Right now I'm in Adelboden after racing in the world cup slalom and GS, or what is known as the toughest GS slope in the world!! Things didn't go as well as I had hoped, but it was great to ski the GS here.
The hill is really technical to ski and every turn the hill seems to be falling away from you in a different direction. Today, in the slalom, the weather was changing all day, but it was warm all day which was not good for the snow. It was really soft so the ruts and holes were pretty big out of the start. I got into the groove for the first few gates, but then was shot out of it a few turns later and then killed off a lot of speed with my recoveries to get back into the track.
Finally, I managed to get myself back on track and ski a decent bottom section down the really steep pitch but it wasn't enough to get me into the top 30 for the 2nd run. I ended up around 40th 0.70 from the top 30 cut.
It was amazing to watch the 2nd run with Marc Berthod, a young racer from Switzerland, put down a stormer of a 2nd run to eventually win the race from start no 60! BEHIND ME !
I have been close in results with Marc for a few years so it’s encouraging to see him do something like that from the back of the pack.
Next for me will be either the super combined at Wengen or perhaps I will head to Pozza di Fassa in the Italian Dolomites for a Europa cup slalom. We will make the decision tomorrow.
Bye for now
Noel Baxter
