Race to the Top
It’s a beast of a thing, to book it straight up the side of a mountain, with little to no variation in grade that might grant one a moment of reprieve. A total of 172 competitors determined to tackle Baldy by foot, and 24 by bike, for the 38th annual Baldy Hill Climb on Saturday.
Although there were no new course records set on Saturday, the fields were competitive across the board for the 1.86 mile, 3,140 foot climb. The SVSEF Cross Country Gold Team swept the podium in the men’s race division, which had a field of 59 competitors. Newcomer Jack Hegman hammered to the top of Baldy to take the win in a time of 35:31. He was 27 seconds off the record of 35:04, set by former SVSEF Gold Team cross country skier Miles Havlick in 2004. Teammate Rogan Brown was in second with a time of 35:55, and Matt Gelso rounded out the podium with a time of 36:05.
In the women’s field of 38 racers, SVSEF skier Mary Rose claimed the overall title with a time of 44:13. Rose is a repeat champ, having last won the race in 2014. Second-year Gold Team skier Deedra Irwin was the second woman to finish, with a time of 46:01. SVSEF Cross Country Comp Team coach, Kristen Monahan, took a break from her normal role to jump into the fray; Monahan had a strong showing with a third place finish in 46:46. Gold Team skiers Kelsey Phinney and Annie Pokorny finished fourth and fifth in 47:34 and 48:17, respectively.
The Cheeso Double had an impressive showing this year with 18 racers opting to hoof it to the top twice. Racers competed in the bike race first, which wound up the Cold Springs trail, took a momentary breath on the chairlift, and then ascended the mountain again on foot in the race category. Sawyer Kesselheim won the men’s Cheeso Double in a combined time of 1:44:49. Second was Eric Chizum (1:47:32), and Bill Nurge was third (1:51:48). Naty Nurge took the win in the women’s event with a combined time of 2:21:21; she was followed by Isabella Smith in second (2:33:19), and Muffy Ritz in third (2:35:55).
There were some repeats in bike podiums from the Cheeso Double; Eric Chizum won the men’s race (1:05:38) and Sawyer Kesselheim was second (1:05:43). SVSEF alum Reid Pletcher crossed the line in third (1:08:44). Naty Nurge won the women’s bike division (1:26:09), Muffy Ritz cruised to second (1:32:58), and Isabella Smith finished third (1:34:17).
A big thanks to our sponsors – Sun Valley Resort, Sturtevants, The Elephant’s Perch, Backwoods Mountain Sports, Sun Summit, Durance Cycleworks, Salomon, Perry’s Restaurant, Apple’s Bar & Grill, Johnny G’s Subshack and Lefty’s Bar & Grill, and to our volunteers; we couldn’t put on this event without your help and generosity.
RESULTS:
Kinder Climb
Hiker, Overall
Hiker, by Gender
Men’s Race
Women’s Race
Race, by Age Group
Bike
Cheeso Double
Chris Mallory Returns to SVSEF as Cross Country Gold Team Head Coach
The Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation is pleased to welcome Chris Mallory back to the organization as head coach of the SVSEF Cross Country Gold Team. Mallory returns to the Wood River Valley after a three-year stint at the University of Vermont, where he was the Catamounts’ Cross Country Team assistant coach. Mallory assumes his new role out west following the departure of Gold Team coach Colin Rodgers, who has accepted the position of program director for the Green Mountain Valley School Cross Country program in Waitsfield, Vermont.
Rick Kapala, SVSEF Cross Country program director, commented, “We are really excited to have Chris returning to our SVSEF Cross Country program. Chris has a track record of demonstrated success at every level and he brings the depth of knowledge combined with a high energy work ethic that is critical for success at the Gold Team level.”
Growing up, Mallory skied out of Colchester, Vermont, before racing for the University of New Hampshire, where he received a bachelor of science degree in recreation management and policy in 2005. According to the University of Vermont, he was a member of the UNH ski team all four years and a captain for two years – Mallory earned All-EISA honors two times, and twice was an Academic All-American. After college, he was an invaluable member of the SVSEF cross country staff for eight years as the Post Grad Team Head Coach and as an assistant coach for the Comp Team, prior to coaching at UVM.
Mallory will be working with a number of athletes at SVSEF who he has already had the opportunity to coach; former UVM skiers Jack Hegman and Cole Morgan are new to the SVSEF Gold Team this year, and returning teammate Rogan Brown also skied under Mallory while racing for UVM. Earlier in his career, he coached another Gold Team athlete, Annie Pokorny, when she skied for SVSEF as a junior racer.
