Just back from a brilliant 5 weeks in "never-never land" on the ski-alpinisme race circuit in the Alps. Ben Bardsley, Jon Morgan, Nick Wallis and I had an extended trip out there, mixing some coaching with racing, and culminating in the world championships in Andorra and the famous stage-race the Pierramenta, in Areches-Beaufort.
This is only my second season racing, and my fourth since learning to ski in 2007, so the progression is still at the very exciting, steep part of the improvement curve! Every day in the Pierramenta Ben and I seemed to get stronger, until the final day when I came down with a lurgy and had to be towed on the lead. Every dog has his day and that was mine! We didn't lose too many places that day though, since it was a much shorter stage than previous days, and we ended up a respectable 63rd out of 151 teams. Jon Bracey and Carron Scrimgeour did very well to finish 25th overall, and the other British team competing, Rick Marchant and Jon Morgan, came in shortly after us in 77th, which was impressive seeing as Rick was nursing a nasty cold all week.
More details and some pics on my site at http://es-on-ice.co.uk/
