WCSN Blogs

Happy Spring/Summer everyone!

I just completed 8-9 days on snow out in Mammoth, CA! It was my first time back on snow with the team. I was doing the “return to snow” program but it was great to be back on skis and with all the guys on the team again. Return to snow is basically a lot of freeskiing, drills and working on your movement patterns in a really slow and controlled manor. I spent a lot of time on slalom skis, which allows you to feel the arc of the turn at slower speeds, while still getting the same movement. It was slow and controlled, but I was actually having a lot of fun making turns around the mountain. It was just great being out on snow again. By the last day of the camp, I was running easy GS again.

The weather there was “varied”. It was a tropical 65 or so degrees on the hill one day, then two days later I skied in 4-5 inches of fresh snow. It snowed the last two days of our camp. Crazy!

Other than getting back on snow, I have been busy planning a fundrasier for the Men’s Alpine Team. There are 5-6 guys on the team (including top World cup performers like Bryon Friedman, Erik Schlopy and Dane Spencer) that will be self-funded going into the this coming season.

The fundraiser is a Ski/Golf event, skiing in the morning (dual GS format) and 18 holes of golf in the afternoon. Teams of 4. It should be a lot of fun. We are also hosting a clinic the day before where people can ski with an athlete in small groups and learn from the best. If anyone is interested, send an email to nonprofit.sfi@gmail.com. We are a registered non-profit so all donations are tax deductible. I have included info below. We should have a website put together soon with current info on it, but not at this point.

As for me, I am headed on a surf trip with my brother to Tofino on Vancouver island. Should be fun, as long as I don’t freeze!

Men’s Alpine Ski and Tee
Mt. Hood, Oregon: Skiing at Timberline, Golf at Resort at the Mountain, Welches.
July 19th Schedule:
Registration/Breakfast- Timberline lodge- 6:30am
Clinics with Athletes- 7:00am lifts, 8:30am- meet group.
Video w/athlete- after skiing.
6:30pm- Dinner/ Auction Resort at the Mountain.

July 20th Schedule:
Registration: Timberline Lodge- 6:30 am
Dual GS, Team format- Start time TBD.
Golf: Tee time 1pm, Scramble format. Awards, 6pm.

Pricing:
Total weekend package: $600 *Gold Level* $1000
Just Clinic: 250 (includes ticket, clinic with athlete, training with coaching, video, breakfast and lunch at Timberline)
Just Dinner: 100 (Dinner, Auction, free giveaways)
Just Ski Golf: 325 (includes ticket, race, breakfast at Timberline, 18 holes with cart)
*Gold Level includes recognition of your support on our website and at the event, plus other bonuses

As the spring slowly takes over and the snow starts to melt, we all change our frame-of-mind to things like sandals and other warm activities. This year is unique however. Despite the closing of the resorts weeks ago, we have continued to film in the backcountry trying to enjoy every last day of the winter we have been so fortunate to experience.

Yesterday, after hiking up to the top of a line I took out my avalanche probe, which is eight feet long, to test the snow pack - I did not touch the bottom. This was an epic season and it’s far from over with storms on the radar for the next few days. We could be out skiing powder again here very soon and with the best snow pack in decades we could be skiing well into the summer.

For now here are a few pictures from the last few days, but I hope you are able to check out this seasons video from Two Plank Productions called “Set In Motion.” It has been an epic season and I hope we are able to share some of the experiences from our endeavors with you.

I have a good rant as promised- Medical bills. The insurance category might be one of the shadiest operations in all of business. Their business model is basically to take in money (from your premium) and then pay out far less than what they bring in, overall. If something big happens- a Katrina sized incident, they rely on the creativity of their lawyers, who drafted in clauses like “an act of god”. Then they deem Katrina an “act of god” and wipe their hands of it, leaving thousands of loyal premium-paying customers screwed. But I digress… In the medical side, it is the same business model, take in more, delay by sending you countless forms to fill out (while earning interest on your premium and hoping that those forms get lost in the mail or not filled out properly) then pay out less than what is brought in. You have to play the game though… the cost of health care is so high that you can’t chance it without insurance. My favorite is the form they send you to see if there is anyone else they can sue related to the incident. Don’t fill that out and get it back to them? They deny. Lets take a look at one of “Scott’s” bills.

