tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1090193426120020472024-02-20T17:44:03.192-08:00Jeffrey MW EllisJeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.comBlogger102125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-31505239256228589892015-02-23T02:46:00.000-08:002015-02-23T02:51:08.904-08:00Falun 2015 World ChampionshipsTime for a photo catch up. I am now in Falun, Sweden for the World Championships. Lot's going on. We have had three days of competition and now with a break today and then 5 days straight of competition. Busy early days with meetings and discussions regarding finish area preparations with photographers, TV, interviewers, chip timing, ceremony producer, and volunteer security etc. After three days we have a good system going and hopefully can now enjoy the competitions and have everything run smoothly. Over course that is just the hope. The "coolest" moment so far was a ski this morning with the Crown Prince of Denmark. I actually accompanied his assistant while Vegard Ulvang (ski royalty!) skied with the Prince. It was a really great experience. I had the chance to sit with just the Prince and his assistant for 15 minutes one on one afterwards while we had a coffee and some Swedish chocolate. There were three security guys just outside our room but their presence was light and I had the chance to joke with them that they needed to learn to ski. I don't have any pictures from the ski but it will be a great memory. <br />
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My job has it's privileges. Medal ceremony VIP stage access. My parents and sister are in the crowd somewhere. </div>
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We were treated to a nice dinner in a small cottage halfway up the Ski Jump hill. Not a chance I would try that sport. Really impressive.</div>
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Dream car in Ostersund, Sweden airport</div>
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Before the World Champs Kikkan and I spent two weeks in Vålådalen, Sweden training. A really great ski history here and you can feel it in the main building. </div>
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Our one completely sunny day in Vålådalen. It was -17c. By midnight it was 0c and +3 c the next day and raining. Crazy weather for there. </div>
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Despite -17c it made for a beautiful ski. </div>
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Original cabin in Vålådalen from the 1920s. </div>
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Very unique sprint event in Ostersund, SWE. The final World Cups before the World Champs. They pushed snow up the grandstand and through the access tunnel so the athletes went right through the crowd. </div>
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Second night in Falun, SWE for World Champs marked the beginning of Carnival which is celebrated in I believe just German speaking parts of Europe but I really have no idea. Regardless it was time to get my lederhosen out again and they had an extra hat for me. </div>
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Wooden plates for dinner for a very traditional Swedish meal. No dishwashing here! But great kindling for the next fire. </div>
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A huge herd of Reindeer on the drive from Ostersund to Falun. Probably around 40 animals These are the stragglers from the group. </div>
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One more week here in Sweden, then a week in Finland followed by a week in Norway and then back over the Atlantic to Sun Valley, Idaho for a week and then to Anchorage. I have no idea where the winter went. I feels like it should be only half over, but sleeping in our bed at home does feel like a distant memory. </div>
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<br />Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-47513276087584435132015-01-22T05:52:00.000-08:002015-01-22T05:52:01.544-08:00From Italy - Estonia - Russia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
I don't recall where I left off with the last blog but I will just write updates with each picture below. Of course they are not in the correct order. There has been a lot of travel since the final stage of the Tour de Ski in Val di Fiemme, Italy. I stayed one more day in the valley, then drove to a colleagues near Zurich for one night. Then a late breakfast at the Zurich airport with Tim B from Anchorage as he arrived on his way to Engelberg. I continued on to Munich that same day and flew to Tallinn, Estonia the following day. After three days in Estonia I flew to Prague and stayed with another colleague for two days and then back to Munich for one night and then travelled to Rybinsk, Russia. Which brings me to today. </div>
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Don't get me wrong. I am all for fixing things with the tape but on a plane it doesn't instill the most confidence when flying to Russia. But it was a very smooth flight and landing. </div>
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A little entertainment in the Munich airport as we waited an extra our for our charter flight to Russia. The caption goes something like "Which one did you drink from? I'll just take this one". Their parents brought the beer first and were going back to get the food. But for about 3 minutes it looked like there little ones were drinking big ones. </div>
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It was nice to be back in Germany in the Audi. (Close your eyes Mum)</div>
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We have partnered with a film company out of Paris this year with the Inside the Fence videos. Jeremie from 7th Frame TV (on the left) was a good sport and agreed to ski up Alpe Cermis (an alpine hill) the final stage of the Tour de Ski. He hadn't cross-country skied in over 15 years. We forgot to tell him that without metal edges it's a bit harder to stop on the climb. Arms were a bit sore the next day. </div>
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Having a bit of fun filming a new video in Estonia during the wax team sprints. </div>
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Fun to meet up with a friend from Anchorage in the Zurich airport. </div>
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After 23 years I got to meet up with Katri and Krista, two exchange students from Tallinn, Estonia who came to Orangeville in 1991/92. This is Katri in this pic. She lived with us for a couple of months. </div>
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Krista works at the Tallinn airport and took the time to meet for less than 5 minutes before I went through security. Really great to see both of them. </div>
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I have had many hotel rooms but this was a first. My shower was actually in my room. </div>
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A chilly arrival to Rybinsk with ice fog to boot. The first feel of winter and it's January 22. -22 when we arrive in the morning to the stadium. </div>
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I actually have my own room here. Except it says FIS on the door so everyone thinks I know something. </div>
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Rybinsk is the first place Kikkan ever won a World Cup. Really cool to ski the sprint course today and the big climb to see where she made her move and made history. It's a much bigger climb than it looks on TV. What a move. </div>
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The sun broke through and it was a winter wonderland. The view from my office. The Vulga river is just to the right behind the video screen. </div>
It's so interesting to be back in Russia. My only visits so far have been to Sochi and it's not "real" Russia. It was dark when we landed last night but I could still see the buildings and the cars as we travelled along and I could really feel like I was on the other side of the Iron Curtain. I hope to get some pictures. The windows were to frosty on the drive this morning for pictures! It was the bumpiest road I have ever been on. We were on a mini-bus for a two hour drive from airport to hotel. At one point we hit a set up bumps that really set the van-a-rockin. It actually threw a colleague from his seat in the back row. <br />
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They host a great World Cup here and I am looking forward to the competition atmosphere. <br />
