Thanksgiving Camp 2015

Another great camp in the books!  Thanksgiving Camp 2015 went about as smoothly as we could have possibly hoped - perhaps our best Thanksgiving Camp ever.  We left campus on Tuesday afternoon after classes.  The drive was pretty painless, except for a minor credit card hassle in a Canadian grocery store - for a minute it looked like we'd have to survive camp without the 8 thousand eggs the boys had requested, but we worked it out and made it to the Chateau Boreal with a couple vans full of skiers and food.  Foret had a 2.5k loop of snow saved under wood chips from last spring, and it made for pretty nice skiing. 

 On our first day there, we got out early in the morning to beat the crowds, and it was frost-on-the-hair cold.

 

But it warmed up soon enough....

 

...and everyone was happy.

On Thanksgiving Day, the whole team worked hard between ski sessions.  Our expert pie crust maker Jake pioneered an unorthodox rolling technique.

The end result was a fantastic meal with everything ready right on time.

 All week the skiers put in hours and hours of easy skiing while Tim and I worked 1-on-1 with people to chip away at technique issues.  It was a pretty exciting time - everyone was focused and working hard, and it seemed like every time I turned around I noticed someone skiing better than ever.  Everyone made steady progress, and several people had real breakthroughs - it was a pretty exciting time.  Even in the midst of a truly horrible skiing day (cold rain all day on Friday), people kept plugging away and working to make the most of every minute on skis.  We had one of my favorite sessions on this particular day - working on transitions and hitting one particular icy turn over and over again.

 On Saturday, we did a 5/7.5k skate time trial with several other teams.  Conditions were a bit icy due to the previous day's rain, but not too bad.  These early season time trials and races are more about the effort and the process of racing than the result, and everyone executed really well - warmups, transitions, pacing, focusing on holding technique together, etc.  I was really pleased with the positive energy surrounding the team as well - a really nice start to our on-snow racing.  Ellie and Sean were our top skiers, with the others not far behind.  Wil had a particularly good showing - relaxed, full of energy, and flying right along.

First race since 2012 for Lucy!  She looked great out there - no sign of rust.

Hannah and Ellie were taking a nice photo after their race when sneaky Jake photobombed them.

 By Saturday afternoon, everyone was feeling pretty good, and the goofy photo sessions got started.  I have no idea what Sam is doing in this photo.

On our last morning, some of the skiers finished the workout with a nice run to explore the logging roads before the long drive home.

I would be remiss if I didn't finish with a quick food recap, since food has always been an integral part of Bowdoin Nordic Thanksgiving Camp.  As always, we had three different cook groups vying for the coveted gold star.  One - baked burritos, loaded with rice, meat, and cheese, accompanied by a mixed greens salad, with cookies and ice cream for dessert.  Two - red coconut curry with veggies, cihcken, and tofu over rice, with a spinach salad and some kind of Thai mango drink.  Three - chicken/veggie pot pie over rice, with a spinach salad featuring DELICIOUS MAPLE TOASTED WALNUTS!!!, and some cookie/ice cream/brownie creation for dessert.  All three were tasty; all three were filling and healthful; but alas, we could have only one winner - the red coconut curry.  Congratulations to Tess, August, Jake, and Sam!

Overall, this was a very successful camp that leaves me feeling super optimistic about the coming season.  Hopefully we can keep all this good energy and happy team chemistry going through these next few weeks while we wait for snow - for now, so far so good.  Farewell to Foret Montmorency until next year!