A lot has happened since my season ended in March with another knee injury at U.S. Nationals. I had my fourth knee surgery in April, which revealed significant damage to the articular cartilage on my femoral condyle. The procedure went well, but left me non-weight bearing for the following six weeks. The crutches made for a challenging quarter getting around campus at Dartmouth, but I made the best of it and finally completed my sophomore year. I happily ditched the crutches when I moved back home to Washington in early June.

My best friend Lisa and me

Since I couldn’t ski, it was my first true summer at home in over ten years and I LOVED it. My schedule was packed from taking a full-load of classes at the University of Washington in addition to all of my rehab and workouts. I really appreciated the opportunity to be a “normal” person for once, hanging out with friends, taking in concerts, outdoor movies, poetry slams, and barbeques… I made a couple of trips to the California and Washington coasts for surfing, went hiking at Crystal Mountain, did a photo shoot at Mt. Hood for Volkl, hosted friends visiting from out of town, and had the most wonderful time at my brother Doug’s wedding in Hood River, Oregon. I also had the pleasure of opening the Lululemon “Fit and Function” show, which was a premier event at Bellevue’s Fashion Week.

Signing autographs at the Lululemon store

I worked my butt off in the gym and was on my bike almost every single day for six months straight. By the time I finally got the all-clear from my doctors to ski in October, I was super strong and excited to get back on snow. I went to Soelden, Austria at the beginning of the month to do some drills and freeskiing before the rest of my teammates showed up for our official October training camp. There were days when I had pain, and some days when I didn’t, but I was skiing surprisingly well from the get-go. It felt great to jump back in the saddle, and I was especially impressed with how comfortable and natural my new Volkl/Tecnica equipment felt. I slowly eased my way back into gates when the rest of the team arrived, and by the time I left Austria on the 22nd, I was skiing GS gates full-speed and totally pain-free. Both my coaches and I were very pleased with how well I was skiing. It is crazy to think that six months ago I couldn’t walk and my legs were mushy with atrophy, and now I am skiing just as solidly as ever!

Soelden, Austria

After such a positive and encouraging return-to-snow, I am looking forward to my next training camp taking place in Copper and Keystone, Colorado in November. It will be the final two weeks of preparation before the season kicks off (for me) Thanksgiving weekend in Panorama, B.C. I am just looking to continue the trend that began in Austria—if I can stay pain-free I know that it will be an outstanding year!

If you would like to view a video clip of me training GS in Soelden, go to:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1693557393111448822