While most people are still soaking up rays on lakes and trails, keen local skaters are turning their thoughts back to ice.

The Whistler Skating Club (WSC) has its annual summer camp starting Monday (Aug. 23), offering five days of on- and off-ice training and fun for young skaters of all ability levels. Erica Finnsson, the WSC’s new director of skating, promises a week of “super-fun activities both on and off the ice.”

Finnsson, who coached for the club last year and took over as director of skating on Canada Day, said she expects the summer camp to offer a fun tune-up for local athletes looking to ease back into arena life for the fall and winter season.

“The camp is basically to get everyone back into the swing of things before the regular season begins,” Finnsson said. She expects to see 15 to 20 skaters participate in each of the four categories above the CanSkate level.

Camp participants above CanSkate will be training under the guidance of two experienced guest coaches. Deena Beacom and Matt Willis of the Racquet Club of Victoria Skating Club are returning for a second consecutive year of working with the Whistler summer camp.

“They’re super fun to work with, and they’re really creative,” Finnsson said. The pair has been drawn to work in Whistler because of the appeal of visiting here, and the five consecutive days of ice time mean that they can put together “a really great intensive training program,” she added.

With the regular season set to start on Sept. 12, the camp offers a good chance to shake any summer rust out of the skating legs, and the five straight days of training give skaters the chance to boost their confidence and skating skills.

“There’s a definite improvement by the end of it. It’s really awesome to see,” Finnsson said. “By the end of Day 5 they’re good to go (for the season).”

The preschool program, which the WSC recently took over from the operators at Meadow Park Sports Centre to bring skating programs together, starts with an orientation session on Sept. 9.

Bringing the preschool program into the WSC fold has been “really successful,” Finnsson said. “Lots of kids have joined the skating club through the preschool program, and now they’re moving their way up through the ranks.”

A Chilliwack native, Finnsson grew up training at the Cheam Skating Club and rose to skate in the Novice Ladies competitive stream category and achieve high test levels. A Whistler resident for the past seven years, she had been primarily working in retail but has “left the front line to pursue my very first passion in life” as the WSC’s director of skating, she said.

For the season ahead, the WSC is welcoming a new coach, Mitchell Wallace, a former coach at the Oak Bay Figure Skating Club who will serve as the WSC’s CanSkate supervisor and coach of all levels. Wallace has competed in Novice-level singles and pairs events and is a technically skilled skater, Finnsson said.

“He’s a very accomplished technical skater, and really a lot of fun to skate with,” she said. She and Wallace will take a team approach to coaching this season, distributing the workload evenly.

“It’s an ice show year, so it’s going to be really exciting,” Finnsson added. The WSC stages a major production every other year in the springtime. She also hopes club skaters will compete at four events in the Lower Mainland through the season.

For more information about the skating club, visit the website at whistlerskatingclub.ca or write to Finnsson at ericafinnsson@gmail.com.