last post from NZ

Well, the guy at the internet cafe knows me by now, and the lifties at the Remarkables all know the drill when they see a monoskier coming (slow the chairlift) without us having to say anything. They've even set up a "US Ski Team only" liftline for us. But tomorrow after training we'll be leaving Queenstown for Christchurch, and then leaving New Zealand for good.

It's been a fantastic trip on more than one level. We've gotten in great training here despite low snow levels, we've had a lot of fun on our days off, we've eaten really well and seen a lot more of the region than we usually get to on these trips. I think two weeks was just about the perfect amount of time, too.

The coaches set up timing for today's slalom training, I think more out of their own curiosity than for our benefit, since they weren't telling us our times. But our ski tech Ben, who was recording the times, told me I was consistently the fastest mono-skier today, which is nice. Not that I don't still have a lot of work to do if I want to out-ski the Europeans and Japanese (not to mention Chris, Tyler and Bramble, who aren't here)... but hey, it's only August.