The Vancouver Ski Team celebrated their last event before the holidays with the annual Christmas series at Panorama.

Before the race, athletes had the opportunity to get in three productive days of training, two of which were slalom sessions on the infamously steep run, Hayfever. For many, it was their first time skiing down “the ‘Feve,” but the terrain proved to be an effective challenge as each athlete improved their tactical strategies by the end of the second day. Mornings spent focusing on free- skiing and drills also strengthened technical approaches.

After a third training day of GS, VST was ready to tackle the race on Old Timer’s gently rolling slope. During the four-day series, they joined over 180 FIS athletes in charging down Old Timer. The run’s gently rolling terrain gave way to fast, open GS courses and high-tempo SL courses, both of which pushed everyone’s legs to the max. In addition, even the warm trend from the West Coast was prevalent; temperatures remained at a comforting -5C to 0C, which was a stark but exciting contrast from last year’s bone-chilling -30C. Unfortunately, this also meant that the snow was soft and rutted easily, but with everyone’s years of training on Grouse, Seymour and Cypress, and the fact that Panorama’s signature grippy surface remained despite the melt, it was not an issue at all. The team laid down several solid runs, with many athletes showing off the solid improvements they’d made during the training camps and scoring personal bests by huge margins.