Happy New Year

Happy New year Everyone!

Snow conditions are improving daily in Sugadaira! The New year camp has been busy but great! Many kids which is good to see. Solid skiing from everyone to start the season.

Bye for now.

Doug

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!

The great news is that it has been snowing for most of the day. The fore cast for the next few days is also for snow. Great news! It has been a slow start so far. So, I am very grateful for snow fall, and for the cold temperatures.

I look forward to the new year and seeing you all soon.

Bye for now. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

December 16th Update

Hello!

This week has flown by. 5 skiers or so have been here all week. We have been putting in many, many runs! Working on the basics. They look good!

Every day after skiing we have been doing stomach and back work outs! It has been fun. The group had stiff muscles for the first few days but have improved a lot. Great job!

Bye for now.

See you soon!

Doug

Monday update

It was a good weekend of free skiing! many came for the Sunday lesson!

Today it was warm but it did snow. Very heavy of course. It was snow though! It is suppose to rain tonight. Lets pray for snow.

See you soon.

Doug

First day at Tsubakuro

Hi everyone,

It was a sunny day at Tsubakuro! The snow was hard, BUT there were many , many ice balls. Good for doing our basic training though. We will ski there tomorrow too. Should be better because the snow started to melt in the afternoon.

Bye for now.

Doug

Tsubakuro open for free skiing

Good evening,

Good news ! We had a nice dump of snow last night. We are able to free ski at Tsubakuro this weekend. It is nice we can stay in the Sugadaira area now.

We will meet at 9 am at the bottom of the lift. Looking forward to seeing you!

Bye for now.

Doug

December 9 2010 update

Finally it looks like winter here in Sugadaira!!!!!! It is much cooler and has been snowing on and off from this afternoon.

Tomorrow from 1 pm Omatsu yama will open. We will ski there!

I am still not sure where we will train this weekend. I want to see the condition of Omatsu Yama. The Rossignol Opening Cup is Saturday and Sunday. I feel with having the race course on the same run as the free ski run, there will not be much room for basic training. 300 racers will be warming up and free skiing in that free space. Hare is also busy with Demo teams. 300 people! I am thinking of Hi no de ski area. The one very close to 7- 11. I will check all options tomorrow.

Bye for now

Doug

Snow update

Hi!

Finally it is cool here in Sugadaira. It snowed last night and it was cold enough to make snow too.
I will have a better idea tomorrow if we can ski in Sugadaira this upcoming weekend.

We had good free skiing at Yunomaru. Hopefully tomorrow will be the last day there

Bye for now.

Doug

Week day training

Hello,

This week has been good so far for free ski training. 5 skiers Monday and 3 today. Yunomaru ski jo was actually busy both days with school children. Today was their last day.

Since the run is so flat, we have been working on fast balance changes and the first phase of edging with our knees and ankles. Consistent balance changes from foot to foot. Well, I have gone through all the phases of the turn actually. Drilling on the basics! When we are doing any technical drill I want everyone to look ahead and see everything down the hill. Too many of you have a bad habit of looking at the snow directly in front of you. Our vision should be wide. When we get into gates we want to see not only one gate but sets of gates in front of us.

Bye for now.

Doug

Yunomaru ski jo training

Hello,

This past weekend was the first weekend of training for Accel Ski System. It was a warm weekend, and since not many ski areas are open it was busy. We were able to do good basic training drills. We worked on looking ahead, using wide vision, Upper and lower body separation, pole planting. In the afternoon balance changes, lower foot and leg steering, and working the ski. It was a good start to the season.

Omatsu Yama is still short of snow. So keep doing those snow dancing routines!!!!

Tomorrow another day at Yunomaru. 5 skiers will be with me tomorrow.

Bye for now.

I am looking forward to seeing soon.

Doug

Dec ,1 Snow Update

Hi All,

It was a warm evening last night and very warm today. The ski area were unable to make snow.

Everybody needs to do a special snow dance! The Good news is that at least Hokkaido is getting some snow. Sugadaira is next!

Bye for now.

Doug

Snow update

Hi Everyone,

It was cool last night and the snow machines were making snow in full force. It did warm up today and is warm now. 4 degrees C. Hope fully it will cool down tonight so they can make more.

Snow condition update

Hi everyone,

Here are some pictures of the Omatsu and Tsubakuro today. Still very warm.

I went to Nagano today for shopping. In a parking lot of one of the stores I called Yasuda San of Team Rush just to tell him I was in Japan and looking forward to the season. When I ask what he was doing, he said he was shopping. I asked Where? He told me the name of the store. "It was the same place I was"!!!!!!!!!! Unbelievable, He was 50m away from me. What are the chances of that! We both laughed.

I hope you are having a good weekend. I am looking forward to seeing you all.

Bye for now.

Doug

Ski tune up!

Good morning!

Temperatures are still warm in Sugadaira. I have heard it is suppose to cool down in a few days though. Hopefully!

If any of you have skis to tune up I can do that before snow comes. You could send them to Zonntaggu with your order request.

Hope to see you soon!

Doug

First Day in Japan

Hello!

Yes, I am in Japan! I am also up at Sugadaira. Unfortunately, there is not enough snow made for this weekend. Sorry to those who were to come for the first weekend of training!

It is very warm in Japan compared to Canada. When I left Kelowna the warm temperature was -12! It has been snowing there too. Hopefully, it will cool off up here soon.

Vancouver airport looks so fancy now. Here are a few pictures from the International departure gates.

Christmas tree

Hello,

Since I am not in Canada for Christmas, we do some events together early. Like decorating the Christmas tree, having a special dinner and so on.

