Now that Ted’s won Three gold medals in the 2013 Ski world championships, I’m certainly interested in his summer training program.

Here’s his training, at Park City Utah:

Squat jumps -Ted jumps, with weighted squat bar - I struggle in static squats!

Box jumps - jump onto a box

Glute side band walks   - put an exercise band around your legs, and walk sideways. This is  also a stabilizer exercise.

2 sets of 20 yards

Split squats  - get both strength and a stretch with this exercise

4 sets of 10 reps, with or without weights

Glute- hamstring raises - helps prevent ACL injuries by strengthening the hamstrings. Or do Swiss Ball hamstring curls.

3 sets of five

Back extension holds- for endurance of the back muscles

Overhead medicine ball throws

So, if you’re  serious about skiing better this winter or next, try some of these exercises!

We were climbing at Maple Canyon, Utah the last week of September, just in time to watch the leaves change.

Maple trees on hike up the Middle Fork trail.

Maples and aspen trees near the top of the Middle Fork trail.

Maples past the fork in the Middle fork trail, heading up toward road 069.

More maples ..

I’ll talk about climbing next time. the maples were so beautiful, I had to share them.

On the Amasa Back Trail, La Sal mountains in back

My first week in the Moab area, we hiked - initially, because Tristan was recovering from a broken leg  and couldn’t climb yet.

After I hiked for three days with Tristan, it began to rain. Saturday it rained hard all day. Sunday, I hiked to the Portal Overlook in a slight drizzle.

Monday, Andy Anderson who I’d met in Arapiles, Australia, and I hiked the Amasa Back trail. The clouds above the La Sals threatened to rain, and the rock was still wet from the downpour the night before.

Most people mountain bike the Amasa Back trail. On our hike, numerous mountain bikers passed us, as well as a few driving 4WD jeeps and some dirt bikes.(Video of biking the trail here).

Amasa Back trail

As we climbed higher on the Amasa Back trail, the clouds came closer.

Andy looking down at the Colorado River

Once we reached the end of the Amasa Back trail, we continued up a short spur to the Colorado river overlook, for truly spectacular views, only slightly ruined by a factory on the valley floor.

The wind blew fiercely, so we headed back after a short snack. The trail covers 11 miles round trip, giving us a nice workout for the day.

Some reviewers claim this as their favorite mountain bike trail in the area, and as such, it gets a lot of traffic.  We hiked it on a Monday, and still saw many bikes, cycles, and a few cars (no other hikers).

Flower loved the rain of the last three days

About 20 minutes after we  reached our car, the storm broke loose with the downpour that had threatened us much of the afternoon. I was glad we’d gotten back before it hit!

Looking down at Monument Basin from the White Rim Overlook

After our hike to Mesa arch, we went on several other short hike; the first one to Grand View Point along the  Grand View Point Trail, a 2-mile round trip.

Our next hike was to the White Rim Overlook,  a 1.8 mile round trip. I thought the view of Monument Basin from the White Rim Overlook was even more spectacular than the view from the Grand View Point.

View of arch from White Rim Overlook

Alcove Springs Trail

With good weather forecast for the next day, we decided to try a longer hike — from the Alcove Springs trailhead in Island in the Sky toward Taylor Canyon.

The trail starts at the rim and winds down switchbacks past an enormous alcove

View of alcove from below

At the bottom of the canyon, we followed a wash down Trail Canyon for about 3 miles to the junction of Trail Canyon and Taylor Canyon.

View of Moses and Zeus

someday I want to climb one of these!

View of Moses and  Zeus

The view at the end of our long hike via Alcove Springs!

Looking at the Green River from Green River overlook

From Arches National Park,  we drove about 35 miles to Island in the Sky, part of Canyonlands National Park. First, we secured a spot in the Willow Flat Campground.

Campsite 11 at Willow Flats Campground

With only 12 sites total, we were lucky to find the last empty site, and as we unloaded our car, two people drove by looking for a campsite.

View from Mesa Arch to the canyon bottom

Our first hike was one of the short hikes, to Mesa Arch, a half-mile round trip on a mostly flat trail. Mesa Arch perches directly on the canyon rim, and if one were to trip and fall through the arch, it’d be hundreds of feet to the canyon bottom.

It’s well worth hiking to Mesa Arch, with a spectacular view of the canyon bottom. The arch is particularly pretty at sunrise, but we experienced rainy skies the following two mornings. I’ll have to come back another time for sunrise photos!

The Three Gossips

The Arches National Park website describes the Park Avenue trail as “moderate”,  though it’s only 1 mile long ( they also claim it takes 30 - 60 minutes — that’s allowing a LOT of time for photography!)

Tristan dropped me off at the lower end (elevation), near Courthouse Towers and I jogged and hiked the trail in the uphill direction. The Three Gossips, above, a spectacular formation, are climbed from any one of several routes.

Along the Park Avenue trail

The trail is very pleasant, on slickrock and easy to follow. It ends at the Park Avenue parking area and makes a nice one-way trip if one has a shuttle driver available.

Tower Arch

In Arches, we  hiked the 3.4 mile (round trip) trail to Tower Arch. This trail climbs steeply up a rocky section at first, then descends a little to meander between sage brush.

We passed bizarre rock formations - the Marching Men, on the hike to Tower Arch.

The Marching Men with the La Sal mountains in back

Looking out from inside Tower Arch

Tower Arch is one of the fattest arches I’ve seen. This trail is relatively quiet, since it starts at the end of a dirt road.  It’s a much harder trail than the one to Landscape Arch, but not overly long.

Tristan said it was his favorite trail of all the ones we hiked in Arches.

Landscape Arch

During National Parks week, when the parks offered free entry to visitors, my son and I hiked in Arches National Park.

Tristan broke his leg in November (tibia) and while he could walk (the surgeon nailed a titanium rod down the center of his leg bone), these would be his first hikes since the surgery to repair the broken leg.

We thought we’d start out with short, relatively flat and easy hikes. Hiking to Landscape Arch fit the bill.

According to the NP website, Landscape Arch is Earth’s largest arch. I’d hiked past here  before, on the way to climb Dark Angel, and remembered it as an easy hike.

The hike involves a 2-mile round trip on fairly flat, easy ground, and as such is very popular and a quite busy.

Landscape Arch in October, 2007

Since Wall Arch broke a few years ago, maybe it’s best we saw this arch now, before it too goes the way of all geological features!