The forecast for Tuesday was fairly ominous with 1"-3" of snow predicted overnight with another 5"-9" during the day. When we arrived at Huck's at 5:30 it was snowing in Govy.
    Week #2 begins and other than our morning routine of a 4:30AM wake-up call, heading to Huck's at 5 and arriving Timberline by 6; things began to change.  Erich, Sarah & Martina watched over the drill runs as the rest of the coaches and "helpers" hurried to get courses set.    Courses were set, conditions were perfect and the groups started skiing gates. The clouds started moving up the mountain and visibility began to diminish quickly. No sooner had we started we were advised by Timberline's lift operations that they were closing the Palmer lift because the front was moving in much quicker than anticipated.    Half of the athletes were not allowed to load at the middle station which meant those of us at the top of the mountain had to bring their bags down to them. Everyone then headed to the bottom of the Mile to regroup.  The day was not lost as the coaches found space on the west side of the Mile lift. Courses were set, salted and the training resumed. The group went "old school", skiing the courses and then hiking back up to repeat the process. Sam Nelson was the Iron Man for the day getting in 12 runs.   The day concluded with the 7 PM meeting and as always the highlight was Erich's stories spanning back 60 years of summer camps.
Everyone had to add a layer as the clouds started to roll in & the temp's started to drop on Wednesday.  As always the day starts with Erich at the top of the public lane providing coaching insights in regard to basic slalom drills.   This is Uros Pavlovcic's 18th straight summer with Erich. The hill boss still fore runs all of the courses he sets and he still skis at a level few will ever achieve.  Erich & one of his protégés, Rosie Hust, a lucky recipient of a Lindsey Vonn Foundation camp scholarship.   After three straight days of slalom training, both racers and coaches are exhausted!    Every night there is a 7 o'clock meeting to go over what took place during the day and set the plan for the following training day. If someone is late they are required to do either push-ups or in the case of Coach Doug Robinson - wall sits...  After all of the camp housekeeping issues are taken care of it's on to the "Bonus round" which on Wednesday night was a compendium of Erich's stories revolving around how he got started coaching summer camps at Mt. Hood 60 years ago. It was awesome!  It was on to GS Thursday and it started off clear and cold. Everyone was wearing virtually every layer of clothing they had and we didn't have to use salt. The coaches were so pumped to ski GS, one of them (who shall remain nameless) skied their 1st run on their slalom skis!   "Like mother - like son"   By 9:30 it was snowing & blowing and everyone was wearing every layer they had brought up in their packs.  Given the change in the weather everyone caught onto the fact that they better have tuned skis.  "Sizing for growth!"
By this point in week #1 everyone is getting a little tired so there was no dryland and the rest of the day was uneventful. We shall see what weather card is played tomorrow. Everyone had add a layer as the clouds started to roll in & the temp's started to drop on Wednesday  As always the day starts with Erich at the top of the public lane providing coaching insights in regard to basic slalom drills             "Like mother - like son"     Sizing for Growth!
By this point in week #1 everyone is getting a little tired so there was no dryland and the rest of the day was uneventful. We shall see what weather card is played tomorrow. This particular area of Oregon must have Internet service provided by Glaciernet as it is excruciatingly slow to post the blog. Where there is a will there is a way so I will try to keep everyone up to speed but on an every other day basis.   Anyone who has experienced summer ski camp at Mt. Hood knows that mornings come early. For the Pierce Crew we start our day at 4:30 AM, just 15 minutes ahead of the rest of the campers and head out the door by 5:10. The only way you can look at it is to remember "It's already 6:30 at home!"  By 5:30 AM we arrive at Huck's for their all you can eat high cholesterol breakfast. Huck's is renown for their Huck shakes as well as their hash browns that predict the weather for the coming day. As noted below, it is clear that it;s going to be a clear day up on the Palmer.  By 6:00 AM everyone has arrived at Timberline and gets busy applying sunscreen, getting their gear on and heading up to get in line at the bottom of the Magic Mile lift.   To quote Reese Bobby, "If you ain't first, you're last" and it has been "the way" with Sailer Camp as well; they are always at the front of the line to get to the top of Timberline.  For the past 19 summers I have had the good fortune to come out to Mt Hood, first as a parent chaperone which eventually evolved into facilitating race product testing for campers. As a retailer this allows us to keep a finger on the pulse of ski racing and record race equipment test results void of any manufacturer bias. This in turn enables us to make proper equipment recommendations for our racers.      We head up the Magic Mile lift, then up the Palmer lift, check the lane assignment s, courses are set, slipped and salted and the racers warm up with specific slalom drills under the watchful eye of Erich & his coaches.  The coaches gear up to forerun the courses and the training begins around 7:30 until 9:30 lunch break and then the courses are reset and salted. Training resumes and continues until noon at which point everyone heads down for the day..     Our afternoons are busy with Test Center pick ups, setting up & tuning skis and working on boots. At 5:30pm we head to dinner, attend 7 o'clock meeting, afterwards the athletes pick up their test skis and with any luck it's "light's out" shortly after 9.
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