Twenty of Proctor's top alpine skiers just returned from twelve days of intensive training on a glacier high above the village of Tignes, in the French Alps.
Each morning, as coaches prepared the day's course, these kids got themselves organized, and negotiated the cramped, underground funicular that transported them through the base of the mountain to the foot of a soaring glacier. Here, in close proximity to the French National Team A and Italian Team B, they worked the whole day on ski technique. Four-year senior Amy MacMahon shows everyone how it's done:
They started slowly, taking only the bottom T-bars to the first Giant Slalom course, but each day, progress was made higher up the glacier. It was, in the words of one veteran coach, "The best ski training we've ever had at Proctor." Talent is deep. Ninth grader Spencer Harkin may dress like a snowboarder, but he's described as, "...a very strong, athletic, alpine racer."
This year's training camp emphasized lots of "team concept" in a sport that seems inherently individualistic. Still, it's competition that brings out the best, and Proctor's number one racer, Ian Nevins....
....has to feel the heat from ninth grade phenom, John Arnold:
By the end of camp, the team was training from the top of the glacier, at an altitude of 3,500 meters. Four-year seniors Chris Bishop, Ian Nevins, Amy MacMahon and Paul Krebs, who have seen the program evolve greatly, posed with school banners at the top:
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