Durango returned home today from Grand Mesa after six days of skiing. During the weekend, skiers from Aspen, Crested Butte, CRMS, Summit and Steamboat (one skier) were up at Skyway ski area, which had nicely groomed trails despite a fairly small amount of snow on the ground. We enjoyed mild weather (we kicked on special violet/extra blue every day) with blue, blue skies. The high altitude — the trail map says the areas elevations range from 10,600 to 10,800 feet — made for some lung-searing fun  speed-relay sessions, but was ideal for the training we made the trip up to do: Long over-distance.

Counting the Friday morning weights session we did before leaving town, the eight J1-J2 skiers that stayed until Wednesday got in 18.25 hours of training. We did a short 15–20 minute run every morning before breakfast, a two-hour classic ski in the morning and a 1.25–1.75 hours skate in the evening. After skiing and driving back to the condos, we had a 15-minute relaxation period, which skiers spent lying silent in the prone position. The actual effects on recovery may be debatable, but the 30 serene minutes a day were welcome.

The pictures here are definitely Durango-centric — sorry about that; in the excitement of actually getting on snow, photography wasn’t a priority. More photos will be up at www.durangonordic.org soon.