The Stifel U.S. Ski Team men recently visited over 150 U.S. service members in Garmisch during the Garmisch, Germany super-G World Cup race series. The event hosted at the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort set up tables, chairs and a large American flag bringing the U.S. spirit to the alps.

“We have been able to do this type of visit a few times over the years now and it's great to connect with fans and service members in Germany,” said Stifel U.S. Ski Team member Bryce Bennett. “I brought a helmet for us all to sign and gift to the lodge as well, it's nice to feel like you are home in Europe,” said Jared Goldberg. 

The ski team was able to chat with the kids and family of the servicemen on a personal level signing autographs and exchanging words, a memorable experience for the team and for the military members in attendance. 

Towards the end of the event the whole room started chanting "U-S-A!" hyping the racers up for the upcoming competitions. 

The speed men went on to find super-G success amongst their newfound military fans with three top 10 results across the weekend, Ryan Cochran-Siegle and River Radamus leading the team. 

The speed men look forward to coming back to Garmisch in the hopes of connecting with the military personnel again. 

Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team athlete Alessandro Barbieri secured the silver medal in Thursday’s halfpipe competition at the Youth Olympic Games. Barbieri, who made his World Cup debut at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix in Copper Mountain earlier this season, sat in fourth heading into the final run, putting pressure on the rookie for a potential podium finish. Looking as calm and collected as ever, Barbieri dropped into the pipe at the Welli Hilli Park Ski Resort for the final time in Gangwon, South Korea, stomping his third run to earn him a spot on the podium.

“All the training is before and when it’s competition time you’re just on autopilot. That was my autopilot kicking in on that last run. I put it down. I’m stoked,” said Barbieri. “Once I made it to the bottom, it was just a relief of stress. When I saw the second place, it was even better.”

Already a mainstay on the World Cup circuit, Korea’s own Chaeun Lee put down a massive second run to secure the gold in front of his home crowd. Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team rookie Noah Avallone also had a strong performance in finals, taking eighth overall.

Sonora Alba and Rochelle 'Rocke' Weinberg represented the Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team for the women, with Alba taking fourth and Weinberg eighth. Barbieri and Alba will meet back up with Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team teammates to compete in the Snow Rodeo FIS Snowboard Halfpipe World Cup in Canada, February 9-10.

RESULTS
Women's halfpipe
Men's halfpipe

Kate Gray of the Stifel U.S. Freeski Team, who competes in both halfpipe and slopestyle disciplines, took home a bronze medal in the freeski women’s halfpipe competition at the 2024 Youth Olympic Games. 

Gray, who is representing Team USA in Gangwon, South Korea, is originally from Crowley, California outside of Mammoth Lakes and has made quite the impression so far in her young career. She won both freeski halfpipe and slopestyle in USASA Nationals in Copper in 2023 and also won the freeski halfpipe contest at the Mammoth Rev Tour in 2021 and 2022. Building up to this moment, Gray has found abundant success, now supported even more with a Youth Olympic Games bronze medal. 

"It’s been a long time coming," said Gray. "It’s very satisfying, I wanted to walk away with at least one medal and to get it on the last event and it’s definitely a relief that I finally got up there, it feels good."

Alongside Gray in the freeski halfpipe finals was Piper Arnold of the Sierra at Tahoe Competition Team. Arnold finished the day in fourth place, right off the podium. 

On the men's side, Hunter Maytin of the Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club was fifth and Ben Fethke of the Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team was sixth. 

RESULTS
Women's halfpipe

The U.S. Para Alpine Ski Team took on the iconic Olympia delle Tofane track at the Cortina d’Ampezzo World Cup this morning, where Andrew Kurka landed on his first podium and earned his first win since sustaining a shoulder injury at the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing, China. 

It was a beautiful bluebird day in Italy, with perfect icy course conditions built for speed. “I really enjoyed this course mostly because it was high speed right from the get-go, so when you’re coming out of the start, you really gotta muscle down and stick your face in it,” said Kurka. “It was a course that wasn’t built to go slow by any means, and that’s where I excel.”

