And that is what Team Norway is all about.

For me it was also a great experience. Not only was it a chance to exercise my creativity, but it was also an opportunity for me to spend some quality time with my fellow coaches and friends.

Many of you probably don’t realize that in the off months I shoot a lot of landscape and nature photos. I got quite serious about it earlier this year and added a digital SLR camera to my collection of gear. So my goal this year was to get all this gear out to Colorado so I could capture the surreal beauty I always experience while out there.

I was surprised when I realized that I captured over 3,300 photos over the course of 11 days! 1,000 of these were posted to the Team Norway photo gallery. I was also quite happy with the number of unique landscape photos that I took. I think I did capture the unique beauty that surrounds you when there.

For the techies in the crowd here is what I used to accomplish this.
- Canon 20D DSLR body
- 18-55mm lens (used mostly for landscape photos)
- 75-300mm IS lens (used mostly racing action photos)
- Sony DSC-H1 (used as a more portable point and shoot)
- Apple MacBook Pro notebook computer
- Adobe Lightroom photo management software
- Apple iWeb for creating blogs

Check out the Team Norway photo gallery for all the photos from fall camp.

Check out my personal photo website MERimages.net for my landscape and wildlife photography.

The Grand Finale?

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 10:08:40 -0600

It has come to be a tradition that during the last night at fall camp some of the senior camp members put some of their creative energy to work during the wee morning hours. Maybe it’s because they’ve had so much rest this past week. Below are a couple of their creative accomplishments.

As a courtesy to their head coach, to help make sure he would wake up early enough, a couple of alarm clocks were placed (read hidden) in his room. They went off at 3:45 AM. And when Ron went to go out of his room he was greeted with 8 pizza hut boxes duct taped together. I think it was a “coach screen” intended to insulate Ron from the activities going on in the hallway in the wee morning hours. They are so considerate. At any rate the coaching staff gave them high marks for their recycling efforts.

And then there are the morning patrols that occur on this last evening at fall camp. I’m not who get’s more of a kick out of this. Don or the kids. Of course Don has the inside scoop as to what goes on here. His kids attended this camp for years. There is reason to believe some deep secrets were shared during father and son debriefings.

This year Don found that cell phones were quite helpful in locating activity during his hall patrols. In one particular counter intelligence sweep Don managed to locate activity in one of the rooms by zeroing in on a cell phone ring. If someone is getting a call that most likely means that the troops are about to make a move. So instead of simply standing in the hall waiting for doors to open and heads to peak out looking for patrols, Don simply laid on the floor. Apparently it was rather humorous to see a head pop out of the door and look up and down the hall. And once they were convinced the coast was clear and stepped out into the hall, they were quite surprised to find a coach lying on the floor looking up at them. Busted!!!

And then there is the morning packing of the van’s and athletes at 5:15 AM. We managed to get everyone out here in the same 3 vans a week ago, but I think the altitude tends to cause luggage expansion. Of course the athletes love this experience. Some are even cocooned into the van surrounded by their teammates luggage. But Ron assured me that the athletes will not be back charged for this experience. It was already figured into the camp fees as a value added service.

So what’s so tough about getting to the airport? How about multiplying the uncertainty of travel by 23. The number of things that can go wrong are exponential. The good thing is that this time were NO issues checking in. But we all still remember the time a couple of years ago when Ron dropped off his bag curb side and had the coaches check him in while he went to return the vans. Pretty soon a phone call was made to Ron. “Um, Ron... they won’t take your bag. It’s 80 pounds!”. Since that day Ron encourages the use of the bathroom scale to check baggage before flying.

Check out the photo gallery for all the photos from fall camp.

My Apologies to the Membership

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:04:33 -0600

Okay, I tried to be good and keep LaMoyne out of the blog, but it’s impossible! I made a mistake once again and let LaMoyne take the camera. So I apologize for those photos with athletes doing crazy things. I didn’t do it!

Actually, LaMoyne got some really fun photos. You can see the complete set in the photo photo gallery. His are the one where the kids start acting crazy!

The highlight of the evening was Quentin playing and singing some of his original songs. No, LaMoyne couldn’t actually play the guitar, but he looked like he could.

