January Freeride Update 2025
U12 Update:
The U12 team had a productive Holiday Camp with several special training opportunities including technique sessions on the race hill, beacon practice and a mock competition. During the next few weeks the U12 team will be adding more competition-specific training in preparation for our first IFSA competitions at Snowbird on January 25th and 26th and at Snowbasin on February 8th and 9th.
Freeride Program Director
U15 Update:
The U15 team saw major improvements throughout Holiday Camp! We had many sessions spent dialing in our technical skills on the race hill, a KYBG clinic and beacon practice, and starting to put together lines as we are heading into competition season! Our athletes have our upcoming Snowbird 2* competitions, as well as traveling to the Targhee 3* later in the month!
Cheers,
Freeride U15 Head Coach
U19 Update:
Through hard work, and dedication to her pre-season training that started in July, Hannah Baldwin kicked off our contest season by winning the Junior Freeride World Championship in Kappl, Austria, winning by 7 points! Showing us how to ski top to bottom with style and fluidity.
We are shifting our mindset to a competitive focus, while being sure we aren’t forgetting our mission of having fun on skis, and being the best we can be as coaches, athletes, parents, and friends, on and off the mountain. Our new gym has continued to be a great resource to building strength, and staying strong throughout the season. We will also be developing a weekly yoga session with the team to focus our calm, and stay flexible.
During Christmas camp we worked with Alta Ski Patrollers Andrew McClosekey, and Caroline Dillon on their day off. They ran the athletes who participated through a beacon distance check, to get an idea for the size of their grid search, a group shoveling drill, and a rescue scenario. They have always provided us with valuable information, opening the kids eyes to potential hazards, and how small mistakes make a big difference in rescue scenarios. As big mountain freeriders, it’s our responsibility to have knowledge of the mountains and to hone our skills that will keep us safe. We ran the athletes through a brushie course on our race hill to work on turns and reviewed the video in the yurt. We also went over tuning, and repairing skis in the yurt.
Thank you all for the efforts put in this season thus far, I look forward to seeing what the rest of the winter holds for the team!
Cheers,
Freeride U19 Head Coach
Freeride Athlete Spotlight: Ruby F
Ruby has proven her hard work and dedication this season by showing up for training on time, staying all day, and showing up all training days! Ruby also is an accomplished swimmer as well and has been working hard between swimming and freeride. This is Ruby’s 2nd year on the Freeride team, and she has improved so much, while being a great teammate and team player. Ruby has been dialing in her 360s and hopes to bring one to competition soon! Ruby is a super committed athlete and really values her time on hill and off, whether she’s skiing, swimming, or leading the charge in our dryland training.