After a couple of on-snow camps over summer, the team went their separate ways for the rest of the summer, occasionally seeing each other at summer dryland sessions before coming together for the beginning of school, continuing our hard work in the weight room and running outside. Although it was fun, it was really hard. Some of the worst things we had to do were hill sprints on the 9th & 9th whale hill (yes, the steep one) and sub-maxes, which are max-effort sprint laps around the block of the school. We’d do 8-12 reps of each, each seeming more challenging than the previous, but somehow we got them done. 

Apart from our regular everyday dryland, we had physical testing at the beginning of October, where we ran the pacer test and tested our max vertical, broad jump, triple jump, pushups, single leg squats, and box jumps. We gave our all to see the progress we made during fall dryland, with standout results from many athletes. Vivian Turner ran a 3.03-second 20m sprint, Lukas Postnieks had a 2.87-second 20m sprint, Nate Brown made 50 reps on push ups, and Cree Gilmour had a 55.7 ml/kg/min VO2 max derived from the 20 meter shuttle run test, which is extremely impressive.

Shortly after October physical testing, the FIS and U16 teams packed up and headed to the first preseason camp of the year in Hintertux, Austria. Conditions were icy, but that was much needed to help us improve. The FIS males were on the steepest, scariest pitch, and the FIS ladies and U16s were on the sunny side of the glacier with a wider variety of terrain. Sophomore Reilly Cooper said she “made some great improvements,” and senior Lukas Postnieks said “even though it was really hard, the conditions made us all better skiers.” Overall, Coach Jimena Carlin said “all the athletes made progress, and everyone is really looking forward to the ski season!” Besides skiing, the team enjoyed evening hikes through the mountains for dryland, soccer at a nearby field, and a day trip to Mayrhofen on the off day. Although most of the camp was good, there were a few injuries. Senior Ruby Rosh got into a bad crash on the first day, breaking her foot and being airlifted to the nearest hospital. She is now almost done with her recovery, looking to get back on snow in the next couple weeks. Junior Finn Copeland had a bit of a rough time as well, getting into a gnarly crash on the way down to the gondola after training. He shattered his goggle frame and suffered a bad concussion. Finn is actively recovering and is looking to return to sport in January.

Following Austria, the team had a few weeks to recover, get back in the gym, and then pack up again before heading out to our next preseason camp in Big Sky, Montana. The Big Sky camp is important, as the first race of the season is at Big Sky, so we got valuable training on the same hill we’ll race on that other teams didn’t get. While it was a bit warmer than last year, the conditions were still really good, which meant the team spent more time on the hill than sneaking into the lodge for breaks and grabbing a snack from the general store. Senior AJ Socolean recalls that he felt “super good on the slopes” and can’t wait to put his “hard work to the test at the Big Sky race.” On another note, junior Adrian Marquart said his favorite part of the camp was the daily “bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwiches from the Hungry Moose general store.” In addition, junior Teo Shamah commented that he loved getting “Dip n Dots after a long day of hard work at training.” Vivian Turner said the “snow was pretty solid,” solid enough to give her a concussion when she spun out on her head (she's okay now; don't worry). Additionally Porter Taxin decided to take a trip through the B-net, tearing a huge hole through it. He is okay now too and is on the road to recovery, looking to get back on snow with Ruby during winter break.

After Big Sky and Thanksgiving break, the team currently is back in the gym and outside, getting in some last-minute dryland before Utah Olympic Park opens. We’ve been doing some free skiing at Solitude Mountain due to the warm weather, but we are feeling hopeful for solid training at the UOP over winter break.

Looking ahead, the FIS team is heading back to Big Sky on December 14 for the first race of the competition season, and the U16s are heading to Snow King, Wyoming, on December 19th for their first race.