Mallory said, “It’s exciting to be back with the SVSEF program, which has an amazing ski community behind it. I’m looking forward to the challenge of heading the Gold Team program. There is a strong, deep team assembled there this season, and it will be fun to see where the athletes can take themselves.”
SVSEF Welcomes New Staff to the Team
Chuck Harris, Alpine Men’s FIS Prep Program Head Coach
SVSEF welcomes Chuck Harris to the program, who comes to us with over 20 years of coaching experience. Harris will fill the new role of the Alpine Men’s FIS Prep Program Head Coach. To further define and support the FIS Team going into the 2016-2017 season, the Alpine Team has conscientiously delineated programming, and has added a Men’s FIS Prep Program.
Harris was born in Portland, Oregon, and attended Eastern Oregon University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in history. He proceeded to direct and lead ski programs across the country, thereby gaining ample familiarity with various programs and with different approaches to coaching and FIS programming, specifically. From 1994 through 1999 he was the Men’s FIS Coach at Burke Mountain Academy in Vermont, and from 1999 through 2002 he coached both Men’s and Women’s FIS for Ski Club Vail in Colorado. He continued his travels westward, acting as the McCall Ski Racing Team Program Director for FIS/U16 from 2002 through 2014 in Idaho and the head U16 coach at Jackson Hole Ski Club in Wyoming from 2014 through 2016.
SVSEF is eager to have Harris on board. SVSEF Alpine Program Director Scott McGrew remarked, “His attention to detail, adept technical knowledge, and commitment to athletic and character development will be a great value to our club and we are excited to welcome Chuck into our community.”
Pat Lee, Snowboard Team Manager
Pat Lee, originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is stepping into a new role for SVSEF as Snowboard Team Manager. In this position, Lee will oversee the Snowboard Team operations, as well as coach within the program. The position is embedded in the entire Pipe and Park Program, which is under the leadership of Tyler Conway. Lee attended Sierra Nevada College in Lake Tahoe where he earned his bachelor’s degree in international business. Lee has been a competitive freestyle snowboarder for over a decade. His enthusiasm for winter sports has resonated with his prior occupations; Lee has been a Smith Sport Optics athlete, a member of the operations crew for Prospecting Idaho (a Smith Optics web series/private snow cat operation) for four years, and has worked for the U.S. Snowboard Team in Grand Prix events operations and as head of operations and branding for the Rev Tour. Lee was a coach for SVSEF in 2008, and is looking forward to rejoining the program. Said Lee, “I am truly excited to join the SVSEF snowboarding program, and look forward to working with the talented kids and staff. I am fire up to help the athletes set goals and work towards achieving and developing the skills necessary to exceed their expectations. I love snowboarding and feel it is important to pass the tradition down to future generations.”
Chris Mallory, Cross Country Gold Team Head Coach
Chris Mallory returns to SVSEF and the Wood River Valley after a three-year hiatus, during which time he coached for cross-country powerhouse, the University of Vermont. Mallory will be replacing fellow Vermonter Colin Rodgers as head coach for the SVSEF Cross Country Gold Team, as Rodgers is returning to Vermont to assume the role of Green Mountain Valley School Cross Country Program Director. Mallory grew up racing first out of Colchester, Vermont, and then for the University of New Hampshire. Rick Kapala, SVSEF Program Director, said of Mallory’s hire, “We are really excited to have Chris returning to our SVSEF Cross Country program. Chris has a track record of demonstrated success at every level and he brings the depth of knowledge combined with a high energy work ethic that is critical for success at the Gold Team level.”
Erika Rixon, Director of Academics
Erika Rixon is transitioning from the role of Alpine North Series Head Coach to the SVSEF Director of Academics. In this position, Rixon will act as a liaison between SVSEF and the local school systems to better support athletes in balancing school and SVSEF athletics. Rixon will work with school counselors to develop programs that allow athletes to get adequate training while at the same time keeping up with their credit requirements for graduation. Rixon is no stranger to the other side of the equation, with a background in coaching since the 2007-2008 season, and having been a successful student-athlete herself. Rixon grew up skiing in the east before she attended the University of Colorado and the University of Utah for her undergraduate degree in sociology, during which time she also raced for the NCAA Alpine Ski Team. Rixon earned a M.A. in sport and performance psychology in 2012 from the University of the Rockies. With SVSEF, Rixon was an assistant coach for the U18-U21 program, before moving into the position of Head Women’s FIS coach. In the 2014-2015 season she traveled the World Cup circuit as a coach for Hailey Duke, before returning to SVSEF in her role as North Series Team Head Coach. Said Rixon on the importance of this program, “I watched so many kids phase out of skiing after years and hours of commitment and dedication for various reasons, but one is often times that school is hard to manage with how much is missed. Therefore, I look forward to the opportunity to make sure that the kids are getting the best of both worlds, education and ski, while recognizing that their ski career can be involved in their lives even after SVSEF.”
