By Mark Nadell
Published: Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:00 AM MDT
Even though theres still a few weeks of summer, the Labor Day weekend traditionally marks the transition to the Fall training season, and Far West Nordic has wrapped up a highly successful series of summer Junior training camps for 2008.
JUNE LAKE CAMP (recap by Nancy Fiddler)
Our first all-comers camp of the season was the ever-popular, traditional June Lakes Camp, held in the beautiful eastern Sierra Nevada area in July. Led by Far Wests Head Coach Ben Grasseschi, with able assistance from Nancy Fiddler and Martin Benes, twenty four Far West Junior athletes from Truckee to Bishop gathered at the Oh! Ridge campground for 4 days of training, including running, strength, hill bounding, swimming, hiking, and even some rock climbing.
Justin Ondry runs below North Peak (Photo Credit: Camille Stover)
Friday's highlights included ski walking at June Mountain, excellent views of a giant osprey nest (including osprey), some refreshing swimming in June Lake, a HOT, dry classic rollerski session near Crowley Lake, and a pasta dinner. At the end of the day, spirits were still high for the team. Any whining that occurred was not because of the training, but because there wasn't going to be a trip to Mammoth Lakes to see The Dark Knight that evening.
The icy waters of Alpine Lake (Photo Credit: Peter Taylor)
On Saturday, the group split into two for some extensive high-altitude hiking. One group summited 13,700 ft. Mt. Conness in Yosemite National Park. The hike began with lots of wildflowers and mosquitos during the ascent of the vertical meadow, and then the group was treated to great views of the Yosemite backcountry, some high exposure on the way to the summit, and endless boulder hopping. Back at Alpine Lake on the descent, everyone plunged into the water (56 degrees!). Meanwhile, the other group was circumnavigating (and climbing) North Peak, via McCabe Lakes. The descent into the turquoise Conness Lakes was exhausting enough to warrant a good swim and some fun cliff jumps. After dinner, some of the group went off to test themselves on the famous Bachar Boulders, while the rest stayed in camp to play possibly the world's biggest Apples to Apples game.
Mt. Conness summit crew (Photo Credit: Peter Taylor)
The Mt. Conness crew on the approach (Photo Credit: Peter Taylor)
On Sunday, it was smooth skate rollerskiing out on the Benton Crossing Road under a welcome cloud cover. After an hour and a half of drills and easy skiing, the group convened at the ball fields for some ballistic stretching and strength training. The exercises kept coming until, at last, the coaches ran out of ideas on how to test the muscles of the athletes.
Alex Hamilton and Bryce Tiernan take a break between intervals above June Lake (Photo Credit: Peter Taylor)
Former Far West Junior Sophie Leonard double-poles near Crowley Lake (Photo Credit: Peter Taylor)
The success of any training camp is based on the attitude and effort of the attendees. June Lake 2008 was an exceptional camp in that the work ethic stayed strong for the duration of the camp. The ages (13-18 yrs.) of the athletes was as varied as the ability and experience, yet there was lots of mutual support for every single kid. There was lots of training, lots of fun, and lots of inspiration.
MARIN HEADLANDS CAMP
After a 4 year hiatus, Far West decided to re-visit the popular Marin Headlands venue near San Francisco for their August Low Elevation-High Intensity camp. Open to only Junior Olympic-qualified juniors, this camp is designed for athletes to get a real taste of interval training where the air is nice and thick, and not of the rarified High Sierra variety.
Alcatraz and the ferry to San Franciscol (Photo Credit: Mark Nadell)
Led by Ben Grasseschi and Jeff Schloss (with some help from Mark Nadell), the Camp began on Tuesday with an interval roller ski session en route to Marin at one of Far Wests favorite spots near Colfax on the west slope of the Sierra. A 3-mile uphill at 1,000 ft. elevation (and near-100 degree heat), this grinder of a hill is perfect for classic rollerskiing, complete with a dip in the icy-cold American River afterward. From there, its a drive from the very warm Sierra through the blazing hot Central Valley, only to end up in the fog in the Marin Headlands area between Mt. Tamalpais and the Golden Gate Bridge. A swim in the frigid ocean cemented the athletes notion that the climate was going to be a bit different there than what they were used to. Along with the stay at the famous Marin Headlands Youth Hostel (complete with creaky beds and foreign guests bathing their infants at 1 am), the campers soon realized that they werent in the mountains anymore.
Justin Ondry rolls up from Rodeo Beachl (Photo Credit: Mark Nadell)
Wednesday morning featured a 3,000 meter time trial on the beautiful track at the College of Marin, where almost every athlete produced a personal best for that distance, but were still humbled by Coach Bens overall fastest time for the day. After a long Ultimate Frisbee tournament, and then a grueling strength session, the crew headed over to Sausalito for a ferry-ride to the big city of San Francisco for an exceptional Thai dinner and a walk to the famous Pier 39.
