The Olympic season begins in earnest for members of Canada’s alpine ski teams, with the men’s team scheduled to begin on-snow training later this week.

Canada’s men’s team is heading to Coronet Peak, near Queenstown, New Zealand for the opening of a high intensity training camp on July 25.

Manuel Osborne-Paradis (Vancouver, BC), who won the first World Cup downhill race of his career in Kvitfjell, NOR last season, will be one of the 16 ski racers at the camp.

“Obviously everyone knows what’s at stake this year with the Olympics in Whistler. And this is the beginning of the process,” said the 24-year-old Osborne-Paradis, a 2006 Olympian who has six career World Cup podium results. “I have actually never been to New Zealand and so I am looking forward to getting there and getting back on the snow.”

Men’s team head coach Paul Kristofic said both the speed team (downhill and super G) and the technical ski racers (giant slalom and slalom) will be training in New Zealand.

“During this training camp we will do a lot of volume and focus on technical adjustments,” said Kristofic. “We do quite a lot of free skiing and drills at the beginning. This gives the racer a chance to adapt their bodies to firing the skiing muscles and getting the feeling back in their skiing after a long break off snow.”

“We definitely ease the athletes into the skiing program to avoid any injury as the body is being stressed in a different way than the gym. Once the racers have adapted, we turn up the volume and get the bulk of the work done,” he added.

Kristofic said Coronet Peak offered an excellent training area, with great snowmaking and a relatively low altitude, as the skiers prepare for the World Cup season and the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

“We get excellent quality snow. The high volume of runs at a relatively low altitude allows for physical recovery to be easily managed. There are also a variety of runs used that vary in difficulty,” Kristofic said.

As for the ladies team, they will have their first on-snow camp of the season in New Zealand next month. Canada will also have several members of the ladies team taking part in the New Zealand Winter Games, which are scheduled from August 24 to 30.

The World Cup alpine ski racing season is scheduled to begin in late October with giant slalom races in Sölden, AUT. The men’s team opens the World Cup speed season with a super-G and downhill at the Bombardier Lake Louise Winterstart in Lake Louise, AB Nov. 28 and Nov. 29.

The alpine events of the Olympic Winter Games take place in Whistler, BC beginning with the men’s downhill on February 13.