Scott has an incident. Scott gets medical treatment for said incident, supplying provider with cards and info for his medical insurance. The provider bills insurance. Primary insurance denies claim until $25,000 has been paid (don’t ask). Secondary insurance comes into play. Provider: “Oh, We don’t bill that insurance company… we only bill in our network”. What the heck?? Don’t you want to get paid? Ok, no problem… Pass bill to Secondary. Secondary needs denial explanation from Primary. Primary wasn’t actually billed properly because of a change to the system half-way though incident time frame. Third insurance gets involved. (yup.. got three) Everyone points fingers at everyone else saying that they someone else should pay “we need explanation of benefits from the other two”. Useless “incident reports” are mailed to me, threating to deny all claims unless filled out. 8 months pass. I throw away letters that inform me that “we have received information in regard to your claim and are currently processing it…”(yet not saying what they received or what they were going to do about it) what a waste of paper. Secondary still needs Primary’s explanation of benefits to process claim. Now that 8 months has passed, it is too late to re-file that claim.

Sent to Collections. Mean sounding man calls me asking for my credit card “you need to pay today, sir”. I bore him with the depths of my trifecta insurance debacle until he hangs up. Amount in this debate $89… damage to my credit… priceless. Problem: the hospital did not bill first insurance properly so I could send the denial to the second, even after two separate calls from me to rectify the situation.

Claim in a different state/ city than where the insurance company has their “network”? Oh boy, this is fun. Get some PT one place, a surgery in another, rent your CPM machine from another (as one has to). Each area based on the location of the service provided, has a different network, “Out-of-Network” charges, “We Don’t Bill That Insurance”. That would be more manageable if things didn’t change mid-stream. When the insurance providers change over (reached your max for example) for THE SAME PROVIDER, the new insurance pays a different amount or isn’t in their network, so they can’t bill them or not for the same amount or it is no longer covered.

I called an agent and asked why they couldn’t just get the info directly from the other insurance company… She replied that her company does not talk to the other company involved “Insurance companies don’t talk to one another”- it was my responsibility to get them the info. Ok… I know they don’t want to do anything that would expedite them actually paying on a claim, but they have to communicate with one another… otherwise they would overpay if they didn’t know what the other company had already covered.

Your co-pay… You owe 20% of the first $5,000 paid. Think that is just $1,000? Wrong. With “insurance math” that is actually $1250. (You owe 20% until THEY have paid $5,000 so you owe more)

Scorecard? Scott 0, five inch stack of paperwork, 1.

Oh, and providers… They will bill you $1000 for a knee brace… but they will take $150 to clear up the bill. I used to wonder about that, until I realized that they have to do that to get paid what they need to by the insurance companies. It is not so much the providers… it is the insurance that needs to be smote with a swarm of locusts.

Whew… think I am done. That felt good.

Thanks to all who entered and don’t forget to go to WCSN.com and WCSN TV to check out summer sports like cycling, swimming, track & field and beach volleyball!

Tamok, Norway – After many cups of coffee and some Finish style oatmeal for breakfast the anticipation started building. Outside the window the pilot is taking off the bird (Polly’s) pajamas as we got our gear together, change radio batteries, check beacons, pack a lunch and prepared for the day. With three or four languages being spoken all around me, I tune out most of the gibberish and concentrate on my elation. With Bob Marley playing on the stereo, the leader of the group reads off group orders for take off and pick up. Our group was first today, so I knew it was time to get outside as I could see the pilot topping off Polly’s tanks with Jet-A silhouetted against a pristine blue sky.

