August 5, 2008 – I’m writing this report from the Snow Farm (1,400m elevation) in New Zealand, where the Canadian Senior World Cup Team are training at a ski camp. I’ve never been to New Zealand before so it’s all new for me – skiing in July on the perfect “winter” snow is just amazing.

Great training is possible at the Snow Farm as everything is accessible on-site. The accommodations and food are great and the training is going very well. We are working on technique a lot and also doing some big volume days. On some days for afternoon training we drive down to Wanaka (380m elevation), it’s about 30 min by car and we have our choice of lots of very nice trails – other days we run and spend time in the gym. The entire team feels good and we are all enjoying New Zealand. It’s great training and living with the team and getting to know our new coach Arild Monsen.

New Zealand is a beautiful country with lots of amazing scenery. The only drawback is that we had to travel about 30 hours to get here from Canmore, AB – but believe me it’s totally worth it. I think it’s a perfect place for skiing during our summer training period.