White Pine

Garrott KuzzyJanuary 13, 2010

Spent what felt like the majority of today at White Pine Touring Center in Park City.  Went for a relaxed training ski in the morning, then joined the Park City Junior Nordic Team for their practice in the afternoon.  White Pine has some of the best golf course skiing I’ve ever done.

no ice skating on this pond!

no ice skating on this pond!

I ran into a couple of Steinbock out on the trail and skied a loop with Zack Simons and Andrew Johnson, two full-time Park City residents.  There was also a sweet old barn on the farm trails.

Park City has a strong junior program coached by Paralympic Gold Medalist Steve Cook.  I had the opportunity to ski with the Park City junior team at White Pine this afternoon and had a blast skiing with their team.  They are an impressive group of young skiers with great ski handling skills.  They picked up on the hop skate progression in a hurry and by the end of the evening, they were tearing around the golf course trails.

The family that I’m staying with has two skiers on the team, Luke and Lindsey.  They’ve been great for helping me get to know the ski community here in Park City.

The skiers on the team are by no means Nordic specialists, either.  One of the girls is a Nordic Combined skier and just returned from a competition in Lake Placid where she jumped the 120m.  Crazy.  Another is on a traveling soccer team that is one of the best in the country, winning tournaments wherever they travel.  It’s great to see that these skiers are well-rounded and still have some serious Nordic skillz.

jump!

jump!

Thanks to Toni Adams for the great photos from the clinic, as well as the ideal accommodations during my altitude training camp here in Park City.

Garrott Kuzzy