Early Snow Above and Below

Here's a guest post from Kaitlynn Miller '14, who spent a couple weeks chasing snow in Europe with the Craftsbury Green Racing Project:

I count myself lucky that for the past two years my team and I have been able to get on snow in September and this year was no different. However, instead of just going to Austria for our fall camp, this year we added a weeklong stint in Slovenia skiing in an underground parking garage turned summer ski tunnel. Despite the oddness of our surroundings (think cement walls and fluorescent lights), I actually enjoyed skiing in the tunnel and we had a very productive week focusing primarily on speed and technique. In addition to skiing, we also got out for some running adventures in the surrounding mountains.

Tunneling in Slovenia (photo:  Pepa Miloucheva)

Enjoying some time above ground during a run/hike in the Triglav National Park

 
After wrapping up our speed-focused week in Slovenia, we headed to Austria for a distance block at altitude. This was our third year in a row skiing on the Dachstein glacier and it's safe to say the third time was a charm. We had an incredible streak of weather with eight strait days of sun and stable ski conditions. We skied every morning and then either ran, rollerskied, or did strength in the afternoon. At the conclusion of our eight days in Austria I had trained over 32 hours! Needless to say I was ready for a few days off and some time at home. If you want to read more about the camp and see LOTS more pictures, you can check out my personal blog: kaitlynnmiller.blogspot.com.

 Perfect weather on the Dachstein!

 Attempting some synchronized skiing (photo:  Sam Dougherty)

 Enjoying some nice klister skiing (photo:  Caitlin Patterson)

 Running through an Austrian moonscape

 Even the rollerskiing is scenic in Austria (photo:  Pepa)

Got to go for a hike with friend and Bowdoin alum Stephen Ligtenberg who happened to be passing through Austria on his way to a whitewater race!