My excitement was hard to contain as I ponder the reality of this situation. All around me people from different nations prepare and ponder, but everyone here has a different goal. Some are new to the big mountains riding scene and are here to gain some fruitful experience, while others have already set first descent lines off peaks like Denali, Robson, and other in Russia and Alaska. It did not matter what I was there for, but the fact that I was putting on my ski boots 6000 miles from home was enough to give me goose bumps. Knowing that we are flying a helicopter in an area of the world that helicopters have never been flown in before is special, but the area itself is beautiful enough to make you confess your sins.

However, the conditions were an encumbrance for concern with no way to describe it aside from dust on crust. As you may have read in my first post from this trip, the weather in this is very extreme and I was wrong about the warm temperatures. While we were in Oslo and Tromso for the days before we came to meet the group the weather was mild. Light snow and rain, but warm considering our geographic location. However, after the bad weather we had experienced the first few days the skies cleared and the heat left. Today it was -28C with a wind chill of about -34C. Therefore, all the warm weather and new snow that had fallen was more than frozen and the wind effected many slopes into a hard crust. However, this morning the wind died and left us with a few cm of fresh snow on top of the bullet proof crust. This was not the conditions any of us were hoping for, but the stability in the snowpack allowed us to ski some steeper and usually un-skiable lines. However, as I got ready I put on layer after layer to prepare for the landing at the top of a peak after not working to get there which is enough to shock your senses. With all my skin covered and gear locked down we walked out to the copter where the pilot Andreas was waiting with a smile on his face.

We loaded our gear into the ski box mounted on the side of the skid as the turbine engine fired up. The blowers pushed hot air into the gears as the rotors started to spin. Ever so slowly the rotors gained speed as the turbine engine hits fire speed and the roar of the jet engine was drowned out by the spinning blades just above our heads. As we pensively climbed into the chopper the sound, vibration, and thunder of the displaced air above us created an eerie or almost supernatural ambiance in the cockpit. The pilot poked and adjusted buttons and levers as the blades built speed. Packed like desperate refugees into the back seat we struggle to buckle seatbelts and situate ourselves as the cockpit starts to bounce from the force of the spinning blades above. The door shuts and with an unspoken nod from the pilot we despite the physics of gravity lifted from the ground.

Tamok, Norway, - March 19th, 2008- Due to adverse conditions, the helicopter arrived yesterday a day late and came with more bad weather. For those of you who know how a helicopter works, then you understand they do not work when there is bad visibility, high winds, or any other adverse factors. Therefore, much of the helicopter skiing experience is spent waiting for the optimum conditions to appear like kids waiting for Santa Clause on Christmas Eve. Many of us have spent our mornings glued to the windows watching the clouds pass and others have just sat and drank coffee talking about the weather.

Anyway, the week here in Norway has been anything but uneventful. With the amazing local crew ready for adventures on snowmobiles or ready to go skinning anywhere, there has been a lot of activity to say the least. The typical day has started with breakfast around 7:30, although I got up around 8:30 because there has been plenty of food and the coffee has been flowing all day. When people were done studying maps of the area and coming up with speculated answers on where we are allowed to go and where we all thought snow would be best, people have been splitting into groups to go on adventures looking for the best snow, ice climbing, building jumps, or whatever else our child-like imaginations could muster. My brother Onie and I made friends with the right crew, so the locals have been bringing us on small missions to explore areas far beyond the distance accessible with only the use of skins. Therefore we have had the local tour of an area that has never been explored from a freeskier’s perspective. With so many unknown variables in such large terrain it is very comforting to have a gentleman who has lived and played in these mountains as a hunter and explorer for his whole life. “Thank you Leif-Arne and the whole HUAS crew.”

Yesterday we did have the opportunity to pop Onie’s cherry in the helicopter. Yesterday we were able to get lifted to the top of one of the mountains above our camp and ski something that took us five hours of skinning the other day took six minutes in the heli. I have concluded, “Walking is over rated.” The best part of the day however was watching Onie’s face as the helicopter took off and the nose dropped forward. It was his first time in a helicopter so smiles full of effervescent elation filled his n use face. The feeling of taking off in a helicopter is rather unexplainable, but Onie’s face would be a good marketing took to any helicopter company.

