Member News | BC Alpine Ski Association

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

Ella Renzoni (2000) – Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Frances MacDonald (1999) – Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club
Myles Kowalczyk (2000) – Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Marcus Athans (2000) – Apex Ski Club/Okanagan Ski Team
Asher Jordan (1999) – Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Gerrit van Soest (2001) – Vernon Ski Club/Okanagan Ski Team
Nathan Romanin (2001) – Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Tait Jordan (2002) – Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Heiko Ihns (2002) – Red Mountain Racers/Kootenay Zone Team

Dates & locations of all BC Coach Education events now on BC Alpine Calendar

by Kathy Stahr | Nov 20, 2019 | Member News

We are busy scheduling coach education courses for Entry Level, Development Level and Performance Level. If you're looking for coach education in BC, you'll find dates, locations and all the information you need through BC Alpine's online calendar http://bcalpine.com/calendar/

There are Entry Level courses happening around the province in December 2019! Check the calendar often for updates. For more information, or to schedule Evaluation or Licencing events, please contact our Coach Education Manager John Newton at johnn@bcalpine.com

BC Alpine’s 2019 Member Summit a huge success at Predator Ridge Resort

by Kathy Stahr | Nov 8, 2019 | Member News

BC Alpine members from across the province gathered at the beautiful Predator Ridge Resort near Vernon, November 1 to 3, for three inspiring days of learning, sharing and collaborating. Let the season begin!

In 2018 Anders Hestdalen, CEO of BC Alpine, noted that the Member Summit had broken all attendance records…well, the same can be said about this year’s gathering! The room was packed with coaches, club executives, officials, volunteers, parents and athletes, all participating together in what was arguably our best Summit yet!

Our 2019 Keynote Speaker, and BIG attraction, was of course newly retired CAST World Cup star Erik Guay, the most decorated Canadian ski racer of all time, and new member of the Alpine Canada Board of Directors. Erik captivated the audience every time he took to the stage, candidly sharing stories, answering questions and connecting with everyone in the room. He talked about the important coaches throughout his career, which coaching styles and qualities suited him best, and how different coaches impacted him and allowed him to reach the pinnacle of ski racing in the world.

A huge shout out to the coaches this year! A record 80 people registered and attended the coach meetings on Friday and Saturday. Discussions centered around program design for skill acquisition and moving athletes through the system. BC Ski Team head coach Nick Cooper reported on the 19/20 BC Team pre-season training, and engaged in discussions about some of the gaps they see in skill development from club racer to BC Ski Team athlete. We were pleased to welcome athletes Sam Mulligan (CAST) and Ella Renzoni (BCST) to talk about the challenges they faced when moving up to the next level in their competitive careers.

Mark Tilston, WMSC Program Director, presented the new Course Setting Module that he and BC Alpine VP Johnny Crichton have been developing.

We also enjoyed “Ted Talks” from some BC coaches; Katie Findlay spoke on 'critical self-reflection', Montana Molyneux talked about the value of mentorship in the life of a coach, and World Cup coach Elias Jonsson shared video of some of the world’s best skiers from his time on the circuit.

Jenni Stielow from Alpine Canada took us through the LTAD website that is now up and running, highlighting the many online resources available to clubs, parents and athletes.

On Saturday afternoon more people rolled in for the Member Summit. Anders Hestdalen presented his Annual Report – where BC Alpine is right now relative to our overall Strategic Plan. Last year was an all-time high again, with more than 6,000 registered members. Hestdalen also addressed the need for securing sponsors moving forward, noting that marketing and sponsorship are top priorities for the coming season.

Our other special guest speaker Craig Betts, founder of Alpine Canada sponsor, Solace, entertained the group with a funny and passionate presentation about how he got involved as a sponsor, a link between technology and ski racing, and what he personally has gotten from his relationship with ski racing.
Michael Peters from Sport BC introduced the BC Amateur Sport Fund (formerly NSTF) and explained the excellent fundraising opportunities it represents to BC Alpine clubs.

