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One of the many components of JFAST is understanding race rules and regulations. During Farah Kaukab’s 4th race run, the competitor in front of her crashed and needed help getting her equipment back together. Farah, who had already started her race, had the composure and wherewithal to stop and request a rerun due to interference, which was granted and culminated in a 5th-place finish. Nice work Farah!
JFAST has its last qualifier this coming weekend (Feb 24, 25). One GS and one kombi at Snowbasin. The girls will race on Saturday, and the boys will Race on Sunday.
~ Bo Maciejko
Alpine Director and Head Jfast Coach
ALPINE DEVO UPDATE
It’s turning out to be another great season for Devos. We are enjoying the storms and getting to ski some of the Devo Favorites: Get Serious Chutes, Hiking Baldy, and of course Black Forest. Skiing the amazing steep terrain we have at Snowbird is key for our devos development. We are working on pressure, edging and varying turn shape. We are training hard for the Hot Cocoa Cup coming up this Saturday and Sunday (February 24 & 25).
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Our Devo YSL Transition team competed at the UOP for a Kombi race on Sunday, February 18th. Sam Norton skied to an impressive 3rd-place finish for U10 boys and not far behind him was Lukas Sopko earning a 10th-place finish. The girls did an awesome job and all listened to their coaches and made adjustments to improve their second fun times.
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We are looking forward to the YSL Finals at Snowbasin on March 9th and 10th, and as always we are super stoked for our favorite event of the year: The Good Vibes Only Devo Freeride Comp on March 30th and 31st.
~ Jason Stone
Head Devo Coach
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ALPINE U16 UPDATE
Hello race fans, it’s been a busy month for the U16 team juggling UOP/Snowbird training and most recently some action-packed racing at the notoriously difficult Sun Valley venue. Despite the challenging snow conditions, the cold, and the relentless hill Sun Valley turned out to be our most successful series thus far this season.
Some of the outstanding performances in the GS races are Alta Brower moving up 22 places in GS 1, Quinn Costello moving up 24 and 23 places in the respective GSs, Calvin Cui moving up 24 and 25 places and August Mennell making a huge leap of 27 places in the first GS and 25 places in the second. Additionally, Halle Hipple found herself picking up more hardware with 5th place in the second GS of the series.
After the second day of the GS races, SBSEF skiers took to the Sun Valley ice rink to skate a few laps. A good time was had by all, even those who spent more time on the ice than they did on their feet.
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Brushing off their bumps and bruises from skating, our U16 team came out charging in the SL. Quinn Costello led the pack finishing in 8th but many of her teammates had personal bests in this race including Devon Harman who went from 40th to 20th. The attack from the back came from the girls, Mia Pagano moved up 25 places from starting 66th, Elizabeth MacKay moved up 31 and Blake Larsen went from 52nd to 19th. The hardest-charging Snowbird skier for the series came from none other than Alta Brower who moved up a whopping 36 places to finish 41st.
For being one of 4 of our U16 skiers who finished and moved up in all three Sun Valley races, Alta Brower wins this month’s cowbell for moving up the most!
The last of the U16 qualifiers will take place next week on the “Big Hill” at the UOP with 3 Super G races. That hill is long and steep, however, with the effort this team has been putting in to get results like we had in Sun Valley I am confident they all will step up to the challenge and shred it like cheese!
~ Fritz Wood
Head U16 Coach
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ALPINE FIS UPDATE
FIS has been cranking on full these last couple of weeks. As we’ve become accustomed to over these last two years, the snow (or lack thereof) has been causing some serious headaches with our calendar and pulling off the scheduled races as intended. Though not as often as we would like, when the canyon has cooperated, our group has enjoyed getting together to take advantage of the awesome off-piste-free skiing conditions of late. It has been refreshing to me personally to witness the passion and spirit that our group displays when they take it upon themselves to ski on their own or with friends and family at other resorts – keeping that Bryce Astle Spirit alive – when LCC is too difficult to coordinate around.
As of Tues, Feb 20th, we’ll have completed our main qualification circuit for U18 Nationals that has taken us to Jackson Hole (twice), UOP for Super-G, and Snowbird. While some athletes in our group who hoped to qualify may or may not make the grade this year, I’m personally really proud of the individual progress within our group. They have shown themselves to be an exceptionally respectful, fun, passionate group of kids who have supported each other through many unique challenges and also been quick to celebrate each other successes as well.
This year we have continued to “debrief” (when possible) after each race or training day. This is when we circle up after a training or race day to synthesize the good, the bad, or any other learning moments in front of everyone. While sometimes this feels routine and athletes struggle to come up with something that genuinely was new or learned that day, sometimes the “takeaways” are more valuable than any podium, personal best result championship series qualification or other extrinsic validation can provide.
Today was a challenging day for the group, but it reminded me of a quote from the book Dune. I won’t repeat the entire thing, but the quote starts with, “I must not fear, Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.” I repeated the quote to the group as a topic for today’s debrief and one of the responses was so sublime but I thought displayed a level of self-awareness and maturity that I’d say is rare for a U18. They said, (paraphrasing) “That reminds me… that today I remembered why I am out here. It’s not to make it to the next level of racing, but because I like to ski. And even though today didn’t go the way I wanted, I remembered why I am doing this”.
~ Brennan Rubie
Head FIS Coach
ALPINE U14 UPDATE
After a solid block of SG training and powder skiing, Snowbird’s 2nd year U14s made a strong showing at the Wes Baron Memorial SG at Teton Village. Axl Dain led the charge within the U14s in the field with a first, second, and third. Cedar Knight had 2 ninth-place finishes and a sixth- Jack Webster finished with 8th, 11, and 10th-place finishes within U14’s- and Zachary Carnett and William Youngtok each finished with multiple top 15 finishes. The first-year U14s followed on the speed track in Jackson with the IMD U14 Speed Camp- where they thrived. Hendrick Wussow clocked the fastest speed while James Murphy was voted ‘most improved’ within his group.
Both the original IMD Speed Camp plan and the U14 SG qualifier were canceled this year due to a lack of snow, both venues changed at the last second to hold the events. Parents and athletes made a remarkable pivot- and enjoyed quality venues. With more SG training and epic freeskiing, Snowbird’s U14s headed to Targhee for the SG qualifier.
Despite the short turnaround and heavy snow leading up the the races, Targhee did a great job (thank you, Becky, for your help up there!) and the track was in perfect condition. Liz Eden led the charge for the girls, reaching the podium with 2 fifth-place finishes and a fourth. Hannah McReynolds finished 14th, and 11th.
Axl Dain again led the boys with a victory, 7th and 3rd- with Cedric Sullivan close behind in 8th, 3rd, and 5th. Jack Webster, Cedar Knight, Vonn Kunigenas, and Arlo Hochman also finished with top 15 finishes. With a handful more training days before our last qualifier in Park City, Snowbird’s U14s are set up for a strong finish to the season.
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Special shout out to Axl Dain this month! Not only are his results impressive, Axl has shown to be dominant in the division and a leader on our team. Axl is always having a good time, but brings the focus to training each day, and pushes hard each run. His attendance is phenomenal, and Axl pushes his comfort zone at training every day. He sets the tone for each session. Great job Axl!
~ Ben Reeder
Head U14 Coach
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