National teams on snow for summer training on four continents

National teams on snow for summer training on four continentsVarious alpine teams are spread around the globe, getting used to new equipment and working on their technique and tactics. The U.S. Ski Team’s on-snow preparation for the 2004-2005 season is underway as well.

The tech squad for the men’s World Cup team has arrived in New Zealand this week, and is training alongside European squads there (click here for story.) Bode Miller is sitting out that camp, having hustled around the globe so much last season. He has chosen to join the speed squad in Chile later this month. ‘I was going to do them both’ he says. ‘Schlopy’s doing both. But scheduling-wise it was just sort of getting crazy.’

Also in New Zealand are a handful of American skiers from the junior and NCAA ranks, including Colby College’s standout twins Jenni and Abbi Lathrop, who took first and second in some FIS races at Coronet Peak (click here for results).

The women’s speed team is now in Portillo, Chile, training speed events. Kirsten Clark is back on snow there, having returned to snow recently after sustaining serious knee injuries last year.

Kristina Koznick is doing her own thing for now. ‘We decided that in order to keep things in check with my hip that I would not ski until September’ she said in a note posted at her website. ‘It is a different approach (because we usually ski in August), but I think sometimes it is good to mix things up a little.’ Koz did some training at Mt. Hood in July, and posted some notes about that at her website.

Meanwhile the women’s development team trained last week in Mt. Hood, Oregon. Keeley Kelleher, who was injured in a crash early last season, was back with her teammates. Several invitees were present for the giant slalom and slalom training.

The men’s Europa Cup and Development teams, folded into one group for the preparation period, have spent the week at Mt. Hood as well, training tech events on a diminishing snowfield. Nick Baker and Jeremy Transue mostly stayed out of the gates, freeskiing to regain their technique after injuries. TJ Lanning, who had ankle surgery last winter, got in the courses and was pushing his teammates in timed runs. Jeffrey Harrison, the reigning world junior champion in giant slalom, broke a bone in one of his hands after falling, but is expected to recover soon.

Both Lanning and Harrison had to turn up the intensity to hold off Drew Roberts, an invitee from Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

Among the international teams on snow this month are the Austrian women. They went to New Zealand en masse on August 7th and 8th, for training at Round Hill and Mt. Hutt. In the first week of the camp they worked on ‘sliding curves’ and ‘spec optimization in the flat area’ according to the team’s website.

The Swiss women, including Sonja Nef, have traveled to Ushuaia, Argentina, a less-known venue for August skiing. Ushuaia is a rapidly growing city at the confluence of two oceans, the Andes Cordillera and the Antarctic. The Argentine populace is young and dynamic, drawn by economic incentives offered by its government and joined by diverse adventuresome travelers bent on hiking the Andes, circumnavigating the globe, skiing, exploring remarkable ice, fauna and flora. As in all of Argentina the bars, restaurants and entertainment start late and continue all night. Daytime attractions include a variety of boat trips on the Beagle Channel, hikes in the fabulous national park and a tour of the jail, left over from days when the town was a penal colony without escape.

The Swiss men decided against traveling to Las Lenas, Argentina, citing a lack of appropriate snow cover there. They will stay at home and train in Zermatt and Saas-Fee.