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March 9, 2021

SBSEF,
 

It has been quite a month in the Wasatch!  We have seen some wild weather and rapidly changing conditions. SBSEF athletes in all programs/disciplines are in competition season and testing their mettle.  

I feel that we have done a good job navigating a ski season under the shadow of the pandemic, and we have not only had a season but had a very successful and productive one.  We have seen tremendous athletic development with the athletes, and it is exciting to see the work pay off!  I want to thank all of you for understanding how difficult it is to literally revisit everything we are doing from an operational standpoint, and adapt to a changing environment.  I do believe that we are getting closer to a return to "normal" activity, but will be finishing this season still under the pandemic protocol.  It will be a welcome day when we get to see each other's smiles again!

Unfortunately, we were forced to cancel the Intermountain Cup/U16 Qualifier series at Snowbird due to the massive storm that caused a 3-day closure of the canyon.  We were able to host the Bryce Astle Series slaloms last week and got 4 good races in.  Adaptation continues to be the name of the game this year!  I would like to thank the many volunteers who came out to help us with the events and thank Snowbird for supporting SBSEF, I am very happy that we are able to host events for our athletes through all of this!  We look forward to the IFSA Freeride competition coming to Snowbird next week!

SBSEF Alum Jared Goldberg notched a career-best 6th place finish at the Downhill at Val Gardena this season, meanwhile, Bella Wright has had a breakout year racing on the World Cup and will look to build on that success next year!  

AltaBird Freeride coach Andrew Pollard just won the 2nd top on the World Freeride Tour last month in Ordino - Arcalis, Andorra. Amazing accomplishment!

This is the time of year when all the hard work pays off.  Good luck to all of our athletes in Championship month! 

The last race of the season at Snowbird will be the annual Snow Cup, (2nd oldest annually run race in the country)  March 30 - April 2.  With the support of the SBSEF Board of Directors, we will be having a team fundraiser right around the Snow Cup as well, stay tuned for details! 

Alpine Camps

  • May - Snowbird
  • August 1-11 Mt Hood
  • November 13-21 Aspen
Dream Big. Work Hard.
 
Bridger Call
Executive Director
Snowbird Sports Education Foundation

You should be able to see updates from some of our teams next - click "view this email in your browser" to view all sections if some are missing (link at the top of the email)

FIS Team Update:

The FIS team is in the heart of the race season. In the last month we've survived the cold (-10 to -15 every day) and some massive ruts in Big Sky, competed against stiff competition on the daunting GS hill that is CB's in Park City, and taken advantage of our home field knowledge on Bryce's Run. Racing FIS with higher bib numbers is no picnic, but the team is committed to laying down aggressive, high-energy runs regardless of the conditions, and as a result, our performances and our FIS points are continually improving. At our most recent slalom races at Snowbird, the entire women's half of the team put down a personal best (or close to it) FIS result, with Mel Umble and Ella Thomas making their first flip 30's and getting a taste of a clean course. The men at the same series had to do battle with some intense ruts and holes, but nonetheless, Max Holdaway achieved a personal best result, and Bjorn Karlen made his first flip while showing he has the ability to dance through mangled gates that took a much larger toll on most of the field. 

The undeniable lowlight of the last month and the season so far has been the sidelining of Townsend Mikell due to an ACL injury that occurred while training on CB's in preparation for the GS races. As we compete in an individual sport, we don't have official team captains, but Townsend has unquestionably been a leader of the team this season, not only by virtue of his impressive skiing, but by his kindness, love, and respect for the sport, and a genuine drive for improvement. Townsend proved himself to be the first year FIS skier to watch in the Western Region with his results so far this year, and the coaches and his teammates will be there to whip him back into shape for next season so that he can pick up right where he left off.
-- Will  Gregorak
 

Jfast Team Update:

Jfast has had a remarkable month. On top of skiing powder pretty much every weekend in the Month of February, we also had some amazing race results. At all three south series races, SBSEF athletes were a force to reckon with. Snowbird athletes were heavily represented on the podiums at the U14, U12, and U10 age categories. 100 percent of our Snowbird girls team and 90 percent of the SBSEF boys qualified for South Series championships at Snowbasin resort on March 19th. There, they will be top contenders for podium finishes. I have been very impressed with the hard work and dedication these athletes have put into skiing this winter. Every athlete has improved tremendously. I look forward to capping off a great season at the Intermountain South Series Championships this March at Snowbasin.

-- Bo Maciejko

Snowboard Update:

Snowboard training has continued to be really good at Snowbird. We took an opportunity to travel to Tahoe to attend 4 USASA events as well as 6 days of training on a SBX track at Sierra at Tahoe. It was a great camp, everyone gained something and we ended up with some good results even though many of our athletes were competing only against each other.