This year the gift to the athletes were an 8x10 photo for each athlete of them training this week. RJ did a great job capturing the pics and getting them printed in time for the party.

Back in the Groove

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:14:06 -0600

Well, things were much better today in the world of ski racing. No mishaps, damaged equipment, lost items, nothing. That was nice. And as an added bonus our team is back to ski racing!

As it usually happens it takes that first day to get the jitters out of the way and get our kids back to what they do best, ski race. And today was a perfect example of just that. The coaching staff saw a markedly improved level of skiing and were very pleased with the results from our 2nd day in the gates.

Tomorrow we put on the slalom skis and run some gates in the afternoon. I expect we will see some excellent skiing there as well.

Check out the photo gallery for a lot more ski racing action photos as well as the usual just being there pics.

A Fall Camp Tradition, Cluster Day!

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 23:43:29 -0600

It happens every fall camp on the first day of gate training. Things just don’t seem to go as planned. And this year again was no exception.

No one can really explain it, but on this first day that the athletes get to ski in gates it seems all sorts of things go wrong.

Today it started with Michael Larson’s GS ski. As he was getting them ready for skiing this morning he noticed that the base was separating from the rest of the ski! Fortunately, Ed Gassman, our rocky mountain coach, came to the rescue by getting the local Atomic rep to take care of getting it replaced. And also coming up with a pair of GS skis for Michael to ski on for today. Ed has connections that’s for sure. As LaMoyne puts it (LaMoyne makes his way into this again?!?) “Ed can sell a ketchup popsicle to a girl in a white dress”. Hey, I didn’t make that up!

And then there are the usual organizational details required to get the course set in a timely manner. Of course we go through this with the entire team the night before so nothing can go wrong. It’s a well oiled machine the night before. It’s missing a lot of parts the day of! Maybe Ron should have gave us a pop quiz. Actually, it wasn’t that bad, but at the time it can seem like it.

And then there is the skiing. This is where the kids get to start doing what it is they have been wanting to do since last season. Ski in actual gates. But this is a world cup caliber race run with rock hard snow and undulating terrain. It differs slightly from Norway Mountain. Okay, it differs a lot! I guess it’s no small wonder that everything we thought they knew how to do sort of goes on vacation for the afternoon.

But when it’s all over we add up the negatives and realize that it was a pretty good day after all. We had to have this first day sometime. Just like we tell athletes who are stuck with LaMoyne for the day... tomorrow will be better!

Check out the photo gallery for more photos from today including some race pics and our trip to Breckenridge after skiing.

All In A Day's Work

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 20:17:58 -0600

Maybe you have noticed it, maybe you haven’t, but there seems to be a consistent theme emanating from this years camp. LaMoyne. It seems that not a day goes by without him catching a headline in the local press. Okay, so it’s the Team Norway blog, but let’s face it. He gets our attention. So it would only be fitting that we add a blog entry that will give him the attention that he begs for.

If you look on our website under the coaches section you will see his picture along with his long list of credentials. First of all he is our medical director. I’m not sure how he got that title, but I’m pretty sure we don’t want him responsible for the health and well being of our athletes.

And then there are the letters after his name, “L-ATC, CSCS”. Must be some pretty important top secret stuff. I say top secret because I don’t think anyone actually knows what it means. Not even LaMoyne. My theory is it’s a typo. Why would you want to have it end with the letters CSCS? It looks like a typo! Actually, I think the whole write up is one big typo, but that’s just my theory.

But seriously, LaMoyne is an important part of our program. The importance is that we have to deal with him on a daily basis. Yes, each day Ron has to apologize as he assigns another athlete to LaMoyne’s group for the day. But as Ron says, “Look on the bright side, tomorrow will be better”.

But seriously, we all do love LaMoyne. He is definitely a favorite of all the athletes and coaches and a huge part of Team Norway. He brightens our day and entertains our world. I will now leave you with a bit of advice that LaMoyne gave me earlier this week. Don’t play leap frog with a unicorn. I’m not sure I get it... :)

The Cheddar Cheese Theory?