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Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-86696414458713713722015-01-12T09:51:00.002-08:002015-01-12T09:51:26.908-08:00Tour de Ski is a wrapThe 9th edition of the Tour de Ski wrapped up yesterday here in Val di Fiemme, Italy. The overall Tour consisted of 7 races in 9 days spread over 4 competition venues in 3 different countries. It began on Jan. 3 in Oberstdorf, Germany then moved to Val Mustair, Switzerland to Toblach, Italy and finished in Val di Fiemme. This is my 5th trip to Val di Fiemme. The most of any of the World Cup venues I have visited since starting my FIS job two and half season ago. This is such a beautiful valley mixed perfectly with old world villages and the roads that connect them. <br />
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There have been a lot of different hotel rooms in the past 10 days and it will continue now for 3 more. Kikkan has been struggling to find her racing groove and has headed home for some recovery and a recharge. This changed my travel plans and I am now staying here in Val di Fiemme for two extra nights, and then off to a colleagues Tuesday and then to Munich Wednesday before flying to Tallinn, Estonia Thursday. I have not yet been to the World Cups in Otepaa, Estonia but have heard about the great atmosphere. So I am looking forward to the trip. From there it's off to Russia next week. I'll wait for an update on that. <br />
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Here are a collection of images from the past 10 days. <br />
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During Tour stage 4, 5, 6 we had a live stream program. Kikkan was the first guest. Not sure if you can see the screen on the laptop but it looks like the Sportscenter studio but you can see where Kikkan and Kjell-Erik are actually sitting. </div>
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We had a nice dinner at the base of the Oberstdorf ski jump hill. Couldn't help but take a picture from the opening ceremonies from World Champs in the 90's. </div>
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Val (valley) Mustair has a population of about 1500. 450 people volunteered with the hosting of the World Cup stage. Most were at this dinner. Pretty impressive. </div>
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A view from the office as the sun crept it's way down the valley wall.</div>
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It wasn't the biggest room I have ever had in Toblach, Italy. Two years ago I had a suite so I guess it's karma balancing things out. </div>
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Beautiful view from the main street in Toblach.</div>
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Sunset over the stadium in Val di Fiemme.</div>
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Filming a new Inside the Fence with Maurice Manificat of France. We are on the side of Alpe Cermis, the final climb of the Tour. </div>
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I just love this old house. The more I looked at it the more I saw. It really felt like it had grown from the ground or at least was solidly apart of it. </div>
<br />Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-692125887293131622014-12-25T12:26:00.002-08:002014-12-25T12:26:43.509-08:00Christmas updateMy procrastination knows no bounds. Merry Christmas to everyone. Kikkan and I are in the Hotel Kulm in Davos, Switzerland. This is our 3rd week now. We arrived for the World Cup in early December and were to travel to La Clusaz, France the following weekend but due to warm temps and no snow that weekend was cancelled and the World Cup returned to Davos. We had always planned to spend Christmas here but didn't expect to be here for almost 4 weeks. We will leave for the start of the Tour de Ski in Oberstdorf, Germany on Dec. 31 or Jan.1 It was just confirmed today that Obersdorf has enough snow to host the opening two events. It's a really tough winter over here, especially in central Europe. <br />
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Kikkan's race results have picked up and she would have gone top 6 last weekend but fell on an icy patch in her semi-final. So momentum is good heading into the next World Cup period. <br />
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Here are some pics from the past couple of weeks (of course not in order). <br />
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Incredible work done by organizing crew in Davos to create a 5 km race course. </div>
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The stadium 4 days before the World Cup start. </div>
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Love the Swiss architecture and the perfect firewood. Human's live on second floor and livestock on the bottom floor. </div>
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Back in Davos for round two with FIS crew and our Italian friends from InFront Media</div>
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Time for a beer and brats hillside at Parsenn above Switzerland.</div>
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Prosecco? Why not!</div>
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Davos below. Such a beautiful place. </div>
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Kikk trades in her skinny skis for a day of metal edges and letting gravity do the work. </div>
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Breakfast view from the race hotel. </div>
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The stadium 36hrs before the World Cup start in Davos. </div>
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Our home for 3-4 weeks. </div>
<br />Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-87225934713003566142014-12-09T03:30:00.002-08:002014-12-09T03:30:20.195-08:00Playing catch upWow time has gotten away from me again. It's been a great start to the World Cup season from the work side of things. But it's been a challenge so far for Kikkan with her results. However, I think things are on the upswing and it's just going to take a bit of time and more racing to get everything sorted out. <br />
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I can't remember if I mentioned before about the partnership this year with Inside the Fence and 7th Frame TV from Paris, France but it's awesome! Two videos are out so far with two more coming this week. Here is the link to the first one released: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uatTvDH4exA. Actually that was the second one. Here is the first one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5Yrre3UUcA. Both are great. It's amazing what these guys can do with camera's and editing. <br />
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Winter is still missing from many places again this season. I arrived in Davos, Switzerland last evening to just 3-4 cm of snow on the ground. A massive operation by the organizing committee is underway to bring snow from high up in Fluela pass down to the race track and with colder temps the next two nights they are hoping to make enough snow for the World Cup stadium to be ready for Friday. It's nervous days for sure. With all that in mind yesterday's ski in Sjusjoen, Norway just above Lillehammer may have been my nicest ski for the year. A recognition that Davos usually receives. One of the great beauties of being in the far north is that it's one of the few times I am ever out skiing as the sun rises. Yesterday it took starting at 8:30am for that to be experienced. The sun broke the horizon at 9:07am and brought a beautiful warmth and brightness to the snow blanketed surroundings<br />
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Some images in no particular order.<br />
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Good to be back with the FIS MAG crew. Hardest working guys on tour. They get all the signage, banners etc up that make it look like a World Cup. A little Crown Royal, or "Royal Crown" as my colleague on the left Michal said the other day. That term will stick for the season now. </div>
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Team Captains meeting in Lillehammer. Full house with many teams present for these World Cups. </div>
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It's a small world. Lunch with Karl Saidla, Megan McTavish and their beautiful daughter Leena in Helsinki. </div>
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Sunrise over Lillehammer stadium. </div>
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Sunset at 3:00 pm at Lillehammer Stadium </div>
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FIS XC crew was invited to the Swix Christmas party. Only in Norway could a wax tech be interviewed on stage by one of the most famous TV hosts in Norway for 30 min and have everyone pay attention. </div>
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Later at the Christmas party with Italian Ski legend Christian "Zorro" Zorzi and my friend Enzo. </div>
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Sunrise in Sjusjoen</div>
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Opposite direction from sunrise....the moon was actually setting and creating it's own colours. </div>
