Davos AKA Home

The races in La Clusaz were cancelled this weekend, but Davos stepped up and is holding them instead. The race formats were changed to a 10k skate and skate sprint instead of the original 15k skiathon and relay. This means that the distance race will be on the same course as last weekend, but will be skate instead of classic, and the sprint will be exactly the same as last weekend. Last weekend was a good weekend for the US team with Liz, Jessie, and Sadie all placing in the top 25 in the classic race and four of us qualifying for the sprint rounds. I qualified 23rd and ended up 22nd last Sunday. I was very happy to be feeling healthy and skiing in the rounds again! Andy skied a strong sprint and ended up 15th and Ida was close to making the semis and ended up 16th.

Sprint qualifier (Marcel Hilger photo)

Really wonderful having Levi Hensel and Liz Arky cheering us on each day (Liz Arky photo)

Tiger Shaw decked out is his nordic gear for the weekend! (Liz Arky photo)

The long term snow forecast for central Europe is looking a little grim, especially where my family was planning to go for Christmas. As a result, they had to cancel their trip because snow was hard to come by and logistics were getting too complicated. I'm sad I won't be able to see my family for Christmas, but the majority of our team has changed their plans to stay in Davos over Christmas, so I'll be able to spend it with my second family. By the time Christmas is over, we will have spent over three weeks in Davos. It's starting to feel a little like home, and by the end of the winter we will have spent over 1/4 of our time in Europe based in Davos. It's too bad the snow gods aren't cooperating, but it is nice to stay in one place.

Some of the Russian women's team came up to our hotel to hang out the other night. It was interesting to share stories and we were happy to make some new friends on the World Cup!

We even found a pet cat who likes to hang out at our hotel. We're assuming he has a real name and a real home, but for the time being, Simi has named him Danger.

We've experienced the full range of weather, including a rainy ski the other morning. (Kik photo)

We were able to catch up with Holly, who was over here racing the marathon circuit.

The weekend of racing begins tomorrow and the team is ready to go! It's crazy that period one is already coming to an end. I suppose it's a good sign that time flies while we're over here. Happy holidays and thanks for following!