Terrific training in Hintertux

Killington Mountain School Alpine athletes just wrapped up a very successful training project in Hintertux, Austria. Thrilled to be back on snow, the group reported great conditions and solid gains made in training.

Alpine Program Director Tom Sell commented, "The Hintertux project was very productive, with 19 athletes from U16 through PG. It was very good to see the athletes working together across age groups and genders, with Izzy Jenne and Cassidy Bebo training with the PG boys and getting a healthy dose of Pavel style coaching. We spent a large portion of the camp free skiing, then the older boys along with the two girls started some gate drills in both SL and GS. The U16 boys spent the majority of the time in free ski drills, with two days of fundamental GS near the end of the camp, while Lon spent the entire camp with Anja Kroon, Hannah Caldini and Bella Phelan on free ski drills. It was great to have the groups be able to focus on specific needs and also have the ability to move athletes to the group that best served their needs. Conditions were very good, especially considering the heat wave in Europe. We had good snow for the first ten days, then the heat got the best of the hill, and overnight thunderstorms forced us to cancel the last day. Off hill was pretty mellow, with the main focus being on recovery. We tried to leave all the energy on the hill, with the athletes skiing hard for 15 to 18 runs each day. That doesn't leave much room for tough dryland, but the group did play some basketball, along with wading in the glacial river behind the hotel formed the core of most afternoons."

Women's Alpine Coach Lon Brettell shared his perspective, noting that "Izzy and Cassidy trained with the PG boys to increase intensity and challenge, and Pavel treated them as true group members. Anja and Hannah focused on drills and free skiing working on precision of movement. Bella Phelan came for the last five days and brought focus and made big changes. Dryland was recovery based meals were awesome."

Men's Alpine Coach Jack Bailey shared his takeaway, "Overall, this was another awesome project from my standpoint. Groups worked well together on the hill, and yet there were small enough ratios to be individualized and get some quality work done. Other then a little softer snow due to warming temps the last two days, the snow surface was awesome for free skiing, drills and drill courses, which is exactly why we go to Hintertux at this time of year. The conditions and time on snow enabled quality improvements in basic fundamental technique and allowed the athletes to attempt to change their movement patterns early on in the prep period. Off snow, recovery, regeneration, sports and some fun was the name of the game and the Hotel Tuxertal is the place to be for that. The food was awesome! Top that off with an evening of go carting and dinner in Innsbruck, and what more can you ask for? Some older boys even got their cycling legs back, riding up from Mayrhofen, which is about a 50 minute climb with close to 2000 vertical feet gained."

The group is now headed back to the US, with a KMS U12-U14 training project leaving for Mt. Hood this week.