Thanksgiving Camp
December 14, 2025
November 2025 was a month of magical early snowfall in much of New England, and EMXC was lucky enough to take advantage of that snow base at our annual thanksgiving camp in Craftsbury, VT. Families made the trek north on Friday after thanksgiving, and spent the next 3 days doing a mix of skiing, eating, and sleeping. It snowed the whooooole time. Keep reading to hear a little more about the day-by-day of the “ski, eat, sleep” lifestyle.
Friday
Folks who arrived at Craftsbury early did a short skate ski before lunch.
The team gathered for its first official practice - a classic technique ski - on Friday afternoon. There were 37 athletes in attendance! Coaches added a fun twist this year, and the group split in two. Half the group did a glide-waxing session, while the other half skied… then they swapped!
On snow, skiers did some challenging drills that resulted in many face-plants and ultimately, some superb kick activation. It’s always important to do the early-season classic refreshers because classic rollerskiing provides a perfect kick in a way that real skiing does not!
In the wax room, athletes learned helpful tips and tricks for basic waxing, figured out how to make their waxing routine more efficient and asked many great questions. Skis were happy to receive a luxurious spa treatment. We plan to carry this habit through the winter by hosting regular (and optional) team waxing times before practices.
All in all, lots was learned both on and off skis!
Saturday
Saturday morning started off with a t-shirt swap that added some extra fun to the interval workout. Some favorite shirt quotes were: “just married,” “I got that dawg in me,” “sharpest tool in the shed,” “maybe later,” “have a good day,” and "I am kenough.” If those quotes didn’t inspire great intervals, we don’t know what will!
The actual intervals were also extra fun! Similarly to last year, the wax team rallied to prepare race skis for the skiers. The wax team practiced their race day routine and found both areas for improvement and moments to be proud of! The athletes also practiced their race day routines, including race warmups, kick testing, and being adaptable to schedule changes and challenges!
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In the afternoon, a chill game of ultimate ball was in order after a structured, high demand morning! It quickly became clear that 40 people in one game was too many, so we split in half for more ~civilized~ play. We capped off the workout with some sharks and minnows, of which only a few minnows survived.
After tuckering themselves out, the team gathered later that evening for a social around the campfire and the parents and coaches socialized indoors. Thanks Adam, Isabella, Erik, and Carren for hosting!
Sunday
Somehow the last day of camp came incredibly quickly. We skied earlier than typical in the morning before a time trial hosted by Craftsbury. The morning workout was a skate ski with V1 work. The skiers did some V1 drills which got them thinking about how they move their bodies, and challenged them to try something different from how they normally ski. We hope this sets a strong foundation for future V1 work! Then the group switched gears for some downhill cornering speeds. Upon reflection, the theme of the practice was “getting out of the comfort zone.”
After the morning session, athletes had a quick break to eat, rest, and change layers. During this time, Calvin and Emma partook in the time trial, and their teammates cheered them on while refueling for the afternoon workout.
The clock struck noon that day and athletes were ready to go with hardwax on their rock/training skis and their adventure-hats on. Everybody was itching to get off the manmade loop, and folks ventured in all directions - many heading for duck pond loop where they dodged rocks and roots poking through the snow (agility practice!!!).
Miraculously, everybody made it back to Murphy's field with plenty of time for a team photo and 15 minutes of herringbone work. The afternoon classic ski turned out to be one of the team’s most picturesque skis, and big, fluffy snowflakes began falling from the sky! After drills, skiers scattered again for more adventure tromping to finish off a full and fun 3 days of skiing.
Reflections
Thanksgiving camp is the first time each season where nearly the whole team comes together in one place to train. Camp sets the tone for the season in many ways, and coaches were excited to take learnings from last year to set a new foundation for the season to come.
Coaches were thrilled with the amount of learning and fun that happened at camp! We saw athletes supporting one another, caring for their equipment, finding opportunities to play, and taking advantage of opportunities to focus and do the work. This is only the beginning, with much more fun and hard work to come.
Next Up
The team just finished up a recovery week after camp, and we’re heading into an intensity week to prepare for racing in a couple of weeks. The end of this week has a time trial with Dublin XC in-store, and it’ll be one more chance to dial in our race-day habits. The hope is that if we mimic races in time-trial form, we learn that we are capable of doing the hard thing, and can start working on doing the hard thing better when the real deal racing starts up!
The Eastern Cup season kicks off at Holderness on December 20-21 with a skate sprint and a classic mass start. We can’t wait!