Where can you find people that eat like pigs, sleep like babies (in onesies), and exercise the rest of the hours of the day like they’re insane? Ski camp! That’s right, we just got back from the annual Thanksgiving camp to Forêt Montmorency in Quebec, and it couldn’t have been better.
Picking up from where Dana left off, I’m sure you are all waiting with bated breath to hear of Dustin’s fate after he left his ski bag in Canton. Well, it turns out that ETown is generous and took pity on poor Dustin. So, with skis in tow we all headed to Forêt!
On Sunday, we were able to get in a lot of good skiing despite warm conditions and snow that literally deposited klister on your skis. Erin happened to have better kick on her skate skis than Emily did on her classic. When you tried to clean your skis, the rag came up black. However, after a lackluster winter last year, it felt so good to ski again! There is nothing like the first time on snow after putting in hundreds of hours of rollerskiing, running, hiking, biking, and everything else we do to stay in shape for when the flakes finally do start to fall. It’s a little awkward, makes you a little sore, but most of all it’s sweet to just glide along through the woods.
Monday was even better! After a little new snow things started to look up and gain momentum. Our skiing was smoother and faster, and the views more wintry. I can’t think of anything more beautiful than evergreens covered in snow, so I was a happy camper.
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| Erin ‘19 and Kate ‘20 might just be more beautiful than the trees
Tuesday was another great day at Forêt, with only one ski but some torturous combination of TRX, med ball work, and core devised by Liz in the afternoon. Thankfully we were strong enough to break the med balls before they could break us.
 
Lucy ‘20 and Dana ‘18 happy to have broken the med ball…
No worries though, Liz had another heavier one at the ready. The day was topped off with a LOT of mac and cheese. I may have told the cooking crew that it was a good idea to make two whole boxes…'
Hard at work in our makeshift gym (aka the garage)
Wednesday had our first intervals in store for us. They were tough, but it was great to remember how to kick some klister. The energy was great, and it was inspiring to watch everyone zip around the loop, looking like pros. Proud day to be a SLUskier. We also went to laser tag! It was an all out battle, perhaps even another workout for Dustin and Blaine who thought ahead and wore their race suits. The real surprise was that Erin pulled off the dramatic upset to win.. After that, we went into the old city, which looked like a Christmas wonderland! (enjoy Dustin’s very touristy picture)
Calvin'17 and Liz disagreeing over how to draw the interval loop
Old Quebec City (Photo: Dustin ‘19)
Thanksgiving! A morning workout followed by an epic feast. The boys played some football somewhere in there too, but mostly we just ate lots of pie, ice cream, and whipped cream. Turkey too. Oh, and green beans, squash, salad, bread, corn, peas, and mashed potatoes. Yay team!
Friday consisted of some easy skiing, running/hiking, and more snow. We tried to keep it easy as some people were starting to come down with something, and we needed some rest after all that skiing.
Saturday was an early morning, as we had a time trial! It was also a late day as we drove back to campus. So, really it was a long day. Anyway, the time trial was a skate race with 2 laps for the women and 3 for the men. Although one can never read too much into early season time trials as there was no race wax (or maybe not even race skis), different reactions to the high volume of the week, and it was just generally a way to give that crazy thing we do called racing a try again. With that in mind, I think we did an awesome job! People were able to focus in on their warm up routine, try out some new pacing tactics in a low stakes time trial, and just generally enjoy being speedy on skis. We even came out of it with some great results.
Dana '18 powering up the hill
Dani '20 looking focused
Emily '20 being a trooper for classic skiing
Matt '19 crushing the hill
Calvin '17 heading up the climb
Blaine '17 and Ryan '20 working it out
Kate '20 nearing the top of the climb
Lucy '20 battling her way through the climb
Madi '20 hammering
Dustin '19 V2ing speedily up the hill
Brendan '20 catching the pack
I think everyone would say that this camp was a great success! We got in some great skiing, did a lot of productive video review, got in our first time trial on snow, and got to spend some time together to get a taste of what race season will be like.
Thank you to all of you for supporting us! Thank you to Forêt for the excellent skiing; thank you to all the other teams for skiing with us, and thank you to our own team for making this camp so wonderful and funny. Because how could we be skiers if we weren’t just a little out of the ordinary?
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-Lucy ‘20
