Third Time's the Charm

GRP takes on the Dachstein, round 3! (Photo Caitlin Patterson)

The Green Racing Project has been incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to travel to Ramsau, Austria for the past three years to do an on-snow camp on the Dachstein Glacier, high above the town at 9,000 ft. Every year we're happy to be in a great training location with easy access to mountain running and rollerskiing, and the ability to put in quality hours on snow. Two years ago we had some awesome weather days. along with some epically foggy/sleet-y days where it wasn't immediately apparent where the sky ended and the track began. Last year we planned a two week camp, but it got so warm after the first five days of skiing that the glacier melted down to scratchy, black glacier ice and we had to scrap the rest of our skiing plans and head to the mountains for running instead.

This year we traveled to Ramsau (actually Schladming, a few miles below Ramsau) following a really successful speed camp in Slovenia, so we had already logged some time on-snow time, albeit underground. But our reward for all that tunneling was 7 days of the most gorgeous, crisp, clear, sunny days that I've ever experienced in Austria. The snow conditions on the glacier were spring-like and occasionally icy, but the skiing was fantastic and I think every one of the GRP skiers was in their happy place each day.

GRP women's team synched up (Photo Caitlin Patterson)

Going into the Ramsau portion of our camp, I knew my biggest challenge would be handling the volume we had planned. After focusing in on strength and speed in Slovenia, we were free to push the hours in Ramsau on snow and in the mountains, and had 8 days in which to do so. Usually we train six days in a week before taking an off day, so the 8 day block was daunting, as were the 30 (ish) training hours that were penciled in for those days. However, after a pep talk from coach Pepa, I decided to focus on taking each training session and day as it came, paying attention to how my body felt, and emphasizing recovery and fueling rather than obsessing over the hours. And it worked! I won't lie and say every day was easy, and there were definitely a few days at the end where exhaustion was the general theme, but I was really happy to have productive sessions up on the glacier and reach my goals for the training block. More importantly, everyone seemed to be having an awesome camp and it was both exciting and inspiring to see my teammates challenging themselves, whether it was making a big technique change, logging more volume than they thought possible, or just keeping a good attitude every day. Austria was definitely good to us this year!

Here are a few photos from the camp, in roughly chronological order, but not really. Enjoy!

Our first day, as captured by coach Sam, which was just a
precursor of the sunny days to come (Photo Sam Dougherty)

 Practicing leading, with Kait and Caitlin (Photo Pepa)

The past two years the team has stayed in Ramsau, which is closer to the Dachstein but a bit more expensive. This year we found a rental in Schladming, which meant that our running workouts had a new home base, and all sorts of new mountains/valleys/views to explore!

View from the top of the Planai West tram, looking towards the range
above Ramsau and Schladming in the valley below

Every year we double pole up the steep, switch-backing road
from Pichl to Ramsau, which is such a tough but rewarding workout. 
This year we double poled up once, and then a few people went for
round two double poling (impressive) while Hallie, Kait, and I skated up

Perhaps the most scenic all-out 1 minute bounding intervals
I've done in my life! If you're gonna suffer, might as well
do it in a place like this (Photo Pepa)

A little mid-interval delirium, brought on by
oxygen deprivation? Exhaustion? We're not sure (Photo Pepa)

It's always easy to spot the GRP skiers in green suits popping
against the white snowfields. (Photo Caitlin Patterson)

Love this shot of Caitlin's, with skiers, hikers, and even a helicopter
above the middle peak (Photo Caitlin Patterson)

Another bluebird day from the top of the tram

A great hiking crew for a workout in which
we skied on the glacier, then put on our running
shoes and hiked/ran back down to Ramsau
(Photo Ethan Dreissigacker)

A team ski on our last day up on the glacier (Photo Caitlin Patterson)

The Jagerhutte (hunter's hut) we found at the top of a pass
on a long run/hike

Last day in Austria- an appropriate mix of exhaustion and
elation! #GRPies

We're now back in the States and getting back into training after some serious recovery to bounce back from the hard training block we put in. The East has been totally spoiling us with peak foliage and nice weather, and it's great to be back in Craftsbury. I have one more week of training here before I head back west to Park City to join the annual USST camp there. I haven't seen my family since May (!!) so I'm really excited to spend time with them and get back to playing in the mountains. Stay tuned for an update from out west.

Pepa's training montage video from the Europe camp- play with sound! (appropriate to skiing on the glacier)