WORLD CHAMPS!

But... before I write about World Champs, there are a few picture things that happened first...
I went to get my stitches out at a walk in clinic and had another extremely weird doctors experience. First of all, I don't think they changed the sheet on the bed, he didn't like gloves and after he was finished he put the tools directly on the big day-planner on the desk. (clean?) Then he gave me $25 off for being on the Canadian Team...
Anyways I used the walk home to get used to my new camera!
Only in Austria can you not walk on the trails along the road because they are only for skiing...

I miss my Grandma!

Slow exposure... now if only I had hands as steady as a tripod. 

After a couple of days of training, and about 5 loads of laundry in the sink, we headed to Germany for a few FIS races. It was a rainy weekend, so what do you do when there is no snow on the ground? RACE! 
The hill looked good... 


The lake was beautiful...


The "light pollution" behind the mountain was incredible...

However, sometimes everything is not how it seems...

The were scooping pailfuls of snow onto the T-bar track.... questionable at best...

My Dad stayed at a distant relatives house and captured this shot of the hill across the lake.

I struggled a bit with my consistency at these FIS races, and didn't put two solid runs together. However, it was amazing training for the World Champs the next week!

After the last race we headed to Garmisch for some training and a few days off. My Dad and I walked around town and relaxed in a little cafe.

 Papa

Trying to figure out what "licorice" and "cabbage salad" are in German... FAIL. 

My Dad took a couple of pictures on his way to the place he was staying. 

After lunch we headed to the slalom hill to watch the slalom portion of the men's Super Combined.
The stands were packed...


The sun was shining....

And the video camera was waiting on it's track? We were wondering where the views from above came from.


The slalom hill is next to the ski jumps!!... If only I could get up the courage to do that. Mmm I miss jumping.

 

We went up to train for a couple of days and when we emerged from the clouds... this was our view! (Thanks for the picture Anna!) I was hiding my pink tape job from the camera... I mean enjoying the view. 

Training before the race was crazy. We went through the 3 letter combinations for the different countries and I am ashamed to say there were quite a few I didn't know. The hill was FULL of slalom courses, but the snow was icy and that's all that mattered! 

It's on to the races... OR race I should say.

I woke up on race day ready to go! I walked over to the slalom hill, was first on the chair with Eve and started my warm up. The snow was pretty soft, but I was starting 36 and the race crew was amazing. 

The course looked amazing and everything was ready to go. I took the SLOW chairlift up, hiked to the start, clicked into my skis and was ready to go. However, as soon as I got onto the course I couldn't get my focus right. My mind was all over the place and my skiing felt like it followed suit. I came down into 28th and waited impatiently to make sure I made it into top 30. I ended up 29th for the run and luckily got to start 2nd for the 2nd run. 

I was about to go up for inspection when I realized I had no idea where my warm up skis were. I looked for them and couldn't find them, so Marco (my technician) literally ran back to our hotel, picked up my extra skis and handed them to me just in time for inspection. Sorry Marco! However, it was all my fault. While I was mentally going over and over first run, I completely forgot that I didn't go up the chair with my skis on before first run and they were at the bottom where I left them. Dummy Erin.

Anyways I inspected, but more importantly I knew that I had absolutely nothing to lose and that I needed to go for it as much as I possibly could. I pushed out of the gate and tried to ski like it was training. However, unlike training, out loud I yelled GO several times. 

I came down into first and Robert settled me into the leaders box. Anna came down right after me and we stayed in the box together for a while. That was the best!! I ended up 16th for the run...

I always wonder why the pictures I take are tilted... Just call me bobble head. 

Of course as soon as I got bumped out of the box, a nice lady came up to talk to me. Surprise... Drug testing. I was the 4th Canadian to be "randomly" tested throughout the week. Never joke about testing, you will get chosen. 

When I waiting for the water to settle in and our team doctor, Dr French, to come down, my coach came down and gave me a nice surprise...

I won second run by close to 8 tenths!!

My Dad was there with me to celebrate; my family at home watched on live timing at 4 in the morning; and Kevin woke up early the morning before my race to support me! 

Oh... and by the way HE WON!!! He came first in his carnival, IN GS, and scored a 20!! 

All in all, Garmisch was incredible. Erik won the downhill, Julien Cousineau came 5th in the slalom and everyone got used to a suit besides our usual yellow. 

After the World Champs came to a close, my Dad and I squeezed into what he calls his "red rocket" (it only goes 120km with the pedal to the metal) and headed to VENICE!!!

Hundreds of pictures to come!!!