Program Start Dates
Please note the start date below for your specific program; if you have any questions, please contact your coach or call the office at (208) 726-4129.
Alpine FIS: September 6
Alpine USSA: September 6
Alpine Intermountain: October 3
Alpine North Series: October 10
Alpine Mini World Cup: October 10
Alpine Devo: November 1
Alpine LASAR: January 11
Cross Country Comp: May 1
Cross Country Prep: October 17
Cross Country Lake Creek Devo: October 31
Cross Country Croy Devo: November 29
Freeskiing Travel A: November 1 (Dryland is available in the Fall at no extra fee)
Freeskiing Travel B: November 1 (Dryland is available in the Fall at no extra fee)
Freeskiing Comp Home: December 1 (Dryland is available in the Fall at no extra fee)
Freestyle A and B: November 1 (Dryland is available in the Fall at no extra fee)
Freestyle Comp Home: December 1 (Dryland is available in the Fall at no extra fee)
Freestyle/Freeskiing Prep Team: December 2 on snow; dryland at the Airbarn is available in November for an additional fee
Freestyle/Freeskiing Devo Team: Early December on snow; dryland at the Airbarn is available in November for an additional fee
2016-2017 Gold Team Preview
A bizarrely sizeable portion of my tenth year around the sun was spent practicing my autograph on soccer balls, so I would have it down pat when the U.S. National Team decided they wanted me to join the lineup. Despite the absurdity of this rehearsal of sorts, I do not think my dreams of glory and prestige in athletics were an anomaly to those of the general public. But despite the draw of making a living competing in a sport you love, hardly any of us end up taking the chance and making the sacrifices to try to turn those ambitions into reality. To do so takes immense self-discipline, a good amount of natural, raw talent and unsurpassed levels of dedication to the sport. It is a steep and unpredictable mountain to conquer, if you consider the odds, but one that the SVSEF Gold Team athletes here in Sun Valley are tackling in full force.
At SVSEF, there are thirteen athletes who have taken the leap and are pursuing their dreams of competing at a high level in their respective sports. This foray into competitive, professional athletics is far from easy; each athlete is training constantly but often holds down another job, and there are numerous side projects that have become required in order to make it in the industry – one must have a prominent social media presence, secure sponsors and write blog posts or make appearances at events that engage their specific sport, to name a few of the additional demands.
The Gold Team, originally called the Olympic Development Team, was incorporated into SVSEF in 2005. The program was founded with the intention of assisting athletes who have risen to compete at national and international levels; athletes receive financial assistance and access to top-tier training environments. Their involvement in the local community encourages healthy active lifestyles for the younger SVSEF athletes and greater knowledge and support of snow sports.
Some of the SVSEF Gold Team athletes were born and raised in the Wood River Valley. Others spent a brief period of time here to train or race, and still others are completely new to the program. Regardless, a few constants remain true across the board; these skiers and snowboarders are full-time athletes who are dedicated to sharing their enthusiasm and appreciation for the sport both here in our community and to a broader audience across the U.S. and the world.
Eight athletes form the Cross Country Gold Team – of these, four are new to the team this year. It’s a strong group of skiers who have seen success at the collegiate level and beyond – with the caliber of these athletes, the team is looking cohesive and competitive this season. Head Coach Colin Rodgers laid out the principal team goals for this season:
Cole, Jack and Kelsey will be gunning for the U-23 World Championships which will be hosted by Soldier Hollow in Midway, UT. Qualification will be dependent upon results at the U.S. Championships in January. It will be exciting to have these athletes have the opportunity to pursue a World Championship birth on American soil!
Older athletes will be targeting U.S. Nationals, also to be held at Soldier Hollow in January 2017 – and then if those races go well they may be named to the U.S. World Championship Team. Lahti, Finland will be hosting the championships this year in February.
Returning from previous seasons with the Gold Team are Matt Gelso, Rogan Brown, Mary Rose and Deedra Irwin. The new athletes you will see out on the trails, cruising along on a distance ski or pounding out a set of intervals, are Jack Hegman, Cole Morgan, Kelsey Phinney and Annie Pokorny.
Veteran Matt Gelso has been skiing with the SVSEF Gold Team for six years, since graduating from the University of Colorado. He has raced throughout Europe and the U.S. and has competed at FIS World Cups and the FIS World Ski Championships. Gelso has garnered top three results at U.S. National Championships, and won an NCAA individual championship. Gelso hopes to make it to the World Ski Championships again this February.
