SSEF has ushered in a new era this season with many additions to the Board of Directors, Program Directors, Administration, Temporary Domiciles, and over 50 additional Coaches.
In addition to our Alpine Race, Junior Alpine Race and Freeride Programs, we have added back the Alpine Development Programs, which includes Devo, Devo Mini and Devo+. We are excited for our newest addition of the Ski Mountaineering Program, which you can read more about in this newsletter, below.
With all the additions and amazing snowfall, our athletes and coaches have had an incredible season with more on the way.
Thank you to all our sponsors, donators, contributors, partners, board members, coaches, volunteers, and parents for helping make this amazing experience for our athletes, possible.
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Message from the SSEF Board President
The SSEF Board of Directors monthly meetings are packed with amazing people putting together incredible initiatives to best serve the membership and we welcome your attendance, or at least review our monthly minutes via the website when you have time.
Currently our biggest initiative is confirming our Sponsorship/Donor roster for next season. Fostering those relationships is key to subsidizing operating costs which in turn bring high value and lower tuition to the membership. In addition, these sponsor and donor relations often pave the way to meeting our strategic objectives such as a permanent domicile for the team to reside in future years.
Stay tuned for updates and exciting news as we firm things up.
Regards,
Troy Callantine
SSEF Board President
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Alpine Race
Over the past several months Snowbasin Ski Team athletes have been dedicated to improving fitness and skill development. As a team we reference the US Ski & Snowboad, Alpine Training System.
Phase 4 recommendations include:
30% Coached Freeskiing
20% Coached Drills
35% Coached Gate Training
20% Competition
Athletes recently participated in:
- Snowking U14 Qualifier
- Snowbird GS South Series
January has been an exciting month with athletes competing in events across the spectrum. Our U14/16s recently competed in the U14 Qualifier at Snow King, where several of our first year U14s completed their first races. Next week, those U14 athletes are headed off to Speed camp at Soldier Mountain where they will focus on aerodynamics, technical turns, glide turns, terrain adaptation, jumping, and racing tactics. The project lead is SSEF alumnus and Junior Program Director, Troy Price.
In addition, several of our first year U14 women participated in the Snowbird South Series GS race, with 1st (Toni) and 5th (McKinley) place finishes. Way to go ladies! U16s head to Wes Baron this week – good luck!
Upcoming events & races:
- Afternoon training @ Nordic Valley
- Early load Super-G Training on Wildcat Bowl
- IMD Wes Baron Super-G @ JHMR
- Speed Camp @ Soldier Mountain
- McCall Super-G @ Brundage Mountain
Thank you Snowbasin resort for the amazing grooming, lift service, and the yurts, they have been a great addition to athlete comfort.
We are grateful for the abundance of fresh snow and the opportunity to free ski and train here.
B-net provides safety for your athletes. Thanks to ALL who have raised your hand in maintaining the B-net throughout the season on Willow. Your continued assistance is greatly appreciated.
Special thanks to athletes, parents & coaches for your assistance in making the season great so far...
Craig Haaser
SSEF & Alpine Race Program Director
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Junior Alpine Race
Wow! What a start to our alpine racing season! With January nearly in our rear-view mirror, we have much to share and even more to celebrate. Our alpine athletes have benefited from a record early opening of our home mountain, Snowbasin, and with abundant snowfall we’ve delivered fantastic early season training that is turning into great results on the hill. To stay up to date on all our happenings in real time, be sure to follow us on Instagram @snowbasinskiteam.
Team Happenings
The fantastic early season training that our youngest athletes have received is paying off on the race hill. Most recently our U10/12 athletes competed in their first race: South Series Giant Slalom race held at Snowbird. SSEF athletes ended up on the podium in both the Women’s and Men’s races with Kalea 2nd, William 2nd, and Max 4th. Our ski team family showed up in force and we had a ton of fun cheering on our athletes.
Many of our U10/12 athletes also participated in the Youth Ski League race at Sundance, where SSEF had a near sweep of the podium in the Boys U10 event with 2nd through 6th finishes by Jack, Draeden, Jayden, Raymond, and Felix. We had incredibly strong results in the Boys’ U12 as well with Caleb, Finn, Mason and Graham stealing all the even finishes through 10th place.
