with 10 tired athletes and a tired coach rolling back in to Steamboat after a great 8 days.
The Crew: Molly Newman, Mary Rose, Hannah Smith, Michaela Frias, Liza Stout, Missy Krause, Gabby Joffe, Gus Allan and Tom Sawyer, plus part-timers Austin Ross, Carter Miller and Scott Lacy
The Camp (only half of which was actually held in Colorado) kicked of in Aspen on July 14th (we slept in the AVSC Lodge during the Aspen leg of the camp) with a spirited game of Ultimate Frisbee followed by a skate rollerski near Basalt. The rollerskiing in Aspen in amazing - both in quality and quantity - we should all have it so good!
A world-class glissade spot on Castle...
Next day was a dash up the first of our 3 big mountain - Castle Peak (our only 14'er this year). The long hike was followed by a relaxing dinner at the Lacy's, as well as a few games of CroqX - The new extreme crouqet that's all the rage in the deserts of Central Asia. It should be noted that both rounds of this game were totally dominated by RMN and Steamboat Coach Travis Jones - perhaps the greates CroqX player alive today... We stayed up too late watching scary movies and playing sardines in the dark. Team Building...
Lawn Games at the Lacy's Molly vs. Liza... Liza has the eye of the Tiger in this one.
Up next, a double pole rollerski on another of Aspen's great trails. A few AVSC Athletes joined us for this one and it was great ot see the the crew down there is working hard this summer! This was followed by one of the the most intense sessions of the camp - Water Vollyball at the Aspen Rec Center. The girls dominated the boys in a best two-of-three tournament thanks to their skilled play and use of distraction tactics.
Next came Mt. Sopris - that's the huge peak that you see when you're driving in to Carbondale... We parked somewhere in Northern New Mexico and began our hike to a peak that appeared to very far away indeed. Appearances can be deceptive, but in this case they were not. The peak was very far away indeed and the hike was a long one, but we fought on and made the summit.
The Summit of Mt. Sopris
Driving day took us from Aspen to Park City, Utah. Upon arrival, we jumped in to some good, hard strength as well as some wicked good burritos from El Chubasco. Don't let the Mango fool you - that orange salsa is HOTTTT. For this leg of the camp, We're sleeping at the Soilder Hollow Day Lodge and then moving to the school building down by the stadium. Thanks SoHo Crew!
Dinner in Midway - that pinkie finger means something in Aspen... not sure what.
Morning rollerski at SoHo - we were on of the first groups to ski the new Hermod's Hill loop and had the whole joint pretty much to ourselves. A few jitters down the big hills on the first loop gave way to excitement as everyone discovered that 35 mph on rollerski is actually pretty exhilerating. Go team!
The Trail on Timpanogos actually goes behind this waterfall!
Our last big mountain, Mt Timpanogos, was probably the favorite of the trip. The hike is amazing - beautiful waterfalls most of the way up - the trail actually goes behind one of them, Interesting views of Provo from the top, friendly chipmunks, solid glissading, beautiful wildflowers and a very small and very cold lake to swim in on the way down. We were psyched after this hike and after ice-cream in Park City, we banded together to break the all-time world roundabout record with 111, yes, one hundred and eleven laps of the roundabout between west Heber City and Midway. It was a proud moment.
The Crew on after a dip in COLD Emerald Lake on the way down from Timp...
The next-to-last day of the camp was a big one for everyone... We started off the morning with an interval workout, but not just any interval workout - level 3 intervals with the US Ski Team at Soilder Hollow. Our athletes did really well, and had the chance to meet several USST Athletes as well as Coaches Pat Casey and Matt Whitcomb, and to track them on Hermods. After stomping the National Team, we headed to Provo for what was certainly the most important session on the Camp. Seven Peaks Waterpark. This waterpark has some terrifying slides, including evil Orange and the diabolical Blue. It also has extremely hot fake grass carpeting and a Dippin' Dots stand. Our RMN Crew rose to the challenge on this day, with nearly everyone facing their fear and dropping off the edge of Evil Orange. After cooking ourselves in the desert sun for too long and getting kicked out of the lazy river too many times, we moved on to Ikea. Yup - it's a Swedish Furniture Store. Sound boring? Ask on of the kids on the trip about it... 'Nuff said. Finally, we were off to Salt Lake City for Tibetan food at one of Ivana and my favorite old haunts. Just after we sat down, who should walk in but Pat Casey (USST Continental Cup Team Coach) and Kristina Casey (University of Utah Coach and 2002 Olympian). 1.3 million people in SLC... They joined us for dinner and some Tibetan tea with salt and butter. I pretended to like it (the tea, that is). Back to bed in the SoHo School Building.
Last Day - we rolled out of bed early and suffered through a hard strength session with Gabby's sister Natalie and her friend Emily, both of whom ski for Williams College. After that, we packed it up, cleaned it up and hit the road for Steamboat!
Thanks to all for a great camp and a great adventure!
Trav.