On-Snow Camp at Forêt Montmorency
A week and half ago the GRP skiers had the opportunity to venture far north to the land of poutine, loonies, maple syrup heists and the Mounties. You guessed it, Quebec! About an hour north of Quebec City the touring center in Forêt was able to roll out a 2.5k loop of real snow. Like Frozen Thunder in Canmore, “La Glisse Boréale” is made entirely out of last season’s snow that is blown into a large pile and spends the summer under sawdust. Aside from the sawdust bits that tended to accumulate on our topsheets and in our klister, the quality of the skiing was really good for early season skiing. Plus nothing beats the elation of getting back on snow for the first time! Forét did a really good job of creating a loop with twists and turns and ups and downs so we could practice transitions (often something that’s missing from rollerski training), and even after 6 ski sessions the loop never really got boring.
The goal of the camp was to incorporate lots of intensity on snow, so we packed level 4 intervals, tempo work, speeds, and a time trial into our 4 days there. With nearly four hours on snow every day, it was an exhausting but ultimately productive camp. We also had the chance to try out our new gear from Craft and Skida, which kept the Québécois junior teams on their feet as the green army rolled by.
All skiing photos are from Caitlin Patterson, who ventured out into the woods with her camera even though she was sick. Thanks Caitlin! Also thanks to Craft for providing our new race suits, warmups, and jackets. They look great, and we can’t wait to throw some race bibs on top in a few weeks.
Casey and Mike hammering out L4 skate intervals on the big hill on the course
Ida goes for airtime around a corner
Pepa took advantage of the short loop to get lactates and take video
Pretty cool boreal forest in this part of Canada
Part of the women’s team- all smiles after completing our time trial and modeling our new Craft suits
This is how Pepa gets so good at no-pole skating..
Heather and I finishing up a long afternoon classic ski
Whee!
Green on green on green
Captures the mood of the camp pretty well!
Kait Miller
The entire team sporting our new gear and ready for race season! L to R Ida Sargent, Kaitlynn Miller, Mike Gibson, Caitlin Patterson, Emily Dreissigacker, Coach Pepa, Liz Guiney, Casey Smith, Alex Howe, Heather Mooney, Ethan Dreissigacker (missing biathletes Susan Dunklee, Clare Egan, and Hannah Dreissigacker and skier Hallie Grossman)
Next up on the GRP docket- ski season is almost here. In the month of November, Susan, Hannah, and Clare are starting on the World Cup Biathlon circuit, Ida is racing Cross Country World Cups, and the rest of the skiers have USSA SuperTours in West Yellowstone. Make sure to follow along on our Facebook page and Instagram (@greenracingproject)!