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Across the lake from Lillehammer. You can see the Olympic ski jumps on the highest bump. The 1994 opening ceremonies took place outdoors at the base of those jumps. </div>
<br />Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-63548439670319757272014-11-27T06:44:00.002-08:002014-11-27T06:44:30.467-08:00It's World Cup timeI arrived at the first World Cup site two days ago. We were treated to clearing skies for a few hours today while the sun was just above the horizon. It's an exciting time for me right now. We have partnered with a film company to make 10 high quality behind the scenes videos this season. They will all come out under the "Inside the Fence" brand :) <br />
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Here is a link to an Alpine version. Same company for us but we lack a sponsor so we can film anything! We took lots of drone footage today and it will offer a perspective that few have ever seen from the Ruka venue....and they are going to teach me how to use it. Can't wait. Here are some pictures from the mtn side we hiked across to launch the drone. We rode the ski jump chairlift to the top and then walked off into the trees. Did I mention that I am excited about this project??? Well I am. We will have the first video ready this weekend. I will post the link. <br />
Some images from the little adventure today. <br />
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Sunshine catching the top of the ski jump. No way I would ever ski down and off that thing.<br />
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My view from lunch yesterday around 2 pm. The fog returned and you can already feel the darkness coming. But that doesn't deter some hardy alpine skiers. </div>
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If you look closely you can see Anchorage at the top of the picture. This is a map at the Rovaniemi airport. It would have been so much faster to just take one flight directly over from Anchorage! Now I know why the 11 hr time change feels like it does. We are literally around the World. <br />
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<span id="goog_863792350"></span><span id="goog_863792351"></span><br />Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-24802045305302067822014-11-22T06:45:00.004-08:002014-11-22T06:45:55.575-08:00Beauty of the northI'll let the pictures do the talking again as I have settled into the usual training camp routine. Wake up - eat - train - eat - try not to nap - train - eat - sleep. The sun this far north just skirts the horizon and the last two days of clear skies have made for some great winter images. <br />
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Matt Whitcomb got this shot last night walking to dinner. </div>
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About 8:15 this morning on the way to breakfast</div>
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Everything is coated in heavy frost. Humid air temp makes -10c feel like -20c</div>
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The sun is up but won't ever make it above that hill today. </div>
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Water break along the trail. </div>
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Beautiful trail conditions. </div>
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This is at around 11:45 am. The sun is somewhere to the right but we are in the shadow.</div>
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In the shadow of the mtn. Sun on the flats. </div>
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Looking back over the Hotel grounds. </div>
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<span id="goog_1647276933"></span><span id="goog_1647276934"></span><br />Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-68615580606874493712014-11-20T05:16:00.000-08:002014-11-20T05:16:05.257-08:00The adventure begins againAnd the European adventure begins again. Although it feels less like an adventure and more like returning from a long summer vacation. It's good to be back in Europe. The alps are still beautiful and the north is already shrouded in winter and it's expected darkness. I have finally arrived in one place where we will stay for more than one day, it will be 5 days to be exact. After 5 days of travel that included 5 flights, two train rides and one short van trip that took us from Anchorage - Zurich - Oberhoffen - Zurich - Helsinki - Muonio, I can finally open my bags because I won't be closing them back up tomorrow morning. <br />
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I have been awake since 4 am with jet lag and it is now 3 pm in the afternoon and we are getting ready to go for our first ski with head lights. <br />
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I will rejoin my FIS colleagues next Wednesday in Ruka, Finland about a 5 hour drive from here in Muonio and the World Cup will begin Nov 29-30. Muonio is very close to Levi, Finland along the Swedish border where the second stop of the FIS Alpine tour competed last weekend. <br />
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Here are a few pictures from the past few days since leaving AK. <br />
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Back at the Airport Hilton in Zurich. Lunch before we started our train ride to Oberhoffen. </div>
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Somebody is feeling the jet lag.<br />
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View from the hotel in Oberhoffen. Now I know why the FIS office is here. Beautiful!</div>
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Yoko ski pole photo shoot in Helsinki</div>
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Feels like winter with one of the National team wax trucks here in Muonio. Nine countries have them now. </div>
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<br />Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-42098690064491198122014-02-26T02:30:00.001-08:002014-02-26T02:30:22.900-08:00Back to the World Cup circusI am not sure how it exactly translates but often the World Cup "circuit" is called the "circus" and this circus rolls on for 3 more weeks. After a blur of travel from Sochi to Zurich to Copenhagen to Helsinki I arrived in Lahti, Finland last evening. My travel day started at 4:30 pm Sochi time (9 hrs ahead of Eastern Standard Time) on Monday and started with a bus trip to Sochi from our Rosa Khutor accommodations. Once at the Sochi airport we staged for 3 hours before we boarded our charter flight, sat on the plane on the runway for 90 mins as baggage from previous charter was loaded on. Three hour flight to Zurich and then stood an airport parking garage with both charter flights waited for baggage to be driven over on baggage carts and left for us to pick through like wild predators. This process began at 11 pm Zurich time which meant 2 am in Sochi. There were teams from all different countries and disciplines present along with FIS and IOC representatives. Quite the spectacle and I forgot to take a picture! By 1 am I was at my hotel that I would spend 6 hrs sleeping in and then back to the airport to fly to Helsinki via Copenhagen. Finally in my hotel in Lahti by 4 pm Tuesday now again in a new time zone. One hour ahead of central Europe. Somehow a new hotel room for a week feels like home? Strangely that is true, and I can now count how many hotel room homes I have left for the season. Here, two in Norway, and one in Sweden and then Anchorage. <br />
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Again I should really read what I wrote in my last blog post but I will just summarize my Sochi experience. Great venue, great competitions, mostly great weather and incredible volunteers. A lot can be said about human rights in Russia and that the Olympics should have never been allowed there, and I agreed before I arrived and probably still do. But I left hopeful for the future. If the Olympics can do one thing for countries like Russia it gets the world's attention for 3 weeks through a two-way mirror. As outsiders we get to see the human side of a country and the people not the politics that represent it. From the inside the locals get to meet the world, they get to see other countries whose politics overshadow their great people. I can't compare to the Vancouver games because I had no expectations for the volunteers, it wasn't a concern as a Canadian. But coming to Sochi it was a great unknown and I can say it was the most memorable and surprising part of the games. If the younger generation that made up most of the volunteer force takes this experience with them one can only hope that it creates a wave a change for the future. But enough of that. Time for more pictures. <br />
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Our crew of 9 that contained 2 French, 2 Czech, Russia, Estonia, Germany, Finland and of course a Canadian.<br />
