The New Mexico ski team is out of town every weekend, regardless of whether or not the team is competing. Although the two different squads — alpine and Nordic — don’t practice together, they often compete at the same events, and are both contributors to the UNM ski brand.
Before the season makes way in the early fall, the Alpine squad for UNM’s ski team makes its way out to southern Colorado or any place that might have snow fall pre-winter, head coach Fredrik Landstedt said.
But the alpine squad also practices during the school year, too. They head out to Red River every weekend when there’s not an event, to practice. These practices start on Friday, usually, and run until Sunday.
“Typically we’ll train on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and leave after training Sunday to come back,” alpine skier Rob Greig squad. “And then we’ll do two sessions each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.”
The alpine squad, when in Red River for practice, usually gets out to practice at around 7 a.m. where they ski giant slalom. Then in the afternoon they’ll practice for slalom.
Since the alpine squad is in Red River almost every weekend for practice, accommodations are fit well for them.
“They’re really good to us,” Greig said. “Red River is our home, and we love it there.”
Alongside practices at Red River, they also have weight training on Mondays and Wednesdays, Greig said.
The Nordic squad, senior skier Emilie Cedervärn said, is a tight-knit group with only 11 total Nordic skiers from both the men’s and women’s side. Their preseason practices usually consist of dry land practices, such as skiing trails like the Bosque. The Nordic squad uses a device in the “roller ski” to train, even when there is no snowfall.
“Nordic skiers have roller skis,” Landstedt said. “And then we also have a classic ski which has resistance on one wheel so you can kick the ski down and propel forward.”
The difference between the two skis is simple. The roller ski is basically like a roller blade but with a ski between two wheels, whereas the classic ski has a wheel that can launch participants forward.
During the season, the Nordic unit heads up to the Sandias to ski the trails there.
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Cedervärn who’s a Nordic skier, says they practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week. Morning and afternoon practices for the Nordic squad consist of two opposites in terms of what they do, but both lead to a goal of achieving at maximum level for each event.
For the Nordic squad, weekday morning practices consist of interval training and roller skiing trails, and then in the afternoon they do weight training, similar to the alpine squad.
With practices having been going on this past month, the Lobos’ ski team is ready for their next event.
Greig is confident in his squad’s ability to perform, but always loves the competitive edge between teammates.
“We all get along really well, but we’ve got this incredible competitive environment that’s hard to describe,” Greig said. “It’s like we’re best friends, but as soon as we kick out of the start gate you don’t want anyone on the team to beat you.”
Both the alpine and Nordic squads have a home event at Red River this weekend for the Jade Enterprises New Mexico invitational.
Matthew Narvaiz is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @thelifeofmatt_