Our Officials Chair Mark Schwenck addressed the group and took questions ahead of the annual Officials Update scheduled for the next day, also at Predator Ridge.

Saturday night was an amazing evening of celebration, laughs, delicious food (courtesy of the top-notch chefs at Predator Ridge) and connecting with friends, old and new. We thanked and recognized the 2019 Goldie Award recipients and handed out trophies. Then came the highlight of the weekend…the first-ever Saturday night “Talk Show” hosted by BC Alpine, featuring Erik Guay being interviewed by BC’s own Mike Janyk, World Cup slalom silver medalist, World Championship slalom bronze medalist and current Program Director of the Grouse Tyee Ski Club. Words do not do it justice, we experienced something rare and very special between these two friends and teammates. Video of the talk show will be available for those that couldn’t attend.

On Sunday Johnny and Anders went through the needs for the upcoming season and reached out to the clubs to make sure everything is ready for when the snow falls. The Responsible Coaching Movement work that has happened since BC Alpine singed the pledge was presented and clubs offered feedback on how the implementation is working for them.

The official BC Alpine Annual General Meeting business portion of the weekend moved quickly and without a hitch. The Board was elected and is ready to work for the best of alpine ski racing in BC.

We thank you, our members, for all you do for our sport and we look forward to a great season ahead!

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO FIND ALL THE DOCUMENTS AND PRESENTATIONS FROM OUR 2019 MEMBER SUMMIT (more to follow)

BC Alpine Board of Directors
·         Hugh MacNaught, Chair – BC Alpine
·         Doug Jevning, Coast Zone Chair
·         Patrick Kinghorn, Kootenay Zone Chair
·         Philippe Bernier, North Zone Chair
·         Graham Cope, Okanagan Zone Chair
·         Mike Giannelli, Secretary/Treasurer
·         Gordie Bowles, VP Athletics
·         Warren Schindler, VP Finance
BC Alpine Officials Chairs
·         Mark Schwenck, Officials Chair for BC Alpine
·         Bob Walton, Officials Chair – Coast Zone
·         Lloyd Steeves, Officials Chair – Kootenay Zone
·         Jim Martin, Officials Chair – North Zone
·         Graham Cope, Officials Chair – Okanagan Zone

Newest BCST Blog by Morgan Pridy – Wittenburg (aka Indoorsburg) training!

by Kathy Stahr | Nov 7, 2019 | Member News

Marcus Athans in Wittenburg, daydreaming of skiing outside?

One legal definition of inherent vice is "an exclusion found in most property insurance policies eliminating coverage for loss caused by a quality in property that causes it to damage or destroy itself."
Inherent vice in a maritime insurance policy (I imagine it would be the same for a ski team policy) is anything that you can't avoid. Eggs break, chocolate melts, glass shatters.
Murphy's law is an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong".Insanity – noun – extreme foolishness or irrationality

Photo from BC Alpine website: www.bcalpine.com

Inherent vice, Murphy’s Law, and one team’s voyage towards insanity…

It’s crisp, cool and clear. Looks a lot to me like it will be a perfect fall day. The mountain air is fresh and feels like an old friend whom I haven’t embraced in years. There is nothing quite like standing in the mountains to make you feel small in the best ways. It’s peaceful being in the clouds far above the flat land and valley people. A feeling of freedom that can rival anything this world has to offer. My eyes open, and I rub the sleep from them with the palms of my hands. It had been a good dream. As I wind through the hallways, down the stairs and then past reception the dream starts to fade. Every minute that ticks by makes it harder and harder to remember. Eventually I reach the staging area, and by the time I have my boots buckled down the dream is nothing but a lingering feeling, a foggy memory of a memory. I take a breath, open the door, and cross the threshold.

Since being pop cultured is still cultured, I think we can bridge any generational gap for this entry’s layout with one show: Star Trek. It seems like every age has had it’s own Starfleet captain to say the words “these are the voyages of the starship enterprise… Captains log, Stardate whatever”. If you are the one percent that doesn’t know Star Trek just imagine we are talking about Matt Damon in the Martian. Guy does a daily log to keep track of what he’s been up to while he’s stranded on Mars. If you don’t know that one try picturing Tom Hanks stuck on an island, but instead of him shouting WILSONNNNN, imagine he writes a journal to detail his days in solitude.

