Jit's Journal: Pitztal, Austria

Jit’s Journal: Pitztal, Austria{mosimage}The air is colder, snow seems to be on the way and the first World Cup races at Soelden are just around the corner – October has finally arrived. I find myself sitting on a deck at the hotel my teammates and I are staying at in Pitztal, Austria, after an early morning training session, blown away by the staggering beauty of the Alps. Sometimes I am so busy hauling ass down the mountain that I forget to stop and take in my surroundings. I am not much of a religious person, but if there is a heaven I’d imagine it would look something like this. Sometimes it is difficult to really enjoy the sights around you when you’re hustling around to get things accomplished on the hill, or you’re sandwiched so tight into a gondola that you can feel the hot breath of a Euro on your neck; just another day in Europe.

Waking up in my ‘Euro bed’ (two twin beds nailed together that you share with a teammate) I look at the blurry number on the clock: 6:00 a.m. Breakfast for me is like the deep breath before taking the plunge. Small banter, jokes and funny-looking hair is the usual scene. The mornings are by far the toughest part of the day for the technicians as their bloodshot eyes tell their tale. We stuff our skis in the cargo van, bodies in the car and head up to the mountain. Pitztal is a little different than your ordinary mountain – getting to the top is a three-ring circus. We take a train up through the mountain and pop out on the other side on the glacier a few thousand feet higher than we were a few minutes before. There is one catch – trying to get on the train involves heavy shoving and smashing so they can get as many bodies crammed in as possible. I have really wanted to bat a few people over their heads with my poles because of the way people act when they are trying to get on. If the ride up doesn’t leave you disgruntled, the gondolas will finish you off.

A day on the glacier can be difficult because there are so many courses set that trying to stay in your course the whole way down can be confusing. With so many athletes from every national team on the map, things can get dangerous if you’re not paying attention. Ski out of your course and into another and you may find yourself colliding with someone coming down another course. As of now we have been training lots of super G and GS, with some slalom to come. Looking around at the top of the courses is at times a who’s who situation, with some famous World Cuppers getting in some last-minute training before Soelden. We are usually off the hill by noon and heading back down through the mountain, which to be quite honest with you feels like you’re being flushed down a toilet. As we return to our hotel, we dry off all our gear, unpack and pass out.

Dryland training comes around in the afternoon and any energy we had left is usually expelled. Epic collisions, dives, plays and moves are always highlights as our dryland sessions never seem to be dull. Even the coaches get into it with some quality performances, showing they’ve still got what it takes to show up us young bucks.

I don’t know what it is about dinner in Europe but for some reason it seems to take three hours from start to finish. Trying to stay awake at the table is tough, especially after a long day. After dinner I head off to bed and start the cycle all over again. It seems to me that the fastest part of the day is not when I am skiing on the hill, it’s from the time I close my eyes at night to the time I open them in the morning.

Happy b-day to Lindsey Kildow (21, Women’s A Team) and Jesse Marshall (25, Men’s B Team).

Jit

Tim Jitloff was the 2005 Sprint / Ski Racing Junior of the Year. He will keep his online journal here all season. To read more athlete journals, or to hear industry insiders in their own words, click here.