Our girls met with similar success with 3 top ten finishes for our U10s, Arianna, AJ, and Hannah and 4 for our U12s girls, Chloe, Hannah, Tessa, and Clara.
As Coach Scotty said, our Snowbasin teams came in with “fast skis and the great example of sportsmanship, fun, learning and getting the job done!” We couldn’t agree more Scotty and we are incredibly proud of our athletes and thankful for our coaches, without whom none of this would be possible.
You can find us next at the Utah Olympic Park (UOP) in Park City for the South Series SL race on Feb 4th (Boys) and 5th (Girls).
Scotty Hoffman/Alison Putnam
Junior Alpine Race Co-Head Coaches
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Freeride
Freeride has enjoyed one of the better seasons of the last decade with over 270” of snow! The snow has been absolutely incredible, and we couldn't ask for better conditions.
We are diving into our competition season. We had our first competition of the season at Snowbird January 22nd. Snowbasin had a great turnout. 3rd place William Andrasko U12 boys, 1st place Stephen Andrasko U12 boys, 2nd place Quinn Costello 12-14 girls, 6th place Sierra Hjelde 12-14 girls, 9th place Kai Hjelde 12-14 boys.
We also had an excellent turnout at Tamarack 2* Regional competition January 28th and 29th. Ian Holm 2nd place 15-18 boys, 4th place Sawyer Davis 12-14 boys, and Eric Holm 10th place 12-14 boys.
The month of February will be one of our busiest, with competitions at Targhee, Bogus Basin, Snowbird National, Park City, Big Sky, and Solitude. Please look ahead for volunteer opportunities as we approach our first event, Snowbasin 2* Regional Junior Freeride Competition February 10th and 11th.
Keep up the snow dance
Parker Gray
Freeride Program Director
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Alpine Development Programs
Wow! What a season so far. We had unprecedented demand for the Alpine Development Programs this year.
So many people worked hard to make it possible for more athletes to experience the program you have come to know and love. Thanks to their efforts, we have more Devo athletes this season than ever before.
A very special thanks goes out to the Paul T. Walton Jr. Charitable Foundation and their representative, Stuart B. Matheson for creating and donating $10,000.00 to the Devo Scholarship Fund. This scholarship is providing an amazing experience to children who would not normally be able to participate in our programs. We are all grateful for their generosity.
All Devo Teams have been working on mountain safety, fun, and ski improvement. There has been an extraordinary amount of "fun" going on so far this season...and there is a lot more to come.
Check out the "Tree Well Safety" article below in this newsletter for just one of the many safety items we have been going over with our athletes this season.
We have our first club race this Saturday, February 4, 2023. Come watch our athletes run the course on Showboat to compete for medals and bragging rights. Your encouragement and cowbell will mean the world to the kids. The tentative schedule is:
- 10:30 am Devo Race Mini Start
- 11:45 am Devo Race Start
I'm often asked about some of the fun things we do. One small tradition is for each group of athletes to come up with their own team name. It's not only fun for the kids, but makes it easier for coaches to get their group's attention outside or in a crowd. Some athletes even have a 'call sign', like a fighter pilot.
Athletes on my Sunday Devo+ team must earn their call sign. I have Krash, Giggles, Ace, Chaos, Sonic, Slider, Z and one athlete who has not yet earned their call sign. It's not only fun, but it's something they will remember for a long time to come.
What is your athlete's team name? See you out there and remember to keep having fun!
Andrew 'Rocky' Rockenfield
Development Program Director
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Ski Mo
Our first year program has been off to a fantastic start!
Thanks to the amazing snowpack this year, we have been able to ski quite literally all over the Ogden Valley.
With a mix of interval work up groomers at Nordic Valley, to resort days at Snowbasin, avalanche gear training and route plotting at North Fork, our team has had a well rounded experience so far!
Huge thanks to the Snowbasin and Nordic Valley staff who have been very supportive and encouraging of us training on their resort.
Our team member has competed at a training race in Park City and is getting ready for her first National Cup race in New Mexico at the end of this month. I have been very excited to see her progression so far as a first year SkiMo athlete. At 18, she’s clocked the 2nd fastest recorded time for all women up the Snowbasin morning route, on her first go at it - missing the record by 34s!
