September 30, 2011 (Park City, Utah) – This will be text-light and photo heavy – I know, quite the change from normal, but it’s good to try something new every once and awhile. I have just returned from Utah, where we have just finished our annual autumn high altitude training camp under ridiculously sunny skies and warm temperatures. For fourteen days straight we were spoiled like Italian grandchildren.

Some of the boys out for a run along Mid Mountain Trail above Park City, UT © courtesy of Devon Kershaw

Aside from stellar weather, apparently Utah went road-paving crazy in the last fifty or so years. The areas around Salt Lake City, and Park City have so many great roads that climb over 1,000m in elevation it’s silly. I’ve been down to Utah for altitude training camps no less than seven times, yet every year I discover great new places to rollerski and this year we must have blasted up about five long, beautiful climbs that I’d never had the pleasure of suffering up.

All the boys out for a run along some high ridge - I forget the exact name of this trail, but as you can see - it's sweet. © courtesy of Devon Kershaw

Along with being the highest (elevation-wise) camp of the year, it was also the biggest camp number-wise of the year (to date… more on that later). Joining our World Cup team were a number of the development team guys, which made for exciting training, never a dull moment, and some pretty intense beach-volleyball. With eight men, no matter what speed you are training at there’s always company – always someone there to share the experience with – and that coupled with some new venues kept things certified fresh.

Brent and Somppi gliding up to Deer Valley - it's an awesome time to train down there - plenty of great tarmac and very little traffic. © courtesy of Devon Kershaw

It was predominantly a “volume-based” camp and training most days were over four hours in length, but that’s not to say that we didn’t giver. I will have the steep, hot climbs of North Salt Lake City burnt into my memory for years to come (we did a full 6x5min uphill skate workout – continuing to ski up on the recovery – on one slope alone!).

Didn't do as many workouts at SoHo (Soldier Hollow - 2002 Nordic Ski Olympic venue) this year but we did do one workout there - here are the boys climbing away. © courtesy of Devon Kershaw

The staff was great – thanks Wolfman (seriously – that’s his name. If you met him you’d understand), Scott, Erin, Louis, Justin, Eric, and John), and everyone worked hard, got along and pushed each other to (hopefully) new limits. That’s what camps should be all about.

Again - a shot of Somppi and Brent - high above Heber banging out a 1350m elevation gain on the rollerskis. © courtesy of Devon Kershaw

Now I am back in Canmore for six short days to recover slightly from the altitude/volume training we have just accomplished before a serious crewzilla moves to Whistler for a 6-day intensity-camp at low altitude (there will be 12 men there, two women and a whack-load of staff).

No doubt that will be a doozy of a camp, but I’m excited about it too. Going hard it what it’s all about and the season is almost upon us now too. Only a month and a half before I fly to Northern Scando, lose my tan, ski with headlamps at 3pm, eat boiled potatoes and tasteless white, nameless fish and ski in -20 degree weather.

The funny thing? I’m SO looking forward to it, I wish it all started tomorrow (ok, the skiing and racing, not so much the War on Tastebuds or the serious lack of daylight – but being with the team again in a competitive environment) because it’s going to be awesome.

It's tradition. One thing you can count on down in the good ol' USA is that everything is MASSIVE. Like the famous "Kamas Bearclaw" that you can pick up at the town's non-descript Chevron station. Not only is it delicious after climbing from Kamas all the way up to the top of the Mirror Lakes Road - it's also big enough to easily feed three hungry Canadian Cross Country Skiers after a long, long ski. © courtesy of Devon Kershaw

In other news – one of my favorite bands of all time dropped a new album today – so if you haven’t already checked out Wilco’s latest (The Whole Love) – you really should.

Enjoy the photos. I really do need to replace my camera that was tragically lost in a freak jetlagged washing machine incident (I don’t want to talk about it) after the Tour de Ski last January, but the grainy (and terribly edited) iPhone photos should give you a good idea of how sweet life was down there in Utah.

I mean hell, any place that you can finish a long rollerski over 3,000m and be greeted with a donut that is bigger than a human head – you  know you are doing something right.

All smiles during our Utah camp. If you are ever looking for a ton of quiet roads, plenty of awesome running trails, altitude and beautiful weather - head on down there. © courtesy of Devon Kershaw