Rogan Brown, originally from Durango, Colorado, is 24 years old and received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University of Vermont, where he was a member of the ski team. His main goals this season are to improve his sprint racing and land on the podium at U.S. Nationals this January, which will take place in Utah. Having lived in the Wood River Valley for two years, Brown is “continually impressed by its unity and ski culture.”
Mary Rose also grew up skiing in Colorado, in Steamboat Springs and then for the University of Colorado at Boulder. Since graduating, Rose has posted competitive results, setting her up for elite racing opportunities. In 2014, she competed at the Under-23 World Championships, multiple Scandinavian Cup races, Europa Cup races and Europa (OPA) Cup Finals. The following season, she had two top 10 finishes at the U.S. National Championships, qualifying her for the U.S. Ski Team’s OPA Cup trip in Central Europe. Domestically, Rose has been successful on the SuperTour circuit, with a win, a second place and a fifth place finish. This season, Rose is focusing on the SuperTour circuit, where she will look to qualify for the FIS World Cup and World Championships.
The fourth returning cross country Gold Team skier is Deedra Irwin, who hails from Wisconsin. This will be Irwin’s second season with the Gold Team; last year, she led the charge for the female athletes, with multiple top 15 results, a few top 10 results, and a win in both the Elite Birkebeiner Sprints and the American Classic Birkebeiner in Hayward, Wisconsin. In 2015, Irwin qualified to compete in Almaty, Kazakhstan as part of the U23 World Junior Team. The athlete went to school at Michigan Technological University, where she majored in exercise science, minored in international Spanish and coaching, and competed on the cross country running, track and cross country ski teams. Going into this season, Irwin will be concentrating on classic sprinting.
New to the team this year are former University of Vermont skiers, Jack Hegman and Cole Morgan. Hegman is originally from Huntington, Vermont, and studied Computer Science at UVM. He is a three-time NCAA All-American and has represented the U.S. at the World Junior Championships. Hegman’s current and former teammate Cole Morgan is from Bozeman, Montana, and skied for UVM after a post-graduate year skiing for SVSEF back in 2012. Morgan was the third American in the 2015 U.S. National Championships classic sprint, and has been named to two World Junior Championships teams. This season he is focusing on the U23 World Championships in Soldier Hollow, Utah.
The other two new recruits to the Cross Country Gold Team also attended school in Vermont; both skied for Middlebury College. Kelsey Phinney grew up in Boulder, Colorado, and attended Middlebury, where she studied neuroscience. Phinney skied for the U.S. at the U23 World Championships this past winter in Romania, and has her sights set on U23 Worlds in Utah this season. Her teammate Annie Pokorny skied for Middlebury but is originally from the West, where she grew up racing between Park City, Utah, and Spokane, Washington. She joined SVSEF as a junior in high school in 2009 and attended the Community School. At Middlebury, Pokorny majored in philosophy, was an NCAA All-American, a three-time member of the U.S. U23 World Championship team, and raced on Europe’s Scandinavian and Europa Cup circuits.
Returning to the Gold Team alpine lineup are Tanner Farrow and Kipling Weisel. Both athletes grew up skiing with SVSEF. Farrow has been involved with SVSEF since he was eight years old; he recently turned 23. The athlete attended Wood River High School and was named to the U.S. Ski Team on his 18th birthday – he has spent the past four seasons competing at the Nor Am and Europa Cup level. Although he was not renamed to the U.S. Ski Team at the completion of the 2015-2016 season, he will continue to pursue skiing at the World Cup and Olympic levels. Farrow recently accepted an offer to compete for the University of Denver, whose ski team is the reigning NCAA national champion. Kipling Weisel, also a SVSEF alum, now skis for Dartmouth College and is a member of the U.S. Alpine C Team. Last season he posted strong results, finishing 16th overall on the NorAm circuit and earning six top 10 results. At the U.S. Alpine Championships here in Sun Valley this past March, Weisel finished ninth in alpine combined and was the third junior racer overall in the event. He will graduate from Dartmouth in 2018.
In the snowboarding world, SVSEF Gold Team member Chase Josey continues to impress. Josey grew up snowboarding for SVSEF here in Sun Valley. The athlete had standout results throughout last season, with a second place finish at the Mammoth Mountain Grand Prix and a bronze medal in halfpipe at X Games Oslo. In 2015 he won the renowned Red Bull Double Pipe.
