The Park Alpine skiing team took a trip to Lutsen the weekend of Dec. 2. The team is new to Park this year and their practices started this past week.

Junior Anna Turcotte said skiing on Lutsen Mountain was a unique experience, because the size of the hill was larger than their normal practice hills. 

“The trip was different from normal practices because the hill at Lutsen is much bigger, so we got longer runs,” Turcotte said.

Sophomore Maren Hobson said the team was able to both improve their skills and spend quality time together while on the trip.

“We got a lot more practice than usual,” Hobson said. “We got to know people more instead of just racing and then having to leave right away.”

According to Sophomore Louisa Augustine, the team made the most of their time while staying at the hotel.

“We would all get together and we all went swimming, and then we’d all play games afterwards in the hotel rooms and it was really fun,” Augustine said.

Hobson said the team’s bond strengthened throughout the trip, even while the skiers weren’t practicing. 

“I enjoyed hanging out off of the hill,” Hobson said. “We hung out the whole time, eating together, and we talked a lot more and got to know each other better.”

Augustine said the team got extra coaching help from the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) Alpine Ski team and it helped them progress.

“We had students from the UMD Alpine team come down and they also helped coach us along with our coaches,” Augustine said. “So it was just cool to get other perspectives on how we can improve.” 

The team’s head coach was unavailable to comment.

Park Alpine skiing’s next varsity race is at 4 p.m. Dec. 20 at Buck Hill.