Sam Wyer Ski Racer

Bad weather again today so no skiing. Went swimming instead. Forecast for tomorrow is clear so hopefully will be able to get up the mtn..but there'll be a delay in lifts opening while the pisteurs flatten it all.

Blizzards yesterday so we couldn't ski. Went up the mountain and played footie instead. Big queues here for the lifts...30 mins !

Flew into Geneva yesterday. Good flight with Easyjet..no excess for once..now they have no limit on hand luggage. Got the train to Visp and then Tim (English Coach) picked us up in the minibus. First day of training today..went really well...very cold though..frozen boots. Had fitness this afternoon and then watched CBBC..wot a life !

Have been selected to go to the World Schools Champs in Sweden in Feb 2005 !

Just returned from the Irish and European Champs in Dublin as European and Irish Champion in JN1. Better start packing now for my next trip to Switzerland this weekend !

Tonight I have my interview with the BBC ! Then tommorow I travel to Dublin for the Irish and European Dry Slope Championships. On the 16th I'm back on snow to Saas Fee, Switzerland to start training for selection to the 2005 European Youth Olympics. The time trials will be in Norway 22 Dec...6 will go from GB...male & female.

Back in the UK. School tomorrow ! 

Back on the dry stuff, English Schools Regional Qualifier yesterday which I won overall. So an easy couple of weeks before Dublin on the 8/9 October for the European. Time to chill out.    

They didnt change their minds. I could have come home a week earlier. Hired a mountain bike and cycled up to Turona for a day. That was great. Now I'm packing...don't know how my Mum got it all in. Will then spend a day in Taupo, before we get our flight Sat morning (thats Friday night UK time) to Auckland. Its a tiny plane with one seat either side of the aisle...hope they get my luggage on...all 64 kilos of it.

Havent been allowed to enter the ANC races even though FIS said I could ! I'm hoping they change their minds as Snowsport GB have contacted them. So I ended up forerunning. 4 sec of the leader so pretty good run. Weather is sunny so snow soft.

The New Zealand National Championships SL went ahead. Awful ruts up to my knees. I made points of 12S and I won my age category-under 18!

Day off tomorrow, then Australian and New Zealand Cup next week.

Race cancelled again ! They've postponed until Friday & Saturday...but the forecast is for more bad weather.

We went up the mountain to start with, but the T bar was closed because of 150k winds, so they had to take us up on the back of the piste bashers...20 of us hanging on the back with our skis ! we kept sliding off ! Then they decided to cancel, but by then we couldnt see to ski down, so they sent guides up to us.

Went to the cinema, Simon & I were the only ones in there ! saw two films.

Ear pain is due to swollen glands from my cold.

Race cancelled due to 150km winds ! But we got 3 free hot chocolates while we were waiting. The house I'm in is shaking. Off to doc as think I have an ear infection.

I've been on Sky TV ! was interviewed by them and had a camera attached to my boot whilst I was skiing ! They're going to use the footage for the introduction ! Hope to get a copy. Great fun.

We're in Turona for the National Champs, sponsored by Volkswagen, so big opening ceremony. We got free scrapers and straps. I'm no. 31 in GS tomorrow, then SL day after. Can't wait, real good training day today.

I am in Picton where I get the ferry to Wellington in the North Island. The ferry we're on is cancelled so we have been re booked on the slower ferry at 230pm and it doesnt have a cinema this one! We get a free tea though. 6hour journey so quite tiring we had to get up earlier than for the races! It's a nice seaside resort. We should get to Turona late tonight. Then we get some practise in before races start 1-3 Sept.

Scariest skiing day of my life ! They had to piste the race run this morning as so much snow. It was so cold with the wind chill factor. Then the first run it was blowing a gale. I could hardly see the second gate in front of me. A blizzard came in and they stopped the race, but the road down the mountain was closed so we had to wait for 3 hours in the restaurant. Then they let 3 cars down at a time behind the digger. There were cars going into the ditches because you couldn’t see the edge and the wind as blowing them over. Our chains then came off so our coach shouted for everyone to get out ! I thought we were going over the side ! It took us 2 hours to go a 20 min journey. When we got down we went for a kebab as we hadn’t eaten since 6am.

The run I did was pretty good though, 6 seconds behind the leader. We leave at 6am tomorrow to get the midday ferry to the North Island. On the way here we saw 8 cars in 6 hours so traffic shouldn’t be a problem !

Last SG at Mount Hutt today. Skied amazing today was doing really well...there was a big jump about a metre high over a ridge went flying over it a bit to the left and only just made the next 3 gates! got late so lost alot of time but felt it was the best run I've had in super g. Shame the points aren't any good here.

Tommorow GS then we leave Sat morning for the North Island.

My first  SG in NZ. My line wasn't as good as it could have been, I got 167.68 points so OK. Another one tomorrow ! A link to the results here, I was fastest Brit !

http://www.skiracing.org.nz/cal2004/0052.htm

Left my homestay now and travelled 6 hours to Mount Hutt. Here we have 2 SGs and 1 GS. Really looking forward to it.

