error aspect to freeriding. I think that preserves the authenticity of the sport.” Matt Annetts, whose entire snowboard training can be summed up with one lesson at age 10, has been entering big-mountain competitions since 2002. He won the Colorado Freeride Championships in 2002, ‘03, and ’04. He won the Northface Masters at Snowbird and placed third in the prestigious Nissan Xtreme in Verbier, Switzerland, in 2009. In 2011 he won the Nissan Freeride competition at Engadin in St. Moritz, Switzerland. “The freeride programs in Jackson are amazing,” said Annetts. “I wish I’d had something like it. The coaches are at the top level of their sport and share so much knowledge and skill with these young, aspiring rippers. I know these kids realize how lucky they are. I’ve never seen a freeride team rider with a bad attitude, or anything except a large smile.” — Jackson Hole Skier
Jackson Hole Ski & Snowboard Club Nurtures Young Competitors T
Anika Hanson
David Coombs
30
J AC KS O N H O L E S K I E R 2 0 1 3
he Jackson Hole Ski and Snowboard Club, now entering its 74th year and one of the oldest consecutively run ski clubs in the country, supports over 400 athletes in the current development roster. And nearly 4,000 supporters purchased ski club memberships last season to help fund its training programs. That may account for the organization’s unwavering insistence on quality when overseeing some of its most high-profile public events: The Town Downhill, The Moose Chase, the Pole Pedal Paddle and, most recently, The Pica’s Margarita Cup. In between these hallmark events of Jackson Hole winters, the club and its devoted coaching staff nurture the competitive futures of youngsters in alpine, Nordic, snowboard, and freeride training regimens. These kids comprise the core of the next generation of skiers (not coincidentally the key element in two of the club’s notable programs: Next Generation Skiers and Next Generation Snowboarders.) Not surprisingly (after all, this is Jackson Hole) a few kids make it to the big time, U.S. Ski Team standouts Resi and Seppi Stiegler, or freeskiing champs Crystal Wright and Jess McMillan among that crop. And the current roster features many up-andcoming young athletes doggedly pursuing their goals, and making their own headlines.
But the Jackson Hole Ski and Snowboard Club fosters much more than the success of the select few who make it big. “The club is lots of things to lots of people,” said Bridger Call, Alpine Program Director and Head Coach. “Of course we hope some go on to achieve great things at the highest levels, but we think the experiences gained and lessons learned for all of our athletes are the real prize, whether they’re headed to the Olympics or not.” The program and coaches point the way to fun, fitness, sportsmanship, and achievement in young athletes through training, academic support, and competition. And the ideal of becoming a champion in life. These are central elements of the club’s mission. A $30 membership to the club grants the holder discounts at more than 90 valley businesses. In all, that 30 bucks could save the buyer over $1,500 in local discounts. Not a bad investment in a community program as much a part of the local fabric as winter, kids, and skiing are to Jackson Hole. For more information and to donate or purchase a club membership, visit the group’s website: www.jhskiclub.org or call 307-7336433. Or drop by its offices at 100 E. Snow King Avenue, at the Snow King Center. — Mike Calabrese
w w w. f o c u s p r o d u c t i o n s . c o m
Neil Henderson photo
the kids in today’s freeride programs are lucky to have it,” said Wright. “Ski racing provided me with a high level of coaching, both mentally and physically. It’s also important to train at the gym, sport-specifically, to prevent injury and learn proper body mechanics. I’ve worked with the Anamoly team and it’s fun to help these kids become stronger and move more like athletes.” Griffin Post, a Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation alumni, a college division-one racer, and a two-time U.S. Extreme Freeskiing Champion, got Justin Mayers his first film segment in TGR’s One for the Road and appears again in Dream Factory. “Growing up, we had no freeride coaches,” said Post. “It was strictly trial and error. Now that kids are getting coached you’ll see a huge progression in what’s being skied, and how it’s being skied. It’ll be cool to see these kids push the sport with the skill sets they’ll have, and at much younger ages. However, no matter how
Emily Coombs photo
Jess McMillan. “When I grew up in Jackson, the only option was ski racing. And, while ski racing formed me into the skier I am today, there’s so much more to skiing.” McMillan grew up racing for the Jackson Hole Ski Club and the Jackson Hole High School. After college, she returned to Jackson and began competing in freeskiing contests held around the world. She won more than any other competitor and in 2007 was crowned Freeskiing World Tour Champion and U.S. Freeskiing Champion. Now officially retired from competition to pursue her dreams of performing on the big screen and to explore the world, McMillan spent the last two ski seasons filming with Warren Miller productions. Last spring she skied all the highest volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest, completing 15 volcanoes in 14 days, and skiing 181 miles and over 80,000 vertical feet. Jackson native Crystal Wright, a ski racer since age two, began her big-mountain ski career at age 25. She is the 2012 and 2009 Freeskiing World Tour Champion and the 2008 U.S. Freeskiing Tour Champion. In 2012 she took second at the Freeskiing World Tour events in Revelstoke, BC, and Snowbird, Utah, and she won the Kirkwood World Finals. In 2011, she won freeskiing’s Red Bull Powder Disorder in Las Leñas, Argentina, and won the Dick’s Ditch Banked Slalom in Jackson Hole.
Bob Woodall photo
Anomaly Freeride Team and JHSSC Freeride Program Impress Adult Pros “ I think it’s awesome that the local youth “Coaching is paramount much coaching kids have, have so many options,” said Jackson native in big-mountain skiing, and there’ll still be that trial-and-