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Despite sharing a hotel room for 3 weeks we were still great friends and colleagues<br />
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Our volunteer force at the Laura cross-country stadium. Thank you!<br />
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Rain at the hotel meant snow at the venue. We were lucky with our location. <br />
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At the Audi house in Sochi. Great live dance with moving performance<br />
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The main bus terminal in Sochi. Puffy jackets and palm trees, that was these games.<br />
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A short thrill ride in Audi A6 with professional driver. Climbed up at 58% slope. Impressive!<br />
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Fortune to catch a hockey game while in Sochi.<br />
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Our crew relaxing a bit at the Audi house.<br />
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Our oldest member of the group Gape enjoying the local nightlife. Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-51012828572671310392014-02-09T23:15:00.003-08:002014-02-09T23:28:12.883-08:00Finding the grooveI have now been in Russia for 5 days. Each day sees improvement in every aspect of life here. We are now able to park at our hotel, drive to the venue, use the washrooms at the venue and have food in our building. Restrictions on these and other "normal" activities have begun to ease and everyone is finding their groove. The chain of command is so long here in Russia, it's been most important to recognize that things take time. Those pulling the strings are far removed from who we deal with day to day, and those that we interact with daily are simply doing exactly what they have been told. At the same time that means it's important for myself and my colleague to appear to know enough to make decisions. We have had two competitions so far and after the ladies' event on Saturday we realized the the situation with the photographers at the finish was a disaster. Their access point was mixed with coaches, athletes and volunteers creating one big traffic jam. <br />
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120 photographers accredited to cover cross-country. About 100 more than World Cup. <br />
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After attempting to have changes made we determined it was better to just grab shovels, take some fences and do it ourselves....because to those on site if we are making those changes someone must have given the "ok". <br />
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Looking important!<br />
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Day two with yesterday's competition the access was seamless for the photographers but an issue arose with coaches' access that now must be fixed for our next competition tomorrow. Tomorrow is the sprint day which means I probably won't be able to sleep tonight!Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-41400125481041802062014-02-06T07:13:00.003-08:002014-02-06T07:13:41.211-08:00Back to Russia with loveSorry in advance for typos. This will be written quickly.<br />
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How quickly 4 years can go by. I feel like I was just in Vancouver as a wax tech with the Australian Olympic team and now I am here in Sochi, Russia one day before the start of the XXII Olympiade with an office at the cross-country stadium. I can't remember again what my last post was but I will just write about Sochi. <br />
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I travelled to Sochi on Tuesday from Zurich. It was a challenging day filled with polite and helpful people. I left from skis at last weekend's World Cup in Toblach, Italy but they were brought by the Norwegian team to the airport in Zurich where we were all flying on a charter flight direct to Sochi. Unfortunately, the skis sent were not mine and in fact that those of a lady who want them back right away. My skis will now join me in Finland after the games for the first World Cup weekend. It was requested that I try and send the other skis back to Italy....while waiting in line to check in for the flight. After racing over the Swiss Post I learned that the skis were 30 cms to long to be shipped to Italy. So I checked them into a storage locker and left 20 swiss francs for the head of FIS travel to pay to get out of storage and take to the Zurich Hilton to be stored for 3 weeks until I return. That was the first test of the day. <br />
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When going through passport control in Zurich to head to my gate I was told that I had been in the EU for too many days and needed a work permit to be able to stay any longer....after a little bit of pleading I was allowed on my flight to Sochi, with a warning to figure something out before returning on Feb. 24. Once landed in Sochi things went quite smoothly until passport control again where it was determined that my official accreditation/Russia visa was incorrect. it had my birthday as Oct 19 instead of 18. I was pulled out of line and asked to wait. They said there was no major concern, but it would take time to fix. After 45 minutes of sitting alone in the terminal with no one but two policeman. I had to fill out new paperwork to re-apply for a visa and was then taken to an ATM to pay 3000 ruples (roughly $100) to finance this new visa application. While doing that the bags of a colleague that I was to collect were removed and taken to left baggage. But 3 hrs after my flight landed I had a new visa application filed, found the lost bags and a date with the accreditation office for the following morning. Through all of this I can say the process was not a negative due to the incredible assistance from very polite and friendly Sochi volunteers. They have been amazing and the highlight of a games that is not quite ready in many ways. <br />
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It's now been two days here. I am staying in the FIS hotel. It has all the disciplines within FIS in one place. It's great for me to meet others from the Federation in different sports. It's schmooze time! I learned today that I will be in charge of getting athletes into the stadium for all mass start competitions. I also gave my first talk during a meeting with all the represented countries during a Team Info session. I spoke about Rule 50 which relates to all commercial markings at the games as dictated by the IOC. I was unsure about my role coming into the games but now it have actually stepped up a bit of a level with responsibilities as we try and assist/guide the sport process to make sure the athletes have a fair competition experience and the event is a success on TV. More updates to come. Tomorrow will be the first official training day and the start of the games. First event for Cross-country begins in two days. <br />
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View from the Jury room at the finish line. <br />
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A view back down the big uphill. <br />
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The stadium<br />
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The mix zone. The view from my office. Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-65787863390344895912014-01-04T08:33:00.004-08:002014-01-04T08:33:45.147-08:00Eh guy!....back in ItalySo Christmas and New Years has come and gone and that means that it is Tour de Ski time again. Seven days of racing in 9 days which started in Oberhof, Germany on December 28 and will end tomorrow here in Val di Fiemme, Italy tomorrow. In that time we have had one of the Tour favourites withdraw in protest over format changes (due to poor snow conditions) and then to beautiful Lenzerheide, Switzerland (which is now my favourite place in Europe), and a quick stop in Toblach, Italy and now here in Val di Fiemme. Europe is really suffering through a bad winter for snow and that has been very evident driving between stages of the Tour. Most snow is above 1500m with rain at the lower elevations. Again I will try and let pictures tell the story as there is so much to say.<br />
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Driving down from Davos on the way to Oberhof. Down in the rain. You can see the frost line.<br />
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Who needs a pick up truck when you have a subaru!<br />
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Headed up from Chur, SUI to Lenzerheide<br />
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Good thing AltaGas and Statoil are Canadian team sponsors! Burning some fuel on the Tour.<br />
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Good morning from Lenzerheide stadium<br />
