AERIALS

PCSS hosted two aerials NorAms, Junior Nationals and US Championships in January with podiums at all three events. PCSS athletes Tasia Tanner and Derek Krueger earned World Cup starts at Deer Valley and Ben Coletta, Connor Curran and Karenna Elliott were invited to forerun the event. There are two more NorAms this month (Feb 13 & 14) at the Utah Olympic Park! Go Team Aerials!

Big Mountain

Several big mountain team athletes recently completed their Level 1 and Level 2 avalanche courses along with a companion rescue course. In light of the avalanche fatalities very close to home, these teams want to spread avalanche awareness to our community. In programming news, Alli Macuga has been invited to the Freeride Junior World Championships hosted in Verbier, Switzerland.

Cross country 

PCSS Cross Country has been laser focused on introducing more local youth to cross country and increasing participation in our programs. We have added a Club Team for high schoolers, continued to expand our development programs, and recently piloted a “mini-glider’s” program for 4-6 year old’s. Next week we will introduce the Shredders program to cross country skiing and will wrap up YSA programs. We have more than 200 local athletes skiing and training with us!

We have also been fortunate this season that some of the most competitive races in the country have been held in Utah, greatly reducing how much we travel during the pandemic. Two PCSS Cross Country skiers, Wes Campbell and Sidney Bennion qualified for Biathlon World Juniors on February 27 - March 6th in Obertilliach, Austria based on qualifying events at Soldier Hollow. This is the 1st time ever that PCSS athletes have qualified for this prestigious event. The comp team recently traveled to Bozeman and will go to McCall on February 12th. 

A great way to introduce youth to cross country racing is through the local Wasatch Citizen's Series. We had more than 35 PCSS skiers compete on January 23rd, more than any other local club, most of whom were new to racing.

MOGULS

Team Moguls hosted the Intermountain Division Freestyle regional event on Hyeway at the Utah Olympic Park on January 17 & 18.

• Kylie Kariotis came in first overall on day one and second overall on day two.
• Jackson Crockett came in second overall on day one with Julien Markewitz in fourth.
• Slader Rodman, Joey Kavas, Charlie Price, August Davis, and Kaia Warn all competed and did well.
• Slader went on to take second overall in dual moguls at the subsequent regional event in Sun Valley, ID.

The team had their first FIS event in Winter Park, CO.

• Jackson Crockett laid down two top-to-bottom runs earning him FIS points
• Kylie Kariotis blew everyone away by skiing into the Super Finals amongst a stacked field full of US Ski Team and World Cup athletes.

SKI JUMPING/Nordic combined

The new year is off to a great start with for PCSS's Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined team. We've been introducing a number of kids to the sport with Get Out and Play, PCSShredders, and try-it days for other PCSS athletes.  

Many of our club members participated in a trip to Steamboat, CO for a competition against the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club. Our athletes left with a smile on their faces, great jumps under their belt, and a dozen medals won in the jumping and nordic combined comps. 

Many of our new jumpers are continuing to jump for the rest of the season, and we're excited to be building our program up!

snowboard (freeride and Snowboardcross)

Local training is ongoing and has not experienced any interruption, and coaches are seeing great progress at all levels within the program!  Two PCSS Snowboardcross athletes have been competing at World Cups in Valmalenco, ITA, and upcoming events in Reiteralm, Austria and Tbilisi, Georgia.

ALPINE

Training has been fantastic at both PCM and at the UOP! Hyeway, the UOP training venue, opened for early season access in mid November providing our athletes access to one of the best and most challenging training surfaces in the country. Similarly, the race venue at PCM is up and running. Huge thanks to our partners at PCM for keeping our skiers training and competing at home. 

Program Notables: 

FIS Men:

• Aspen DH and SG Races 1/13-16
• Benny Brown: 1st & 4th SG, 3rd & 4th DH
• Gunnar Travis: 5th & 7th SG, 5th & 6th DH
• Jake Rogers: 7th & 8th SG. 9th & 9th DH
• Stefan Brennwald: 8th SG
• TJ Weaver: 11th SG, 10th & 11th DH

FIS Women:

Snowking WR FIS Tech Series, 1/22-24

• Mia Hunt: 6th & 8th SL,
• Maddie Kaiserman: 8th GS

National FIS Rankings:

• Benny ranked 3rd for his age group in DH and SL, 4th is SG
• Gunnar ranked 8th for his age group in GS and 9th  in SL, 6th in SG
• Stefan ranked 8th for his age group in SG, 6th in DH
• Maddie is ranked 5th for her age group in GS, 11th in SG
• Fiona is ranked 12th for her age group in GS, 8th in SG
• Mia is ranked 7th for her age group in SL, 9th is GS

U12-U16

At the Wes Barron series in Jackson, the U16 and FIS athletes won all but one race of the series and had several top 15 performances. Cole Potter won the first men's race and Jonathan Brain won the second and third races, which put him in the lead for the Bryce Astle IMC Overall award that is given at the end of the season. On the ladies side, Carly Hamilton and Arkie Lennon each won a race.

At the U14 level, athletes competed in Sun Valley at their first qualifier. Although conditions were challenging, Maisie Kostuchenko earned a podium spot in the GS and Jack Morris was on the podium in the slalom.

At the U12 and under level, athletes from the U12, Devo, and part time programs dominated the field at Snowbird. Ford Jensen and Oscar Hochman had overall wins at the series.

South Series Groups Devo/ U12/U14 & U12 groups

Snowbird South Series 1/27-29

The South Series had to change its race format this year due to COVID-19 quota restrictions. Therefore, athletes are broken into different groups throughout the series rather than racing all together. For this reason, it is hard to say exactly how well our athletes stack up against the competition but all the athletes are skiing well and had a good series. We were especially excited to see how well our Part Time athletes performed on the 29th.

Devo Freestyle

The Devo team just finished a month of moguls and are now starting to transition into park and pipe for the month of February. At the end of February, there are a few athletes who will be competing in their first big mountain competition at Park City Mountain.

PCSShredders (Alpine, Ski Jumping, Cross Country, Freestyle): 

To start the season, the shredders spent three weeks doing alpine racing. They are currently finishing up their last week of nordic jumping before moving into two weeks of cross-country skiing. After cross country, our shredders will move into three weeks of freestyle to finish the program. 

The kids have had guest coaches and former Olympians including Eric Schlopy and Billy Demong to help them out and to inspire them in their respective disciplines. 

Thanks to the generosity of the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, several local athletes identified by SOS Outreach received full scholarships to participate in the PCSShredders program!

Park N Pipe

Park and Pipe just completed the USASA/FIS Futures Tour competition in Park City. While working closely with USASA and US Ski & Snowboard, PCSS paved the way for FIS Freeski competitions in the U.S. with the inaugural event of the season. Big thanks to all of the volunteers, mountain staff and officials who went above and beyond to make this happen.

Notable Podium Finishes:

•  James Kanzler 2nd Slopestyle 
• Ellie DeRosier 2nd Halfpipe
• Marley Leavitt 3rd in Slopestyle and Halfpipe

PCSS will be sending more than a dozen athletes to the US Revolution Tour NorAm competitions in Aspen and Copper Colorado February 19 - March 3.