Germany has been a wild ride so far.  I arrived on Monday afternoon to absolutely no snow everywhere except the race hill.  It was so bad we drove two hours away to train in Kühtai, Austria. Which by the way, was absolutely fantastic rock solid snow (ice), tons of terrain, and easy lift access.  Wednesday saw a little bit of snow and a day of free-skiing.  Before there wasn't even enough snow to free-ski without worry of taking the edges right off the ski!  Thursday and friday saw the temperatures plummet for two days of icy, crumbly, difficult snow.  Which brings us to today.  Oh what a day it was.  We awoke to 10cm of snow on the ground, and it snowed for the rest of the day, HARD.  It absolutely puked snow all day.  Obviously the day you try to hold a world cup ski race, the skies unleash as much snow as they possibly can.  Surprisingly enough the track was in great shape, so long as you don't mind ice and stayed in the race line!  I was able to bump and bounce my way to a 13th place finish, which considering the conditions, makes me one happy skier.  I obviously have some things that can be changed, i.e. jumping about a foot further in the second run, but all in all, it was a great start to the season!  

Tomorrow we tackle the parallel, and I suspect we will we yet another new face of Germany as the forecast calls for a beautiful sunny day.  With the new snow it should make for a perfect race!  

With all the driving we've been doing on these crazy European mountain roads, my neck has taken an absolute beating.  They are very much not afraid of accelerating through the sharpest of curves over here.  

Also huge shout out to all the folks who have donated to my gofundme the last few days, definitely gets me fired up to race!!

The training in December was excellent, the weather was not so good.  I spent the week before christmas between Mount Snow and Cannon training on beautiful mid-winter snow.  After our little Christmas thaw however, all that beautiful white snow was reduced to off-white, patchy, sandy, stuff-we-east-coasters-call-snow.  The last couple days of training have taken place on certified pond-ice.  It just doesn't come any harder.  Conditions aside, I have made excellent progress on my set-up, and I have felt terrific on my skis.  I feel fast, I feel solid, and I could not be more excited to race world cup and a few weeks!  Look out Europe here I come!
 
Be sure to donate (gofundme.com/telemarksnyder) and stay tuned for results and other updates!