Kathy Stahr | BC Alpine Ski Association

Sign up for Ski Cross Officials Level 2 Course at Fernie WSX event, Feb 21-23

by Kathy Stahr | Jan 16, 2020 | Member News

We are hoping to offer a Level 2 Ski Cross Officials course at the upcoming Western Ski Cross event in Fernie, February 21 to 23, 2020.

The course is 6 hours long, split into two 3-hour evenings.

Prerequisites for participation are (a) Alpine Officials Level 1 course and (b) some previous experience at ski cross events.

The course fee will be $35 per person.

If you are interested, please email BC Alpine Officials Chair Mark Schwenck at marks@bcalpine.com.

PLEASE let Mark know if you prefer Thursday & Friday or Friday & Saturday evenings for the course.

Whistler Hosts U14 Teck Coast Zone SL and Panelled SL to open 2020 season

by Kathy Stahr | Jan 13, 2020 | Member News

PHOTO CREDIT: Andrew Webb

The first U14 Teck Coast Zone Race event of the season was hosted by the Whistler Mountain Ski Club at Whistler Mountain, January 11 and 12, 2020. On Saturday racers were met with freshly groomed snow conditions and sunny skies, while Sunday brought lots of powder, wind and overcast skies. Saturday's planned one-run slalom competitions (2 per gender) went ahead as scheduled, but conditions forced a change in Sunday's schedule from one-run GS races to one-run panelled SL races (2 per gender). WMSC famlies and volunteers welcomed close to 120 competitors from other Coast Zone clubs (Grouse Tyee, Mt. Seymour, Cypress, Hemlock and Mt. Washington) to their season-opener, which was also a qualifier for the 2020 BC Winter Games starting February 20th in Fort St. John.

PHOTO CREDIT: Andrew Webb

"We are feeling satisfied that we pulled off a great U14 race weekend with happy athletes, parents and volunteers," said Chief of Race Sarah Strother. "It's the first WMSC race of the season and several of us were in 'first time' roles. With the help of our senior ranks, we pulled it all together as a team and gained valuable experience for next time! I know we had a lot of volunteers come out for this race; it was terrific to see so many U14 families participating."

CONGRATULATIONS to all the athletes! Below are the top-10 in each race. Complete results can be found HERE

Rank	Bib	Jan 11 Ladies' Race 1 (1 run SL)	Club	YOB	Time
1	23	BUCHHEISTER, Stella	WHIST	2006	47.22
2	15	IRISH, Brooke	GROUS	2006	48.93
3	39	YOUNG, Vanessa	WHIST	2006	49.17
4	45	GILBERT, Lola	WHIST	2006	51.03
5	27	IMREGI, Olivia	WHIST	2006	51.17
6	21	PRETTY, Maeve	GROUS	2006	51.20
7	4	CROSS, Sophia	WHIST	2006	51.35
8	5	DECK STANG, Viveka	WHIST	2006	51.53
9	38	GRIFFIN, Carys	WHIST	2006	52.00
10	17	WARDLE, Madeline	WHIST	2006	52.16

PHOTO CREDIT: Andrew Webb

Rank	Bib	Jan 11 Ladies' Race 2 (1 Run SL)	Club	YOB	Time
1	39	YOUNG, Vanessa	WHIST	2006	47.64
2	15	IRISH, Brooke	GROUS	2006	48.34
3	27	IMREGI, Olivia	WHIST	2006	49.61
4	35	JENSEN, Hannah	WHIST	2007	49.64
5	45	GILBERT, Lola	WHIST	2006	49.73
6	36	SCHENK, Heidi	WHIST	2006	50.00
7	21	PRETTY, Maeve	GROUS	2006	50.10
8	38	GRIFFIN, Carys	WHIST	2006	50.46
9	5	DECK STANG, Viveka	WHIST	2006	50.57
10	55	LI, Annabel	GROUS	2006	51.04

PHOTO CREDIT: Andrew Webb

Rank	Bib	Jan 11 Men's Race 1 (1 Run SL)	Club	YOB	Time
1	74	HUNG, Thomas	GROUS	2006	46.42
2	76	KOKOT, Nick	SEYMR	2007	49.00
3	84	LEGG, Thomas	WHIST	2007	49.45
4	86	GIBBONS, Joseph	WHIST	2006	49.65
5	83	POUGATCH, Andrew	SEYMR	2006	50.00
6	92	REYNOLDS, Carter	MTWAS	2007	51.83
7	101	ECCLES, Flynn	HMLCK	2006	51.96
8	106	ELBURN, Callum	GROUS	2007	52.02
9	98	WENGZYNOWSKI, Kurt	SEYMR	2006	52.40
10	93	KUSS, Addyson	GROUS	2006	52.60

