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Training on the moon
Canadian Veronica Brenner, 26, is considered a veteran in the sport of freestyle skiing. The aerialist was a member of the 1998 Canadian Olympic team and won the 1997 World Cup title. Brenner, a native of Scarborough, Ontario, missed the past World Cup season after tearing her ACL but is back on track to make the 2002 Olympic team. Check out Brenner's diary on CNNSI.com as she prepares for Salt Lake City. November 19, 2001 "Houston, we are go for launch." Three... two... one... blast off! After tearing through Toronto for a week like Hurricane Veronica, (during which time I managed to unpack, pack, fit in six months worth of appointments, family visits, and a side trip to Montreal for a photo shoot), I took off for fall training on the moon. Not literally of course, but there are some definite similarities.
Fortress Mountain. The ski resort, (I say "resort" with my tongue firmly planted in the side of my cheek) located an hour and a half west of Calgary, Alberta, has got to be the most isolated and barren location available for an aerial training camp. At an altitude of 8,000 feet (close to the tree line), the landscape is more lunar than earthly. We will be spending the next few weeks in Life Pod 1 -- actually it's a relatively new building containing six condos. Our condos have all the comforts of home, with the exception of a phone and cable television (on a clear day we can get four channels -- two are the same). Cell phones don't even work here (well, sometimes if you stand on one foot on the couch and hold onto the window frame). Just a short but often gasping (remember we are at altitude here) walk away is the main lodge. The lodge contains telephone land lines and, once the season starts, the only restaurant within a half hour drive. Our only neighbor, Kananaskis Resort, about half an hour back down a twisting, sometimes impassible road, is the next closest thing to civilization. In 2002, Kananaskis Resort is to be the site of the G8 summit. Looks like any protestors are going to be roughing it. Fortress is great place for early season training. In the past the Americans, Aussies, Japanese, Ukrainians, and Swiss teams -- just to name a few -- have trained here. Outside of the freestyle community, however, Fortress receives little international (or even national) attention. But locals know that when the snow clouds are hovering, they should head to Fortress for untracked powder.
Despite its remote location (or maybe because of it), Fortress is desperately beautiful. Looking out from the aerial site, I can see the only road snaking through the majestic mountains that line the valley. The Rockies are spectacular -- I believe driving through, hiking, or skiing them should be on everyone's life's to-do list. Training and competing can be stressful, especially as the countdown to the Olympics enters the double digits. Yet up here, on clear, still mornings, I can watch the sun rise from behind the mountains. Pink streaks create a path for daylight to brighten the sky. This peaceful scene makes life seem so simple. Here I am able, for a moment, to forget about jumping, about injuries, about pressure, about keeping up or catching up. And I feel incredibly grateful to have a job that allows me to witness such a scene. Winning is wonderful. There is no other feeling like it. Yet staring out at the horizon from the top of the world, I can't help but feel that these are the moments that will stay with me, long after the memory of victory has faded. -- Veronica Answering your questions: If you had a child and you wanted to expose him or her to one Winter Olympic sport which one would you choose? We look forward to seeing you compete in Salt Lake! -- Tim Courtis, Bridgetown, Barbados Now Tim, did you really think you'd get an unbiased answer out of me? Of course I'd choose aerials! That's if you consider "exposure" watching on TV. If you want to have your child actually participate in the sport, I would pick skiing (a necessary skill to become an aerialist). Skiing is a great sport -- you get to be outside, the scenery's beautiful, it's a sport for all ages, and best of all, the whole family can ski together.
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