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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