the season has begun

My new winter season has definitely begun. Throughout my whole skiing career I had always managed to save May as the one month of the year without skiing… until this year!
After enjoying a great break from the snow sailing around the Caribbean for a few weeks, it was time to get back to the white stuff. I had never been to California before so I was pretty excited to arrive in Mammoth. I expected Mammoth to look like a European glacier when actually it turned out to be bigger than your average European ski resort! There was so much snow I couldn’t believe that it was May.
The temperatures were warm so the day started earlier so we could get a few hours on hard snow before it started to soften. We were done most days by 11am. Rather than spend a huge amount of time focusing on freeskiing and slow drills, we were back into gates on the first day! Usually, when I start skiing again in June, after almost two months off snow, it takes me a few days to get back into the swing of things. Having taken just a month off since the end of the season actually made the transition back into training much easier than usual.
The best part about mammoth was that after just a few days of GS we had a chance to do 4 days of Super G training! The conditions were brilliant for Super G and the hill there was perfect for training. I feel like I made a lot of improvements in my super g skiing in just four days in Mammoth, probably more than I managed to do all winter in Europe. It made the trip all the way over the Mammoth very worthwhile.
At the end of the two-week camp unfortunately the weather was really bad and we had to miss two days of skiing. Therefore, we decided to go down to LA a day early. I had never been to LA so it was good fun to rent a convertible and drive up to Malibu and around the city.
I flew home to Italy from Mammoth. I’ve now been home for almost 3 weeks which I think is probably the longest period of time I’ve spent at home since I left school 7 years ago…! I’m enjoying the warmer weather, going to the gym and going out on the bike. I’ve also been doing a huge amount of preparation for my swimwear company’s first trade show: Kitesurfing Armada Festival, on Hayling Island, June 21-23rd. Entry to the festival is free (you just need to register on their website) so if you’re in that part of the UK and looking for a good day out it has food, live music and the British Kitesurfing Championships.
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