Skiing the Haig

Last week the team spent a few days at altitude skiing on the Haig glacier in Kananaskis. I was a little skeptical of heading to altitude a week before our first World Cup trial races, but looking back I think it was alright. We were there mainly for altitude exposure, and being able to log some hours on skis in early September was a bonus. Conditions were marginal and the snow was going fast, but we still managed to get in some good days of training.

If anything, it was just nice to get away from Canmore for a few days to have a change of pace. Tension among athletes on the range has been growing steadily the last couple weeks with Trials just around the corner, so I think a mental break was good and what my coach had in mind. We had lots of time to relax between workouts, and were able to take our mind off the stress of Trials while chillin' on the lunar landscape that is the Haig camp.

Training at altitude can have negative effects on the body if done wrong, so I was very careful and diligent to not overdo any workouts and took it pretty easy. Since returning back to Canmore I’ve been fine tuning for this week's competitions, which begin tomorrow. I’m ready to race – I’ve trained hard over the Spring and Summer and I am confident I have done all the work necessary to perform well this week. Let the Trials begin! I’ll try and post regularly over the next few days to let everyone know how things are going.

Brendan

The Haig camp.

Hiking up to the glacier for some early morning skiing with Robin, Tom, and Joel.

The 'tongue' of the glacier.


Post ski on a sunny morning.


Finished training and getting ready for the hike back to camp.


Trekking across the glacier while trying not to slip on the ice. In addition to the ice, some fairly big crevasses started opening up on day two that required some caution while crossing.


Post training hike back to camp.