Otherwise we are expecting great weather the next few days so things are looking great. The crew we are here with are all amazing people, although the Finish language is impossible to understand or even harder to try and speak. Therefore we do not know what is being said around us most of the time, but none-the-less we are having a great time and the next few days should be all time.

My life has more or less officially shifted gears into the off-season. I have been out of competition mode for a few months now, but I was still hanging onto winter vicariously, watching races on WCSN and talking with all my teammates. I am starting to train again. It has been 4 weeks since my knee surgery so I have been back in the gym for about a week and a half or so. I am starting fairly slow, but it has been nice to be active again.

I went down to LA again to announce the “Nature Valley US Alpine Championships on Versus”. It was pretty fun and a great experience but way, way more difficult than the show I did with WCSN. Just a different format. WCSN was basically live so if you messed up you just corrected and rolled with it and all the timing was the rhythm of the race, which I am very used to.

This show was already “cut” with features we did not talk over and commercial breaks and interviews from the finish, but we did not know when those were coming up in the program. They would just appear… and we would mess up and start that section over. Steve Porino and I spent most of our time trying to end our comments and pass it off to Caroline Lalive in the finish or to commercial break or whatever in the right amount of time. It was tough.

Luckily, Porino had most of the “welcome to the US Alpine Championships intros….” and “passing duties” but I had to be on my game as well — passing back and forth on comments with Porino as well as coming up with something relevant to say for everyone. It ended up being tough to focus on the skiing. We ended up watching each racer at least 3 times on course, so the “live feel” was diminished a bit. By the end, I didn’t have any idea what I had said for a guy at the top of the course since we had done so many takes in different stages along the way. I hope it came off ok. We ended up in the studio for 5 hours to put a 45-minute show together. I made my flight back to Seattle out of Burbank by minutes. I showed up to the airport (outside) 10 minutes before the flight left. They were calling my name as I ran to the gate…it was tight.

The show aired on Sunday on Versus…I missed it. Anyone out there see it? How was the show?

If I sucked but the show was great, or any combination there of, you can tell me. I will be fine with that.

I am also working on my medical bills…it is awful. I might have a rant on that coming up soon. We will see how long I can take it.

Enjoy the transition into spring!

April 3rd, 2008

Hey everybody, so last time I talked I was ready for Jo’s. I’ve competed in them already and actually had another race in winter park. At Jo’s I didn’t ski that great my prep and everything went great but I couldn’t stay on my feet. When race day came I was all over the place and my technique was terrible for the Super-G and Downhill. I was 5th in the super-g and that was sadly my best result. Then In the GS I gave it a short run. I ended up falling out early in the first race. I was bummed because GS is my best event and I screwed it up. Then in the slalom I was all over the place, I fell a couple of times slowing me way down and it was just terrible. Although my week in Vail didn’t go so well I enjoyed myself and had a good time. I love Jo’s because it is all the best skiers from rock/central and you all get to be together in the heat of competition. I can take a lot from this week and use it as a learning experience. Although my skiing didn’t meet my standards I was the top first year J3 in every race. So that puts me in the right place for next year.

From Jo’s I moved on to The Smartwool Finale in Winter Park. After a week to regroup from Jo’s I skied pretty well. The week consisted of 2 GS’s, a Slalom and a Dual SL. In the first GS I skied pretty well. I started 31^st, moved up to 9th overall and won for J3’s. The second day was a little different. The first run I fell over but recovered in time to stay in the course. I ended up third for J3’s and 13th overall. I was pretty happy because I was able to get my GS points down to 75 which will put me in a really good position for next year. This year slalom has been a battle. I have only finished once. My points are terrible so I started 65 but after a good first run I moved up to 25. Then once again I fell in my second run. The next day in the dual slalom I got third. It was really cool because it was like a tournament and you would move on to a new racer every time you win. I was happy because I was able to get third against some of the older J2’s And 1’s. My season is now almost over. I have one last race, the Loveland Derby and then I’m done till summer camp. I’m excited for the derby because it’s a good chance for me to get my SL points down before the season is over. I look forward to it and I hope everyone is having just as much fun this spring as I am.