The course set and picturesque conditions allowed far fewer DNFs and DSQs than we have seen this season. On the women’s side, the youngest U.S. Para Alpine Ski Team member, Audrey Crowley, made her World Cup debut in Cortina. On one of the most renowned tracks in World Cup alpine, Crowley has already made a mark on the circuit, finishing fourth in her first World Cup at only 16 years old. Jesse Keefe finished ninth in the men’s standing event, followed by Andrew Haraghey in 12th and Spencer Wood in 13th. On the men’s sitting side, Ravi Drugan finished ninth and Matthew Brewer rounded out the top 10. 

Kurka talked about his long career and how his experience led to his success today. “I was able to take the experience that I have from being on the team for so long and slow down and tactfully maneuver myself in areas that gave me the advantage to help get me to the finish where a lot of people [had to] manage mess ups or crashes, I was able to consciously slip in there. My focus moving into tomorrow is to manage and assess, inspect the course and send it. The Italians set (tomorrow), and with it being their home mountain, I have a feeling they know exactly how this mountain is going to run well. There’s going to be some errors and sketchy stuff, just like there was in the downhill, and that's where I excel. I’m really excited going into tomorrow’s super-G.”

The team is taking on super-G in Cortina tomorrow, starting at 4:30 a.m. ET.

RESULTS
Women
Men

Sunday, Jan. 28, marked the final day of the 2024 Winter X Games in Aspen, featuring the final four events of the jam-packed weekend: men’s snowboard slopestyle, women’s freeski slopestyle, men’s freeski superpipe and women’s snowboard big air. With warmer temperatures in the forecast and exciting events, an impressive number of spectators came out for the final day of competition that featured some of the best athletes X Games has to offer.

Men's Snowboard Slopestyle

Olympic gold medalist and Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team members Red Gerard, Judd Henkes and X Games medalist Chris Corning were set to take on the highly anticipated men’s snowboard slopestyle competition, featuring the king of X Games slope himself, two-time defending champion Mark McMorris. McMorris is synonymous with the event, having won 13 medals in 15 X Games slopestyle appearances and was the clear favorite heading into the first run of the morning. Gerard, having won almost every other major slopestyle competition, was determined to win the elusive X Games gold he’s been eyeing throughout his career. With multiple family members watching from the corral, Gerard put down all three of his runs, scoring nothing lower than a 93 and besting the legend McMorris, to secure his well-deserved and long overdue X Games gold. McMorris took second, tying him with Shaun White and Andy Macdonald for third on the all time X Games medals list with 23. Mons Røisland of Norway rounded out the podium in third. American Chris Corning, who took fourth in Saturday’s big air, finished seventh and Judd Henkes took ninth.

Women's Freeski Big Air

Having medaled in two events on Saturday, Stifel U.S. Ski Team’s own Rell Harwood continued her impressive X Games rookie year in the women’s freeski big air competition. With innovative lines and the style to back it up, Harwood proved she is one of the most exciting athletes to watch in the discipline and capped off her X Games debut with a solid fourth place. “My first time at X Games was an amazing and surreal week,” said Harwood. "It's so much fun skiing with all my friends, we had great weather, and I’m excited to hopefully come back!”

Men's Freeski SuperPipe

All eyes turned to the halfpipe as the Stifel U.S. Ski Team dominated the start list for the men’s freeski superpipe competition. Aspen native and two-time X Games superpipe gold medalist Alex Ferreira was joined by teammates and previous superpipe gold medalists David Wise and Aaron Blunk, along with Hunter Hess and Nick Goepper, the four-time slopestyle X Games gold medalist making his first appearance in the X Games superpipe.

Coming off back-to-back World Cup victories, Ferierra dropped in with confidence and nailed his first run, getting the crowd fired up with his signature pole swing in the finish. His run one score of 93.33 ended up holding the top spot throughout the entire competition and landed Ferierra back on top of the superpipe podium. Geopper, rocking a pair of jeans as a tribute to his fellow skiers in the midwest who can’t necessarily afford the fanciest gear, was a crowd favorite in the X Games superpipe for the first time in his career and finishing the night in an impressive fourth place. He was edged out of podium contention by teammate Hess, who was overcome with emotion after securing his first X Games medal with a third place finish. Blunck ended the night in sixth and defending X Games superpipe gold medalist Wise finished seventh.