Wittenburg isn’t Mars, nor is it some undiscovered island, but it may as well be.

October 14th

Mid-Day and its wheels up with our direction pointing us towards indoorland. For once, “wheels up” being the apt term as the landing gear leave the ground and we partake in the modern miracle of flight. Similar to royalty, our team is split onto separate flights taking off from around the country. Dissimilar to royalty, we will all converge at Frankfurt and board the same little plane to take us up to Berlin. It’s been a short turn around from our last tour down south but beneath the mask of jet lag and terrible sleeps on the plane, I can tell the team is excited to get back to it. For some this is a new and different adventure, for others the memories of last season’s indoor excursion is starting to come flooding back.

Some notes on the Berlin Tegal airport: Don’t bother using it. A throwback to when single prop planes were new and exciting and blimps were trendy, it’s a flaked paint, chipped concrete complex that’s left the glory days far behind in it’s rearview. Per our title, this is where I first encountered Murphy and his piece of crap law. Wouldn’t you know it, but two bags didn’t make the connection. I always picture them being sad and lonely sitting on the tarmac under their own tiny personal raincloud. Bags go missing, this isn’t outside the norm and it’s nothing to be so upset about. Except when it’s your backup gates and equipment…

October 16th

4:30 AM and the ceiling is no more interesting than it was thirty minutes ago. Jet lag is in full effect, and it would later be confirmed that that old hag has gone 9 and 0 against the team. Depending how you look at it, it’s a small blessing that indoorsville is no more interesting at 4:30 in the morning than it is any other time of day. As we approach session number 3 skiing in the void, the crew of the SS. British Columbia is looking more at home. It was not so long ago that a few people had forgotten to bring edges with them and slipped and slid down the piste. Now the sound of tears being cried internally was replaced with something more comparable to a toe drag and a quick stop on hockey skates as they maneuvered the ice with increasing ease. Pair that with the gunshots of gates smacking the ice and I’m sure you can almost imagine being there.
Our gates took on a lot of casualties today, shattered and cracked plastic to be collected throughout the session, but nothing to worry about yet. Our only drill battery charger that arrived did decide to combust though… Hopefully tomorrow is the day our bags arrive.

October 18th

The crew of the SS. British Columbia has begun to exhibit cabin fever type behaviors. It’s to be expected when undertaking a voyage in such a strange place, but it always makes me pause and wonder what’s going on in the minds of our intrepid crew. Currently only three of the nine members are still capable of sitting normally in the couches and chairs of the lobby. It began with slouching further and further down into the cushions until only your shoulders and neck are in the seat. It has now progressed to a combination of either laying across as many different chairs as possible (the chairs have arm rests…) or becoming progressively more inverted.Photo right: that's Ella Renzoni in the BC Team jacket inspecting the course

Yesterday the gate situation became dire. It took several hours of Mcgivoring, but we scraped together the two most bush league bundles you’ve ever seen and crossed our fingers that the gates would finally arrive. Of these 40 franken-gate abominations, we still had 2 proper-specification gates. The staff all felt somewhat attached to these two tough sons of bitches and after some debate decided to set them in the safest part of the course (safest for gates), the first gate. Second run they broke… RIP.

This afternoon the clouds parted over Wittenburg (I’m assuming they parted, I still haven’t seen the outside world, spare a few glances out the window atop the ski hill) and DHL hustled our missing gates into the lobby. I don’t think we have ever been so happy building 45 brand new gates.

October 19th

The new gates are all broken. It’s time to get off this ride for a minute and head to Berlin.

