(EN) CHILE 2017

Chile 2017. Here we go again. A total of 17 hours in the plane. Same number of skis: 8. Same number of ski bags: 3. The only difference: 2 people instead of just me. It is always a hassle to go overseas with all the equipment. Never fun. But everybody is heading to Chile for a reason. To be able to train like it’s the middle of the winter in the middle of the summer is invaluable. So the money spent (if you have it of course) can be a season changer.

I arrived in Chile on a Friday, just on the eve of the first races that were starting on Monday in La Parva. Accommodating to the time difference is not such a big problem when you are heading from east to west. The other way around gives me a lot of sleepless nights.

Two days of free skiing and boom! Race on! My objective? Feel that fantastic racing atmosphere again and try to get what I learned in the summer training in that course. Done and done. I was satisfied with my races in La Parva and was looking forward to get a few days of training before the final races in El Colorado. Congrats to my Slovenian friend Kosi Klemen for his good performances crowned with a win.

My accommodation and trainings were all in La Parva so at least for the 21 days I was there we did not have to move around. We had some fantastic Super-G and Downhill training sharing the slope with some of the best teams in the world such as Slovenia, Italy, France and so on.

Sadly I got sick before the races in El Colorado so I was not in the shape I would have wanted, but nonetheless I was again satisfied with my results. I skied much better than the year before and I could actually feel and see the progress (only the haters can’t) . Congratulations to my Serbian friend Marko Vukicevic for absolutely owning the Downhills.

Besides the obvious benefits for my skiing, I am happy I got to know the locals better and trough them the country, even if I did not do any visiting per say. I am happy I got to see my good friends Henrik and Sven Von Appen after a few months. I even had the honour to meet the rest of the family, amazing people. I will always be grateful for them inviting me to their house and treating me like a brother. You don’t find people like them every day.

I feel that this trip will be a very important factor in the development of the season and for sure net year I will try to make it again.