Well the 2007-08 racing season is done for me. I finished up the year with a third place finish in the super G at the U.S. Nationals In Sugarloaf, Maine. It turned out to be a great race. After two days of 90+ MPH winds the snow was in great shape, and all of us racers were itching to get out of our hotel rooms! I skied well and it was tight but two of my good friends, Kevin Francis and Bryon Friedman were the best of the day.

Unfortunately because of the weather delays in Sugarloaf I had to leave town before the Downhill took place. I am up in Whistler, BC now doing some downhill training with the Canadian team and testing out some new Nordica skis that we will put into the rotation next season. It is difficult to find the time to actually train downhill because it takes so much effort to close down a run long enough to accommodate a full DH course. It also requires a lot of manpower to set up all the fences and protection to ensure the safety of us racers, so when I heard of this opportunity it was too good to pass up. Whistler is such an incredible mountain as well, even though it is always rated the best in North America I still think it does not get enough credit. This morning we trained from 7-10 o’clock and when we finished up I went and explored the mountain for a few more hours. I have a lot of respect for this ski area and I cannot wait til the rest of the world gets to see it close up when the Olympics roll through here in two years!

So rest assured that I am still fully immersed in winter. It is snowing up here now and the temps are hovering in the teens. I am not slated to really get out of my ski boots until the end of April as I have some Alaska adventures planned. With the racing over I can shift my mind into a different mode and it is definitely enjoyable after being very focused for the last five months.

I hope that everyone is enjoying the spring!

marco

A few things have changed since I wrote my last blog. I had great help from our physio the first four days after I injured my shoulder. He taped it well right away and by the time I returned to the States I started to feel like I could finish out the season in Sun Valley. I went to the Steadman Hawkins clinic and saw Dr. Millet. After looking at the x-rays and the MRI he confirmed I had a grade 3 AC joint separation and he also confirmed that I had torn my labrum from the dislocation I had in February. Millet wanted to do surgery right away but I told him I wanted to finish out the year. He said if I could handle the pain he could clear me. So he gave me a cortisone shot and sent me on my way.

Sun Valley was great fun. A lot of people asked me “why are you doing this” because it was apparent I was in pain. My answer was a) I didn’t want to give the overall to Kraus without a fight. I know a lot of things can happen in Ski Cross and if something happened to him I wanted to be there to take the win (I followed him down in the quarter- final and watched him almost run into the fence too). b) I wanted to show everyone what I could do with a bum shoulder…and next year I will come back twice as strong. As far as my shoulder pain, it was very difficult to get out of the start. The initial pull didn’t hurt but the last push killed. My start was so much worse for this race.

The round of 32 was no problem. I followed Eric Iljans down the course and passed him at the finish line. The rest of the course I was trying to figure out places to pass. In the quarter-final I had Eric again and Kraus. Kraus was impossible to beat out of the start and also difficult to catch. I passed Eric half way down the course which gave me a ticket to the semis. In the semi-final I had Kraus and Hayer. I had a flashback to one year earlier when I was in the final with Kraus, Hayer, and Gavaggio. Kraus took me out, I blew my knee, and I got a concussion. Fast forward to the semi-final; because of my shoulder I had no chance out of the start. I did have one chance to pass Stanley but I messed up due to the flat light and lack of visibility. I didn’t make the final. Kraus took the overall, and I went onto the small final. By the time I was in the small final I was done. I had no more fight in me and I finished last which put me in 8th place for the race. Considering my ailments, I think 8th was pretty good. The year was over, my shoulder hurt, and my 48 Straight was about to begin.