Wednesday - Day 10 - RACE DAY!!!!

YaHOOO!! Clear skies, lots of sunshine, just below zero, a firmly packed race course - perrrrrfect!!

The only down side is that we upload (take the Gondola up) two hours prior to race start - 9am for an 11am start. It was a bit tricky skiing down the race course today, as it was quite icy, but for the Ontarian in our group, the loud scraping sound of ski edges gouging out turns, and sliding parallel in very steep parts, as we carefully descended to our gates was comfortingly familiar to me. Collingwood hills often have such conditions, so I was okay.

I was positioned in the same location as for the Practice Runs, so again could hear the cheers and moans of the huge crowd, rising from the Finish Area. All went off without a hitch, but there were a few delays due to spills. One was right above our gate - I think it was the Romanian skier - and if you've read my blog from last week, you'll recall the spot I quickly removed myself from due to its danger - well, that's exactly where she went flying out of control, blasted through the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fences, finally coming to a halt in the air bag. We ( a team of MD's, a half dozen Course Crew workers, my backup Gate Judge, and me, were just below that turn. I was watching gates 33 and 34, and she wiped out at 32.

The team of Medical Doctors stationed in our section sprang into action immediately, but they had to climb to get to the skier, which took a few minutes unfortunately. They worked on her for at least a half hour, before deciding to call for a helicopter evac. We all whipped out our cameras (still haven't found the time to upload photos, but I will!), climbed up the pitch (huff! puff!) and snapped some great shots of the "swingin' doctor" and the toboggan being lifted - we all got blown to bits and snow was driven into our faces with the force of the wind from the helicopter hovering right above our heads.

The word from the Dr. was that she was okay, not critical, but had a knee injury.

Mostly, we had a blast in between racers, and during all the delays - one of the crew workers became very creative with two of the cowbells people ring while cheering racers on, hanging them strategically from the bottom of the zipper of his jacket, and would do a great dance when the racers came by (we all do cheer actually for many of the racers, by the way, but of course, especially for Canadian competitors), making a terrific racket with those bells - just hilarious.

Once the race was over at about 2pm, (yes, we eat drink and do our personal business in the trees during the races) it was ski time! Sun - sun - sun - oh - my - gosh - I am a waaaay better skier when I can actually see where I'm going, and there isn't 80% humidity in the air weighing the mounds of powder down. It was perfect - I went up to Whislter Peak, where you can see the endless mountain range laid out before you as you ski...and in an hour and a half, I think I got in only 5 or 6 runs.

Lips are sunburned, face is hot, legs are a bit tired, but not too sore - all is good - Wheasel House is calling, and I must answer!