Racing Blog - Day Two - Ben Clatworthy, Racing and Sports Correspondent
Wednesday October 28, 2009 - Email this article to a friend

Getting up at 7am is bad enough. 

But leaping out of bed so early, having to pull on trainers and head outside for a swift 10 minute run in sub zero temperatures before breakfast is not my idea of either a fun-run or a fun-stretch. 

It's high altitude and its hard to run anyway, but its even harder so early.  The aim of the early morning run is to wake us up and to work up a good 'healthy' appetite before breakfast.  I get the idea but I know where I'd rather be.

At 8.30am we are at the main Saas Fee lift and the queue is massive.  To make matters worse its the start of the FIS European Snowboad Championships high up on the glacier.  And there are just hundreds of them... everywhere! And I just know the lift system will be so busy and clogged up on the mountain.

Drills Day is always tiring and testing.

The main purpose is to work through loads of different drills which help with different aspects of skiing. There's alot to remember, and alot of testing exercises.  We've done them all before but it's an essential reminder as we must use them each morning before we start training in gates. Our coaches are great because they give us one-on-one feedback so we all know exactly what we have to work on.

I was absolutely right in my assumptions at the bottom of the cable car, the t-bar system was completely clogged up.

First ski rage, now queue rageT-bars work so slowly anyway but today there was a never ending queue.  I'd heard that some of the Kandahar crew training last week actually found it quicker and more rewarding physically to walk up the mountain than wait for their turn on the T-bar. I'm not that frustrated yet.

The other problem is that many of non-British simply don't understand the art of queuing or the meaning of the word, and seem to take pleasure in trampling over our skis. 

We even saw a good number of rather violent fights as people were shoved out of the queue. Ski-queue rage is here.

But all that apart.  The snow conditions on the Saas Fee glacier are perfect. 

And the plan for tomorrow.  We are going to train Giant Slalom gates tomorrrow and well the queues were so bad that we're changing the entire day's programme.  Alas we're still getting up at early (7.30am) for the morning fun-run, followed by our video feedback from todays skiing, and then breakfast.

We hope to avoid the queues by leaving the hotel at 9.30am instead and skiing later until 3.00pm.  Hurray it could be the end of the queues for us!

But as for now I'm off to bed - its been a very long day.

See Ben's Day One Blog here.

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