July 15, 2015 (Wanaka, NZ) – Part of the Team USA crew flew to the Snow Farm in New Zealand on July 8 for a training camp while the Alaskan teamers will find snow on Eagle Glacier – here’s our first NZ report courtesy of Jessie Diggins.

The skiing here has been absolutely amazing. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get down here for summer training! We’ve had sunny skies and hard tracks for classic skiing, and today we got a little early morning rain so we got to practice our klister skiing in a 5km/10km Time Trial.

We’re also lucky to be joined at this camp by Anouk Faivre-Picon, a French World Cup skier. She fits right into our camp and is a part of the team for these 2.5 weeks we’re down here!

I love the trails here because they are so playful and rolling, which is great for a big training camp because you don’t get worn out on too many steep climbs but can still practice great technique. My favorite ski loop here is the Hanging Valley, because it swoops out right to the edge of the mountains and overlooks a beautiful rocky valley.