January Alpine Update 2025
Alpine racing, like any sport, throws curveballs at you. Injuries, illness, and even crazy weather can throw a wrench in your plans. But the best athletes -They roll with the punches and figure out how to make the most of the situation. This grit and resilience is paramount for success in life, not just skiing. And while the individual success of these athletes should definitely be celebrated, they couldn’t do it without the awesome support system around them. Teammates, coaches, parents, and all the volunteers – are the heroes behind the start gate heroes, working together to help these kids crush their goals.
The SBSEF community really stepped up this month. The race crew was incredible, getting over 1100 athletes down the hill in just five days! The U14s were awesome, cheering on their buddies and even helping out with gear during that freezing week at Snow King. And the JFAST crew? Let’s just say their tent parties and energy at the bottom of our home race was legendary. We even got to share the hyped energy when freeride teammate Hannah Baldwin won at Freeride world championships.
It’s been a really incredible month for SBSEF, and we coaches are stoked about it!
Alpine Director
Devo Update
As we kicked off our Devo program in December, it’s been a month full of challenges and great progress. The conditions have been interesting, with snowstorms hitting almost every weekend, meaning we’ve been skiing a lot of powder! The Devo parents have been absolute rock stars, getting their athletes up LCC in some tough weather.
Our focus for December has been Stance and Balance. Skiing powder is a fantastic way to work on both of those fundamentals, and it’s been great to see our Devo athletes really rise to the challenge. We’re already seeing athletes stepping out of their comfort zones—whether that’s hiking Baldy, taking on Get Serious, or even hitting Godzilla!
The Devo Transition Team has been putting in some serious work as well. As coaches, we’re seeing some impressive growth, both in technique in their overall and line and tactics in the course. A handful of our Transition athletes competed in the Hartlauer Memorial GS at Snowbird.
This month, I’d like to give a special shoutout to two athletes who have really stood out: Hayden A and Tatum A.
Hayden is always showing up with a smile and a great attitude. He works hard and listens to his coaches, which makes him a fantastic teammate. Hayden is always looking out for his peers, and you can count on him to lend a hand whenever needed. he also loves jumping off any thing and skiing fast.
Tatum, too, has been absolutely killing it. She’s all about having fun while working hard and is a prime example of what it means to be a great teammate. Tatum has an endless drive—she’s all gas, no brakes! You can tell she’s been chasing her older siblings around the mountain for years, and it’s paying off in her racing and training.
It’s been a great month of progress for all our athletes, and I’m excited to see how the rest of the season unfolds. Keep up the hard work, team!
Devo Head Coach
JFAST Update
The recent Christmas camp presented a unique set of challenges. Limited terrain due to delayed snowfall in the initial phase transitioned to navigating frequent canyon closures and lift delays in the latter half. Despite these obstacles, SBSEF athletes performed exceptionally at the first South Series race at Snowbird, exceeding coach expectations despite limited gate training. The race featured two Giant Slalom (GS) events for boys on Wednesday and two GS events for girls on Thursday. With a large field of 153 boys and 127 girls, the SBSEF race crew and athletes successfully navigated two full days of competition at the newly improved venue.
Notable Results:
- U10 Girls: Emery C – 5th (R1)
- U10 Boys: Sam N – 5th place (R1), Lukas S – 3rd place (R2)
- Top 10: Sam N (8th, R2), Della C (7th R, 8th R2), Nora R (10th R1), Emery C (9th R2)
- U12 Girls: Tate A – 2nd (R1), 3rd (R2)
- U12 Boys: Forest K – 5th place (R2)
- Top 10: Chase K (6th R1), Beck B (10th R1, 7th R2), Violet L (6th R1), Olive B (8th R1, 7th R2), Abbie Y (9th R1), Elka K (10th R1)
- U14 Girls: Adeline O – 2nd (R1), 3rd (R2), Evelyn V – 4th (R1), 1st (R2)
- U14 Boys: Ryan D – 1st (R2), Carston A – 3rd (R1), North L – 4th (R1)
- Top 10: Yarrow W (6th R1), Austin R (7th R1, 9th R2), Ryker F (8th R1), North L (6th R2), Kali S (9th R2)
Check out race photos at www.210photography.com
While racing has been a primary focus of the last week of skiing for Jfast, freeskiing has been the reality. The last three Saturdays Jfast athletes have gotten to ski some of the best skiing Little Cottonwood Canyon has to offer. The skiing at Snowbird right now is outrageous and Jfast athletes have been working hard at skiing fast and in the fall line, which will pay dividends in the races to come.
JFAST January Athlete(s) Highlight –
Ryler and Colt P have significantly impacted the JFAST team this year. In their first South Series race, both achieved top 50 finishes in the U12 category, demonstrating impressive early success.
Beyond their race results, the Provance twins consistently bring high energy and positive leadership to practice. Their dedication to improving is evident in their willingness to adapt and make adjustments during training sessions.
This combination of strong performance and positive team spirit makes Ryler and Colt valuable assets to the JFAST team.
Head Jfast Coach
U14 Update:
Team U14 was off to a tricky start, due to snow conditions. Low snow related to training conditions not conducive to training SG or on new race skis- then too much snow made training gates difficult. The U14’s adapted well with good powder skiing to find balance. We found hard snow at the UOP and prepared well for our first qualifying series at SnowKing- in Jackson, WY.
