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**truebluefan** · 09-01-2008, 12:55 PM

With the first of two on-snow camps in the Southern Hemisphere in the books, U.S. Women's Alpine Head Coach Jim Tracy says the Team was "very impressive."

While much of the Team was on-snow in early summer at Mammoth Mountain, CA, and Mt. Hood, OR, the Coronet Peak camp provided the first opportunity for real winter snow conditions, which is essential for dialing in new equipment.

"It's still pretty early in the prep period and everyone is testing new equipment and working on fundamentals, but the girls are doing great. Everyone was working hard on what they needed to do. I'm really happy with what each athlete was able to put together," he said.

According to Tracy, major credit goes to Coronet Peak for providing outstanding snow conditions, particularly for the U.S. Ski Team.

"Basically we'd have a coaches meeting each morning with the mountain manager and head groomer. Everything we asked for, they provided. They never said no. I'm very impressed with the set-up at Coronet and it really showed in the girls performance. Coronet takes care of the U.S. Ski Team," said Tracy.

Three days of FIS races were highlighted by podiums from Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA), Megan McJames (Park City, UT), Chelsea Marshall (Pittsfield, VT), Hailey Duke (Boise, ID) and Jessica Kelley (Starksboro, VT). Coaches also welcomed the return of Sarah Schleper (Vail, CA), Caroline Lalive (Steamboat, CO) and Kaylin Richardson (Edina, MN).

Schleper clicked in for her first U.S. Ski Team camp in two years after missing the 2007 season to rehab from ACL surgery and 2008 to welcome son Lasse (born Jan. 30, 2008) into the world with husband Federico Gaxiola. Lalive also is back on snow after suffering a crash prior to the Olympics in 2006. She was on track to make a successful return when she injured her right knee during final stages of last season's preparation period.

"Caroline is working hard and skiing very well. She knows what she needs to do to get back in the game and she's doing all the right stuff," said Tracy. "And Sarah has had amazing progression. If you didn't know she had a baby, you wouldn't know."

For Richardson, coaches were happy to see her get back into a race day routine when the camp concluded with a pair of FIS giant slalom races and a slalom. She was fourth in the first GS and won the slalom.

Both tech and speed Teams now head for Chile in September for camps at LaParva and Portillo.

"These camps are critical for us because they provide as close to World Cup conditions as we can get, but they're still about training hard. We'll flip the switch for a week when we head to Soelden [Austria] for the World Cup start in October, then it's back to training in Colorado before the season really gets moving, said Tracy."

The World Cup stops in Aspen, CO Nov. 28-29 for the annual Aspen Winternational, held this year on Thanksgiving weekend.

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