. Thomsen D'Hont: "The skiers in the West have the right to be a$$holes to Easterners"

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

"The skiers in the West have the right to be a$$holes to Easterners" - Pat O'Brien

For those of you who got pumped with the inspirational post on how good the skiing is in Whistler, I'm sad to inform you that the skiing was very short-lived and the vast amounts of precipitation eventually became rain and all the snow was washed out. So no more skiing in Whistler. It is that time of year though, but the zero-ish temperatures have been on the plus side for a while resulting in monsoon season.

Which brings me to a real update (without pictures though, it was one of those times when you are too preoccupied and pumped to snap some shots). Yesterday a select few of us West-Coasters made the pilgrimage out to Silver Star. Jesse, Chris, Pat, Pate, Erik and myself arrived yesterday for some time on snow. Skied this morning and it was just awesome. We got a couple inches overnight and then have been getting dumped on all day. The ski conditions are great all the way around the mountain and we basically have ski in ski out from our condo at Creekside. Good skis can be used after a short 5 minute walk up from the village (I regret bringing the crappiest of crapper rock skis), and there has to be at least 15 km groomed, classic track included. It's a huge congregation out here right now. Most of the National team is out here, some BC devo kids, some BSR and FNSC, and all the regular Silver Star/Sovereign skiers. The resort is absolutely deserted minus all the xc-ers - sort of a neat feeling to have the whole place to yourself, shared only with like-minded individuals who are both your friends and your competition.

The skiing is great, so all you skiers, get out here!

2 comments:

Cyrus said...: Good to have you guys in my neck of the woods!; November 11, 2008 at 1:35 PM
Pat said...: As a life long Easterner I feel compelled to clarify on said post title. After years of defending the East and its lack of snow as good for building character, I have realized that my thinking was fundamentally flawed. Turns out skiing in November is nice. Skiing fresh powder while the sun is shinning in November is almost too much for me to handle. This epiphany might even be more traumatic than learning that Santa Claus doesn't actually come down the chimney at my house. Oh how my world is to change now...; November 13, 2008 at 2:22 PM

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Bio

I was born and raised in the North in the city of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. Yellowknife is a bustling mining town that is in a dark winter deep freeze for much of the year. It is in these dark, cold months that I learned to ski out on meandering snowmobile trails. In Yellowknife there is a sort of ski season trade-off; we have 8 months where skiing is possible, but with the harsh temperatures we have mid-winter, skiing is nearly unbearable for half this time. These conditions have reinforced values such as perseverance, drive, focus etc… and it is these values that have helped me get to where I am today.

When I was a youngster up in the ‘Knife, I was always outdoors, living the childhood that skiing greats like Bjorn Daehlie have attributed their success to. I would hunt, trap, camp, fish, and explore the land around where I lived year-round. I was skiing at a very young age and eventually hopped on the Jackrabbit bandwagon at the age of 7. I flew through the different colour levels and before I knew it I was on the High Performance team. This was a big step – lots of famous skiers were part of this group back then (famous in Yellowknife, anyways). I raced some big international competitions as a Midget through to Junior. I would throw the best I had at Alaskans, Greenlanders, Scandinavians, Russians, and Northern Canadians at the Arctic Winter Games. I was always a pretty small guy so it was a while before I could compete. My results consistently got better and at my final Arctics’ I demonstrated my improved skills and brought home the coveted Golden Ulu for my home contingent of the NWT. It remains to this day one of my greatest accomplishments.

AWGs aren't the only races I did - I would be at all the big Canadian ones too. As a midget (12-13) through to juvenile category (14-15), I would hit up Alberta Cups once or twice a year, along with Western Canadian Championships being an important annual event. As a juvenile I started to make it out to Nationals and by that time I was really hooked on skiing and every year of racing motivated me more and more.

The past few years have been an adventure. Out of High School in summer '07 I became part of the National Team Development Centre based out of Thunder Bay, Ontario. This was my first real time on a high calibre team with other highly motivated individuals working towards the same goal of national and international skiing success. Needless to say, this year was a great stepping stone for me. After my year with the NTDC, I moved out to Whistler, BC to be part of the Callaghan Valley Training Centre (CVTC). Being based out of the 2010 Olympic venue offers an amazing environment for a developing cross country skier and the facilities are second to none.

Intro

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

"The skiers in the West have the right to be a$$holes to Easterners" - Pat O'Brien

2 comments: