World champs Thredbo camp. Photo: Caroline Steffen.
THREDBO has long been recognised as an adventure playground in the warmer months but this summer it has been the training ground for some of the world's best athletes.
Thredbo has played host to elite and club level swim camps, walking teams, road riding groups and mountain bike clubs.
The longest residential camp of the summer is TeamTBB, an elite international triathlon squad. With 50 athletes in the stable, TeamTBB has three training camps peppered around the globe right now, one each in Mexico, Europe and right here in Thredbo.
This camp has six professional athletes including Caroline Steffen who is the reigning ITU long distance world champion, IRONMAN Asia Pacific Champion and was runner-up at last year's coveted Ironman World Championship, the Hawaii Ironman at Kona.
After three solid weeks of training in Thredbo Caroline jetted across the ditch to New Zealand for the first event of the season, the 70.3 IRONMAN in Auckland, after swimming 1.9km, riding 90km and a 21km run, Steffen fought off the world's best female competitors to land an impressive silver medal podium place.
So what is it that the team love about training in Thredbo?
"It's tough" says Steffen
"There are hills everywhere, great for early season strength and fitness training. We are also training at altitude adding that extra element of toughness to our program.
"I love the scenery, although Kosciuszko is not as big as the mountains at home in Switzerland, there is something really special about being on the highest peak in Australia and the views are amazing."
One thing you wouldn't see in Switzerland is the array of wildlife. On a recent ride around Berridale, Steffen came across some friendly escorts, some stray sheep on the road.
With the training schedule amounting to over 30 hours a week, the climate is perfect at this time of the year "It's not too hot, my home is in Mooloolaba and over Christmas it is crowded hot and often rainy" said Steffen
While training and recovery take up the majority of the team time in Thredbo, they have managed to head out and sample all the village restaurants and may have been seen bopping at the Blues.