BC Ski Team in Europe - 2020 B-Tour
Friday, February 28th, Klosters, Switzerland
After a long day of travelling on Thursday, we woke up the next morning to baby blue skies stretching out over Klosters, Switzerland. I rolled out of my bed and got dressed quickly to head upstairs to breakfast, throwing a ski boot at Gabe to wake him up as I walked out the door (BTW, Torin is writing this and not Emma). It’s been fun sharing a room with him…
It was a gorgeous day for a ski, and they had the best real snow we’ve seen since Seefeld, as it had just dumped here the day before. Right after breakfast, we headed out to pre-ski our race courses for the next two days. The trails were a 3-minute walk from our hotel and the race start was only a few hundred meters from where we put on our skis. Ideal location for us. We skied up to the race site and hopped through a fence to enter the stadium and begin inspecting the race course. This course crossed a road four times, which is unheard of back home. The road crossings were more like a narrow driveway that led to about a dozen homes. Two volunteers manned each crossing to control traffic and make sure there was enough snow for skiers to cross without having to take off our skis and walk across, as well as stop traffic on the road! We only ended up skiing for about an hour and then headed back to the hotel for a quick bite to eat before leaving for Davos.
We planned to take the train up to Davos for the afternoon to check out the ski shops and cafés, and practise our paparazzi skills. At 13:02, we (the boys) left for Davos. The coaches and the girls were later than us for a change! It was roughly a 30-minute ride and fortunately we had nearly the whole train to ourselves. What a gorgeous trip it was, winding its way up the mountain to the higher plateau, crossing ski slopes and meadows blanketed in snow, and overlooking the Klosters valley below. Davos is a much more commercialized town than Klosters, so we had a lot to explore. After walking around main street and popping in and out of stores for many hours we came up empty handed for the most part. As every ski specific store is incredibly expensive, none of us had the financial support from our parents to spend 100 Swiss Francs on a headband. So we headed back empty-handed to Klosters to meet up with the rest of the gang in time for dinner.
On the walk over to dinner a coach from the Davos team slowly rolled by us and asked us what our plans were for the next day. Confused, we replied and told him “we’re racing buddy!” He quickly pointed out to us that the races were cancelled! Our coaches were 50 meters behind us and hadn’t told us yet. Here’s the brief summary of the sequence of events:
- The Coronavirus has been causing grief for China for some time.
- The Coronavirus recently had an outbreak in the Milan area.
- Several small towns in Italy were under quarantine.
- New cases of Coronavirus were being diagnosed in Austria and Switzerland.
- 24 hours previously, the Swiss government announced that all events with 1000 or more people present would be cancelled until further notice (that meant that the large Engadin Loppet that was scheduled for the following weekend had to be cancelled, along with large festivals, soccer matches, concerts, etc.).
- The local Organizing Committee (OC) of the Swiss Cup races met with the city officials the night before to discuss this new ruling, and even though this event wasn’t going to see anywhere near to 1000 people, they decided to cancel the Awards Ceremony that was scheduled to take place as a celebration in the city centre both evenings.
- Then today, Friday, February 28th, at 15:00, the Swiss government came up with some amendments to their ruling, emphasizing that any event with international or inter-regional participants (regardless of the size) would also need to be cancelled!
- The Swiss government allowed each Canton (province) to decide when they wanted to implement this new ruling, and the local Canton decided to implement this ruling immediately!
- This ruling was discussed at the TCM at 17:00, much to the surprise to the OC, as well as all of the coaches present.
The team was shocked, but there was nothing we could do. The OC was very apologetic, but this decision was entirely out of their hands. So unfortunately, the rest of the weekend turned out to be training days. But on the bright side, we came back to the hotel and finished off the day with a solid sauna session, neo-Austrian style.
