Ski Mountaineering World Championships Opening Ceremony and Individual Short

Mom arrived mid morning and we had a nice birthday celebration for Anders. It was a special day for me as it was Anders 2 year birthday. I felt proud of where we have come in 2 years and proud that I was going to the World Champs.

I set off after lunch for a short hour and a half drive over to Switzerland. Lyndsay and I caravaned together and stopped at our favorite store to stock up on some food. You never know what you are going to get in the small Swiss towns and it is nice to have fresh fruit and cereal on hand w/ some PB and J too!

We checked in and did our equipment check, found our lodgings and met the others on the US team. There were 9 guys and only one other woman, Monique Merrell who had done quite a lot of endurance competitions.

The opening ceremony was fun. All the nations paraded in together. The best part was seeing my family in the stands, Michael, Birken, Anders and my mom and Anna. They came over to watch from Chamonix which meant a lot to me.

I rarely get the flu and was feeling in the best shape of my life, but this time it really snuck up on me and the wrong time. I came down with the flu and strep throat all at once on this opening day. As much as I wanted to race on Sunday for the individual, I could not physically. And knew if I had it would seriously hinder my recovery for my other big races coming up. I will rest up for the possibilty to race the long individual on Friday. These things happen and in the big picture it is not a big deal. I have done a lot of races this season and still have the Pierra Menta and Patrouille des Glaciers to come.

I headed out Sunday to cheer and watch. It was great to be out supporting Lynds and the other US guys and the UK guys I knew. It was actually very cool to be on the other side and watch these amazing athletes, many of whom have been doing this sport since a very young age. The mens start was fast and furious. I have enclosed a few shots of the race and a video of the start.

Check out this amazing video of the individual race. It will give you a real taste of what ski mountaineering racing is about.

Individual World Championship 2008 from skimountaineering.org on Vimeo.