Before Whiteface Mountain opens, the Northwood ski team will have trained on snow for more than twenty days at training camps in Austria and Colorado.
Most alpine skiers plan to attend both camps, training in the best conditions possible before the start of the season. “Having two ski camps is going to help the skiers have more time on snow, which is what a lot of skiers from the East need,” says alpine ski coach Katie Haggerty.
Neustift /Stubai Glacier (Austria). Photo: http://www.ropeways.net
“Skiers from the West start their season as early as October and end in June,” said Haggerty. “Last year, only one ski camp was available to the skiers, and having two camps will better prepare them for the upcoming season.”
Having a camp in Austria will be better than previous year’s camps in Sweden because Austria will have more lane space on which to train. The softer snow in Austria will also be easier to work with than the hard snow in Sweden.
“I think that these camps will help me develop as a skier more than just Sweden in the past. Having both options available provides for more variety and more training conditions,” said Chelsea Smith ‘19, a three-year veteran of the ski team.
Two ski camps also means that more school will be missed, and that could pose a challenge for students. “I think missing school will be challenging, especially for those of us in honors or AP classes,” said Jake Reynolds ‘19, a new member of the ski team.
The ski team now has 24 racers, which is bigger than previous years.Coach Haggerty says that a bigger ski team, where groups of athletes at the same level train together, will be an advantage. Chelsea Smith says, “having a bigger team will provide for a better environment with more support. A lot of us have grown together as skiers and being a part of this team has just strengthened that.”
Most skiers are excited for the ski camps. They are excited about having a new coach who will bring in some new ideas. The ski team is happy that more skiers are coming in, making them feel more unified.