In Canada all new homes built are not permitted to install wood burning fire places. Our house was built in the 80's. We have 2 wood burning fire places. They are so nice to have in the Fall and winter. They really warm up the house, and they look so cozy.

Bye for now.

Doug

Makaiya's "Charly Brown Christmas" play

Makaiya's School has been preparing the since September for the Performances today. This year Her class was singing in the back ground. The older kids were in the main roles. It was Fun! The play was called "Charley Brown Christmas". It is a very old Animation production. They show it on TV every Christmas. The teachers of the school made it into a lay for the kids. They do it every year. Makaiya would like a bigger role in years to come.

Bye for now.

Doug

Japanese garden form Grampa Ito

Hello!

My last week in Canada and getting things ready for my trip to Japan.

My cousin in Kelowna is selling his house. My Grandpa Ito made a Japanese style garden around the house. He asked me to take as many rocks and trees as possible. The garden looks very good ,but to buyers for the house, it is intimidating. Most people do not know how to maintain it. Plus, he wants to keep the trees and rocks in the Ito Family. I am enjoying moving the trees and rocks to my house. I will have to place them all properly in the spring. Something to look forward to !!

see you soon!

Doug

Happy Halloween

Hi !

Today us North Americans celebrate Halloween. Here are some pictures of Makaiya and others dressing up. Makaiya sure collected a lot of Candy.

Bye for now.

Doug

New range finders!

Hi!

I have caught a cold. Bummer!

I do have some new news. I bought a couple of range finders for getting distances from Gate to gate. I can tell you the exact distances. You can then get a feel for what the feel is like for certain distances.

Bye for now.

Doug

Atlantic Lobster feast

Hi !

I hope all of you are doing well.

Our family had a good weekend. My my ex ski racing friends in Penticton had a party. They ordered in fresh Lobster from the east coast. We were all to bring a dish and a bottle of wine each to share with all. Probably 60 people were there in total. My friends family actually owns a winery so there was lots to drink. The meal was fabulous! We also had a dance party which was very fun. I haven't danced for years!

I have been very active with Makaiya. Bike riding, playing catch, climbing, gymnastics, and some circuit training. We have both enjoyed it very much! I did not have much time in the summer to do things like that with her.

Bye for now.

Doug

Sunday home work day!

Hi All,

It was a cool but sunny day here in Kelowna. Makaiya, Chrissy and I worked outside, cutting the lawn, and raking up the first fallen leaves of the season. We take all the leaves to the city dump. the dump has special area for all waste. Lawn, and compost, waste construction wood, metal, plactic , glass, paper, and so on. The plastic, paper,and compost is free. The other cost money to drop off. If you have a normal size truck full it usually costs $6 Canadian. Of course we have a our normal pick up once a week at our house.

Later we all went for a bike ride on the green way. It is a walking and biking path that runs beside Mission creek. It is great for a easy run or bike ride. Relatively flat.

I Purchased a range finder for Accel's pole setting. I will let the group know what distance we are training each session this winter.

Bye for now.

Doug

Hi From Doug

Hi!

My life has been pretty much work , work ,work! I am now on the 8th floor of the apartment building I have been working on. 2 more to go. I will be able to finish it off by the time I leave for Japan.

I am very driven to perform and want to share a few things I have noticed in myself. Over the summer when I did not have a clear time when I wanted to finish the unit I took much longer. When I Had a clear goal of when I wanted to finish I made it happen. I worked with more urgency, I was more organized ( I have a step by step preparation plan for each unit). The first unit I did took me 2 and a half days. Now I am down to 1 day. Although, that is pretty much no breaks over 9 hours. I like pushing myself. Continually see how I can make things better.

The same should be done with your training and racing. Set goals and make a plan to make sure it happens. The more you prepare the better chance you have to reach it. And push yourself to always reach a new personal bench mark of excellence.

Bye for now.

Doug

PS The pictures are of the buiding I am working on and of the next one they are building. They are using steal studs in them. No wood.

Hi From Doug

Hello Everyone,

I must admit I have neglected my blog. Sorry! I have been such a workacoholic. I am trying finish the apartment building off before I leave for Japan. I am half way through the 7th floor. 3 more floors to go. The top 2 floors only have 4 units compared to 6 on the others.

I hope you have all been keeping active to maintain or build muscle for the upcoming season. The ski season will soon be here. Being strong will give you have a better chance to ski faster and to prevent injury. Keep working on stretching too.

Bye for now.

Doug

Trip to Vancouver

Hello all,

This past week was a fun one. Well a little work and fun. We took Tajanna' things down to Vancouver. Yes, she has found an apartment with her boy friend Seb. Chrissy and I were excited to help them out. We packed up my work trailer with all of her stuff. Chrissy had been organizing it all last week. After work on Friday we drove down to Maple Ridge (just out side of Vancouver) We unpacked the trailer that night. The next day Chrissy and Tajanna organized her things. Makaiya and I went back to school shopping.

The next day I golfed with my cousin and the others went to the Vancouver aquarium.

Also had a party with my cousins. That was fun too.

Bye for now.

Doug

Visitors from France!

Our family had a very nice visit with Tajanna, her boy friend (Sebastien), Mom (Nicole) and dad (Joel)! We all had a great time getting to know each other! Sebastien and Tajanna had to translate for us. They are here from France. Unfortunately, they must leave on the 15th of this month! We all wish they could stay longer.

They were able to do some fun activities while they stayed in Kelowna. Watched a Rodeo, went wine tasting, swimming and Kayaking, and took part in Chrissy's Birthday Party. It is great to meet such fun , caring, loving, passionate people ! We will always remember our time with them.

Enjoy the pictures!