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Steamboat Springs — The eyes of many of the Yampa Valley's athletes may be firmly focused on the roaring river or the drying mountain bike trails.

But that isn't likely to stop some of the nation's top cross country ski competitors, headed to Steamboat Springs for the next two weeks to work on lingering snow on Rabbit Ears Pass.

The U.S. Adaptive Cross Country Ski Team will participate in a spring camp starting Friday and running through May 28. Able-bodied skiers will join them midway through the venture and continue working through June 2.

"We're going to milk this as long as we can," U.S. Ski Team coach Greg Rawlings said. "The snow is still awesome. It's dirty snow, but there's a ton - still 4 or 5 feet."

Most of the camp's skiing will take place on Bruce's Trail, often one of the first cross country trails in the state to receive enough snow and one of the last to see it melt away.

These won't be any lazy spring afternoons, either. With the 2010 Olympics - the traditional and para- variety - looming less than a year away, athletes won't be playing around.

"I'm going to get a lot out of it," adaptive cross country skier Chris Klebl said. "May is as crucial a month as any other."

Rawlings said May provides a chance for athletes to refine their form without the pressure of a race looming a few days away.

"We will shoot a lot of video," he said. "We can go a little slower and work on technique more. During the summer, they will attach their sit-skis to a mountain board, a skateboard with tires, and double-pull around roads and bike paths. If they can do that with the proper technique, all this training will lead somewhere."

In addition to the adaptive skiers, Rawlings also is expecting large contingents of able-bodied skiers, including Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club Nordic athletes and their peers from the Rocky Mountain Division, and U.S. Ski Team Nordic combined team members Todd Lodwick and Johnny Spillane.

Despite their focus on next year's winter competitions, the group won't be entirely stricken with a winter frame of mind.

"We will get them out for mountain biking and some kayaking, too," Rawlings said. "It's really nice now because we know it's winter up there and know it's summer down here. As long as it's like this, we're going to use it."