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New Year's eve with Rudy and Hannes in my new authentic Austria attire<br />
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Not a bad spot for New Year's eve fondue dinner. Half way up an alpine hill. Sleds for the ride down!<br />
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Beautiful Swiss countryside.<br />
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Start of the men's 35 km Cortina to Toblach competition. Was on hand to do pre-interview and then rush back to Toblach to interview winner.<br />
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View from the van on the drive back to Toblach. Like so many small towns in the Alps it is a Church steeple that reaches the highest.<br />
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Up and over the pass from Cortina on the way to Val di Fiemme...so this is where the snow is.<br />
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Over the pass at sunset. Beautiful.<br />
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Back to Kuusamo at the start of the season. Getting used to my new role with an interview with Bjoergen<br />
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Sundby after his win in Kuusamo.<br />
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In Asiago just before Christmas. Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-82451432602448967382013-12-18T10:43:00.002-08:002013-12-18T10:43:32.605-08:00Davos LifeWow, where did another two weeks go? Already three World Cup weekends gone and tomorrow I drive to the 4th location of Asiago, Italy and then its Christmas. <br />
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Speaking of Christmas we just had an early one here in Davos, Switzerland. My parents and aunt and uncle arrived last week to watch Kikk in the World Cups here and get in an early Christmas. We won't make it home this year. Mother nature was kind and held blue sky in place until this morning, the morning I put the family on the train to Zurich. If all went well - and they managed to make the two train transfers with suitcases in tow - they are now somewhere over the Atlantic. Great visit. I think I will let the pictures tell the full story. Even if they are out of order.<br />
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The Ellis' at Sertig.<br />
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A little fondue never hurt anyone....but did make for some full bellies!<br />
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This one is for you Paul. Never too much wood on the walls. <br />
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Love the old rustic look. <br />
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Driving to the alps from Munich. Speed to be kept secret. <br />
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My train stop from three weeks earlier from the other direction.<br />
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US Ski team enjoying the beautiful Davos sunshine after three weeks in Northern Scandinavia<br />
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Raw wood cuts on the ceiling in our apartment in Davos...again for you Paul<br />
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Nice view from Anna & Emil's apartment towards the World Cup stadium. The new one is worth 5 million euro.<br />
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Wax trucks have arrived. Love the artwork. Canada is behind the road sign<br />
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Family pic in front of the "Golden Egg" hotel. Almost open. Can't guess at a room price. <br />
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Finish line view before Saturday's World Cup. Sunshin is coming. <br />
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Hockey night in Davos. Most beautiful rink I have ever been in. And an entertaining fan.<br />
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Fastest hockey I have watched. Clean and skilled. With the atmosphere of a Euro soccer match. <br />
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Just after Kikk and Marit Bjorgen when to the line in a photo finish. <br />
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"....did you hear about the time when...."<br />
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Alpine day with the family. Taking the train up the mountain to the top.<br />
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Looking back down to Davos from the train.<br />
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Our lunch destination above the clouds...if there were clouds. <br />
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Coming back down to town at the end of the day. Can just see the "egg" to the left.<br />
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Looky looky what arrived in the mail. Beauty ride around the town lake. Lot's of looks!Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-6205182949984215672013-12-06T05:26:00.002-08:002013-12-06T05:28:49.757-08:00Lillehammer...Week 3There is no good reason why it takes me more than a week to post some update photo's. Now I know why the athletes we request interviews from in email form take two weeks to reply. I am now in Lillehammer, Norway. The site of the 1994 Winter Olympic Games. It's incredible to think that a town of 40,000 people were able to host an Olympic Games when you see the magnitude of what the Olympics has become today. It's been quite special here as Vegard Ulvang and Silvio Fauner are both present. For those that don't know one of (if not the greatest) biggest upsets in cross-country ski racing occurred here at the 1994 Games. When the legend Bjorn Daehlie of Norway was out sprinted on homestretch in front of over 100,000 Norwegian fans by a young Silvio Fauner of Italy in the men's 4 x 10km relay. It wasn't even a race that was suppose to be close. NBC did a special on it years later called the Great Race. So now I am here with both Vegard who skied the second leg for the Norwegians and Silvio who shocked and silenced a nation. I will get a picture tomorrow with Silvio, Vegard and Bjorn. Great history for the sport. But after a great week in Kuusamo, Finland I have been here in Norway now for 5 days. When I arrived on Monday it was green grass everywhere and only man-made snow on the race courses. Yesterday a storm brought 15-20 cm of snow so it looks again like winter.
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More pictures to come. Off to Davos, Switzerland on Monday where we will have an apartment for one month. The World Cup stops there in one week, and family arrives next Thursday. Nice to set my bags down and do some laundry!<br />
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With the end of November...so ended Movember</div>
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View from my desk at Ruka stadium in Finland</div>
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View from my desk in Lillehammer. Before the snow.</div>
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View during the snowstorm</div>
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Dinner with the Italian team....of course they bring their own wine.</div>
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Yep a real reindeer in the cabin in Finland. </div>
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Always a pleasure to meet Mr and Mrs Claus. Especially in Lapland.</div>
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Beautiful run down from stadium to hotel in Lillehammer.</div>
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Also on the run down. No snow but a frozen waterfall. Looks like northern Ontario</div>
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Classic lounge room in the hotel in Norway. The rat pack would have liked it. I will have a beer here before we leave!</div>
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Over two weeks on the road and it's laundry time in the bathroom sink. Laundromats are a foreign concept in many of these countries. </div>
Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-85986760833942340702013-11-26T09:14:00.001-08:002013-11-26T09:14:36.684-08:00Back in Europe. Wow it feels good to be back in Europe. It doesn't feel like 8 months has past since I was last here in my role with FIS. The World Cup season starts in just 3 days and that means the competition countdown to the Olympic Games in Sochi also begins. You can really feel the energy and interest in an Olympic year. I am now in Kuusamo, Finland. Went for a great 90 minute ski this morning. Skiing in "Lapland" really feels like skiing in the home of cross-country skiing. My favourite place in that regard. I have been in Europe for one week and been in 4 countries, but everything slows down now to a country a week for most of the rest of the season...
*My apologies as I can seem to get my comments per picture to align. Hope its not too confusing.
