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Steamboat Springs — As far as U.S. Ski Team mogul coach Scott Rawles is concerned, this is where it starts.

This is where athletes put in the hours, get their bases and prepare for possibly the biggest 18 months of their lives.

This, at least up to this point, is the biggest camp of the year.

For many members of the U.S. Freestyle Ski team, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday's three-day water ramp camp at Bald Eagle Lake just outside Steamboat Springs signified the first time they've been on jumps or skis since the winter season ended.

With the start of the World Cup season not scheduled until December and the 2010 Olympics waiting after that, the ramp camps are where a lot of the base techniques are perfected.

"It's taking it back to square one," Rawles said. "It's important to revisit the basics every year. It's hard to work on that stuff once we get on snow. So, in my eyes, this is one of the most important camps."

The camps featured some of the top U.S. freestyle skiers in the nation as well as several members of the developmental team and local Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club members. Along with work on the trampolines, skiers took turns on the ramp, mostly working on technical aspects of jumps.

"You take what you're learning here and try to put it on snow," said Eliza Outtrim, who graduated from The Lowell Whiteman School. "I can't say you necessarily get a ton of stuff done in three days, but there are not a lot of chances to go from the ramps to the snow."

Although the camp had several members who are expected to compete at the highest level this winter, the camp also was designed to give younger skiers a look at some of the top-level competition.

"It's the way they train," said Robert Burden, who started training in Steamboat last year and hopes to make an Olympic team in the next couple of years. "They train so much more aggressive. It's get right to your tricks. There's no messing around at all."

After a day off today, the U.S. Freestyle Team will head to Arapahoe Basin to ski on snow for three days. After that, the team will take a break before returning to Mount Hood in Oregon in July. The team then heads to Chile in August. The official U.S. Freestyle Ski Team is expected to be announced sometime in July.