With racing consisting of racing both up AND down, multiple times, we have practiced a lot of the technical aspects of the backcountry skiing to become more efficient at them: kick-turns, transitions, how to avoid skin glue failure, nutrition, pacing uphill efforts, and overall being comfortable with having to adapt quickly to different types of terrain while skiing.
We’ve had a lot of fun skiing on our race skis to get used to the difference with this lightweight oriented gear and 65mm underfoot. Lots of funny looks and questions at lift lines which we love!
The race season is only just beginning. If you or anyone you know may be interested in joining us for a training session, please email us at skimo@snowbasinskiteam.org. W e’d love to show you what we’re about and it is never too late to join the program!
We will also be hosting a timed full moon event on Feb 5th at Snowbasin. This is a great time to see what uphill travel is all about and try to set a PR without having to wake up at 5am
Stay tuned for more information!
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SWAG for Sale
Swag can be purchased on our web site by clicking the button below and be picked up in the base yurt.
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Volunteering
Have you ever wondered what it takes to run an Alpine Race or Freeride Comp? There is an array of certified and non-certified positions that are required for every race. As a Ski Racing Entity, we need volunteers to work stopwatches, help racers get into position at the start, ninjas to help in the comp venue, finish controllers to make sure the finish area stays safe, people to help slip the course to keep the race course safe and the indoor 'cush' job of a race administrator!
Click the "Volunteer" button below to learn more about our volunteer opportunities.
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Work Deposit Credit Submission
You paid a Work Deposit when you registered your athlete for the Snowbasin Ski Team. Now is your chance to volunteer to earn that $$$ back! Our program is all about community. While we do need money to pay our operating expenses, we prefer your volunteer time when it comes to holding our races and fundraising events like the, Banff Film Festival and our Home Races: South Series GS/Kombie, IFSA Big Mountain, and YSL Finals.
You can find the Work Deposit Amounts by Program.
To submit & receive proper credit, click the "Work Deposit" button below. We will issue credit back to you at the end of the season.
Tracy Proulx
SSEF Administrator
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Tree Well Safety
The number one priority for coaches is to keep their athletes safe. This includes teaching many aspects of mountain safety. We have been blessed with copious amounts of new snow this season, but with good things can come hidden dangers.
Evergreen trees in particular (fir, hemlock, etc.) can have large, deep tree wells that form when snow doesn’t get packed down around a tree base. These wells can contain a mix of low-hanging branches, loose snow, and air, so it’s easy for these voids to be hidden from view. We have many of these trees in Utah and at Snowbasin as well.
When a skier or rider falls near the base of a tree, they can fall into this light pack of snow headfirst and lose their airway.
The video above is Tree Well Safety information for grown ups by Backcountry Access.
The first button below is Tree Well Safety information for kids by Big White Ski Resort.
The last button is a Tree Well Safety Demonstration by Whitewater Ski Patrol, with their corresponding guide.
Whitewater Ski Patrol Guide to Tree Well Safety
If your partner gets stuck in a tree well, here are some tips to help get them out:
- Don’t leave to get help – stay with your partner.
- Keep ski or board attached; this will stop them from going in deeper.
- Call for additional resources. Use a whistle or yell for assistance; ask someone to call for Ski Patrol.
- Evaluate scene safety for yourself.
- IMMEDIATELY begin snow immersion rescue efforts.
- Keep your partner’s airway clear. Be careful not to knock more snow into the tree well.
- Determine where their head is and tunnel in from the side or below. Do not try to pull your partner out the way they fell in.
- Continue expanding the tunnel to the airway until you can safely extricate your partner.
Here's to another season of safe skiing and riding!
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Professional Photography
Austin Luckett is a local photographer who has donated his time and professional skills to provide SSEF high quality images, some of which are featured in this and other SSEF publications.
Austin has a wide variety of services, but specializes in Local Art on metal and custom ski signs. Please help support us by supporting Austin.
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SSEF is on Instagram!
Please take a moment to follow @snowbasinskiteam on Instagram. Tag us in your photos and videos for a chance to be shared!
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