This weeks training has been absolutely brilliant, and thank god, as the first race of the season lumes just round the corner.
Team spirit this week has been really high with the arrival of another new friend Mr Peter Whelan.

Pete has moved from the darkside of alpine to skicross. Seeing the errors of his ways I believe he will be staying with us for some time now and has proved to all that he can hold his own on course.

The last week has been absolutely brilliant with the festive season kicking off, with Christmas markets and Krampus. Now I know that most of you are probably wondering what on earth Krampus is? I shall try and explain as best I can... A mythological hairy horned figure that was a close companion of St. Nicholas. He complimented the giving of of gifts during the Christmas season by beating children who misbehaved with birch branches or by carrying them off in his sack. Krampus is specific to the Austria-Bavaria region but similar figures appear in other parts of Europe under different names. December 5th, the Eve of St. Nicholas, is still set aside to celebrate Krampus where people dress up in grotesque masks and unsuspecting women are whipped. Some of these traditions continue in parts of the United States. His origins remain obscure though he predates Christian Europe. Many postcards were produced depicting Krampus though he is sometimes mistaken for the devil.

This is what the Krampus look like. If you can imagine 300 of these beasts running down the street at you then you can comprehend what we had to go through! Very scary but fun non the less.

We have also taken up playing tennis and squash twice a week on top of all the other training. There have been some fantastic battles in the squash hall with Craig (team mate) and Ian (my coach) battling it out to become the squash master champion. Craig's fines and practice payed dividend as he claimed the tittle this week.

During training last friday it started snowing. We rode the train down through the mountain and reached the van which had a foot of snow on!! Our trip home which would normally 45 mins from Moltaller to Lienz took an hour and a half. Partly because we had to put the snow chains on the van and no one knew how to do it!! We attempted to drive up the mountain without them but this only left us half way up the mountain... stuck. We took the decision to get out and try and put the snow chains on. This was not fun.

It took around 30mins to put on the chains and start our journey home again! It snowed for another day which has left us in good stead for the first race this coming weekend. We are traveling to the UK on the 10th where we will stay at home for an evening before traveling to Norway. We will race on the 13th and 14th in Geilo, Norway. Hopefully it all goes well and the training pays off.

Hope your all well

Word x