Last SL today at Coronet Peak. Think I came in top 30 out of 90 racers. Points not too good as half the top 15 came out ! Maybe 130 if I'm lucky. Two days off now. Still feeling ill but am enjoying myself.  

Leaving at 530am each morning. SL today. Pretty good first run, then I held back on the second as was told it was tight..but it wasn't too bad ! Got 147 points so not too bad. Not feeling good as I got the bug going around. 

Coronet Peak is much bigger than Treble Cone, you can see the planes landing at Queenstown airport. The race slope is like a rollercoaster, steep (like Meribel) but then with some flat bits.

And I'm in the newspaper here for coming second in the weekend race ! 

My first NZ FIS race ! GS...Horrible conditions again. First run hit a gate, second run OK but a bit bumpy. 

137 points so not bad ! Results below:

http://www.fis-ski.com/calendar/results.php?competitorid=94020&selc-id=94020&selc-Sectorcode=AL&cd-value=results&results-position=ALL&results-sort=date&raceid=28141&id=13733

Awful conditions at Coronet Peak. 1st after 1st run and then reverse order for second run, so dropped to 2nd OVERALL !! Really pleased with it.

check out the results here : http://www.skiracing.org.nz/cpk0404.mv

US ladies are due next week. Sat on a chair lift with Benny Raich !! and had a chat !! saw the rest of the Austrian team at the petrol station.

Not surprising...avalanche today so bit mega but no one killed. It was quite scary but the first runs before the lift was closed were amazing! I did 2 front flips!

Race at Corenet tommorow so better do my skis now ! And its sunny now, we're in t-shirts! Having a great time. 

1m of snow in 24 hours !! Torrential rain here in Wanaka. Day off !

30cm new snow today, road closed when we were up there until the diggers cleaned the road...6 cars fell in ditches!

Early start tommorow of 545! great.

I have been here already 3weeks almost time to go home!

Amazing place here though very cold though.

The French, US and German Teams are on their way.

Had a great day skiing today.

There is a SL race at Coronet on Saturday....its a national race so I'm gonna do that.

For fitness today we split into groups to do a dance routine in 30min and losers had to run up this really steep hill!! So we did the macarena and the YMCA and head shoulders knees and toes and we WON!.

I've met Hermann Maier!  He's training with the Austrian team here.

Bad weather again.

Worked on starts and finishes today.

Played squash for our fitness session..until I lost the ball (!). The time is going so quickly ! 

Day off today. Its raining here in wanaka so it should be snowing up the hill at Treble Cone.

It was so windy yesterday 70km/hr that I got blown over !   

Its only the Austrian team here at the mo. You can pay $50 and have breakfast with the team ! They have 10 pairs of skis each at the bottom of the slope. They train early on the slopes and then we come up later. We're skiing 9am until 3pm now.

There's going to be FIS races here at Treble Cone next year so that should be good.

Stephie, Ellie and Hugo are here from SLP, so that seems weird! 4 of us from Gloucester ski slope !

Bye for now

Went to Coronet Peak to see the Downhill.

Finlay Mickel  & Ross Green were there from the British Seniors Team !

I got into the VIP area where there was free food !

Saw the Austrian team today and their technician at the bottom of the slope...but didnt see Herman...will watch out for him tomorrow.

Hot & sunny here so the snow is pretty slushy.

Off to Queenstown tomorrow to watch a Downhill, which has the Bells Brothers in it !

Day off today ! No sighting of the USA or Austrian teams yet..I think they only landed on Friday.. Treble Cone has condoned off the main slope for their use, so should be good to watch !

Still hate the early starts. We've been training GS this week on some steep slopes with 30 gates..so good practise.

Seen the new Nordica boots...red metallic clips with sparkly black plastic !

I've taken some photos which I'm sending back to the UK so I hope to have some photos of the slopes to show soon.

Am getting up at 6am to leave at 620...up the hill to see the sun rise red over the lake and mountains. We start with gates for 2 hours, have a break then free ski. Later we watch videos of ourselves for feedback. After lunch we head back down arriving by 2pm. Then a 2 hour break before 2 hours of 'tough' fitness training...back home for tea and then bed !

But the best news is that the Austrian and USA teams are here on Friday !!!

Don't know how I managed it..but after a 34 hour journey involving delays due to fuel shortages, low cloud and running into trouble with US Immigration (all my Mum's fault...well only the immigration bit really) I'm here !

I'm staying in Wanaka..which is just an amazing place ! I'm training with the Wanaka Race Academy based at Treble Come. Check out my links. The house has a hot tub, and I even have a double bed with an electric blanket...won't want to come home at this rate !

I start training tomorrow and will let you know how its going.

Check out my diary and the FIS link for the NZ races I'm doing.