The Jr. Explorers is Alf Engen Ski School's Sunday program for our younger skiers ages 5 to 7. The 2008-09 program had a great turnout with 10 groups of 6 skiers ranging in skills from wedge to open parallel turns. The goal of the program was to provide a progressive learning environment that emphasizes a foundation for skiing appropriate terrain with skill and confidence. The Jr. Explorer coaches also focused on how good sportsmanship and safety on the mountain are integral components of good skiing. And let’s not forget the fun factor! The kids had a great time making new mountain friends and skiing great snow every week.

Skiing is one of the few lifetime activities that skiers all ages can participate in together. Parents had the opportunity to observe the children during the program and were encouraged to ski with their kids on the last day. By the end of the 7 sessions, many of parents were quite impressed on how much improvement there was in their children's skiing ability.

Again, thanks to all who participated in the program and we're looking forward to another successful season next year! As some of last years participants move on to other programs, there will be a limited number of opening for next season. If you are interested in more information about the Jr. Explorers please contact Julian Cordova at julianc@alta.com.

Think Snow!
Julian Cordova
Jr Explorer Head Coach

We would like to thank the coaches and participants of the Alta Youth Club (AYC) this season. We had a great year with plenty of snow and some wonderful days of sunshine as well!

AYC was founded in 1991 and was set-up to help us keep track of Alta’s employees children and to teach them the "Responsibility Code" and how to ski safely and still have fun at the ski area.

The first year of AYC we had 36 participants and 8 coaches who were involved in the program. This season there were 164 who participated in AYC with 23 coaches involved. We held 3 races this season. The first race was held on January 24 & 25, the second race (Parent/Youth) was held on February 21 & 22, and the third race (Spring Fling) was held on March 21 & 22. This was in conjunction with our mogul contest held at the 180 bend of the "cat track."

AYC has had its share of successes. Dave "Grom" Richards is a product of our program. Grom was one of the first to ski in the "Extreme Skiing" competition when it began. He is now one of our top ski patrolmen at Alta. Jay Carigan also started with AYC. Jay is on the US Olympic mogul ski team and he made a guest appearance at our Spring Fling this year as a judge of the mogul contest. We are also very pleased that Angel Collinson started skiing in AYC. This season Angel skied so well that she represented the USA at the World Junior Championships. Adam Ellowitz ski in AYC and is now an instructor with the Alf Engen Ski School and taught Jr. Explorers during this season.

Along with all of that we now have other programs that are spin-offs of AYC. The Alta Freeride Division, Alta Race Team, Junior Explorers and Alta Youth Tele all have their roots in AYC. We look forward to another great season in 2009 – 2010 as we continue to do our best to provide quality ski teaching programs.

Nic Nichol

2008 – 2009 marked the third season of the Alta Race Team. We have grown from 17 racers our first season to 31 racers this season. Outstanding results in the USSA Intermountain Youth Ski League turned a few heads this season. Alta racers won a total of 29 medals at three YSL races this year, with Seth Klein, Neah Bois and Jonathan Balk all standing on the top step of the podium in a race this season. Recent ART racers, Cade Howlett and Luke Mathers, who have moved on to higher- level competition through the Snowbird Race Team, both qualified for the Western Region Junior Olympics. Luke went on to win the Super G at JO’s and is ranked second overall in the Western USA in the J4 age class.

More important to us than results is a remarkable across the board improvement in skiing skill demonstrated by our racers, and a team camaraderie that is unmatched by any other YSL team in Intermountain. We attribute our success to detailed season long skill development planning, excellent coaching and focused practice from our racers. I would like to thank Jimmy Ludlow, Nora Nieminski and James Ledyard for their outstanding coaching. We have more than accomplished our goal of providing a healthy introduction to ski racing for young Alta skiers.

We are already looking forward to next season. Some of our Alta racers will be moving on to higher levels of racing. This is an excellent indication of our success at creating excitement and enthusiasm for skiing and ski racing. Many of our racers plan to return. We look forward to continuing our coach/racer relationship with our returning young athletes. We plan to see some new racers and we will enthusiastically welcome them to the thrill and challenge of ski racing. For information about the Alta Race Team please contact Scott Mathers at scott@alta.com.