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Headed out on my morning ski in the new FIS Adidas uniform. With the moustache I have been told I look like a 1970's East Germany bobsledder.
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My plane from Seattle to London..Big plane! 30% full. Had an entire row to myself.
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Norwegians love skiing so much that Eirik Brandsdal's fan club even wear their rollerski vests to the bar.
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At the factory outlet shop at Adidas. Couldn't resist a pic in those hats.
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Great to be back in the land of Weissbeer. (no the proper spelling but how it sounds)
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Beautfil sunset at 2 pm in the afternoon in Rovaniemi, Finland.
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Waiting for the train to Zurich...well my first of three trains....I still really hate getting on a train with a ski bag and roller bag. In the background in the Hotel Kulm where I spent one night, and less than 24 hrs in Davos to film the Canadian ski team. I got off the train at this stop 18 hrs earlier.
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I felt like I was on Google's campus at the head office of Adidas. The walkways crossing the building were impressive.
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Kind of a big deal...
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At the Adidas HQ they actually have gardeners pruning the indoor grass.
Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-61739821389222353472013-04-28T22:19:00.000-07:002013-04-28T22:20:05.886-07:00Skookum Glacier crust biking on FATBACKSJust a picture post of maybe the best day on a bike to date.
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Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-64049060881221709332013-03-09T16:15:00.004-08:002013-03-09T16:23:32.509-08:00"Hey guy....it's Italy"So as the season has moved along my ability to sit down and write updates has fatigued. I started to write over a week ago and never finished it or got started again. I am now in Lahti, Finland a week removed from the end of the World Championships. Like many who were apart of the circus that is two weeks of championship competitions, along with many many late nights I caught my second cold of the season. The Val di Fiemme championships ended in incredible fashion with back to back days of +15C warmth and sunshine. On the final day we were treated to arguably the greatest single performance in a men's 50km race since the mass start format was introduced. Sweden's Johan Olsson skied away from the field with 37 km to go. The biggest complaint about mass start 50km's at this level is that for 48km it's a recreational ski with a 2 km final sprint...usually won by Norway's Petter Northug Jr. I was in the mix zone after the race when Olsson was overcome with cramps in his legs and had to stop his interview to recover. I can't express in words how deep he went for that win and it was amazing to see in person. This has been such an eye opening winter and I truly need to write things down everyday to possibly keep up with all that I have seen and experienced. Below is a post I started along with pics from the past few weeks.
Started March 1....
"Now a few days removed from Kikkan's win in the team sprint and becoming World Champion with teammate Jessie Diggins the rest of the stay here in Val di Fiemme is on cruise control. Sunshine returned today, and we were treated to a great day of racing. This is the most time I have spent in duration in Italy. It is a fascinating place. Not knowing many words in Italian I am completely lost in all conversations and have yet to sort out the difference between when the conversation is polite and friendly or angry. Honestly for all I know the conversation could be going something like "It's great to see you and thank you for the beautiful flowers..." or "You bastard you drove over my cat and I will kill you". The hand gestures and volume used in the conversation are indistinguishable."
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Didn't capture the trees as they looked in really life but it was a great moment when a bit of sun poked through.
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Our humble accommodations in Cavalese, Italy. Shared the place with the King of Sweden. Incredibly no heavy security.
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Celebrating Kikk's World Championship gold with the Czech ski team support staff. Of course they brought their own keg of Pilsner!
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A good use for the wax box
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The calzone Mom ordered was a bit more than she was expecting.
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The final ceremony for the men's 50km. So much sunshine!
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Love this view from the other side of the valley of the small town of Tesoro.
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Eric the Great! One of the FIS MAG guys entertaining in traditional Austrian garb. Great group of guys and bloody hard workers.
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The view from the hotel in the morning
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View from my hotel room as the sun sets over Cavalese.
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Robert, Jüssi and Marco and I celebrating the end of the Championships at the volunteers party. Love that Italian wine.
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Now in Lahti, Finland. Might as well be Orillia, Ontario or anywhere in the Muskoka's. First time on the snowboard in 15 years. Been in the alps for two months and my first and only alpine day of the entire winter is on a 110m high slope...still worth every second.
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Such an icon Nordic look. Great to be back in Scandinavia (I know Finland technically doesn't count).
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Went to my first evening ski jumping competition. Twice the crowd that cross-country had.Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-28681436024074323822013-02-19T07:44:00.001-08:002013-02-19T08:02:42.164-08:00Davos - Val di FiemmeAfter my quick trip to Lithuania I spent the next week in Davos, Switzerland. I think each blog post I have probably claimed a new favourite place. But I can say now without a doubt Davos is my favourite. The mountain views, the town, the trail accessibility and the trails themselves all come together to make the perfect ski town. Having said that unless we win the lottery we will never be able to afford living there. However, for a couple weeks a year one can dream. The skiing was great and I am starting to feel fit again. Even though there are 6 weeks left of World Cup it feels like we are on the homestretch. After the World Champs I will go straight to Finland then to Norway and Sweden and that is where things wrap up March 24. Wow it's gone fast.
I am now in Val di Fiemme, Italy just two days from the start of the FIS World Nordic Ski Championships. We were here with the Tour de Ski just 6 weeks ago. Even though for the most part it is all the same top athletes that I see week in and week out on the World Cup, the World Championships is an entirely different beast. More total athletes and a countless increase in the media attention. I found myself in an interesting place here now. Despite the fact that I work for the governing Federation, and we are on the World Cup every week we find ourselves in almost an outsider role. Lot's of egos have arrived and have decided how things are going to go. It has just been amazing for me to see how this side of the ski championship business works. As a very small fish I am really just a spectator during these championships. I'll stop there....
Pics from the last couple of weeks:
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Our apartment for 4 days in Davos
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Valentines day at the Klatsch coffee house with Kikkanimal
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A little music at the Kulm Hotel
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Afternoon of work with the FIS Mag guys putting the stadium banners up. Nice to do some manual labour.
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A relaxing evening of meetings with the FIS crew....actually I like the wall mounted fireplace and stone work.
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Just couldn't resist taking a pic of the port-a-pot.
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The Schumacher boys forerunning the Davos World Cup course (Rudy and Gus from the left of the pic).
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Tough day
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Kikk with Anna Haag of Sweden. We will be back to visit in June.
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Davos knows how to watch a World Cup
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The homestretch....man those banners look good.