During our trip to Tahoe, Tyler Burdick competed in a Paralympic World Cup in Finland where he placed 5th in one race and 8th in another improving his rank to 7th place worldwide in his category.

We also just returned from a trip to Jackson Hole where we competed in Dick’s Ditch Banked Slalom. Excellent event, everyone had fun and we had some good results. Notably:

  • Declan Murray 2nd place in 14-19-year-old men
  • Full SBSEF Sweep 19-39-year-old men with Coach Kim Doane, former coach Tristan Clegg and former athlete Sawyer Clegg
  • Impressive 13th place finish in Men’s Pro by Jace Guadagnoli
  • 16th place finish in Men’s Pro by Colin Hutchins
  • 9th place finish Men’s Pro by former athlete Ben Smith

Looking forward we have another Paralympic World Cup in Italy and 2 FIS races and a National Championship, both in Early April. We hope to have a start section in place soon for practice for that.

And finally, the 2nd annual Bird Banked Slalom event is scheduled for April 6/7. This event canceled last year due to COVID but is eagerly anticipated.

-- Lane Clegg

Devo Team Update:

February was a fun month for Devo's.  We had new snow almost every Saturday in February!  We haven't had a ton of time in gates but the powder skiing has more than made up for it.  The new favorite run for our team is Get Serious.  Many of our Devo's had their first chance to use the rope to step down over the rocks and into the chute.  One group even ran into Marcus Caston in Get Serious shooting a new episode of Return of the Turn.  You will also frequently run into our Devo's on the Cirque bombing Great Scott or on the other side of the mountain tearing up Tiger Tail.

We held our first-ever Hot Cocoa Cup in February.  We lucked out with the weather and we had two beautiful sunny days of Slalom racing.  Our Devo Transition team got to race at their first South Series race at Sundance and we brought home a few medals!  The Devo's work hard and play hard and it is definitely paying off!  I'm seeing a lot of improvement every day and I'm super proud of all our athletes.

-- Jason Stone

Freeride Update:

Competitions have been able to happen this season, which the team has been so grateful for! The first in Bogus Basin, unfortunately, had to be canceled due to fog, but all who traveled up there loved the opportunity to see somewhere new!
Next, came two separate comps in Park City back-to-back that were able to happen up on Jupiter Peak. Athletes on the first day were greeted with the amazing news that their coach Andrew Pollard had just won an event on the Freeride World Tour, and they all definitely channeled his energy! :) We had lots of weather the first day, and then beautiful sunshine the next. Our athletes had such a strong showing on the podium!




U12: Vivan Simpson 1st (and first comp ever!), Jack Mather 2nd
12-14: Sasha Bills 1st, Ethan Newton 1st.
15-18: Dylan BIlls 1st, Marko Waters 3rd, Zoe Behle 2nd, Madeline Johnson 2nd along with the Gunslinger Award!!!

This week we had athletes compete over at Solitude! Again, the team dominated the podium spots, and truly showcased amazing skiing all day long. 


U12: Daniel Melman 1st (first comp ever!)
12-14: Lucy Collins 1st (first comp ever), AJ McCleary 2st, Will Archer 2nd, Ethan Newton 3rd, Brighton Schumacher 3rd
15-18: Owen Carlson 1st, Andrew Fairchild 2nd, Fletcher Libre 3rd, Ella Male 3rd


Next up, we’ve got the last three competitions of the season right here at Snowbird March 15,16, 17th.  

See you all out on the hill! :)

-Siri Wieringa

Director of the AltaBird Freeride Team

Team Jackets --

We have moved to an all-black stock jacket that we can order each season. If you would like to order a new team jacket, please log into your SBSEF account, and click on Merchandise. Order the size you will need for NEXT SEASON and pay online. Jackets will be delivered in late November. This jacket order is due March 24, so order soon!
Please note, as mentioned previously, we are no longer collecting/trading in jackets. If your athlete has outgrown a team jacket, we recommend selling it to a new team member next season. The SWAP and the Facebook Swap Group are great opportunities to do this. Thanks

The Snow Cup 2021 is Coming!


We are still looking for volunteers. If you would like to help out our event, click on the SignUp Genius link!
 
March 30, 31 - April 1, 2
Be sure to follow us on Social Media to see what our teams are up to daily and weekly!

Shop on Amazon? Chose to log in to www.smile.amazon.com and select Snowbird Sports Education Foundation -- a portion of every purchase you make will go to our athlete scholarship fund!
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