October 21st

Thank frick. Energy is returning to the crew as they take a few days of leave from Indoorstown and explore the wonderful city of Berlin. It’s not common that we spend more time than what it takes to drive through a place when we train abroad but with the unwritten but also universal rule that you don’t ever, EVER, spend more than 5 days indoors we broke the trip up with a stopover in the German Capital. When we drove into town we noticed that there were electric scooters littering the streets. Black and silver, lime green, orange, and bright red ones parked on every corner. It turns out the Uber style scooter scene is on and poppin in the east of Germany and that would become our crew’s preferred mode of transportation for the two days. It took exactly 5 minutes for them to start a scooter gang. I was informed by unanimous decision, the red ones were the most “litty”. Red it is. It was a little hard to take it seriously though because right after they tell you which to use they double up, hands on the hips of the guy in front of them and peel out to go find more scooters…

BC guys on scooters in Berlin (l to r) Gerrit van Soest, Asher Jordan, Marcus Athans, Dylan Timm, Tait Jordan, Heiko Ihns; (front) Nathan Romanin

October 23rd

Shore leave is over and it’s all aboard for the second half of our adventure in indoortropalis. As recently stated, there is a well-known, unwritten, but universal rule stating never to spend more than 5 days indoors. We are breaking that rule, breaking it to the point of doubling it. You don’t flirt with physical disaster by any means, but you are definitely making the eyes at mental break down. Hitting on a bit of psychological disruption. Shamelessly laying down the mack on a little extra insanity in your life.

Routine is key to keeping a normal mental state. Structure goes hand in hand with routine. The sun rises, meals happen at similar times, the sun sets. Between that you find a groove and adapt a pattern that will suit your schedule and environment. Here in this unintentional social experiment, constants are removed little by little. The schedule has been the death of a real schedule with our two sessions being moved around constantly. Sometimes it’s 7-9am and 1-3pm, or 11am-1pm and 5-7pm, or even 9-11am and 3-5pm. The fluorescent lighting inside masks the actual hour of day, and each time you step inside into further inside it’s cold, the snow guns are on and it feels like mid morning. As you would imagine, this affects meal times, (something your body can easily recover from) but here lunch and dinner are identical food and your view is, you guessed it, the inside of the ski dome. Another reminder that it’s still noon, because it’s always noon, all damn day… On hill it’s a vacuum for variability, which is why we came so far just to use this steel barn on the flatlands of Deutschland. Skiing though is based on variability and it’s a great way to differentiate days. Oh, it’s sunny and the shadows are pretty big across the run. Oh, it’s cloudy and the light is flat. Oh, it’s windy today. Oh, it’s any temperature other than exactly minus five. Oh, it’s not precisely 72 percent humidity. Oh, the snow isn’t perfectly identical to yesterday. Thing’s blend together real quick when the only external change is the course set. Everyone humming Sir Elton Johns Rocket Man was about as fitting as it gets. Even if it’s for a week straight.

Photo left: Wittenburg dining…with a view…lunch, dinner, yumm?

Progress takes a touch of insanity sometimes. Notes on equipment: Our arrival back to Wittenburg coincided with the shipment of even more gates (yay), and our missing equipment (double yay). We are now playing a game where we are rooting for as many broken gates as possible.

October 24th

We have stopped playing the gate game because all our hinges are exploding. Also, the start for our timing system sheered in two today.

There was a ruckus outside my hotel room window this afternoon. Upon further investigation I discovered that our entire team was in the playground (which is shaped like a pirate ship). They had unintentionally scared away all the 6 year olds who it was built for and were now having a serious game of grounders. Chalk that up as a reason to smile.

October 26th

Final session, Final day, final minutes at indoorsburg. The crew finished stronger than I would have imagined. They looked a lot like a slalom team in there, something I’m sure a few of them hadn’t imagined was a possibility ten days ago. It’s time for these intrepid explorers to turn the ship west and head home.

Next up is the beginning of the real deal, the long march through BC and Alberta taking them all the way up until Christmas. They can lean back on these experiences and take confidence in the work they have done, and that no surface will be more icy than the last ten days!

~ submitted by BC Ski Team coach and blogger, Morgan Pridy