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Yeah that's what happiness/craziness looks like together when getting to drive Emil Jönsson's R8 Audi
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Cool as...Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-43300400697386409032013-02-11T04:45:00.001-08:002013-02-11T04:45:34.631-08:00Vilnius, LithuaniaI have just returned from a whirlwind trip to Vilnius, Lithuania to see Kestutis Celiesius (UNC teammate/roommate). We met almost 14 years ago at university and only met up once since graduation in 2002. I arrived Friday at 8 pm in Vilnius after taking three trains from Davos to Zurich, arriving in Zurich to learn that I booked a ticket for a week later. So after paying three times the original price I was off to Vilnius via Riga, Latvia. After saying our hello's we went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant....yep Mexican in Lithuania. Then we were off to the downtown area for drinks with childhood friends of Kestas. Before we arrived he said that tonight would not be a long night and Saturday would be longer.... I didn't realize that longer meant 6:30am. I am still paying for that evening today as I arrived back in Davos last night just before 11 pm. The three train rides were a bit of a concern on the way back as I could hardly stay awake and I was sure I was going to fall asleep and miss my stops. Once I arrived at the train station in Davos I walked for about 15 minutes until I found the apartment of Emil Joensson and Anna Haag, who were kind enough to let me crash at their place for the night. They were away at a Swedish team training camp. My arrival in the dark was a bit difficult but I managed to find the right place on first try.
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Kestas and I watching our roommate Liam in his film Textuality
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Breakfast Lithuanian style
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Kestas indoor track. Masters throwing competition going on. Standing chest pass with a kettle bell. Big big guys.
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The biggest guy. Alekna! Two-time Olympic champion. What a giant, and nice guy.
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Little boutique coffee shops all hidden amongst these narrow streets
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Panorama view from the historic castle overlooking the city
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Mardi Gras of Vilnius. The big day will be Tuesday but the activities began Saturday.
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Big K with Big V. Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-65857045854666982652013-02-07T12:19:00.001-08:002013-02-07T12:34:20.706-08:00Sochi, Russia - UnrealI have struggled since arriving and then departing from Sochi, Russia to come up with the words that do the place justice. I will steal some from Canadian skier Devon Kershaw. They are building three Whistler Villages in a place where there were no inhabitants....and all this is being done in the past 2.5 years with one year to go. Actually one year to go today to be exact. 60,000 workers working 24/7 was what I was told before I arrived, and that is what I witnessed. I hope my pictures can make up for where my words lack. The area geographical is absolutely beautiful. It's a mix of southern Appalachia, and Alaska's Chugach mtn range. Tight river valleys winding amongst deciduous forest covered steep hillsides while shadowed by 2000m peaks. Just incredible. Up at the Nordic venues (a 15 minute gondola ride up from the middle village) is deep in snow. Probably a meter fell while we were there, but it is wasn't enough to hide the scars of the construction process. Down low where ski jumping, and Nordic Combined will take place all you can see are recently moved piles of earth with construction equipment littering the view. Aahh I will stop writing and just post pictures. Basically the process of creating an entire Olympic space in underway with enough man-power and all the money needed. It's massive!
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The Aussie's just before the races when the mtns showed up
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The finish stretch
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A stadium view
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Walking from the gondola to the snowmobile/sled shuttle to the venue
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The arrivals area from our charter flight.
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8 workers to shovel snow.
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SnowMo shuttle
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Construction storage area and a massive building just beside the gondola station.
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Roads cut into the hillside. Tree's erode down the hillside
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Above the snowline
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No lines on the road. Pass as you wish, just leave space for oncoming traffic. Wow.
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Contrasting future. Tourist kids amongst poor as poor construction guys living in Conex trailers.
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Train bridge that will link Sochi proper to the up valley villages. Where there was a one lane road that took 3-4 hours to travel is now a full highway and rail line. Less than one hour drive.
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Sochi Airport. +17c when we arrived. Yep those are palm trees.
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Across the street from the airport
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No safety lines
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Where did I park my crane
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Same guy three days in a row shoveling that exact section of roof.
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Another view of that massive building by the gondola.
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Maybe that is where I left my crane. This is at the athletes village up at the Nordic venues (XC and Biathlon)
Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-16918843575112359352013-01-29T15:18:00.002-08:002013-01-29T15:26:48.178-08:00From Munich with Love...but heading to RussiaI suppose I can't really claim that arriving in Munich in an Audi, going to the Munich zoo by myself, and then making some new friends in a pub in central Munich has anything to do with a James Bond movie but I do like Munich. I can only imagine what the city looks like in the summer. Such a great mix of the (very) old and the new buildings, and tree lined streets and rivers. I should back up.
I drove to Munich to drop off Kikk's US Ski team Audi. I had a full day until I was due at a friends place in the Bavarian Forest. I thought I would shop...turns out everything is closed on Sunday in Munich. So I took the advice from a British family I met at the airport hotel I was staying at and bought a single day pass for public transport in Munich and took the bus-train-subway to the zoo. I have to say that the transport was really easy, even for a non-German speaking tourist like myself and the zoo visit was worth every penny. Pics to follow. The last zoo I went to was San Diego over ten years ago and I can say it was much different going to a zoo in the winter. Highlights for sure, as always were the wolves and the big cats, and the monkeys were monkeys and shockingly human at times.
After my adventure to the zoo I needed to eat and took the subway back to Marien platz (Munich centre) to find somewhere to eat dinner. I found a great place, sat at the bar, had a great meal and a few Weisbier and conversation with a couple of Brits and Scots. The best part was that with my single day ticket all I had to do was walk back to the subway and then get on a train to the airport and catch a shuttle bus to the hotel. No taxi, no driving, no stress.
Monday morning I woke early to get to the airport and pick up my rental car (VW Polo...bit of a letdown after the Audi)as I had a 9 am breakfast waiting for me at the parents of my friend Thomas Freimuth in the Bavarian forest. It is about a 150 km drive from the airport to the northeast, right against the Czech border. Another area I have to see in the summer. Heavy evergreen forests with telephone pole straight tree trunks that are a 100ft tall. The surrounding valleys are dotted with sleepy farming communities. I haven't been in the area since early 2010 when I first came to visit. I met Thomas the year before at the Arctic Circle race in Greenland. Great to get back for a visit, with him and his parents. Last night, despite a language barrier between his parents and I, the four of us ate chocolate, drank wine and played board games. Thankfully the language of laughter and good times is universal! Thomas and I got out for two skis in the 30 hours I was there. Looking forward to the next visit.
