First comp. First time in Fernie. First day on these skis. I feel a huge rush of adrenaline mounting inside me as I listen to the starter say "Three, Two, One, Dropping!" Less than two minutes later, I slide to a stop at the base of Concussion, feeling high as a kite.

The next day I arrive about 2 minutes before my drop time, so I don't have time to think. I'm more confident even though I only had a couple inspections. Drop in, air, turn, another air, turn, speed-check, air, land, turn, turn, turn, spread eagle, hmmmmmmm, cliff. The plan was to take the cliff band small, but that path didn't link up in my head, and I just pointed it and aired the whole thing. Stomped the landing, but my instinct told me not to straight-line. Bad choice. Couldn't quite turn sharp enough to make it around a clump of trees. Thunk. Rearrange myself, get my skis under me, and ride out to the finish. Although my line score was plenty high enough to make finals, I lost control, technique, and fluidity scores for hitting the trees. I missed the cut. Damn.

Third day, look down at my fingers, they're numb and white. I hold my camera out, fiddle with some settings, and prop my back against a tree. Here comes Blayne. He's stationed above the biggest feature in the venue, looking over. Points his skis down, and airs. He touches down in the middle of the cliff and is immediately airborne again. Hits the hard-packed landing, right ski pops up, brings it back under control, then boom! What just happened? Blayne is flying head over heels, one ski blown off, as he hits a bomb-hole left over from avalanche control earlier. What luck. As he slows to a halt, I release my finger from the shutter release and silence returns.

This competition expanded how I think about skiing. It expanded what I think of ridable terrain. Some things I learned:

Inspect, inspect, inspect! One of my disadvantages was coming into this without ever skiing Fernie before. Day 1 inspection scared the hell out of me, because I had no idea where to go. Have an A line, have a B line, have a C line. Know them. Well.

Straight-line the moguls. Not the most common thing for a skier to do. This was my weakest area in the comp, and what sent me into the trees on Day 2. Just buck up and take the compressions. It's scary, but totally manageable.

Hard-pack doesn't matter. You can air a 50 foot cliff, and as long as there's a nice transition, it's skiable.

Harness your adrenaline. I wouldn't have hucked that last cliff if I hadn't let my adrenaline carry me through it. Don't let it scare you, let it empower you.

And finally, 'Naked Table Slides' may sound like a good idea at the time, but are probably not at all a good idea.

Thanks to everyone I met, and all the support through this. You can see some more of my pics over at the Finals Results and Video page. See you in Louise!