Thanks for a great season.
Scott Mathers
ART Head Coach

2008/09 was the 5th season of the Alta Freeride Division (AFD). In its first season AFD was 3 ski instructors, 20 skiers who skied together on Saturdays. We also had small competitions amongst ourselves in something we were calling 'Big Mt. Freeskiing' as well as moguls, terrain park big air and traditional racing. There has been significant evolution since our beginning and this past season the AFD program came of age.

We are now, 4 coaches, 50 athletes, training on Saturday and Sunday in the fundamentals of Big Mt. Free Skiing, as represented by the International Free Skiing Association. We still compete amongst ourselves but only in the big mountain discipline. Three times a season we hold our own competitions at Alta. These events are our primary vehicle that drives skill acquisition, promotes a healthy style of competition and an opportunity where friends and family come together to witness an awesome display of good skiing..

AFD's marquee product has become the Comp Team! This is a collection of the team’s most talented skiers. For the past two seasons these skiers have received equipment from Rossignol. Members of the Comp Team are eligible and encouraged to travel to competitions that are part of the Jr. Freeride Tour held throughout the Western US. This past season AFD Comp Team members participated in events at Steven's Pass, WA, Snowbird, UT, Grand Targhee, WY, and the National Jr. Freeride Championship at Crystal Mt., WA.

The events on the Jr. tour attract young skiers from all over the country. Participation ranges from 40 to 100 skiers at each event and is growing fast. The Jr. tour consists of two age groups: 11 - 14 and 15 - 17. Comp Team members Riley Rose, Casey Rose and Andrew Pollard owned the 11 – 14 group this season. Riley won 3 consecutive competitions. These results earned him the overall jr. tour title! Andrew ended up 3rd and Casey 4th in the overall tour standings.

Kayla Weiser also had a tremendous season with three 3rd place finishes this season in the girls' 15 – 17 age group!

The Big Mountain Freeride style of skiing and competition format have become an excellent way to immerse junior age skiers in the 3 most important elements of good skiing: Safety, Fun and Learning! We are looking forward to sharing with even more jr. age skiers the evolution and growth of freeride skiing next season.

The first season of the Alta Youth Telemark program was a huge success! We had eleven strong alpine skiers join us. Some had a bit of telemark skiing experience and some did not. One of our most improved skiers, Siri Vlassic, finished the season making great telemark turns on almost any terrain at Alta. Other students, such as Irma-Linda Zodda and Elliott Burr, gained a solid understanding of the telemark position and they are starting to use this skill on beginning and intermediate terrain. Magurette Tate, who was our youngest skier at ten, faced some of the greatest challenges finding equipment. Luckily, midway thru the season she acquired some boots that worked better. Thanks to her and her family for helping determine equipment challenges for smaller skiers.

Alta Youth Telemark had the pleasure of skiing with the Tele Tribe, another youth telemark ski group out of the Canyons, on two occasions. In early March they came to see us at Alta for an on mountain BBQ at the Burr’s cabin and an "in-bounds" backcountry adventure. Both groups of young skiers had a blast eating some burgers and dogs and learning a bit about avalanche beacons and backcountry safety. At the Telebration, a youth telemark festival held at the Canyons in April, several of our Alta Youth Telemark skiers had the opportunity to participate in fun events with other local telemark skiers. Ryan Westermann was particularly enthusiastic in the costume portion of the event and Nikki Tatton did a great job hutting things down for the on-mountain scavenger hunt.

We look forward to many of these skiers returning to the program next season. We also know there are quite a few younger brothers, sisters and friends interested in skiing with us. It’s exciting to see the program grow and we’d be happy to have anyone join who is between the ages of 10 and 16 and at least a level 7 alpine skier. Special thanks to the Burr’s for the use of their cabin at the BBQ and to all who participated with us as skiers, friends and family. See you next year!

Anna Mastaglio, Head Coach AYTele