U23 Toblach Pre-Camp/GRP Italy Reunion!
Hi everyone! I’m finally in Val di Fiemme, site of the U23 and World Junior Championships. The internet here is great (it was barely a crawl in Toblach), so I decided to do a little update about our pre-camp. We arrived in Toblach on Monday the 20th after a relatively easy travel day and a half. Toblach is beautiful; there’s a really dramatic valley with towering cliffs on either side. It’s right on the edge of the Dolomites, which are a bit different in geology from the regular Italian Alps. The stone is brown, not grey, and it erodes differently to form sharp, spiky peaks. The venue is right at the base of the valley and they’ll be holding a World Cup there in just a few days (the 1st and 2nd of February). I traveled over with Pepa and then we immediately met up with Ida who was driving in from Poland. It was so fun to catch up with her and do some training and technique work with the GRP ladies. We also got to see Susan and Hannah who were in nearby Antholz for a training camp after their WC there.I’m rooming with Annie Pokorny, which is great because we get along super well, but in all honesty the entire group of U23 ladies and the whole team has been fantastic so far. I can’t wait for the races, I feel a lot more prepared this time around; I think knowing what to expect and staying confident are half the battle. So without further ado, here are a lot of pictures of Toblach and the surrounding area (and because it was so beautiful there, I couldn’t put my camera away!)
Run on our first day in Toblach. From L to R Sloan Storey, Mary Rose, Annie Pokorny, Ben Saxton, Rosie Frankowski
Same view, but with just the ladies this time! (Thanks Ben for the photo)
The town of Toblach/Dobiacco (everything has both a German and Italian name here). The venue is in the base of the valley.
Ida and I waiting at the base of Platzweise for the biathlon girls
Platzweise was a stunning place to go for a ski. Lucky ducks
And here’s where I got a little trigger happy with the camera.
There was a dogsled race going on while we were skiing. I thought the dogs were adorable, Pepa was complaining about the poops on the trails. Luckily we were able to dodge them and save the race skis!
Perfect tracks and sun
Last one of the trails, I swear! Thanks Judy for the last two pictures
Stopping for water and natural beauty appreciation
GRP ladies represent in Italy. Pepa is so happy to be with all her babies!
The whole GRP crew! So great to have Dick and Judy here too.
Pink and purple jacket crew. Ida, Susan, me, and Hannah at the end of our ski.
We drove to Cortina one afternoon to walk around the town. This is a look at the GS course (I believe). As you can see from the red gating near the very top, it is incredibly steep
Susan and Hannah came to visit again for Ida’s birthday dinner!
Off day in Val di Fiemme. A proud (multiple time) finisher of the Marcialonga displays her/his bibs. The Maricalong is a huge Italian ski marathon which finishes in Val di Fiemme.
Val di Fiemme walk with Annie P and Ben S. Not too much snow on the ground, but some in the distant mountains!
One thing I don’t have any pictures of is the food, which has been incredible. Every dinner is a 4 course deal, and the pasta, gelato, and the coffee are all great. We had a really cute old man named Sigi as our waiter in Toblach and his repertoire of magic tricks kept us on our toes!So on to Val di Fiemme and down to business… I’ll preview the race course tomorrow and then my first race is a skate sprint on Wednesday. I would be absolutely thrilled to make the rounds, so that will be the big goal. Then I have a little bit of time until my next race, a 15k skiathlon on Saturday. You can find the website for the championships here, I’m not sure if they will have live results or not, but you can bet they will be updating frequently. I’ll try to post more after the races to let you know how it goes, but until then, CIAO!
Liz Guiney