A couple more pics from France and my trip to the zoo.
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Of course the best weather (everyday was nothing to complain about) is always on the day you pack up to leave!
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Just a bit of snow on the roofs on the main drag.
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Le Very...stands for Le Very much snow.
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Bye Les Saisies
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One of the beautiful rivers in the city (or maybe the same one). Hundreds of swans. It was on my walk from the subway to the zoo.
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So I learned that when couples get engaged or married it is somewhat common to put a lock on a bridge (often engraved with names and a date) and then throw the key into the river. Pretty cool.
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Locks everywhere.
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This Rhino was absolutely massive, and I think quite old.
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I made a friend!
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So good.
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Right from a movie. Bustling old city centre square with live music.
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The subway exit at the marien platz stop comes out from under this building.
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The view at night.
Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-24125592131887085262013-01-25T06:56:00.000-08:002013-01-25T06:56:18.795-08:00Les Saisies Today is the US team's final full day in Les Saisies. Tomorrow they head to Zurich after a morning workout. I will follow the same route - but as mentioned in the last blog post - but continue on from Zurich to Munich. All booked for two nights in Munich which will give me one full day to check the city out before heading to Lindberg, Germany for a day and a half of skiing with a friend from the Arctic Circle race in 2009, and then Russia Wednesday.
I forgot to mention earlier that Les Saisies was the host site for the cross-country races during the Albertville 1992 Olympics. Beautiful and challenging trails. Despite having almost daily sunshine I have taken very few pictures....and I think that is mostly because I was more concerned with surviving a week of skiing everyday! All the pics below I stole from Kikkan.
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I learned from Les Rousses bonk after one hour to bring a drink belt with me! Yep, those are snow banks behind me along the trail because there is that much snow.
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One of the nicer alpine views I have seen.
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Aahh...downhill to the finish! Survived day two of 2+ hrs.
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Just a little bit of snow in the area.
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Kikk making it look easy.
Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-780639528921730942013-01-23T10:04:00.000-08:002013-01-23T10:06:50.829-08:00Les Saisies - But pictures from La ClusazFor week number three we are in France...and the snow and the scenery just gets better and better. I travelled with the US Ski team to Les Saisies, which was just up an over the pass from La Clusaz where last weekends World Cups took place. I haven't taken many pictures here yet even though yesterday was postcard worthy. Kikk has taken lot's though and they are facebook. I figure it's time for a picture post again. We are here until Saturday. The US team heads to Zurich to fly to Russia Sunday and I will continue on to Munich on my own to drop off the Audi. My plan is to see the sites in Munich for the weekend and then visit a friend in the Bavarian forest Monday and Tuesday before I fly to Sochi, Russia as well.
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The view from the bathroom. Could be worse.
Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-60045708024561038082013-01-16T13:35:00.001-08:002013-01-16T13:35:05.943-08:00Vive la France!Been a while since my last update. I will try and mostly use pictures. After the Tour de Ski, we head to Les Rousses, France. A small town just 2km inside the French boarder from Switzerland, and about 35 minute from the Geneva airport. We have been here for 10 days and leave tomorrow for La Clusaz, France for this weekends World Cups. When we arrived last week there was snow at about 1200m, and we were staying at 1140m. You could tell there had been snow but a warm period had taken it all way from the fields. Now advance a week and we have 30 cm outside out door and over a meter of new snow at 1200m. I think I can say that is the one of the best if not the best places I have ever skied. I hope the pictures illustrate this. It was a great stop for Kikkan mentally and physical after the Tour and during the World Cup in general. We cooked dinner together for the first time in 2 months, skied when she wanted, slept when she wanted and ate when she wanted. Much different from the team life. This weekend in La Clusaz I will try on a new pair of shoe as my colleague will be away I will try and fill his place as media coordinator. I will have help from the other two on the FIS team. But I will look at interviews, press conferences, the media mix zone at the finish and relations with photographers, and live interviews. Should be fun. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When we arrived
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Today. Same cool guy with car...but much more snow!
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The owner of the apartment we are renting works at the National Ski school, and as a result Kikkan has been able to use the weight room there. Today we shared it with the French national sprint canoeing and kayaking team. Impressive body types!
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Our place is the full house you can see. The owner lives up stairs. First left when you hit the Les Rousses town boundary sign.
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Kikkan avec Aurore Jean of the French National ski team. She was our tour guide today and our host with her husband Fred last night for dinner.
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Snow baby snow!
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Dinner near Geneva Monday night with Toni Sparrow, and her kids Soren and Brenna. Her husband Brad took the picture. She was a physio at the clinic I worked at in Anchorage.
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Kikk and I with Hervé at Le Rissou. He is the owner of the place we rented, at the main trails we skied at...before the new snow.
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Chez Fred and Aurore. An old concrete apartment made beautiful with wooden walls. Kikkan with Fred.
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Aurore in their modern kitchen in an old building. So cool.
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The Jura region. Known for it's cheese and love of cross-country skiing. 300km of trails!
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Kikk and Aurore leaving me behind...
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The sun on the trees covered in snow = postcard.
Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-109019342612002047.post-83520004750614652792013-01-08T12:39:00.001-08:002013-01-08T12:39:38.859-08:00Tour Wrap up et je parle francais!The Tour is now 2 days behind. After 11 days of straight work today was a very restful day. We are now in Les Rousse, France. Our place is just 2 km from the Swiss border and 45 min from the Geneva airport. We arrived around 8:30pm last evening, to the surprise of the home owner, who thought we were arriving this morning...so what did he do...he invited us in for the best cheese fondue I have ever had, and easily some of the best red wine. Two bottles later, I left full, tired, and much more fluent in French than when we arrived. Great start to three weeks in France.
I love to travel. Hotel hopping is fun. But I didn't realize how much I missed having a place to call "home" where we could do laundry, walk to the grocery store, and cook our own meals. C'est fantastique!
Some images from the last few days:
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The media mix zone at the top of the climb Sunday.
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The street view from Kikk's hotel in Predazzo, Italy. Love the old with the new.
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The US Ski team hotel in Predazzo.
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My computer (closest to me) amongst many in the sub media center at the top of the final climb.
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The morning view from my hotel in Cavalese during the Tour.
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Our chariot for the next few weeks.
Jeff Ellishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03035691897860614124noreply@blogger.com0