FREERIDE U19 TEAM:

The 2023/2024 season has been nothing short of exciting for the U19 athletes and coaches. Everyone’s hard work and dedication has certainly shown, from dry-land training, to bell-to-bell days up Little Cottonwood Canyon. I believe that each member of the team progressed their skiing ability, and knowledge of being in the mountains, formed new friendships, and stoked their passion for the sport. A busy start of the season training at Alta and Snowbird, had us working on core fundamental skills to prepare us to ski freeride lines, and have the most fun possible on the mountain. We also trained vigorously every Wednesday at Woodward Park City, to further our jumping skills and air awareness.

Our holiday camp went well, where we practiced mental strength techniques, avalanche safety, and overall skiing strength and conditioning. We started our competition season strong, and we finished strong! We have had great results at nearly every competition we have attended. The athletes demonstrated excellent line selection and execution of each line chosen. They had to make game-time decisions in difficult conditions at times during the season, showing great mental strength. Nine U19 athletes made it into the Junior Freeride Championships held at Breckenridge, CO. Hannah Baldwin came home with the win and a 2nd overall ranking! Other athletes attending were Sasha Bills, Madeline Johnson, Izzy Parker, Drew Dana, Austin Aten, Jack Reynolds, Michael Wheatley, and Obie Simper. All skied well regardless of the results, and it was a privilege to be one of their coaches.

This season will not be one to forget easily, with the largest freeride roster we have ever had, the good times we have had in the mountains together will live on in all of us. We dealt with season-changing and season-ending injuries, broken equipment, rough tumbles, tough finishes, and as always a whole lot of pow and smiles. I can’t express how proud we all are of each athlete’s desire to be a part of this team and share the good vibes with each other. We are very excited about next winter and what it has in store for us. Thank you all for every effort you have contributed. The good vibrations are flowing steadily!

Until next time,
Griffin N. Rasmussen
Head Coach U19 Freeride

FREERIDE U15 TEAM:

Wow, that season flew by! The U15s had a great year. The kids all had a great attitude and the coaches all really enjoyed skiing with everyone. The season started in September with dryland training.  A lot of kids participated and began training to get strong for the ski season.  Dryland is a great place to meet a group of kids! Regular on-snow training started in December where the U15s worked on athletic stance, edging, pressure, and rotary.  The team then rolled into Christmas camp where the skied hard for a whole week.  During Christmas camp, the group worked on getting ready for the competition season.  They worked on picking a line, linking airs together, and doing a few miniature competition scenarios.  It was so awesome to watch the group improve over these months.

In late January the competition season started and the team stayed busy with them until the start of April.  The U15s did great this competition season.  Some of the team that were newer to competitions learned how to pick a line and deal with the mental game of it all. Other members of the U15s found their way to the podium in multiple events. Everyone should be super proud of their season!  While competitions were happening the kids not at the events held down the fort and continued to progress on their technical skiing. The team wrapped up its final day of regular team on March 31st.

At the beginning of April, five of the U15 qualified for the Junior Freeride Championship in Breckenridge Colorado.  These athletes were Brynn Copinga, Cortland Goldberg, Fisher Campagna, and Canyon Whiteside.  Cortland and Brynn made it to the finals and Brynn Copinga finished in the top 10! Congratulations to all of them.

This season has been a blast the U15s should all be very proud of themselves this year! Already looking forward to next year!

Cheers,
Jacqueline Pollard 
Head Coach U15 Freeride

FREERIDE U12 TEAM:

The season for the U12s started with fall dryland beginning in early September. This is the first year that we have offered dryland training for our U12s and it was a great success with 5-6 athletes attending regularly. We collaborated with JFast, U14 Alpine, and U15 Freeride for dryland, which was a great way for our athletes to get to know kids from other age groups and disciplines. Dryland consisted of hikes, mountain bike rides, field workouts, and gym training at the UOP.

The regular training season started in early December with a strong technique focus including some brush training on the race hill during Holiday Camp. The focus required from skiing a brush course isn’t something that freeride athletes typically encounter and was very helpful in improving their technique. We plan to make focused sessions on the race hill part of our regular training in the future. The athletes worked hard during the first part of the season and all showed improvement in their technical skills.

In late January we transitioned to a busy competition season. Success is measured by more than competition results, but our team did have many excellent finishes. Our U12 team earned multiple podium results in both boy’s and girl’s fields at 6 of the local 2* competitions. To cap off the competition season Will Fallis was our only U12 to compete in the U12 Junior Freeride Championships at Breckenridge, Co in early April.  He earned a 2nd place result in a field of 40 U12 boys from across the US and Canada. It should be noted that Will trained in Alpine in addition to freeride and also qualified for and raced at the IMD Alpine championships.

~ Davin Grapentine
Freeride Development Director
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