After three intense training sessions in two days in Arizona, Real Salt Lake mixed things up on Wednesday, instead hiking Camelback Mountain in Phoenix. The scenic hike overlooking the city served as a team-bonding experience as well as a fitness exercise to break up the routine of the rigorous training sessions on the field.

The hike on Cholla Trail, expertly documented by both Nick Besler and Marcelo Silva for RSL.com, saw a 1,250 foot climb over roughly 1.4 miles. The entire team participated in the hike, although some players nursing some aches and pains completed a short portion of the hike before doing rehab exercises on a ledge with a panoramic view of the cityscape.

All told it was an active day for RSL that experienced more of the city outside of the Reach 11 Sports Complex followed by a gym session as the team continued its weeklong stint in Phoenix.

Rossi Joins Camp

RSL saw a new addition to camp in former Italian National Team forward Giuseppe Rossi, who arrived on Tuesday and will train with RSL for the remainder of the week. The American-born 32-year-old has played his entire career in Europe, racking up the goals in England, Spain and Italy.

In addition to his seven goals in 30 caps for Italy’s Senior National Team, he also notched six goals to earn the Golden Boot at the 2008 Olympics, scoring four goals in four matches.

Up Next

RSL returns to the field for two training sessions on Thursday at Reach 11. With just three days left in Arizona before returning home to Utah, the intensity is picking up as the team will have three more training sessions and a scrimmage on Saturday.