The 3000 meter time trial (Photo Credit: Mark Nadell)
Thursday featured the famous Dipsea Trail run from Mill Valley, over the flanks of Mt. Tam, and down to the ocean at Stinson Beach. First raced in 1905, the Dipsea is the oldest trail race in America, a 7.1 mile event held in June, and is considered one of the most beautiful courses in the world. Although a popular run, the trail is not the best-marked course, to say the least, and athletes somehow ended up strewn across the countryside. Most of the runners enjoyed the trail so much that they performed the famous Double Dipsea and ran back to Mill Valley after arriving at the beach. After a brief break, Thursday afternoon was filled with a specific-strength rollerski session, this time on the rough roads of the Marin Headlands overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Specific strength in the Headlandsl (Photo Credit: Mark Nadell)
Bryce Tiernan finds an impromptu slackline above the oceanl (Photo Credit: Mark Nadell)
The final workout of the week occurred on Friday morning, starting with a run with poles from the Hostel to the hills overlooking the Headlands Rodeo Beach. From there, yet another interval session ensued, this time a seemingly endless multitude of 45 second sprints up to the top of the bluffs, and then it was back to the Hostel to shower, pack up and depart. Another trip across the 107 degree Central Valley ended back in the comfortable climate of the Truckee/Tahoe area.
Bounding intervals in the fogl (Photo Credit: Mark Nadell)
LAKE TAHOE/BLISS STATE PARK CAMP
The final event of the summer season was the traditional Labor Day D.L. Bliss Park Camp on the shores of the incomparable Lake Tahoe. Designed more for younger Nordic athletes, this camp featured a little bit of everything, from running to kayaking to peak climbing to rollerskiing.
Kelly Habibi kayaks around the point on Lake Tahoe (Photo Credit: Mark Nadell)
Led by Maryellen Benier, Lea McKinstry and Mark Nadell, the Tahoe camp began on Friday evening (with school starting BEFORE Labor Day nowadays, its hard to fit everything in), with dinner and a hike down to the beach for an evening swim. With the athletes being treated to the revelry of nearby campers singing Journey songs well past midnight at the crowded holiday campground, a great nights sleep was just a fleeting imagination, and a dawn visit by the resident teenage bear cub running through the campsite completed the experience.
Spectacular cliff jumping at Indian Head Rock (Photo Credit: Mark Nadell)
Prepare for a chilly landing…. (Photo Credit: Mark Nadell)
Saturday was chock-full of activities, beginning with the traditional Run/Kayak Switcheroo. With half the group heading out on the beautiful Rubicon Trail along the Lake, the other half jumped into kayaks to paddle toward the famous Emerald Bay. This years paddle featured some serious lake winds, making the first groups progression a bit slower than normal. Upon arriving at the designated meeting place, the runners then jumped into boats, the kayakers put on their running shoes and reversed direction, with a mandatory stop at Indian Head Rock along the way for some exciting cliff jumping exploits.
After lunch and some relaxation at the beach, it was time to hop into the vans and head over to Blackwood Canyon for a rollerski session of drills for most of the group, and for some, a 12 km. distance ski with 1,500 ft. elevation gain to the top of Barker Pass. After returning to camp and dinner, the evening concluded with team-building exercises, swimming, and a discussion of Fall and Winter goals for this group of young athletes.
Rollerskiing Blackwood Canyon (Photo Credit: Mark Nadell)
Sunday dawned bright and much cooler, and after a night of howling winds, plans for the climb up to 9,183 ft. Rubicon Peak near the park were finalized. Although technically not a difficult peak or a long climb, the trail to the top features 2 miles of distance complete with 2,200 feet of elevation gain, making it seem like over an hour of straight stair-climbing to the summit. Once there, athletes were re-visited by the gale-force winds of the night before, and scaling the final 100 feet of class 3 rock scrambling meant holding onto the rock for dear life as strong gusts buffeted the peak. Given the conditions, it was a somewhat remarkable achievement to get every athlete to the top, and then it was the steep downhill back to the car and camp. Lunch, some swimming and kayak-play in the beautiful Lake Tahoe, and then it was time to hit the holiday traffic for the trip back home.
The windy summit of Rubicon Peak (Photo Credit: Mark Nadell)
The Bliss Camp Crew (Photo Credit: Mark Nadell)
After such a successful season of summer camp and high-level workouts, the Far West Junior athletes are looking forward to the Fall and Winter training, culminating with the rest of the nordic-oriented country visiting them on their home court at Auburn Ski Club for Junior Olympics 2009 ( http://www.xcjuniorolympics2009.org ). Weve included a small selection of photos from the camps, but for lots more images from this summer and more, go to the Photo Gallery pages on the Far West Nordic website, http://www.farwestnordic.org .
Originaly from Source