Glacier Camp Finishes, Indoor Camps About To Start

Friday saw our last day on the Grande Motte in Tignes and we had amazing conditions with an inversion and a beautiful sunny day at the top.

Awesome conditions for SL

So, after a great mornings training slalom where all the trainees showed good improvement, we headed off the hill, packed up and drove back to the UK, dropping trainees off on the way.

We've now got an indoor camp running this week at Hemel for three days followed by our Head camp from the 8-11 with test skis from Head and some Head goodies for those attending. Ski Bartlett will be offering a deal to racers on the camp as well. There are still a few places left if you want some training and try next seasons Head skis!

Changing weather!

Yesterday saw the last day of our GS training block with blue skies, sunshine, cold temperatures and snow that wouldn't have been out of place in the winter!

So finishing the GS on a good note with some great improvements made over the previous days. and an afternoon of kayaking and paddle boarding on the lake with some of the guys discovering that the water was very cold!!

This morning was a different story altogether with heavy cloud shrouding the glacier from first thing. We had a later start for a light day of slalom tech work. The snow conditions were good but visibility was changeable to say the least. At one point, it was absolutely dumping with snow.

As I write this, we are looking at a day of slalom tomorrow but it's been raining in Val Claret for several hours now so there may be a bit too much snow on the glacier for setting. Never mind, I'm sure we'll get plenty out of the day regardless.

Winter Conditions in July!

No blog yesterday as we didn't get onto the mountain. We woke to snow almost as far down as Val Claret but high winds which closed the mountain. Frustrating as it brightened up later but the wind didn't die down.

So after changing, we went for a run round the lake followed by a core and legs session, the results of which were being felt this morning!
The Aeroski gondola was open so we headed up to the top to find the winds were still pretty strong there.

Today was very different, sunny but very cold with some wind but amazing snow for July saw us running GS on Champagny, pretty much having the piste to ourselves with a quick turnaround we got a great mornings training in with the guys taking what they had worked on over the past few days and putting it into the gates.

Here's hoping for more of the same tomorrow!!

Summer Glacier Camp Update

Well, today was day 2 on the Grande Motte in Tignes, with very different conditions from yesterday - Blue skies and sunshine with some of the best snow I've seen on a glacier in recent summers!

The guys spent the morning on some tech work for their GS, making the most of the conditions and getting some great improvements which we'll continue to work on for the next few days.
Afternoon saw a light fitness and core session in Le Lac where we watched the airbag set up and the water jump going on!
Tignes is such a busy place in the summer with loads of activities going on when you're off the hill.

News through today that Impulse member Matt Thompson, currently on the British Junior Team, picked up his new race skis yesterday and has a couple of pairs of Svindals and Jansruds from last season! Let's hope they help him continue his success from last season.

Winter Plans Coming Together

What a busy weekend!

A trip to Ireland yesterday to help with schools training then finalising our accommodation details for this winter in Aosta.

For a while now we have been looking at accommodation from which to run the Aosta Race Academy and are happy to announce that we have found a great base for our first season in Aosta.
We will be staying in an old farmhouse that has been converted into apartments, giving us a very flexible set up for our trainees and the option to increase our capacity on race weeks and training weeks prior to the big races.

The location is just outside Aosta town, giving us easy access to the Pila gondola for training and also well placed for travel from the valley to races elsewhere. we're just over an hour from Turin and less than 2 hours from Geneva and Milan. Dedicated catering staff will work to feed the trainees and staff with a menu devised for our athletes.

We will have availability for training from 10 Dec through until after the British Champs in April.
please contact us for further details.

www.aostaraceacademy.co.uk
phil@impulse-racing.co.uk

Olympian and British Team Members Join Coaching Team For This Weeks Camp

We're very please to announce that, joining our coaching team for this weeks indoor camp at The Snowcentre, Hemel Hempstead will be British Team member and Olympian Ed Drake British Team member Matt Thompson.

Ed Drake competing in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics

Ed has been on the Team for several years and has competed at World Cup and Olympic events over that period.

Matt Thompson at the British Champs 2011
Picture courtesy of Racer Ready

Matt has raced with Impulse for many years and is on the British Team for the second season.

These guys will be bringing their knowledge and experience to our set up for those training this week.

Matt will be with us for the three days and Ed joins us for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ready for a busy few weeks

As this blog is written, we are getting ready for a busy few weeks over the summer.
Next week sees us at the Snowcentre, Hemel for the first of our indoor camps

Straight from here, we head out to Tignes for a 10 day training camp on the glacier with loads of other activities thrown in for good measure.

After a couple days rest, we're back at Hemel for another 3 day camp. This time we have a slightly longer period of r & r before the Head camp at Hemel, where trainees can try out next years Head kit as well as receive some goodies from Head during the week.

Work continues on the winter programme and base with some news due soon so watch this space!!

Summer Sorted - Big Thank you to Head Skis

Well, all of our summer indoor camps and the glacier camp in Tignes are looking good for numbers.
This week we firmed up details for the HEAD camp in August.

We'll have next seasons race skis for testing on this camp which runs from the 8-11 August. There'll also be goodies for all trainees such as T shirts and Heads Bling ski ties as seen on the World Cup last season.

A big thank you to Head Skis for all their cooperation and support over the last two seasons and ,hopefully, ongoing as we move into our Italian base this season in Aosta. We've got hold of a pair of their 'Motorhead' skis - the smallest of this series at 94mm underfoot and one of the best all mountain skis we've used.

We have very few places left on this camp and it promises to be a great opportunity with Skiers from the Head camp coming along during the week. Bookings can be made on our website.

We have two other camps at Hemel before the Head camp, punctuated with our summer glacier camp to Tignes, giving a great opportunity to hone your skills in the middle of the summer!

Then we have a break before travelling out to Landgraaf in the Netherlands for training weekend in late August and late September - A great facility to keep the skiing sharp before the season kicks off with October glacier training.