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 20:53:16 -0600

Oh boy. How do I start this one. Actually, I’m trying to figure this out myself. I think the theory goes like this. If you like your head coach, give him pink panties for his cheddar cheese cheeks?!?

Here is how it all went down. After the morning coaching session, LaMoyne’s group (Shelby, Sarah and Danielle) come inside talking about what cheese each of them should be called. Of course this is not at all a surprise to the rest of us. It is normal for anyone exposed to LaMoyne for more than 5 minutes to act different than they previously did. That’s why Team Norway has liability forms.

But the cheese naming thing was apparently getting some mileage. Before long names were being handed out. Sarah was string cheese, Shelby was cheese curd and Danielle was pepper jack or “PJ” for short. And the instigator of all of this, LaMoyne, was assigned baby swiss because like him, it has some holes in it. The point of all of this? There never is a point!

I thought that was the end of it, but somewhere between lunch and the next break the kids came up with a little gift for Ron. Pink ABasin panties signed by each of the athletes and written on the front was “To Hold Your BIG Cheddar Cheese Cheeks!!”. Oh boy. I really have nothing more to say!!!

In other news... skiing at ABasin was quite good. It snowed lightly all day. No major accumulation, but it made the snow quite nice. And it kept it from getting so warm. In fact at the top of the mountain it was quite windy and cold in typical ABasin style. Check out the Photo Gallery for more pics from the day.

Blue Skies and Sunshine

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:56:20 -0600

This morning started like most mornings here in Colorado. A little frost on the car windows, a nip in the air. But I seem to remember seeing something about todays forecast and that it would get into the 50’s today. That’s pretty much what we got. Spring like conditions in November!

When I hear spring conditions the first thought that crosses my mind is yucky, slushy snow. Fortunately, that was not the case. It had to be in the 50’s. Maybe hotter, but the snow was still firm all day. It was downright hot in places on the mountain where there was no wind. And where there was wind it was a welcome relief.

And during lunch there were people eating outside on the patio and deck. In fact, the restaurant was grilling food on the patio! Did someone forget to tell them it was November? Weren’t they worried about the snow that was in the forecast?

As for the snow in the forecast. That is supposed to happen tonight and tomorrow. But it doesn’t look like it’s supposed to be much of anything. And the rest of the week looks like a repeat of today. Highs in the 40’s and 50’s. At least we aren’t going to be having any issues with frostbite!

And by the way, the kids are all doing fine. They are enjoying this weather and happy to be on snow again. As for the warm weather? It’s just another adventure.

The Team Norway Zoo is open!

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 20:33:27 -0600

Arrival day... the day things get a bit crazy... and stay crazy for the next 9 days. It starts with a drive down the mountains back to the airport where we wait for the athletes and remaining coaches to arrive. And then 1 by 1 or sometimes 2 by 2, actually it’s more like herd by herd, the athletes arrive.

This year, through the use of new technology, we managed to keep the coaches occupied and out of trouble. LaMoyne was seen galavanting across the baggage claim area testing out the latest digital SLR. So what if it wasn’t his. It was fun!

And then there was me and RJ doing a little photography on the side on their way back to the motel. Let’s just say we were “field testing” the gear. We left before everyone else did. So how did they get there before us? Oh now I remember! We stopped a few times along the way. Between the landscape photos, the goofy bird we chased around, the buffalo and the fighting rams I guess it took us a little bit longer to get back.

So I suppose you are dying to hear about the fighting rams. Okay. We took a chance and went a teeny bit out of our way to see if any were there. Oh yeah! All over the hill they were! And the next thing we know there are two of them charging each other! It was loud! Of course we have it on video! What do you think we are? Ski coaches?!? Click on the link below.

Click here for video of Rams fighting.

So there you have it. Our nominees for the Team Norway Zoo. Tomorrow we might try to stick to skiing related photography. At least we can try.

A little more normal is nice :)

Fri, 9 Nov 2007 21:52:51 -0600

Fortunately for me I a woke this morning feeling like a new man. There is something about going through hell that makes just getting back to normal feel like you won the lottery. Well, I was glad to be back to normal and was looking forward to enjoying the day.