Gold Team freeskier Jacob Beebe has proven to be a promising competitor, and he has many years ahead of him as a seventeen-year old. Beebe is on the U.S. Rookie Halfpipe Team and resides in Bend, Oregon, where he attends Summit High School. In 2016, Beebe was 12th in the halfpipe at X Games Oslo and fifth at the Aspen Snowmass Freeskiing Open Halfpipe. His goals for this coming season are to qualify for X Games Aspen and to make finals at Dew Tour and Grand Prix events.
Rounding out the Gold Team is freeskier Tai Barrymore. Barrymore grew up in Sun Valley and graduated from Wood River High School in 2010; he was a skier for SVSEF beginning his junior year of high school. The 24-year old took first place at the Copper Mountain Grand Prix World Cup in 2012, second place at the Killington Dew Tour in 2013, is a four-time X Games athlete and seven-time Dew Tour athlete. Barrymore participated in every Olympic qualifier in 2014 for Sochi. The athlete suffered a torn ACL last year and is eager to get back into competition this season.
We are excited to see what the 2016-2017 season has in store for our Gold Team athletes; we know they will do big things, and we are glad to be along for the ride.
If you are interested in supporting SVSEF Gold Team athletes, there is a fundraiser on August 16th whose proceeds benefit the Gold Team. For more information about the Golf for Gold Tournament, please visit the website at svsef.org or contact Jody Zarkos with questions (jody@svsef.org, 208-726-4129 ext. 102).
Haig Glacier Camp: Life on Ice
Beneath billowing clouds and amongst the giants of the Canadian Rockies, SVSEF Comp and PG cross country skiers have had the Haig Glacier to themselves for a week of training.
A brief glimpse at life on the glacier. That fresh mountain air will do you good.
Chasing Winter
With summer in Sun Valley, dreams of fresh snowfall, smooth turns and uniform corduroy are undoubtedly replaced by those of brown powder, refreshing alpine lakes and late nights on the patio. But for the SVSEF Alpine USSA Team, snow is never far from the mind. To tide them over until our own mountains are again blanketed in powder, a group of 30 athletes headed to Mammoth Mountain in California to take advantage of the snow that still graces the slopes. The athletes were treated to great hill space and amazing weather for the majority of the trip. The focus of the eight-day camp was slowing things down and getting back to building a fundamental skiing base, an important component to revisit. Coach Will Brandenburg concluded, “it was a super fun and productive camp and I’m stoked about the skiing I was seeing at the end of it!”
To take a break from training, the athletes managed to stay active by biking, hiking, playing field games, playing mini golf and adding in some dry land sessions. They wrapped it all up with a movie and some hot springs soaks.
Nordic skiers spend hundreds of days training, and comparatively only a handful of days actually racing – so what is it all about? This is a question that surely crosses the mind of each athlete at least once in awhile, when they’re struggling to feel good during a workout or when there seems to be no end in sight to the intervals and lifting sessions and long training blocks.
The Bend Camp, which the SVSEF Nordic program has worked into their summer program for around 30 years, is a time to reset and to remember the benefits and joys inherent in training. It’s an exciting jump start to the summer; a chance for the younger, newer skiers to integrate into the life and times of Comp Team, for Prep Pro skiers to get in some workouts together and for the athletes to remember that it’s possible for the process to be simultaneously fun and memorable and challenging. It’s an opportunity to recalibrate and reinvigorate training goals, and move forward into the rest of the dry land season with new energy and awareness.
“The door you’re trying to unlock with training is to get fit enough that you can move through the landscape and be strong enough to do it; not necessarily because you’re trying to compete in every workout, but this level of fitness provides access to all these other experiences.” Nordic Program Director Rick Kapala, who says this with such facility and conviction, worked with coaches Ashley Knox, Kristen Monahan and Kelley Sinnott to orchestrate a memorable summer camp.
The group spent the first six days in Bend, getting some on-snow time at Mount Bachelor. SVSEF was joined by athletes from West Yellowstone and Jackson Hole. Despite less than ideal snow conditions on the nordic trails, the team was able to take the chairlift to ski mid-mountain, where the groomers provided decent terrain. Afternoons were spent dry land training in the Bend area. This stint was followed by a trek to the Oregon coast, specifically Pacific City, for surf sessions in the morning and dry land sessions in the afternoon for an additional three days. The surfing ultimately amounted to tumbling around in the waves; both this and running in the forest with gigantic moss-covered trees were a welcome change to the geography and climate of the Intermountain West, and were a fitting end to kick off summer training.
The Alpine Team sets off for a two-week training camp in New Zealand this Thursday, July 21. A group of Nordic Comp Team athletes is currently training on the Haig glacier in Canada, which just received a whopping foot of snow. The team will stay for a week before returning to Sun Valley.