Full Sass by Liz Stephen: February 2015

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Russia to Davos to Ostersund

My first World Cup Podium! Me, Astrid Jacobsen and Steffi Böhler. It was quite a day for me, special in a lot of ways, but to know that it is possible is quite a feeling that I hope to be able to share with others. Dream, Dream, Dream people, because I can promise you that I am just a human that likes to work hard, to be in the outdoors and be doing it with friends. Pursue what you love to do. Do it with as much vigor and passion and effort as you can muster and you will be amazed with what you find you can achieve.

After our short, but taxing trip to Russia, we headed back to Davos for two weeks of training, as there were two weekends off from World Cup racing, which is not something that happens very often. Sophie, me and Andy on a sunny ski in Davos. We didn't get too many sunny days, but we did have really good snow to train on, cold temps and fresh snow almost every day.

Andy and me at the top of Dischma, one of the valleys you can ski here.

Sophie, Matt and I skied Sertig, one of my absolute favorite places to ski in the world. It is a bit of a trek to get to it, as it is the furthest valley away from our hotel, but luckily I had a few longer sessions which let me ski it twice in the two weeks I was there. It is a classic only valley and it is 10k from the bottom to the top, basically perfect striding terrain the whole time. It is really a unique ski.

Krys, one of our awesome volunteer doctors and his wife, Kate, joined us for the camp. It's always great to have a doc on the road, and it's always great to have new faces join us. It always brings new energy and new stories that are very welcomed at this point in the year.

Yesterday we arrived in Ostersund, Sweden where our final World Cups before the World Champs will be this weekend. I have only ever been here in the summer and it is awesome to be back. It's a great city, with great ski tracks and I am just so happy to be back in Sweden again. It is like I took a happy pill when I step back into this country. Olivia Bouffard Nesbitt, a Canadian U-23 skier who is fresh of U-23 Worlds in Kazakstan joined Soph and I for this pink picture!