Alpine U16 in Breckenridge
January 19-20, 2025 - After wrapping up a highly successful first round of qualifiers here in the Tahoe basin the U16 Alpine team traveled to Colorado this past weekend to compete in two GS races in Breckenridge Colorado. Over the past years, the U16 team has traveled outside of the Far West Division to find some exposure to new terrain, competitors, snow, and what race travel as a FIS athlete can be like. Historically we have traveled to the Inter-Mountain Division for these races, however, with the depth and competitiveness that the Rocky/Central Region displayed over the past few years at U16 Nationals, we wanted to challenge ourselves with the highest competition we could find. In addition to strong competitors, the race venue, Cimmarron at Breckenridge has been host to FIS World Cup GS events in 1999 & 1996 and U16 Nationals in 2019.
Despite the extreme cold weather and tough competitions, the U16 team found success.
Kicking the trip off, the U16s snuck in a GS session at Loveland Valley, adapting to different snow, extreme temps, colorado terrain and higher elevation training. Most notably the temperatures were the biggest learning curve for the majority of the team with temps well below zero, before accounting for any wind chill. The entire team were quick studies to the grippy and firm Colorado snow adapting quickly and improving their skills before the races Sunday and Monday. Sunday’s race day brought extreme cold temperatures and a tough and turny set to start off the series but the SBA team showed what they were capable of. First-year Meila Ayers pushed hard and nearly found the podium despite a significant speed check on run 1 for the women, and fellow first-year Adrienne McMahon pushed hard and found herself in 18th position at the end of the race. SBA ended up with 4 in the top 30 for the women. The SBA men had another strong showing with 5 athletes in the top 15 after run 1 with Sebastian Atra, Jameson Pfeister, Sawyer Stever, and Jackson Fossum in 2nd, 3rd, 7th, and 10th respectively. Run two brought more challenges with flat light and a bumpy course ultimately knocking both Pfeister and Fossum out of the race. While others struggled, Stever stepped up and nearly found the podium ending in 4th position with teammate Seb Atra holding 2nd position for the day. SBA ended up holding 8 positions in the top 30 at the end of the men’s race.
Monday's race brought another day of extreme cold to the race venue with morning temperatures hovering around -10 to -15. For the women, again first-year Meila Ayers had a strong start with a 4th place finish after run 1 but laid down a blistering run on run 2 narrowing out her competitor by .35 seconds, to find herself on the podium. The Sugar Bowl men again showed that they were a force to be reckoned with Sebastian Atra, Sawyer Stever, and Jameson Pfeister again in the top 10 after run 1 but in a tight race with the three off the podium by .3, .4 and .7 seconds respectively. Run two saw another mix-up with Stever going out, Atra finding 3rd position, and Pfeister moving into 5th and Mason Ayers moving up from 11th to 7th overall and Jackson Fossum moving from 17th to 9th. The day wrapped up with 9 athletes in the top 30 for the men and 3 in the top 30 for the women.
Overall, this was another good checkpoint of the team's pace and strength. The U16 team will be back at home at the Bowl through this weekend and next week before heading south to Snow Summit for our second 2SL/1GS qualifier of the season. There is plenty of work to be done before the championships season, but the team is well on its way to skiing fast this spring.