Rank	Bib	Jan 11 Men's Race 2 (1 Run SL)	Club	YOB	Time
1	74	HUNG, Thomas	GROUS	2006	47.96
2	109	AVINI, Pearce Manning	GROUS	2006	48.62
3	76	KOKOT, Nick	SEYMR	2007	49.40
4	84	LEGG, Thomas	WHIST	2007	49.60
5	83	POUGATCH, Andrew	SEYMR	2006	51.71
6	88	AITKEN, Braden	WHIST	2006	52.19
7	114	SALARI, Ihsan	CYPRE	2006	52.44
8	86	GIBBONS, Joseph	WHIST	2006	53.15
9	98	WENGZYNOWSKI, Kurt	SEYMR	2006	53.30
10	108	SARKIS, George	WHIST	2007	53.84

The WMSC wishes to thank the many volunteers who made this weekend a success:

Sarah Strother – Chief of Race

JF Robert – Chief of Course

Lyndsay Lister – Chief of Race Administration

Henry Voss – Chief of Timing

Abbie Milavsky – Chief of Volunteers

Rob Cook – Chief of Slip Crew

Chief of Gates – Alevtina Akbulatov

Starter – Carol Anne Parkhill

Start Referee – Mark Gilbert

Finish Referee – Julian Deck

Social – Selena Packard

Awards – Laurie Grant

Media – Christine Zucht

and many others

FIS Launches World Cup Ski Racing E-Game in App Store & Google Play

by Kathy Stahr | Jan 10, 2020 | Member News

FIS and Session Games are proud to announce the launch of the official E-Game: World Cup Ski Racing, available in the App Store and Google Play. The game is free to download and play, with valuable VIP and Race Passes available for purchase in-app. In the game, you even have the option to race in our OFFICIAL BC Ski Team downhill suit! All revenue from users purchasing the BC Ski Team suit will come back to support ski racing in BC. (WATCH THE GAME TRAILER HERE)

From the developers behind the #1 hit games Snowboarding The Fourth Phase and Bike Unchained, Vancouver-based Session Games delivers a top E-Game experience. Fans of skiing and racing games play in head-to-head competitions against friends and players around the world. Racing is done with a single finger, so it’s easy to learn. Players are matched up against racers of equal ability across twelve divisions, so everyone has a shot at the medals. Players can work their way up from local races to competing for World Cup points on legendary real-life World Cup slopes. (READ FULL ARTICLE ON FIS WEBSITE)

Download for Apple

Download for Google

Warm winter wishes for an enchanted holiday season from our staff and board!

by Kathy Stahr | Dec 16, 2019 | Member News

Happy holidays to our ski racing family from all of us at BC Alpine. Another winter season is upon us and we are very excited!

Photo from BC Alpine website: www.bcalpine.com Last season our membership numbers reached an all-time high, and we saw more athletes participating in races than ever before. That is a testament to the excellent work the clubs are doing. This season we are already ahead of the curve and some of our clubs have shown significant growth in their programs. Well done!

We hosted our 2019 Member Summit at Predator Ridge near Vernon, after 10 years in Kelowna. A change of scenery and a more intimate space made the experience even better, and again we broke the record for attendance by members from all over BC. The Officials Update was held at the same time and we believe everyone benefited from having coaches, club executives, officials, volunteers and even some of our BC athletes in the room together. Having Erik Guay as our keynote speaker was a hit with everyone, and the talk show hosted by Mike Janyk at the banquet was a definite highlight. In 2020 we hope to welcome even more members for this special weekend of learning, sharing, socializing and planning for the next season.

This year’s BC Ski Team has been named and they are already showing some good results, especially Asher Jordan who won a Nor-Am slalom in Colorado and Ella Renzoni who finished 12th in a Nor-Am GS. Unfortunately, we have had some injuries, and we look forward to supporting these athletes as they return to snow. We recognize that there are fewer girls qualifying for the BC Ski Team in recent years. We will continue working with U16 and FIS female athletes to reverse this trend with the goal of putting more girls on the BC Team and preparing them for CAST and World Cup.

