Friday - Day 5 - Powwwwwwwwderrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!

So, THIS is what they mean when they say "Powder skiing" - this is the real deal, man - absolutely incredible!

Our call time was 8am, as the Ladies practice runs were supposed to take place at 11am, but upon check-in, found out they'd pushed it forward to 1pm, that meant meeting at 11:15am - spent the next couple of hours in a meeting, socializing, eating in our base tent, and reading my book.

(Oh, I did have a run-in with security - this is just a reminder to myself to describe this tomorrow.)

By 11:15, we were all geared up, assembled at the base of the Gondola, light rain was falling upon us, fog enveloped the midrange of the mountain (where the race course is), and lovely constant snow was falling in the upper elevations! The operative word for the Race Jury though, was "fog" - no visibility at race level, meant no racing for the Ladies - cancelled - AGAIN!

So, what's a Gate Judge without a race to judge to do? Go skiing of course!! It was so incredible - I can really feel my legs strengthening with every passing day. I had a new guide today - Tish, who is a local and has been skiing for about 60 years, was just wonderful - she took me to runs I hadn't yet tried, and I loved each and every one. She left me after a couple of hours, but I didn't follow her when she "downloaded" - a term we use for riding the Gondola down from a lower level to the base, to completely avoid skiing the lower portion of the mountain - the wet cement section. So, on I skied, and on, and on, and on...with a few port-o-potty stops, and one soup tent stop, I just couldn't quit, it was the best snow I've skied in my entire life - I even skied some little moguls!!

The only dark part of the day, was when the news went around the volunteers that the Giorgian Luge athlete had crashed and died. We are all very struck by this tragedy, as we all know that our sport, among all of them, also brings with it quite a bit of danger. The level of attention to safety is off the scales though - it really is the number one priority.

I've been invited to watch the Opening Ceremonies here in the lounge here at the Nita Lake Lodge with my anti-doping friends - I can hear the girls getting louder, and the TV commentary building to the event - this is soooooo exciting!!