Three AFD athletes, Riley and Casey Rose and Andrew Pollard flew up to the Northwest for 3 days of competition at Crystal Mountain. These boys are all 12 and 13 and competed against a field of boys up to age 17. Friday was a qualifier event for the first Jr. Big Mountain National Championship. The AFD boys ruled the day. Casey was 9th, Riley tied Leo Ahrens (another Alta local) for 2nd place and Andrew won the day and the “Rabid Raven” award the most impressive air of the day.

Friday was the first day of the championship event which took place on some of Crystal Mountains most awesome terrain, the Throne Chutes: Steep, long, firmer snow, and gray light. The boys all had solid runs however, and were poised to make some moves on the final day.

Saturday the venue was the best the Northwest has to offer: the Silver King. It was a tough 30 minute hike to the top of the peak. Once up there it almost seemed more desirable to hike back down. This venue was steep and technical with a multitude of fun terrain features. We had the only piece of blue sky within miles right over the venue. The boys really made us proud with smart yet attacking runs on the King. Riley came up short on solid back flip attempt to place 18th. Casey skied the best run of his life and the 12 yr. old came in 12th. Andrew with a consistent and solid approach all weekend ended up 5th. These young boys earned the respect and admiration of all the older competitors.

Our next competition was the 1st annual Targhee Tee Off for Big Mt. skiers age 11 – 17. We had 8 skiers make the trip: Megan Wood, Ashley Edgette, Mackenzie Epperson-Valum, Mac Kirkpatrick, Casey and Riley Rose, Sean Roberds and Hobie Kilgore.

It all started out with 45 competitors (10 of which were girls). The skiers had to hike 30 minutes to the top of the venue. Inspection day was cold and windy and the skiers were not too happy to have to hike the long way - except for Sean who seems to be able to hike forever AND carried an extra set of skis.

Day one included another inspection hike as well as the first run of the competition. The skiers were getting tired from the grueling hike, which definitely made the skiing tough. They cut 12 skiers after the first day, but ALL of the AFD skiers made it to the finals on Sunday. The finals consisted of 2 runs. Final results were based on all 3 runs.

On the day of the finals Grand Targhee provide a snowcat to take the competitors to the top. AFD did awesome with all of the our kiers finishing in the top 10 of their divisions.

Girls 11 – 14: Mackenzie 2nd
Girls 15 – 17: Ashley 2nd, Megan 4th
Boys 11 – 14: Riley 4th, Casey 5th, Hobie 7th, Sean 9th
Boys 15 – 17: Mac 9th

   The Alta School, our one room schoolhouse at Alta, has a number of 9 – 12 year old students competing in the USSA Intermountain South/North Series. This is the top level of racing in this age group. These young athletes train and compete with the Snowbird Ski Team and do all of their free skiing at Alta. Grant Howard, Cade Howlett, Patrick McManus and Luke Mathers competed in the USSA South/North Series of races this season. Cade, Grant and Patrick were all brave enough to take this step up after only one season of ski racing. Bryce and Chris Astle, former Alta School students, also in their second year of racing joined them in the South Series. These boys and Luke Mathers made such an impact on the Snowbird Ski Team and the South Series of races with their skiing abilities that they are affectionately known as “The Alta Boys”.

   Luke Mathers, Alta resident and Alta School student, age 10, dominated the J5 age group in the South/North Series of racing this season. Luke is the Overall Intermountain Champion, scoring a first place in slalom and second place in GS. The Intermountain Championship included the fastest qualifying racers from Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. In the Utah State Finals Luke placed first in slalom, first in GS and first in Kombi making him Utah State Champion in all three events.