Athletic dreams. Academic excellence.
Personal growth.
Our Mission
We are a community dedicated to providing passionate skiers the opportunity to pursue athletic dreams, academic excellence, and personal growth while celebrating grit, grace, and courage.
Our Vision
To be the recognized gold standard for ski teams and ski academies.
Our History
Sugar Bowl has a rich history of ski racing. The current version of our teams and Academy was founded and incorporated as the Sugar Bowl Ski Team Foundation (SBSTF) by villager Sheldon Ramsey in 1992. In 1999, SBSTF Board Chair and former US Ski Team member Dr. Patricia Hellman Gibbs founded the Sugar Bowl Academy as a program of SBSTF with the help of key staff members, including former US Ski Team member Jim Hudson and Academic Program Director Barbara Sorba. Dr. Gibbs attended Stratton Mountain School in Vermont, which was co-founded by her father, Warren Hellman, to create a place where kids could pursue their love of skiing without sacrificing high quality academics.
Dr. Gibbs wanted to create a similar environment on the west coast, recruiting coaches from the US Ski Team to be the inaugural coaches for the Academy students and team athletes. With the help of pioneering athletic and academic staff members, SBSTF trustees, and support from the Sugar Bowl Corporation and many generous villagers and donors, Dr. Gibbs created an organization with a focus on positive coaching and character development, where student athletes could pursue a love of skiing, compete, and build resilience as they learn to handle the difficulties of life in a snowbound village and balancing training and competitions with academic excellence.
Over 30 years later, we are still providing a place for student athletes to pursue their love of skiing and snowboarding through athletic teams and combined athletics and college preparatory academics.
We are part of the Sugar Bowl community, with a dedicated race arena, speed venue, and the largest cross-country ski area in North America.
SBA is a US Ski & Snowboard gold certified club and is accredited by the California Association of Independent Schools. We are a 501(c)(3) organization supported by the charitable contributions of our community.