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Steamboat Springs — The perils of an early season Nordic ski camp in Steamboat Springs came sharply into focus Friday morning for U.S. Adap­tive Nordic ski team coach Greg Rawlings.

The team was scheduled to stage a late-morning time trial at the Steamboat Ski Touring Center.

A week of careful preparations by the center’s staff helped open some trails, but it wasn’t enough. The skiers were poking their poles through the sometimes-thin layer of snow and into the concrete cart path.

“Do that all morning, and it’s pretty hard on the joints,” Rawlings said.

Fortunately, there was a Plan B, and after some hasty grooming, a 1-kilometer trail was made ready around the base of Howel­sen Hill in downtown Steam­boat. With a series of shouts of “Go!” the team’s 2009-10 Olympic winter was under way.

Seven skiers took to the circuit, most completing 15 laps for a healthy 15 kilometers.

In that number were the United States’ top threats at the 2010 Paralympic games, scheduled to begin March 12 in Vancouver, B.C. A pair of skiers from the Australian team joined in and made laps with the Americans.

“I’m getting back into it, and it was a good and challenging course,” Aussie Dom Moneypenny said.

No matter their nationality, the skiers were happy to be back on snow.

The team’s ski camp was canceled last year, right before Rawlings stepped into the head coaching position. He said he wasn’t willing to let another year go by without early season work. The Steamboat resident turned to his home city.

“This year I said, ‘We need to make it happen,’” he said. “Living in Steamboat, I know a bunch of people who can do this kind of magic and make this happen. I talked to the City Council this summer, and thanks to the city’s staff and Birgitta (Lindgren of the Ski Touring Center), we were able to make it work.”

The morning wasn’t without its problems, though.

The mostly man-made snow was rough in spots, and team members swerved to avoid those patches. It was clear it might take a while to reacquire their snow balance, and some took spills on the cold, wet ground.

“A lot of that was because all summer they’ve been on mountain boards, like a skateboard with big inflatable tires,” Rawlings said.

It’s a problem that will be somewhat remedied today, first because the group will have logged one more day on the snow, and second because organizers will be able to carve classic skiing tracks into the course.

The team is scheduled to conduct a second time trial at the base of Howelsen Hill at 10 a.m. today.

“It was good to get the kinks out,” seven-year ski team member Greg Mallory said. “The course was fine, and I thought it was kind of fun. It was nice and tight and turn-y.”