This is a big season for BC as we play host to several major events; the U16 Nationals at Sun Peaks, Senior Nationals and Nor-Am finals in Panorama, BC Games at Bear Mountain, Whistler Cup and of course all the other races around the province. Taking on major national events is a lot of work for everyone, but what a great opportunity to showcase our beautiful province as the best place to ski in Canada!

Our Okanagan Zone Chair, Catherine Martin, has stepped down after years of service and countless contributions to skiing, both in her zone and in the province. We thank Catherine for her energy and expertise as we welcome Graham Cope on board to fill her shoes. BC Alpine’s volunteer board is always hard at work behind the scenes, and I wish to thank each one of them for their generous commitment to our sport!

In addition to helping clubs run the best programs in the country and supporting athletes in their quest to reach their full potential as ski racers, our #1 objective this year is to secure sponsorship and funding so we can achieve even greater results and grow the wonderful alpine ski racing community in BC. If you are sitting on a great idea or know someone whose company would be a good fit for us, feel free to contact me and help BC on the path to success.

As always, please reach out to us any time. We are here for all members and strive to be the best provincial sport organization in Canada. Have a great Christmas and see you on the slopes the New Year.

Anders Hestdalen
BC Alpine CEO

The BC Alpine office will be closed for the holidays beginning at noon on Friday, December 20th, and will re-open on Thursday, January 2nd, 2020. We will be checking email periodically during the break. We hope you all have a safe and restful holiday filled with fun, family and lots of snow!

BC Alpine announces 2019/2020 BC Ski Team as race season gets underway!

by Kathy Stahr | Nov 27, 2019 | Member News

BC Alpine is excited to introduce the 2019/20 BC Ski Team athletes. Five returning members, joined by four new talents, have just completed 6 months of serious training, both on and off snow. They are prepped and ready to race!
Frances MacDonald (Grouse Tyee) is back from a knee injury that kept her out of the game last season. She is joined on the ladies' squad by teammate Ella Renzoni (WMSC), both now in their third season with the provincial team.

Marcus Athans (Apex/OST) and Asher Jordan (WMSC) are leading the charge on the men's side, and have welcomed Gerrit van Soest (Vernon/OST), Nathan Romanin (WMSC), Tait Jordan (WMSC) and Heiko Ihns (RMR/KZT). Myles Kowalczyk (WMSC), also named to the team for his third year, is still recovering from an injury sustained at the end of last season.

BC Alpine Head Coach Nick Cooper leads the team again this season, with BC Ski Team coaches Ryan Jazic and Morgan Pridy.

“We have a little bit of everything in this group and it will be fun to see them make strides over the season. I expect big things from our veteran group,” said BC Alpine Head Coach Nick Cooper. “Ella and Marcus have had great prep and are skiing better than they ever had. Frances has had an excellent return-to-snow and is making progress everyday. Asher has already had a fantastic start, winning one of the season opener Nor-Am slaloms, so we expect he’ll continue to build off that and be competitive at future Nor-Ams, Europa Cups and World Juniors. Our rookies have all made big changes in their skiing and we’ll watch for them to continue to build confidence as the year progresses. We have a small coaching staff for the multiple programs we are trying to run at a high level and I’m extremely proud of the work ethic and organizational skills that Morgan and Ryan bring to our team! Working with two professionals that I have complete trust in is the key to keeping things running smoothly. As always we’re excited for the season to begin, the ups, the downs, and all the in betweens!"

“As always, this time of year is very exciting," said BC Alpine VP Johnny Crichton. "All the hard work put in by the athletes and coaches over the prep period will be put the test. Any gaps in our training will become clear and show us what more we need to do. We have a diverse group of athletes, all with different needs. It will be a challenge for our staff to provide the best program for everyone, but that’s exactly what we intend to do – our coaches love a challenge!”

"BC Alpine´s vision is to develop world class athletes and inspire skiers for life", said BC Alpine CEO Anders Hestdalen. "The BC Ski Team athletes are on track to become world class athletes, and it's our mission to provide them with the foundation to win at the World Cup level. We are proud of the athletes on the team, the effort everyone puts in, and to be able to continue the success of the BC Ski Team with such an awesome group of athletes and coaches. Go BC!"

Photo: 2019/20 BC Ski Team (l to r) Marcus Athans, Gerrit van Soest, Heiko Ihns, Nathan Romanin, Ella Renzoni, Frances MacDonald; (missing) Myles Kowalczyk, Tait Jordan, Asher Jordan

CLICK HERE FOR BCST BIOS