MT. HUTT, New Zealand (July 26) – Challenging snow conditions have shifted the annual women’s alpine summer training camp to Mt. Hutt near Christchurch. Originally slated for Coronet Peak, warm weather rerouted U.S. women, including Olympic gold medalists Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) and Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley, CA) to the more northern location. Despite the venue change, Head Coach Alex Hoedlmoser reported excellent progress thanks to hard snow conditions and Mt. Hutt’s assistance in providing priority training opportunities.
HIGHLIGHTS
Midway through its second week of training in New Zealand, the women’s U.S. Alpine Ski Team reported excellent progress and training conditions at Mt. Hutt.
Attending athletes include Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) and Julia Mancuso (Squaw Valley, CA) along with World Cup podium finisher Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, CO).
Also on snow are the nation’s points leading women’s downhill team of Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA), Leanne Smith (North Conway, NH), Laurenne Ross (Bend, OR) and Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, CO).
The camp was originally scheduled for Coronet Peak, but was shifted to Mt. Hutt due to challenging snow conditions on the southern part of the island.
The camp is focused on giant slalom and slalom along with equipment testing for the upcoming Audi FIS Alpine World Cup season which opens Oct. 27-28 in Soelden, Austria.
QUOTES
Alex Hoedlmoser, Head Coach
The weather has been a challenge, but our athletes are motivated and completely focused on what they came to New Zealand to accomplish.
It’s unfortunate we haven’t been able to utilize the terrain at Coronet Peak yet, but Mt. Hutt has totally been taking care of us. The snow is hard, slick and is actually great conditions for testing equipment and working on fundamentals.
Lindsey Vonn
The training has been great at Mt. Hutt. I’ve been able to get in the training I needed and feel really comfortable with my preparation at this point in the year.
Stacey Cook
The snow is rock hard and it has been consistent every day. It is a bit rocky getting to the course, but we have dealt with that before. We have had a really good progression in our program and our team is really building in giant slalom, which directly relates to more speed in downhill and super G.
Alice McKennis
The surface has been really good and we have experienced some race-like conditions. I have been focused on giant slalom and figuring out the new equipment as have the other girls. So far I like the new stuff, takes a lot more effort to make the skis turn and they are less forgiving but we are adapting to them quickly.
http://usskiteam.com/news/womens-alpine-utilizes-mt-hutt
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