A Few Tips from Sam Morse

My name is Sam Morse and I'm an Alpine Ski Racer fueled by Toko. Since my nomination to the US Ski Team last spring I have been able to experience high level ski preparation in the areas of tuning and waxing. I'm glad to say that Toko is all that I keep in my tuning box, and I have been able to meet each step of the process fully equipped. I'm currently out at the Vail/Beaver Creek 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships, participating with the US Ski Team as a fore runner. This is an amazing experience to observe and learn from some of the best ski technicians in the world.

            In preparing for this event I did several cycles in my Hot Box using Toko's  Hot Box & Cleaning Wax. This is a great product to help work layers of wax into new skis as well as a cleaning wax to hot scrape with after a long race series where lots of pure fluorocarbons were used. Another tried and true product of Toko that I always make sure I have with me is the HelX Top Finish series. Earlier this year up at the Lake Louise NorAms I placed very well using Toko's HelX Liquid 2.0 Blue. Due to my performance at this races I secured myself a spot on the World Juniors Team to Norway this March. I'm super excited about that and am incredibly relieved to have that taken care of. 

            I was recently over in Europe for about a month training and racing through Austria, Switzerland, and Italy. I had the great opportunity to race in the Wengen Europa Cup Downhill in Switzerland. For being my first Europa Cup I did very well with cracking into the top 30 and finishing top Junior (Under 21). At this race the sun was baking the top of the track which made the wax choice crucial. I was able to use my Toko Digital Snowthermometer to accurately diagnose the type of snow I was working with. I made the final choice of using the Toko JetStream Bloc 2.0 red, which ran really well and got me on the top of the Junior podium. I love working with Toko products and hope to continue to learn and share about the effective uses of the products.

- Sam Morse, USST

Kyle Smaine checking in from Freestyle World Championships

Kyle Smaine here, 2 weeks ago I was over in Austria for the FIS Freestyle World Championships.  It was my first time in Austria and I couldn't have had a better first experience.  It's always a treat going to Europe to ski because skiing is so embedded in their culture.  Everyone you meet knows how to ski, is a fan and follows the sport, which is such a contrast to the US where only a small percentage of people ski, and basically no one follows it.

 Despite the passion for skiing, there is always a lot of uncertainty when heading to Europe for a FIS freestyle event.  In the past the courses for both halfpipe and slopestyle have varied from pretty good to virtually unskiable.  And this winter until recently has been lackluster in the Alps in terms of snowfall.  But fortunately all the courses in Kreischberg were good, and the event build team took athlete input to heart and the pipe got better every day we skied it. 

I knew I had a good shot of winning World Championships before I made the journey.  I had been skiing well all season and was feeling really consistent and confident in my skiing.  But nothing is guaranteed, especially when you only have two chances to put together your best possible run.  The most challenging part of competing is without a doubt the mental aspect.   Showing up on contest day and being 100% in the moment and ready to ski is something even some of the best skiers never figure out.   For me I ski best when I'm having fun, and I ski really badly when I put too much pressure on myself to do well.  So I had subdue the feeling of knowing I could win and only being satisfied if I skied my best and got on the podium.  To do that I have to just be in the moment and remember that skiing is so much fun, and I am skiing in Austria with some of my closest friends and to just enjoy it. 

It worked and I had some of the most fun skiing pipe I've had in while.  Everyone was skiing so well at the event, which was awesome because it made it so exciting to watch.  None of us ever want to see someone do poorly.  It's a small community, we are all friends, and some of the biggest fans of skiing.  It's so much cooler to watch everybody kill it and they did on the night of finals. 

It was completely surreal to ski in front of a full crowd of people and land my run clean and finish in first place.  Still 2 weeks later I don't think it has completely sunk in that I won the World Championships, and what that really means.

               I also stayed a few extra days in Austria after the World Champs to go watch the Hahnenkamm Downhill in Kitzbuhel.  I could talk for hours about it. Long story short, it was the coolest event and party that I have ever been to and I highly suggest checking it out if you ever have the opportunity.

- Kyle Smaine, newly crowned World Freestyle Champion