The Christmas break (by Dustin Cook)

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I had a great time over the Christmas break these last couple weeks. Its honestly one of
the rare times when I wasn’t fully ready to leave and get back to business,
but alas I have little control over that!

I spent a nice few days at home before heading up to Mont Ste Marie with my family for
Christmas. I was pretty burnt out from skiing after over a month of intense
World Cup and NorAm racing, so I decided I wasn’t going to ski until at least
a few days after Christmas. I had a great time lounging around and generally
not doing a whole lot of anything important for a few days up there before
going back down to the city for a couple days to hang out with friends. I had
my now annual Christmas get together with my close friends, then went to see
deadmau5 play at the new CE Centre.

I finally ended up skiing for a half day on the 29th, but the conditions combined with
the fact that I only had GS skis quickly forced me back to the warmth of the
chalet. Not to mention it was -22 that morning!! Yes I am now a wuss, too
much time spent in warm European winters (it’s -2 right now here in
Switzerland). I will however play hockey outside regardless of temperature!
Got out on the rink almost every day at MSM to play with a good crew of
parents and young racers, wicked times. It was really great to see everyone
up at MSM. Everyone seemed in pretty good spirits even though there is a huge
lack of snow on the hill!

On Christmas Eve my family attended the annual carolling held at the MSM lodge, and I was
very surprised to be presented with a huge banner signed by a lot of the kids
from the Club wishing me luck for the rest of the season. I was literally
speechless when I took the mic to say thanks! I think pretty much all I
managed to get out was just that, ‘thanks!’ So a huge thank you to all the kids
and I hope it brings me some speed and luck for the rest of the year! I also
had an extremely nice visit from our across the street neighbours, the
Gilmour girls, Julia & Nicola. They came over the night before I left to
wish me luck and give me a handmade card. It was really sweet, thanks a
million girls! And sorry I don’t have the picture yet…

As I said I   wasn’t quite ready to leave yet, but reality called and I flew out on New
Years Eve (thanks coaches?!?!) to Europe. I’m currently in Veyssonaz, SUI,
training for a few days before the Adelboden GS race on the 7th. It’s pretty
warm here but we managed to get a decent, if a bit rough, session in today.
Hope everyone had a great holiday, and a happy (safe 😉 New Year!

Snow! The  most I can remember at MSM in recent memory. Too bad not much of it was on the hill… Oh well, still looked cool covering everything
else!