Sunday, July 20, 2014

Summer whereabouts

This blog is usually pretty dormant in the summer. That is somewhat odd considering that in our sport getting a lot accomplished in the summer is such a key component of getting a lot DONE in the winter...if you know what I mean.

To bring back some life, a week or two ago I sent out the call for photos of SLUSKI summer adventures. Many submissions came in from interesting and inspiring places, and quite a few photos feature multiple team members or cross-team members training together and putting in the summer work. Just goes to show that this sport is often so enjoyable not only because of the competition but also the camaraderie too! Here's some pictures from various team members: 

This photo was taken and sent in by Kyle. When Phil (who is the subject in the photo) and his Nakkertok club team traveled down from Ottawa for a training camp in Lake Placid, Kyle joined them for this hike up Pitchoff Mountain in the ADKs.  

Meanwhile, atop another mountain somewhere deep in California, the Truckee training crew of (L-R) Blaine, Kate, Erin and Calvin found some snow to ski on with their training partners from the area and all over the EISA circuit. After an exciting cross-country trip that involved training stops in Sun Valley and Glacier Nat'l Park, this crew has been hitting it hard in the California sunshine with West Coast vet Austin Meng. 

For summer snow pictures though, I think Morgan wins with this shot of him and Williams racer Josh H. skiing on groomed tracks at the Snow Farm in New Zealand. Morgan is studying and training abroad there and will join us again in November...if he ever wants to return to the US from that paradise!

A different form of precipitation has been falling on Will (in red) in the Midwest this summer, as he has undergone a rainy summer of training with the CXC program. Aside from the rain it sounds like he has been loving Wisconsin and has put in some impressive workouts, recently joining in with the Central REG group for some hard sessions with the up-and-coming Midwest crowd.  

Coaches Etown and Adam have been busy as well...both took part in the annual HURT (Hudson United Race Team) training camp in Queensbury last week. Here they are (on far left) observing area legend Bob Underwood demonstrate some classic drills for the team. A full HURT Camp recap can be found on their team blog: HURT Blog

More photos to follow as they are sent in!