Welcome Back!

It is great having all the students back on a snowy campus. Including our new winter termers!

Dave Iverson also welcomed many coaches from around Vermont to a referee update on campus this afternoon. Thanks DI- our VARA Volunteer of the Year!

College Visits

Yale and Bay went to visit the University of Colorado Boulder led by tour guide Dani Brownell and the University of Denver led by Taylor Shiffrin. Both Burke alums did a great job! Here are some pics of Boulder. Our visit to Denver was after the sun set so unfortunately not great for photos.

The U14s Rock

The U14s just make me laugh. I love their energy. First it was all their nick names as they called in over the radio for training... Sambo, The Flying Sword, The Unripe Banana, Unibrow Octopus Charlie, Marg, The Dark Knight, CG Money, and more... I don't know how they came up with these names, but I'm impressed. And I'm sorry I can't remember them all!

Here's to their coaches Feef, Corey, and Justin for keeping it fun. :)

If I have it correctly, L to R: The Unripe Banana, Marg, The Flying Sword, and The Dark Knight

(aka Reed, Maggie, Killian, Raph)

And to top it off, tonight they provided Justin with an awesome birthday celebration, much to his chagrin. The photo isn't great, but you can see how psyched these guys were to sing "Happy Birthday," and present him with a card, beef jerky, and cake. Nice work boys. (I will also add that it was the best Burkie student-led rendition of "Happy Birthday" that I've heard. And that's a challenge Burkies.)

Sunset Cruise over the Divide

Driving over the Loveland Pass and Continental Divide is a must at least once per camp. Tonight we hit it at sunset after the late block of training.

U16 Boys

A day at the races

Hanging with some alums and almost alums at the USST Invitational SG's at Copper
Mikaela ('13), Lexi ('13), DI, Madison ('15), Moriah ('14)

I was the only spectator (one, me, that's it, singular) at the race today.  The finish line was about a half-mile up the mountain.  There was also no announcing, and so I was the only person at the finish who knew what the times were.  That made me popular than I deserve to be.

Study Scene

The girls are - as always - maintaining a productive study environment.

Prime Training!

After 3' of snow last week, and then frigid temps, the snow has set up really well! Well, it's still a tiny bit soft but it will only improve as the week goes on.

Here's a link to the snowfall totals at Loveland - impressive! It just wouldn't stop snowing!

http://www.skiloveland.com/themountain/reports/history.aspx

Here are some photos of the views around Loveland, and the trail where all the BMA groups are training.

 From the top - looking down Upper Switchback

 Looking towards Loveland Basin - the majority of the ski area - and notice I-70, and then it disappears into the tunnels under the mountain...

Looking up the length of Switchback

The U16 boys ready to go on their first day of GS training

A Tour of DU with Taylor Shiffrin

Andrew, Alli, Lexi, Bridget, Taylor, Sophie and Olivia at DU

BMA alumnus Taylor Shiffrin '11 gave these Burkies and interesting and informative tour of Denver University. For two hours they meandered through the campus, in and out of academic and athletic buildings braving one of the coldest and snowiest days in Denver. Taylor kept reassuring the group that it was usually sunny! He also spoke about his technology company that he launched through a class with the DU Business Department.

Thank you Taylor for taking the time!

It's a small, small world!

Hi everyone!

Just checking in from the NEK, where it is snowy and chilly - although neither as snowy nor as chilly as you're all experiencing in Colorado. I'm so bummed not to be at ski camp with everyone, but I was so proud to check out this awesome little testimonial on Facebook this afternoon: keep up the great work, Burkies!

Friday at Loveland Basin

BM and GS aren't initials we normally see together but there's a first time for everything! Luckily I had some excellent one-on-one coaching courtesy of Gray Flanagan.

Pool time for the U16 Guys

This afternoon's recovery session was in the pool. I don't think they had any fun...

BMA is taking over...

BMA has almost maxed out Loveland's lane space. We have the majority of the lane space daily, and next week we'll add the U14s. Loveland has been good to us. We've been spread out at different times (with three training sessions available daily), but today it was fun to have an (almost) all BMA session from 11-1:30 with the FIS Women and Men, and U16 Guys all on the hill together. The U16 Girls trained in the earlier session.
Here's a shot of the aftermath - after training in Loveland Ski Club's team room that they are kindly allowing us to use to change and stay warm! The weather has turned and it is surely winter now.

Feef's U14's part 2

To followup on Brandon's post, here is a formal shot of Feef's U14 group:

Charlotte, Allison, Celeste, Paige, Sophie, Feef, Lili

BMA Academics at Loveland

Today I headed over to Loveland with DI to watch our Burkies in action. When we ran into Feef's group she invited me to improve my skiing by joining in with their drills. What a coach!

CORE

Forest did a great job leading the U14s in a pre-study hall core workout.

I spoke too soon!

U16 girls study hall was crashed by Bay and Lexi delivering a birthday cake to Julia. Note the conspicuous absence of candles: Lexi forgot them. 

U16 Study Hall

This is a big moment in my short career at Burke: my first camp study hall! The U16 girls are being very diligent. Some are working independently, some are helping their peers figure out a challenging book passage or math problem.

US Ski Team Naming Ceremony

The U16 Girls and Guys were able to attend the USST naming ceremony at the base of Copper this afternoon. It was cool to see the ski teamers up close and listen to their interviews. Big names Ted, Bode, and Lindsay were in attendance. But more importantly, so were our Burke alums Ronnie Berlack and Mikaela Shiffrin! Here are a couple photos.

(Sorry the photos are sub-par - it was really hard to get close to the stage and it was kinda dark out.)

 Ronnie is back row, right-most guy in blue

Mikaela - far left - waves to the crowd as she is introduced

U16 Girls visit Copper & Mikaela

From Bryna and the U16 Girls' Coaches:

After training yesterday the U16 Girls traveled to Copper for a Q&A with Mikaela. They prepared thoughtful questions and she graciously answered, and spent a bunch of time with us! Here are a couple photos.

With Mikaela - lucky them!

Kirk with Lizzy and McKenna in the big chair :)

A tired Gigi... showing what happens after a long day of skiing. At this point in the tuning room she still had a core, study hall and dinner left in the day... she eventually rallied, as did all!

U16 Boys Ski A. Basin

We had a great morning at A. Basin. The snow and skiing there never cease to amaze me. For the third year in a row it was awesome!

 Cole P, Chris R, Will, Chris O'B, Forest

Andrew and Jack B

Jack L, Ian, Shamus, Connor

For comparison, notice the brown south-facing slopes (above)...

...to last year (below).... some of the same guys, from the top (which is not open right now), and the snow-covered south-facing slopes

2013 A. Basin: Andrew, Will, Liam, Fredi, Kai, Rolf

Meanwhile back on campus pt. 2

FIS camp yoga

We had a guest, Jeannie Clark, come and do a session of ski-specific yoga to the men's and women's FIS team this afternoon. The reminders about body awareness, balance and mobility were all familiar refrains, and it was a fun and different afternoon workout. 

More Colorado candids

I've been around the girls teams much more than the boys, and it's been so cool to see the progression within our own program between the U16s and the FIS girls...needless to say, they're all total rockstars and completely focused. Working at Burke is the coolest! 

Adam goes through the movement screen progression with the 2000 birth year girls 

And with the FIS girls

Hmmm...?