BC Alpine names 13 skiers to the 2022 BC Training Group

by BCAadmin | Jul 22, 2022 | Featured Stories

BC Alpine announced the addition of six young women and four young men from across the province to the BC Training Group, a major stepping stone towards BC Ski Team selection.

All newcomers to the provincial system, the 10 skiers represent five ski clubs: Whistler Mountain Ski Club qualified four, Grouse-Tyee Ski Club three, Big White Racers, Sun Peaks Alpine Club and the Vernon Ski Club, each with one a piece.

The 10 ski racers will join three returning members – Tait Jordan (WMSC), Dylan Timm (FAST) and Heming Sola (Apex/OST) – throughout the summer and preparation phase. 

The BCST for the 2022-23 season will be named in November.

“We are very proud of the athletes in BC and of the rich history for excellence and performance among our racers,” said Anders Hestdalen, the BC Alpine CEO. “More than a third of national team athletes come from BC and our coaches and athletes are tirelessly working to continue that success.”

Six young women “pushing hard”

Montana Molyneux returns to the BCST staff this season but in a new role as the head coach of the women’s program.

“It’s been amazing to have this group come together to push each other and themselves out of their comfort zones and work hard,” said Molyneux. “This is a great group of young women and they are working hard to establish a strong team culture.”

The women’s group will continue training in Whistler “focusing on building their bodies, mindsets, and their team’s culture,”and have an on snow camp scheduled in Europe in early September.

Mix of youth and experience for men’s group

According to BCST men’s head coach Morgan Pridy the men’s group is brimming with potential along with stability from the returning skiers.

“It’s still early but our training group athletes are figuring out each day a bit more about what kind of work it will take to be prepared for our upcoming on-snow camps in the late summer and fall,” said Pridy. “We are really fortunate to have a strong veteran presence in TJ (Tait Jordan), Heming (Sola), and Dyl (Dylan Timm) to lend an assist in showing them the ropes and hopefully aiding in a smooth transition from training group to the BCST in the future.”

Some BCST members are not returning to the team. “A heartfelt goodbye and thank you to Nathan Romanin (WMSC), Heiko Ihns (RMR) and Gerrit Van Soest (VSC) for their years of commitment and leadership; we wish them all the luck in the world with their future endeavours which they will undoubtedly crush,” said Johnny Crichton, BC Alpine VP Athletics. 

Pre season training for the men’s group will include an on-snow camp in Chile for four weeks in late August to late September at El Colorado. “Elevation is about 11,000 feet so the training prior to this is very important if we actually want to be able to train at that elevation,” said Pridy who will be joined by returning coach Dustin Koepke.

In October the group will train at the “Ice Box” (indoor skiing) in Austria as well as some glacier training in Germany.

BC Ski Team:

• Dylan Timm (2002) Fernie Alpine Ski Team (Fernie)
• Heming Sola (2003) Apex Ski Club/Okanagan Ski Team (Summerland)
• Tait Jordan (2002) Whistler Mountain Ski Club (North Vancouver)

BC Women’s Training Group:

• Shayna Little (2005) Big White Ski Club/Okanagan Ski Team (Kelowna)
• Mila Plavsic (2004) Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club (Vancouver)
• Talyn Lorimer (2004) Sun Peaks Alpine Club (Kamloops)
• Erin Husken (2005) Whistler Mountain Ski Club (North Vancouver)
• Alexa Brownlie (2005) Whistler Mountain Ski Club (Whistler)
• Ella Kaufmann (2005) Whistler Mountain Ski Club (North Vancouver)

BC Men’s Training Group:

• Sascha Gilbert (2004) Whistler Mountain Ski Club (Whistler)
• Graeme Eder (2005) Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club (Coquitlam)
• Dylan Stevens (2004) Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club (North Vancouver)
• Oliver Young (2004) Vernon Ski Club/Okanagan Ski Team (Coldstream)

Coaching Staff:

• Morgan Pridy, Men’s Head Coach
• Montana Molyneux, Women’s Head Coach
• Dustin Koepke, Men’s Coach

For more information:

Johnny Crichton
BC Alpine VP Athletics
johnny@bcalpine.com
(250) 371-7754 

Girls Fast Forward camp inspires nearly 60 female skiers from across BC

by BCAadmin | Apr 28, 2022 | Featured Stories

When 58 female ski racers from all over the province descended on Sun Peaks last week, the energy and willingness to learn was at an all-time high.

The all-female coaching staff – along with special guest national team skiers Cassidy Gray and Sam Mulligan – packed in a high volume of on-snow training, guest presentations, video analysis, tech talks, and pretty much anything that could be crammed into three intense and rewarding days.

A total of 11 coaches, including club program directors and age coaches, BCST staff and the guest coaches, lead the athletes over the three days with on-snow work and off-hill instruction and presentations.

According to GFF lead coach Montana Molyneux (Coach Monty), some of the highlights included working alongside Cassidy Gray, who was part of the Canadian team that won gold in the world junior parallel race at Panorama earlier this season, as well as a 60 person synchro and human slalom.

“We started by going back to the basics on snow and slowing it down and working on their position over their ski over a high volume of runs,” said Coach Monty.  “And the Tech Talks and video with Cassidy were a big hit and as well recovery and visualization training with Rebekah Smiley (GFF coach and SPAC coach).”

The GFF camp was kicked off by a message from Erin Mielzynski, who recently retired from the World Cup, to set the tone for a productive and learning based camp.