The girls showed up ready to race GS with Liz E punching in a 2nd place finish. Yasmeen K finished 17th, with Heidi B and Norah C rounding out the top 30 in 29th and 30th. In the two SL races Liz took home a victory, with Heidi scoring a 7th and a 10th place finish. Yasmeen improved to 12th and then 19th. Norah also improved with a 19th and 26th, and Kyla H put in a nice finish in 25th.
For the boys, Cedric S took the whole shot in GS with a victory. Vonn K got on the podium with a 5th place finish, Miles Y 7th, Axel S 12th, Arlo H 13th and Quinn W in 16th. In the SL, Snowbird boys dominated the top ten; (2) Cedric, (4) Arlo, (5) Miles, (6) Axel, (8) Hendrick Wussow, with Quinn repeating his 16th place finish. Jack G and Zach M rounded out the top 30 in 24th and 27th place finishes. The final day of SL was full of excitement, with Vonn winning the second run and finishing 2nd. Miles made one of the most impressive recoveries before the finish to secure 3rd, Hendrick skied to a personal best 6th, and Quinn improved to 12th. Zach and Jack swapped positions in 25th and 30th for the last day.
Highlights in Jackson included the girls team leading the cheering squad at the start for the boys race. They asked Coach Joe to lend them his start list so they could cheer on each competitor- on other teams- by name. Hendrick made 7 runs on Sunday to carry his teammates’ clothes down on a chilly day. The sense of Team is strong with this group.
In our first South Series race at Snowbird, Carston A led the charge for the boys with a 3-place finish within the U14 group. North L followed in 4th, Yarrow W in 6th and Austin R in 7th. The girls had really strong finishes with Addie O finishing in 2nd for U14 girls in the first race, 3rd in the second. Evelyn V finished 4th and then a big first-place finish for U14 girls- way to go everyone!
The vibe is good, the stoke is high with our team this year. With new coaches Joe and Tess on staff, athletes and coaches are off to a great start, looking forward to more powder days and more development with this hungry and focused group of athletes.
Head U14 Coach
U16 Update:
The U16 athletes have begun the New Year with exceptional results.
Quinn C, Sam E, and Ali started 2025 with a trip to Burke Mountain, Vermont for a U16 National Project Series where the two athletes competed against the top 30 U16 athletes across the country for the opportunity to qualify for international children’s races in Italy and France. Despite the cold weather, the athletes were able to gain valuable experience from their peers across the country and continue to develop their relationships with athletes in the Western Region.
The team’s first IMC qualifiers were held at Snowbird January 12-14, and the athletes achieved a number of impressive results.
1/12/25 SL 1:
- Axl D: 4th place
- Sebe B: 6th place
- Bo C, Ellie B, and AJ L all made significant improvements, moving into the flip after starting outside the 30.
1/13/25 SL 2:
- Sam E: 3rd place
- Quinn C: 5th place
- Georgia M: 14th place
- Axl D: 4th place
- Sebe B: 8th place – Tie
- Cedar K: 13th place
- Jack W placed in the top 20, at 18th place
- Everet E broke the top 30, finishing in 23rd
1/14/25 GS:
- Axl D: 9th place
- Zachary C – 30th – first finish of the season
- Sam E: 3rd place
- Quinn C: 9th place
- AJ L: 27th place starting from bib 42
Check out race photos at www.210photography.com
The team is excited to return to Jackson later this week for the Wes Baron SG’s.
FIS Update:
SBSEF FIS has been hard at work this season. After getting the majority of our group their first FIS experience in Big Sky, we returned home looking forward to a productive Christmas Camp. Unfortunately, this was one of the years in which nature did not bless LCC with conditions conducive for Snowbird operations to bless us with unlimited race hill access. So, while our group farmed out some awesome, and I mean awesome, Super-G training during the first block, we made heavy use of the UOP in order to continue our progression and navigate conditions as 6 feet continued to descend on Snowbird between Dec 26 and Jan 2.
A quick spotlight on two FIS athletes who have distinguished themselves so far this season: Evan E and Audrey M. Audrey had continued to break down some mental barriers allowing her to improve her “race day” skiing by leaps and bounds. This was particularly apparent up in Big Sky this year, and look forward to continuing to see her push herself on race day the rest of the season. Evan is new to the FIS group this year and has brought some really consistent focus to his skiing during training sessions. Which, during Christmas camp, seemed to result in Evan making improvements to his skiing run by run. Really encouraging to see the progress there and appreciate the effort by Evan so far this season with more to come.
Currently, the majority of the group is up in Mt. Bachelor for a Devo Tech (GS/SL) series. Which is a location that has not held a FIS race in probably at least 10 years. So a venue for us all to explore or re-visit. The conditions in the Pacific Northwest can be particularly challenging for ski racing, where you may get rained on for days on end, fogged out, atmospheric rivers that bring 3-5 feet at a time or wind that shuts down the lifts and on and on…. But hopefully, it is a good omen for the future of racing in the PNW that they have blue sky and stable temps for the series!
Looking ahead we’ve got our main Downhill and Super-G series coming up at the end of January. Now that the snowpack has settled at Snowbird, as the rest of the group returns from Bachelor, looking forward to making use of more free skiing and off-piste elements to develop the speed skier hiding within all of us!
Head FIS Coach