At the beginning of September I travelled with my Craftsbury Green Racing Project teammates to Ramsau, Austria for a training camp on the Dachstein glacier. Last year we had a camp there at the same time and had incredible skiing conditions with everything from extra blue midwinter hardwax skiings to the more common sunny summer glacier skiing in t-shirts. There was a 8-9km loop groomed on the glacier every morning and it couldn't have been more perfect! This year as we packed to leave VT, we heard rumors of a melting glacier and questionable ski conditions. With plane tickets, rental tickets and lodging already booked so we set out for the airport with fingers crossed for colder temps and new snow. And the weather gods came through and our timing and we lucked out with a big snowstorm hitting the glacier just as we arrived in Austria. We waited out the storm with dryland training in town for the first couple days and then the next morning we set out early for the first tram up to the glacier. It's about a 5 minute tram ride that rises about 1000meters up into the mountains. We were surprised with very fast and firm conditions. The loop was shorter than last year with only 3-4km of switchbacks but the skiing was excellent! Each switchback also ended with a very fast 180degree turn so it was an incredible opportunity to practice corning!
We had a little over a week of excellent ski conditions but each day the weather was a little warmer and a little sunnier. Since there wasn't that much snow to begin with, the skiing didn't ever turn to sloppy slush as is common with glacier skiing but each day the snow looked a little dirtier and the glacier ice underneath the snow seemed closer and closer. The last day we went up it was very warm and as we skied puddles started forming on the trails and by the end it started to resemble water skiing in parts. The temperature was hot for the rest of the day and the rest of the snow melted that afternoon. When we looked at the webcam the next morning we saw blue ice where we had skied the day before. The Russian team went up just to check it out but didn't even finish a lap before they decided it was unskiable. A low snow year and a warm winter created an obviously horrible combination and the difference between this year and last year was incredibly scary. The Dachstein glacier is a very famous and popular summer ski location for Nordic skiers but it was terrifying to see it in that state.
We didn't ski again for the last four or five days of the camp. The weather remained hot and sunny which was perfect for dryland training but not for reforming the snow pack. Despite our original intentions of skiing, all of the training in Ramsau is amazing. We went for many long runs and hikes in the mountains. There are hiking trails all over town including through our front yard and the trails quickly ascend into beautiful mountain landscapes. There is also an awesome rollerski track in town with huge uphills and fast curvy downhills. Front the top of the hills the descent looks terrifying. Trees even fifteen feet off the trail are covered in pads! But the track is very well designed and the corners are banked perfectly so just letting your skis go its easy to carve through the turns. We also rollerskied up the mountain passes for some serious elevation training. One day I climbed over 3000ft in less than an hour and a half and another day I think I had close to 3000' of elevation gain in a double pole workout!
It was hard to leave such an incredible place but luckily the start of fall in Vermont is really nice too!
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