Alle bilder: Endre Løvaas
There is some time off in May. Basically you spend time catching up with bills, accounting, your family and girlfriend. Not in any particular order. Maybe do some skiing and snowmobiling in the backcountry or at A-Basin. Its hard to find people motivated to go sled or backcountry ski with, most could care less about winter at that point, Which sucks since it’s the time of the year that the mountains are relatively safe and everything is as filled in as it will ever get during the season. Going to the gym, yoga, and pilates types of classes. At the end of the filming season you really have not been very active due to the towns you have been in (fishing villages), not much work out possibilities except push ups and sit ups and maybe some running around.
MTB for subsitute
Towards the end of May into June it’s nice to take a week vacation to the beach if possible. Then there is checking out your footage and editing segments at this time as well, which can be 4 to 5 days per film you are working with. Pretty much checking in on your investment. Even a sponsor photo shoot here and there. June is when mtb training starts up. I look at the summer as a time to ride bikes and be outside and take advantage of the summer, not go into the gym till it starts snowing or maybe it’s a rained out day. End of June into July I used to coach ski camp at Whistler, but over the 6 years of doing it has not been so much fun. Need the summertime to focus on mtbing and being at home, and generally having a life. The mtbing really keeps the legs and knees in good shape for the up coming season. Mostly focusing on cross country riding about 5 to 6 days a week and some DH mtbing here and there, only stunt style riding, very similar to skiing which is fun. Living in Colorado there is not much of that built terrain around. I will ride the bike till it snows and put it away and hit the gym.
Gym-time
August and September is a time to go to New Zealand or South America, Southern Hemisphere winters are much different than North Hemisphere since the snow generally is not as good, sometimes its great but not very consistent on being good. Some filming, but mostly product testing for Oakley and K2 is what goes on down there for a week or so at a time. Then by gym time which is mid August-January. Lifting weight at a higher rep than weight ratio is what has seemed to work for indurance and is not so harsh on the joints. 5 to 6 days a week of that at night is what goes down. If the snow is good and I am able to ski a lot in December, then the gym is not so necessary since sled skiing which includes a lot of skinning, is going on, or hiking to East Vail Chute area 3 to 4 runs a day. During this time there is a lot of emailing or phone calls to return for ski life. That’s the nighttime schedule, so if there is lots of that there is no time for the gym.
Recovery
Through the years this part of skiing has been more and more for me. Message boards and looking up snow reports for possible places to train are also part of that. Summer time is not that bad, seems like when the main winter comes around I have a bunch of new friends, and as the season rolls on they disappear. The cycle starts all over again when winter returns. Weird. Recovering from injuries is a big deal at times since the mental edge is lost a bit and you need to work back up to that confidence. During the healing time working out is all you can do to keep your mind off not skiing. In the end it’s a good experience for ones sole, makes you take a step back and look at the real picture and what you actually want to do with your life, mine always comes back to skiing.
Not my cup of tea
This past winter I went to the Alps and Austria which was fun, but I found that its always the same no matter where I go over there. The tops of the mountains seem to be very boney since the snow is so dry and doesn’t really stick to the rocks all that well. Makes not so comfortable with jumping or even general skiing. Hitting rocks just under the snow and falling is not my cup of tea. Then its hard being at resorts and having to race other for the powder. Seems that there are not so many hidden little stashes anymore, maybe it’s the time of the year that I end up going, but in general there are a lot of people on the slopes at times and it gets pretty crazy. In the end its not the kind of skiing I am used to. The experience is great with the culture and everything, but so crowded in these ski towns due to all the vacations and holidays Europeans get to take, more so than the states. But there are still some really cool places with great skiing and terrain, so you Euros are quite lucky to have all that just around the backyard. Now I gotta go skiing. See you on the hill! Seth
