Summer for alpiners means heading south … for snow

By Published On: July 30th, 2007Comments Off on Summer for alpiners means heading south … for snow

It was a quick summer for the women alpine racers on the U.S. Ski Team. On Friday, a large group of them headed south to New Zealand to begin team training in preparation for the 2007-08 World Cup season.
    Though they are excited to get back on the snow, the girls have relished their time off. Thailand and Hawaii were popular break spots, but only a couple of weeks were spent vacationing. Summertime for the racers is a balancing act between relaxing from competing on snow and training hard without it.

IT WAS A QUICK summer for the women alpine racers on the U.S. Ski Team.  
    On Friday, a large group of them headed south to New Zealand to begin team training in preparation for the 2007-08 World Cup season.
    Though they are excited to get back on the snow, the girls have relished their time off. Thailand and Hawaii were popular break spots, but only a couple of weeks were spent vacationing. Summertime for the racers is a balancing act between relaxing from competing on snow and training hard without it. It is up to each athlete to get fit, said 21-year-old Resi Stiegler, over breakfast in her hometown of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
    "It's difficult but it's really cool to be by yourself and push yourself,” she said. “In the end, you're the only one on the hill, and mentally that's really difficult and I think when you train by yourself and have to get up in the morning — and say you partied the night before or you're not having the best day — you're in charge of getting yourself to the gym. … It teaches you that it’s my life and if I want to make it, I have to do it.”
    Since May, the women have preferred to spend time living and training in hot climates such as Hawaii, California and Rocky Mountain towns. Their summer challenge, said Julia Mancuso, who lives part time in Maui, is to figure out how to train hard without snow.
    "For ski racers, we're constantly trying other sports and challenging ourselves,” the 23-year-old said. "If you think about it, you can't emulate ski racing without being on snow.”
    Hence her summer sport of choice: stand-up paddle boarding.
    "Paddle boarding, oh my gosh, that is the new favorite best thing to do ever!” said Stiegler, who dabbled in it while visiting Mancuso in June. Stiegler said she is definitely bringing it to Jackson, and could possibly take a wild ride down the Snake River next summer. As for Mancuso, she usually paddles 4 to 5 miles twice a week, and this summer she decided to compete in the 10-mile Hennessey’s International Paddleboard Championships in Maui and placed sixth in the women’s division.
    "I think it makes you strong,” Mancuso said about being on the board, “but for the most part it keeps you present and helps you react. You have to think ahead [like in ski racing] … and it also helps me mentally relax. In that sense, it challenges your nervous system."
    Teammate Lauren Ross, 25, who tore her ACL in New Zealand last year and missed the season, said she is healthy and ready to get back on snow.
    "I'm psyched on the winter for sure,” she said before getting a knee check-up in her Santa Monica, California, summer home, “especially after having this break. It's a fresh perspective on this whole thing. I've learned to not take it for granted — not like I did when I was racing, but I really appreciate what I have with skiing and the freedom it allows me.  … Sometimes you need some distance from it to see what you have."
    She, too, has been on the water — surfing — and training at Gold’s Gym with a “bunch of hockey players” that has been random but fun, she said. The talented photographer has also been working on some photo projects, and likes being based where she can grow as an artist.
    "It’s a really good place for me because it's a creative epicenter,” she said.
    The girls’ buddy, Caitlin Ciccone, 22, won’t be joining them in New Zealand but will meet up with them in Chile in mid-September. Ciccone’s No. 1 priority has been to get her knee healthy after tearing her MCL in May.
    "It's 100 percent,” she said from her place in Park City. “That's kind of been what I've been up to the last month and a half."
    Ciccone, known to her teammates as “Red Liner,” for her no-holds-barred approach to racing, takes the strategy to the mountain bike trail, too. While visiting her older brother Cam in Jackson, she went for a ride and ended up flailing on the ground. “I will do anything, that's what it comes down to," she said.
    Red Liner will be missed in New Zealand as Stiegler, Mancuso and Ross join seven to eight other girls on the team, including Lindsey Kildow and Kaylin Richardson. (Click here to read Richardson's comments about the New Zealand camp.) The women said the purpose of the early season trip is to train hard and get their bodies used to the snow again.
    After a rocky start last season after undergoing hip surgery over the summer, Mancuso — who nonetheless finished strong, battling for the World Cup overall title before eventually settling for third in the standings — hopes to spend time in New Zealand getting a few kinks worked out.
    "I look forward to getting back on snow,” she said. “I want to get more miles on slalom and work with my new equipment. This year I just hope to be more consistent."
    Stiegler just hopes she can get there with all her ski stuff, she said. In the rush to take off, she threw everything in one bag and is certain something must be missing.
    Seriously, she said the point of the first trip of the season is to "do as much as you can in August and learn as much as you can about your body and start working on the little things so by the time October and the season rolls around you are on top of it. New Zealand is a time to really just get back on skis."
    Beyond getting back on snow, Ross is excited to see her friends.  
    "I'm super psyched to see all those guys,” she said. "I'm sure we'll have some solid bonding time."

Share This Article

About the Author: Pete Rugh