Day 2 on Snow: Still Skiing!

The title of this blog, still skiing, may seem obvious, we are in fact, still skiing.....BUT this is skiing at its finest. Each morning we swing open the curtains holding our breath hoping to be greeted by sunshine. So far, so good. This morning up on snow was cloudless, the boys spent their time constructively, working on weight transfer, correct poling and perfect eye-to-norwegian girl-in front of you- technique.

Needless to say this place is full of very "fit" people. This place has it all, beautiful mountains, incredible skiers, skiing in the sun and homemade bread among many things. The crew of "americanos," as they have been affectionatly dubbed by the Norwegians have disocvered the secret afternoon hangout on the roof. The warm metal surface in direct mountain sun provides a perfect playground for some serious sun bathing and mingling. Norwegians must love the sun because day after day the overall skin tone in the dining room becomes a deeper shade of red. (I guess it is their national color) Both groups skied a solid amount today as we endeavour to fill our week with hours on snow. The older group logged an impressive 5 hours training today, so perhaps the halls will be a bit more peaceful tonight, save the ever constant practice of the "twerk" dance. You best ask later on that one, it is truly a long, strange story.

We are looking forward to a few more sunny days in the forcast as we burrow into our bags for our higher SPF options. Looks good as of now!

-Lucy (guest writer)

Sognefjell Norway: Home of the Norwegians

It is pretty late so ill just put up a picture or two for now with some more in depth coverage tomorrow. Everything is going well in Norway!

The Hallsta Test

This morning we ran up the ski hill past the hotel almost to the top in the annual Hallsta Test.. a much anticipated/dreaded event for yanks and swedes alike. The general feeling before- nervous; the general concensus after- "That was HARD." Charlie had the fastest time for the non-coach men, and was only about 10 seconds off one of the members of the Swedish National Team. He told us that he paced himself really well out of the start and could tell he had a good one right when he was finished. Jane and Lucy had really good times for the women, Lucy was the first non-coach and Jane was around 3rd overall! This afternoon was another rollerski workout for the group, working again on classic technique- double poling, kick double poling, striding, and working transitions. The athletes are getting lots of good information and everyone is improving dramatically day by day. Tomorrow is yet another adventure- the Bog Run- 3 hours of running through a deep, wet, marshy bog! The kids are resting up tonight to get ready for that, as well as having one-on-one meetings with the National Team athletes and coaches!

More fun and hard work in Solleftia!

A quick post before bed...

I think it is safe to assert that the last few days have flown by for our whole crew. There has been barely a moment to rest with 2 full workouts a day, meetings and information sessions in between, plus 4 full meals (5 yesterday) to keep everyone occupied. The Swedes are extremely quiet and its been hard for the kids to fully integrate, but there are a few that hang out with the Americans quite a bit and the others are starting to fold too! The rollerskiing technique training has been really valuable for all the athletes and even Cal who had never been on rollerskis before this trip is really impressing everyone with his skills and quick learning.

Yesterday we were on classic rollerskis, which despite a few bad crashes seemed to be a fun and valuable experience. The kids also got to learn about orienteering (which was good, because everyone did an orienteering race today!) and shoot guns in the biathelon range. Cal once again impressed everyone with his skills and the biathelon coaches were "joking" about recruiting him for their program. Last night the whole group went on a leisurely rafting adventure down the river that flows through Solleftia and ended at a nature reserve where we grilled hot dogs and the Athlete/Coaches from the Swedish National Team answered questions about how they got in the sport, training tips, and many other skiing related topics. Tomorrow morning is the Hallsta Test, an uphill running time trial that happens at this camp every year. Hopefully the kids are all in bed resting up for the effort, but they might be playing cards with the Swedes. Either way it should be yet another interesting and exhausting day

Sweden: Solleftia! The First Days..

We gathered the remainder of our crew at the Stockholm airport yesterday afternoon and began the beautiful drive north along the Baltic Sea towards Solleftia, the site of the Swedish junior camp our athletes are participating in. We rolled into town around 9:30pm and found a pizza joint that was still barely open, so we grabbed a bunch of pies and headed up to the top of the Ski Jumping hill where we are staying for the week. We ate some very Scandinavian Bacon and Egg pizza while we watched the sunset around 11pm, then headed to bed; exausted, but still somewhat disoriented from the time change and daylight.
This morning we headed back over to the Baltic coast where we went on a run/hike for most of the day. We were expecting some rain but instead we got pleasantly warm weather and sun the whole way around and plenty of awesome views! The receding glaciers left some really cool geology in the area, including a chasm 100m long and 9m across that the trail passes through. It is pretty dramatic, and pretty daunting when you are above it looking down the cliff! Towards the end of the hike the trail comes out at a beach at the end of a long inlet on the Baltic Sea that almost everyone had the courage to swim in.. even Yannick eventually took the plunge after the girls all jumped in ahead of him. Tomorrow the Swedes arrive and the camp officially begins. The kids are excited, but a little nervous about the swedish kids moving into their rooms- there is a rumor going around that Scandinavians aren't immediately the most outgoing people in the world!