Saturday, February 29th, Klosters, Switzerland
Since the Swiss Cup was cancelled, we decided to drive up to Davos to ski on their amazing network of trails (hard to imagine when we’ll be back here). The ride to Davos wound around the side of the valley and around the mountains. It was a lovely drive, and we could spot chairlifts climbing up to the distant peaks of the mountains. Davos is a hub for downhill skiing especially - there are many luxury hotels and ski stores around town. The snow conditions in Davos were excellent, and the trails were well groomed - perfect for intensity! After completing a painfully enjoyable session of MAS, we dragged our tired bodies back to the van. We looked around for the World Cup trails before heading back to Klosters, but unfortunately couldn’t find them. Like many venues in Europe, the sprint stadium is likely made the week before, and then dismantled afterwards. Tonight we indulged in our last post-dinner team sauna. It was truly a bonding experience (the coaches aren’t quite sure what this really means…).
Although we greatly enjoyed our time in Klosters, we were also excited to travel back to Germany, because that meant one important thing: Kronehit Radio. This radio station became an ongoing theme throughout our three weeks travelling in the vans. Since crossing the Austrian border into Italy and then Switzerland, the BC Team as a whole had been going through Kronehit Radio withdrawal symptoms. Kronehit radio cycles endlessly through the same playlist all day, every day, with no more than a dozen songs in its repertoire. Dance Monkey, of course, was a crowd favorite among us. Once we were fortunate enough to hear this classic on Kronehit five times within 2 hours! All in all, Davos and Klosters, was a beautiful experience that lacked only two things: Kronehit and ski races.
Sunday, March 1st, Klosters, Switzerland
Today was our last full day of our European adventure. With our cancelled racing schedule, we weren’t as rushed today. Everyone went for a beautiful ski in the Klosters valley on freshly-groomed trails, then packed the vans and headed to Frankfurt.
Sundays are always busy on the highways in Europe, as most vacationers are on the move that day. We made a planned stop in Liechtenstein to try their version of McDonald’s, and really enjoyed their Quinoa-Curry burger and Ovomaltine McFlurry (some of us anyways). Several traffic jams on the Autobahn re-routed us and lengthened the drive to Frankfurt, but once again, thanks to the expert driving skills of our two coaches, we returned back to where we started, all unscathed, and without any traffic fines! One last repacking of all of our bags and we’ll be ready for our flight home tomorrow.
By Torin Andrews and Emma Wong et al
Below are two photos from the ski session in the fog that missed the February 25th report.
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Previous Reports & Photos:
1. http://www.crosscountrybc.ca/bc-ski-team-europe-2020-b-tour
2. http://www.crosscountrybc.ca/bc-ski-team-europe-2020-b-tour-feb-22
3. http://www.crosscountrybc.ca/bc-ski-team-europe-2020-b-tour-feb-24
4. http://www.crosscountrybc.ca/bc-ski-team-europe-2020-b-tour-feb-26
Schedule Overview:
February 12 Depart Canada
February 13 Arrive in Frankfurt (Germany) and drive to Seefeld (Austria)
February 13-16 Training in Seefeld (Austria)
February 16 Competition in Saltzburg (Austria)
February 16-21 Training in Ramsau (Austria)
February 21-24 FIS race in St Jakob/Rosental (Austria)
February 24-27 Training in Toblach (Italy)
February 27-March 1 FIS race in Klosters/Davos (Switzerland)
March 1-2 Travel to Frankfurt (Germany); fly back home
Athletes:
Beth Granstrom (Revelstoke Nordic Ski Club, Revelstoke)
Cole Turner (Telemark Nordic Club, Williams Lake)
Emma Wong (Strathcona Nordic Ski Club, Courtenay)
Fred Albrechtson (Nickel Plate Cross Country Ski Club, Penticton)
Gabe Gledhill (Strathcona Nordic Ski Club, Cumberland)
Gregory Baxter (Bulkley Valley Cross Country Ski Club, Smithers)
Marielle Ackermann (Kimberley Nordic Club, Kimberley)
Torin Andrews (Sovereign Lake Nordic Club, Vernon)
Coaches:
Chris Manhard (Cross Country BC)
Frank Ackermann (Kimberley Nordic Club)