Due to unfortunate weather conditions, our first race in Switzerland was minimized to a qualification run, which ended up counting as the official race result. The women’s field had slightly more luck than the men’s did, as the men were unable to run their entire field for qualification and therefore the results were void. This was truly a disappointment as our men had finished three in the top four. The snow conditions were not all bad however. Mass amounts of fresh snow accumulated rapidly over the few days previous to the race made for an epic powder play ground. In Switzerland there are wildlife areas closed off to skiers. This of course proved to be the best untracked areas to ski. Later we discovered that it is greatly frowned upon to ski in these reserved areas and fines are handed out to violators.

At the end of the race, my parents caught me completely off guard by surprising me at the finish. Im so excited that they are going to be travelling around, exploring Europe, and watching me race for the first time outside of North America.