It was a good day. Nothing out of the ordinary. Ron went down to get RJ from the airport in the morning and then we went back up to Loveland to ski for the afternoon. Everything worked today exactly as planned. No one got sick, no one got hurt, no one forgot anything, just plain normal. How boring!

Actually, it wasn’t boring. It was nice after having such a tough previous day. Sometimes we hope for days where there will be no surprises. This was one of those days. And if there was anything that didn’t exactly go our way, well it wasn’t a big enough deal to bother us today. That’s what yesterday was for.

The kids arrive tomorrow so that means the peace and quiet will be over and Ron will start cracking the whip once again. But then again it just wouldn’t be the same if he said let’s just kick back today and do nothing. Sometimes I have to remind myself it’s not a vacation, it’s an adventure. This is fall camp!

And I promise that there will be no more boring posts for the remainder of fall camp. LaMoyne and Don will here soon and they want to room together again. That’s always a guarantee there will be some excitement!

About some of the pictures on the left. The 2nd one was taken as we left Loveland at 3:50 PM. The sun was below the horizon and barely giving off any light. But after we went through the tunnel to the west side of the continental divide the sun was visible for another hour! The last picture was taken at 4:50 PM. Mountains can play a huge effect on how much daylight a specific area sees.

Prepare for Departure... and Arrival?

Thu, 8 Nov 2007 22:38:36 -0600

There is something about knowing you need to go to bed at 7 PM and wake at midnight so you can make a flight at 6:10 AM in Milwaukee. It’s a pretty tall order to expect that nothing will go wrong. But in past years travels with Ron at this un-godly hour it never has. Time for that to change!
Of course I didn’t get any decent sleep. I made a valiant attempt, but my mind had too many thoughts running around inside of it to actually let me fall asleep. So it was basically about 4 hours of laying on my bed trying to get my brain to shut down. I don’t think I got more than an hour of unconscious sleep.
The Durango is packed and all is well until we get into Milwaukee. Road construction has removed the interchange in downtown Milwaukee that we usually take to get to the airport and of course we didn’t think to pay attention to the detour signs a few miles back. So now we are guessing how to get to the airport... at 4:30 AM!
A little scenic tour through a low class residential district of the south side of Milwaukee complete with a stop for directions to the airport at a gas station in which the clerk was situated behind glass walls (probably bullet proof). Then a little more sightseeing in the residential district until we found the interstate, but yes, we finally did find the airport.
Fast forward to checkin at Frontier Airlines. “Sir, I don’t have a reservation for you on this flight. Are you sure you booked a reservation?” Ron has excellent intentions, but intentions apparently do not book a flight. So here we are, in Milwaukee, at 5:30 AM, without a flight! Yes, he has an itinerary, but it appears not be from a booked ticket. All we can come up with is that when Ron pressed “submit” to finalize the booking it didn’t go through. He had his itinerary so he figured he was good to go! Fortunately, with his fast thinking and never ending connections to people who have connections, he finds a way to get us on the flight.
Fast forward to Loveland and skiing. This is what it’s all about. The skiing part. This is why we drive down at 1 AM to catch a flight so we can be on the slopes before noon. Ron’s doing fine having dodged quite a few bullets so far today. But I am now starting to really feel the effects of not getting any sleep. And that combined with the introduction of 10,000 feet of vertical is starting to catch my attention.
Yes, the thing we all fear when we hit the high elevations is about to become a new experience for me. I am suffering from altitude sickness. After our first 3 runs we took a break. I had a horrible headache, cold sweats, I looked pale, was nauseous and could hardly stay awake. It was obvious I needed to shut it down and deal with this fast!
I spent the next 2 hours sitting / lying / feel like I’m dying in the van trying to get some sleep. It felt like it would never end. It think it would have been more humane to die! But after a couple of hours it was getting somewhat better, but not by much.
It wasn’t until I got back to the motel and crashed for 4 hours that I finally felt human again. Right now I actually feel great so I definitely feel like I dodged a bullet. But I can add to my life experiences what it feels like to have altitude sickness. It’s not something to mess around with and definitely something you want to avoid at all costs. Get plenty of rest and stay well hydrated!