CSU ladies travel to H.U.R.T. Ski camp

Last weekend, Carina, Clara, Meg, and Alex drove westward for a few hours, and ended up in Queensbury, NY, for the Hudson United Race Team (HURT) training camp. You know a camp run by people who call themselves "HURT" is going to be fun... the weekend was action-packed. Friday was core circuits (which, unfortunately, we missed, arriving late), and some hillbounding. The girls made it through the hillbounding fine, but Alex managed to get stung by a bee in her leg, which swelled up to about the size of a golf ball in her hamstring. Fun! Saturday morning was a long classic technique session, on a beautifully-paved bike path with rolling hills, and Saturday afternoon was a 3km uphill time trial. Sunday morning was a long skate technique session, on a different rolling bike path, and then we wrapped it up with some video, a presentation, and a goodbye bbq. A good time was had by all, and I heard a lot of talk about "next year..."

The weather was brutally hot, and we were staying in a tent city next to the downhill lodge at West Mountain, complete with a hose in place of a shower, but all the skiers seemed to be really enjoying themselves. It's a good thing Rob didn't come, because he would have been whining the whole time about how he's too old for this stuff.

It was hot - head coach Dave Kvam after suffering up the mountain run.

Tent city.

The CSU ladies at the finish of the uphill climb - on a chairlift disembarking platform!

Hiking back down. True to form, we found some blueberries, and indoctrinated some of the NY skiers about the importance of stopping to eat blueberries when on a hike. The NY skiers were all super friendly, and it was good to watch the cultural mixing.

Alex's bee sting in its early stages. From there, it spread to cover almost the entire hamstring. And boy did that sucker ITCH!

Clara mid-air during the rollerski agility warmup.

Meg and Clara during a pickup on the skate day.

Carina doing a pickup.