The four weeks since my last update has been something of a blur. Two of them were spent visiting family and friends back East - not nearly enough time to get caught up. As spectacular as it is in BC, nothing beats returning to VT after a long spell away - particularly when you return for the most glorious week of weather so far this year. The trip East marked something of a change in gears - from finishing up the extended post-season of winter ‘07-’08, to jumping into the extended pre-season of winter ‘08-’09.

I usually leave some sort of teaser before the text break on the front page to give people a reason to hit the “more” link. This time I left the scary picture above. The Callaghan Valley Training Center - Amy’s team - has more or less taken shape for the coming season, and we returned from our Spring vacation to find Thomsen D’Hont and Pate Neumann camped out on our living room floor. They had been invited, of course, but it’s still a bit scary to return to that. Actually, Thomsen isn’t nearly as bizarre as that picture (or his blog) make him appear. He’s just excited to be skiing on the Callaghan Country trails. That’s the other thing we returned to - a week of groomed summer skiing thanks to VANOC and Brad Sills.

At the end of last week, while the CVTC crew was still skiing up the valley from the venue, Lars Svensson arrived for a visit, and we walked the trails at Whistler Olympic Park and got the lay of the land. Lars is, of course, the man behind the development of the Tazzari machine, and the Tazzari world-wide sales agent for customers outside of Italy. Lars spent several days with us here, sight-seeing, and scouting the geography and logistics of the Olympic scene. It both a pleasure and an opportunity to have Lars visit, and as usual I learned a great deal from him while he was here. I think Gunnar enjoyed his company as well. It’s a bit funny - many Americans and Canadians have pointed out to us the correct Scandinavian pronunciation of “Goonar”. Lars very quickly adopted our Americanization of the name, and played along with “Gunner”. That’s a nice thing.

And now, just as things are settling down from a busy month of traveling and visiting, I’m getting organized to head to Austria (on Monday) to pick skis at the Fischer factory. I’ll be making ski selections for select Canadian athletes and programs, I’ll work with Chris Hall on some USST picks, and I’ll pick skis for a handful of Boulder Nordic Sport customers who have taken advantage of the opportunity (contact Nathan at BNS quickly if you want to get in on the project). I’ve picked a lot of Fischer skis from the US warehouse in the past five or six years, and I’ve worked with a lot of race-room skis with National Team and other sponsored racers. But this will be my first trip to the source, and I’m excited by that. However, it’s sure to be a busy trip, and I don’t expect to have another update here until I’ve returned.