One More Shot At Snow: U.S. Skiers Gathered In Bend For Key Pre-Summer Camp

While much of the country was enjoying warm weather earlier this month, nearly a dozen Para Nordic skiers took advantage of the snow that remained on the ground near Bend, Oregon.

They tested out their ski equipment and made their way around the trails at Mount Bachelor in central Oregon. They also worked on their fundamentals and bonded as a group.

Nine Paralympians, Paralympic hopefuls and newcomers to cross-country skiing, as well as a personal guide, gathered in Bend for the training camp hosted by U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing in mid-May. For many of the athletes, it was likely the last opportunity they’d get to train on snow this summer.

“It’s a good time for everybody to connect as a team, and it’s early season. People aren’t really thinking about racing yet. They’re just thinking about kicking it off, so it’s a little lighter,” said BethAnn Chamberlain, a development coach with U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing. “Not that it’s bad when we’re thinking about racing, but everything feels a little more intense … versus this time of year.

“It’s fun. It’s a great time to connect, and we were able to connect as a staff and have some good meetings, which is always nice.”

During a typical year, Chamberlain said cross-country skiers usually take off the month of April after wrapping up their seasons in March. They typically start their offseason training programs on May 1, and it has become an annual tradition for U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing to host a training camp at Mount Bachelor in May.

The small group of sit skiers, standing skiers and visually impaired skiers started this year’s camp on May 12. It included athletes of all levels, from those who are new to the sport to Paralympians Dani Aravich, Erin Martin, Max Nelson and Jake Adicoff.

As a four-time Paralympic medalist, Adicoff was the most decorated of the skiers who spent up to 10 days training just outside Bend.

“We ski in the morning because the snow softens up and it wouldn’t be worth going in the afternoon,” Chamberlain said. “So you get up early, and we get on snow. It’s really awesome, especially for our sit skiers and our more experienced athletes that just need more volume, more on snow time.

“But for sit skiing, it’s amazing because we can’t do all the maneuvering and the snow-specific tasks that are that much more unique as a sit skier (on dryland). We can’t do it any other time, so we have to get on snow for it. We really try to maximize our time there and our ability of what we can get.”

Ty Wiberg and Nicole Zaino, two promising sit skiers who train together in Bozeman, Montana, joined Martin and three newcomers to sit skiing for almost a week of training at Mount Bachelor.

Several members of the Canadian Para Nordic skiing national team were also in the area and trained with the Americans. There were times when 10 sit skiers from the U.S. and Canada went through drills together.

Chamberlain said the training camp gave more experienced sit skiers like Martin the opportunity to try out new things with their sit skis and get a better idea about what they hope to work on during their dryland training this summer.

The training camp was a productive time for the newcomers as well.

Chamberlain said the group of newer sit skiers benefitted by working on their fundamentals and learning how to maneuver around curves and ski up and down hills. They also got watch more experienced skiers as they worked on more advanced techniques.

“It’s always super fun working with new athletes. We’re wanting to give them a really good experience and a really good taste for this is Nordic skiing. This is Nordic ski training. This is your typical training camp,” Chamberlain said. “We give them a good experience, let them understand more of what the sport is all about and what it is to train for this sport.”

Aravich is a standing skier, while Adicoff and Nelson are visually impaired skiers. All three Paralympians are members of the U.S. Paralympics Nordic skiing national team, and they spent a few extra days at the training camp getting in as much time on snow as possible.

They’ll spend the rest of the summer roller skiing to stay in shape and get prepared for the upcoming season.

“It’s a great time of year. It works pretty well, maybe better than any other time of year to bring a diverse group together because it’s early season training,” Chamberlain said of the training camp in Bend. “It’s basics. It’s fundamentals. It’s bringing it back.”

Alex Abrams has written about Olympic and Paralympic sports for more than 15 years, including as a reporter for major newspapers in Florida, Arkansas and Oklahoma. He is a freelance contributor to USParaNordic.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.