Monday May 14, 2012
Sun Valley is located in Sun Valley, Idaho, is great mountain for all level skiers. Sun Valley has something for everyone - Dollar Mountain, called "the finest teaching mountain in the world," is a great place for beginners, and intermediates will love Warm Springs. Everyone (including advanced skiers) will love River Run's variety of terrain.
Sun Valley is also perfect venue for a summer vacation, offering nearly 28 miles of hiking and biking trails on beautiful Bald Mountain and horseback rides on scenic Dollar Mountain.
The Sun Valley area is is full of charming yet sophisticated shops, restaurants, galleries, theaters, and attractions.
Here's more on Sun Valley summer vacations and summer activities.
Related: Sun Valley | Mountain Resort Vacations
Image Copyright Sun Valley
Saturday May 12, 2012
The U.S. Freeskiing's best athletes, including recently crowned AFP halfpipe World Champion Torin Yater-Wallace (Basalt, CO) and AFP slopestyle World Champion Tom Wallisch (Pittsburgh, PA) are at Mammoth Mountain's, award winning Unbound Terrain Park for a weeklong intensive training camp.
This is the first spring training camp since the inauguration of U.S. Freeskiing in December 2011 and provides a unique opportunity for dryland training, one-on-one coaching and video review. Mammoth's Unbound Terrain Park and its ideal spring conditions allow for competition level on snow training with jumps and the signature halfpipe and airbags for these elite team members.
Not only are athletes learning new tricks in a relaxed environment, but consulting with their coaches looking to strategize for the upcoming 2012/2013 season. "Team training camps are essential to athlete training not only for skills, but team building. While they are on the same team, these athletes still compete against each other at events," said Mike Jankowski, U.S. Freeskiing Head Coach. "This spring training camp is a great way to get together outside of competition to progress in a pressure free environment."
The camp opened May 4 and will run through May 14.
Mammoth Mountain halppipe action © Sarah Brunson/U.S. Freeskiing
Thursday May 10, 2012
The U.S. Women's Ski Team is practicing right now at Mammoth Mountain, California where women's speed Head Coach Chip White and the Mammoth Mountain Race Department have constructed terrain mimicking World Cup race hills for specialized training.
Mammoth Mountain has made their resort available to the U.S. Ski Team starting each morning at 6 a.m. for two and a half hours of private training before opening to the public at 8:30 a.m. "It took a lot of work to get the slopes to this point," said Coach White. "But the crew at Mammoth has been incredibly energetic and supportive in helping us produce terrain to specifically help our team build skills in areas where we need more work."
World Cup athletes including Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA), Leanne Smith (North Conway, NH) and Laurenne Ross (Bend, OR) have been training on a "bumpy traverse" similar to what they saw at the 2012 Audi FIS Alpine World Cup Finals in Schladming, Austria, which will host the 2013 World Ski Championships next February.
For a second straight spring, U.S. women are also utilizing the Mammoth camp to work on specific form exercises with Professional Ski Instructors of America (PSIA) Team Captain Mike Rogan. "It's been great to have Mike back with us this spring," said Stacey Cook. "I think we all benefited from his perspective last year and now he's like a member of the team. He can see things in our technique that help compliment what our coaches see. It's a huge gain for us to have him here."
Mammoth Mountain © Mike Doyle
Monday May 7, 2012
The Winter Dew Tour which has held three competition events over the course of the winter is scaling back to just one winter venue at Breckenridge Ski Resort, CO.
Citing industry trends and other competitions vying for the top athletes the Winter Dew tour will not be stopping at Killington, VT or at Snowbasin, UT.
The Breckenridge competition will be held December 13-16, 2012. Breckenridge puts on a really good event and you can pretty much be assured of snow so make your plans accordingly.
Breckenridge Copyright Breckenridge Ski Resort