BC Alpine launched bcalpine.store, an e-commerce shopify website where users can directly support BC Alpine athletes and programs.
The initial product launch features toques, hoodies, various hats and t-shirts, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to BC Alpine and club programs. The product features the official tagline of BC Alpine “Conquer the Mountain” as well as the BC Ski Team message “Chasing Excellence”, in addition to a collection of BCST products.
“We’ve talked about this for a while now so it’s exciting that we have the store up and running,” said Anders Hestdalen, BC Alpine CEO. “The athletes did an incredible job at the photoshoot and I think they had some fun with it.”
BC Alpine will be adding inventory and new product lines to the store throughout the season.
If you are a BC Alpine member, by now you should have received your Sporting Life Rewards Card in the mail from BC Alpine and Sporting Life.
Use this card to gear up for the season in the latest and greatest outerwear, apparel, equipment, and more from now until September 15, 2023. Before you visit Sporting Life, please make sure to activate your card. Discounts apply online and in-store!
Once you have added the Racer Card to the account, either through the new account creation or add existing card, the Racer Card discount will be visible in your Rewards list.
When shopping online, the option to apply the discount will be available at check out.
When shopping in store, present your Athlete Card or Rewards card to receive the discount.
The top skiers in the province are ready to roll and hungry for ski racing.
After a rigorous and productive pre-season, consisting of physical conditioning and on-snow training on two continents with a training group of 13 skiers, the BC Ski Team coaching staff are optimistic heading into the 2022-23 race season, which kicks off next week at Mt Norquay, Alberta.
Led by three returning skiers named to the BC Ski Team – Dylan Timm, Heming Sola and Tait Jordan – seven newcomers will continue to be part of the BC Training Group for the season. The skiers range from 16 to 20 years-of-age and represent six ski clubs from across the province.
“I’m anticipating this season for the BC Ski Team to be full of excitement,” said Johnny Crichton, BC Alpine VP, while travelling to Colorado with the men’s team. “We have a young and energetic women’s crew who are eager to put all their hard work to the test. Same on the men’s side … they are well prepared, excited and ready to race.”
Crichton mentioned the athletes have extra incentive and opportunity this season with BC hosting both the Canadian Senior National Championships in Kimberley and the Nor-Am Finals at Whistler, in March 2023. “Our teams are really looking forward to capitalizing on those opportunities,” Crichton said.
Women’s squad learning the ropes
According to Montana Molyneux, the BC Women’s Head Coach, the young women’s team have focussed on “developing strong habits positionally and pushing pace with themselves, and with each other.”
“Each athlete contributes so much to this new team, and we are continuing to build together,” she said. “It has been quite exciting to see strong female athletes wearing the BC Alpine patch and we are looking forward to a season of growth on and off the hill!”
The women’s teams had a specific focus on physical conditioning. “We chose to continue our fitness programming through September, which really paid off once we were on snow because it allowed the athletes to push a lot of high quality volume and foundational work,” Molyneux said.
One of the highlights for the women’s team was a trip to Belgium, to an indoor ski facility well suited for hard snow (aka ice) slalom training, followed by a week of training in Saas Fee, Switzerland, for GS training. When the team returned to Canada they had a productive 14-day camp in Panorama. “We were able to have a progressive build on the super-G skis and took advantage of the variety of terrain for a solid slalom block,” Molyneux said.
Both the women’s and men’s team started out the pre-season together in May in Sun Peaks at the BC Alpine MEGA Camp, alongside all ski clubs in the province (the camp is scheduled again for May 2023).
The women’s team is currently at home for a short rest and school block and will be getting ready to race the Norquay series followed by Panorama FIS races in December.
Men’s team ready to race
Morgan Pridy, the returning Men’s Head Coach, said that it has been a productive but challenging pre-season, particularly for the newcomers. “They’ve been working hard and trying to absorb as much as they can,” Pridy said. “ The returning skiers have been progressing well and are really looking like this is a true continuation of last season.”
The men’s team had on-snow camps at El Colorado, Chile, in September, Wittenburg, Germany, in October, in addition to training closer to home at Sun Peaks (in May) and Panorama (November). The team also had physical training testing in Whistler and Kelowna during the prep phase.
“Whether they succeed or fail, they are doing it the right way,” Pridy said when addressing his expectations for the season. “Skiing to your big goals is a long process for both the rookies and the vets. Of course I’m always hoping that things click into place right away but the reality is, we are about to go through the ups and downs of a long competitive season. If they are committed to the details, committed to the work, and find ways to be resilient individually and as a team, then the potential is sky high.”
The men’s team are now at Copper Mountain, Colorado, preparing for the first Nor-Am speed races of the season (two downhill and two super-G), starting this week. For the Training Group skiers it will be their first-ever Nor-Am races. Both teams will reunite in Panorama for the Alberta Cup Christmas series before heading home for the Christmas break.
BC Ski Team 2022-23
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 Training Group 2022-23
Women
Shayna Little (2005) Big White Ski Club/Okanagan Ski Team (Kelowna)
Mila Plavsic (2004) Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club (Vancouver)
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)
Men
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)
“Now What Facilitation” is offering a free workshop to BC Alpine clubs on how to manage conflict, and how to communicate efficiently and effectively. Thank you to viaSport for sponsoring this workshop!
We have reached out to our Club Executives and Program Directors with registration details. If you did not receive this email from BC Alpine, and believe you should have, please contact Keven Dubinsky at kevend@bcalpine.com.
Dates and Times:
The workshop will span two sessions and there are limited spaces available. Entry will be on a first-come first-served basis.
November 10, 2022 from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM
November 12, 2022 from 9:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Workshop Objective:
To provide learners with an experiential opportunity to gain understanding of the theory and skills necessary to support effective communication and conflict management in working within the sport sector.
Workshop Outcomes:
Participants will be confident in anticipating, recognizing, addressing and preventing conflict using direct communication. This will decrease the necessity of third party intervention and mitigate long standing problems from compounding.
To learn more about this workshop, please click link below to download a PDF from Now What Facilitation – Conflict Management and Effective Communication Workshops
Jorgen Anderson, the Apex Ski Club Head Coach, said that after a couple of years of pandemic absence, he’s looking forward to hosting the tradition again.
“It’s like a rite of passage going to these movies. As a skier, and as a little kid, we all went. You would just be so excited because it was as soon as you saw Warren Miller coming out and the movie was coming to your town, that meant that the snow would be close,” he said.
“I think what makes Warren Miller special is he was the first one to do these ski movies.”
The film will be shown on Nov. 10 at Penticton’s Cleland Theatre, with a couple of local businesses set up in the lobby, including neighbourhood brewing.
Apex Mountain Resort GM James Shalman will be the emcee for the evening.
“It was always a part of Apex as a part of the preseason, the build-up to getting excited about the season and now that it’s been absent for a couple of years, I’m hoping that people are excited to get out and be gathered with a bunch of other skiers and people that have the same lifestyle, and old and young,” Anderson added.
Tickets are $20 and are being sold in select stores: ONE Boardshop, Penticton Freeride Boardshop, Neighbourhood Brewing and Ad hoc ahead of the event.
Proceeds from the ticket sales will go towards the Apex Ski Club.
