Flower Power: The ups and downs of a first-year J2

By Published On: May 29th, 2008Comments Off on Flower Power: The ups and downs of a first-year J2

I don’t know what it is about airplanes, but there is something about leaving home for somewhere different that makes you think.


I DON'T KNOW what it is about airplanes, but there is something about leaving home for somewhere different that makes you think.
    The first time I started writing on skiracing.com, I was on my way to the Whistler Cup. Now almost one year later, it seems like so much has changed since that flight. I am now on a plane to Mammoth, California, for a National Development System camp, and will be a second-year J2. Call me crazy, but I feel old! I have made it halfway through high school (assuming I don’t fail all of my finals a flunk out … just kidding) and will be driving around in less than two months. For those of you that live in Salt Lake, don’t be worried, I now understand the concept of yielding to oncoming traffic when making a left turn.  
    When people say that ski racing starts when you’re a first-year J2, they aren’t kidding. Racing against kids who are 10 years older was probably the biggest difference. Being able to take 10 free runs before it was actually time for my run was actually kind of nice. Although there were some tough times this season, there were twice as many fun ones to make up for it.  
    To give a little overview of the season, we started off with two trips to Mammoth. There is a saying that whenever you want it to snow at Mammoth, schedule races. This was definitely a true statement as half of the races got cancelled the first trip, and we raced only one day the second time. We did get to take a few pow runs, which is always a treat!
    Through the season, we continued to get more and more snow. As almost everything does, there were good and bad things about this. Having 990 FIS points and starting last isn’t a great time, but having continuous walk-on trams at Snowbird with waist deep powder isn’t exactly a bad thing either. As the snow started to simmer, I was able to get some things going. The race season ended in Mammoth at the Spring Series, and now I am starting to prep for next season. This is my first camp to start the prep period, and after this, I will go home for two weeks for finals, and come back to Mammoth for another camp. Almost time to land, so I gotta run. Enjoy the warm weather!

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About the Author: Pete Rugh