(CNN)Lips turning blue, they shiver in ice baths, unable to escape. Only the cooperation of teammates solving mental puzzles and completing physical challenges can release them from the water’s frozen grip.
“For the first guys in the ice it was brutal,” says John McBride, head speed coach for the US men’s ski team. “We didn’t work together as a team, we weren’t communicating effectively.”
Plunging his team in ice is a technique McBride learned from US special forces and is part of his quest to take American downhillers back to the top.