Women's Snowboard Big Air

Although no Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team athletes started in the women’s big air competition, it was still one for the history books and a display of the trick progression happening in the women’s field. Japan’s Kokomo Murase became the first woman to land a frontside 1440 and simultaneously became the first woman to win three snowboard medals at the same X Games since 1997. Japan’s Reira Iwabuchi took silver and Austria’s Anna Gasser the bronze.

After a successful showing at the 2024 X Games, the Stifel U.S. Ski Team and the Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team return to World Cup competition with the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth Mountain this week, with qualifications scheduled to start on Wednesday.

(PARK CITY, UT / DENVER, CO - Jan. 29, 2024) - The Alterra Mountain Company Community Foundation announced a $1 million commitment to U.S. Ski & Snowboard to support athlete mental health services and return-to-performance programming. 

Alterra Mountain Company Community Foundation (AMCCF) is a public charity established to provide support to communities in which Alterra operates, including Park City, Utah — home of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team. This new collaboration enhances a longstanding partnership between U.S. Ski & Snowboard and Alterra Mountain Company and highlights a notable shift towards embracing mental health and encouraging outreach for services among elite athletes. 

All people face challenges throughout their lives and world-class athletes are no different. As the National Governing Body for ten ski and snowboard sports, U.S. Ski & Snowboard is committed to offering comprehensive mental health services and education to athletes at every level. The Community Foundation’s investment in mental health and performance recovery resources is unprecedented for U.S. Ski & Snowboard and its impact on the more than 240 athletes named to the national team will be significant. 

“The Alterra Mountain Company Community Foundation is proud to support the dedicated work that U.S. Ski & Snowboard is providing toward mental health initiatives for their athletes,” said Meegan Moszynski, AMCCF’s Executive Director. “This aspect of the sport is such a crucial component of success before, during and after competition, and we are grateful for the partnership in this space.”

This $1 million commitment will markedly increase the scope of services provided by U.S. Ski & Snowboard, including specialized sports psychology and wellness programming, athlete mental health and performance training, and return-to-sport performance programming for athletes who are recovering from injury. 

“As someone who has benefitted from existing mental health resources at U.S. Ski & Snowboard, this commitment from AMCCF makes me incredibly excited,” said Stifel U.S. Alpine Ski Team athlete Alice Merryweather. “It’s a big step forward for current and future athletes to have access to a more robust set of mental health and wellness resources for all stages of their careers.”

“We are extremely grateful for this Alterra Mountain Company Community Foundation commitment, which was spearheaded by Rusty Gregory, Vice Chairman, partner and former Chief Executive Officer of Alterra Mountain Company and a U.S. Ski & Snowboard Trustee,” said Sophie Goldschmidt, President and CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard. “This helps to further bolster our organization’s commitment to making a lasting impact on the lives of our athletes, fostering a culture of well-being, resilience and high performance. We are now able to increase our investment in mental health services and return-to-performance programs, to continue to help our athletes holistically.” 

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About U.S. Ski & Snowboard
U.S. Ski & Snowboard is the Olympic and Paralympic National Governing Body (NGB) of ski and snowboard sports in the USA, based in Park City, Utah. Tracing its roots directly back to 1905, the organization represents nearly 200 elite skiers and snowboarders competing on 10 teams: alpine, cross country, freestyle moguls, freestyle aerials, snowboard, freeski, nordic combined, ski jumping, Para alpine and Para snowboard. In addition to the elite teams, U.S. Ski & Snowboard also provides leadership and direction for tens of thousands of young skiers and snowboarders across the USA, encouraging and supporting them in achieving excellence. By empowering national teams, clubs, coaches, parents, officials, volunteers and fans, U.S. Ski & Snowboard is committed to the progression of its sports, athlete success and the value of team. For more information, visit www.usskiandsnowboard.org.

About Alterra Mountain Company Community Foundation
The Alterra Mountain Company Community Foundation is a public charity created to provide financial support to members of the communities in which Alterra operates. Founded in 2020, the Community Foundation started by providing emergency relief and hardship assistance grants to those in need within the communities surrounding Alterra’s North American destinations. Grants are available to individuals who live or work in any of Alterra’s communities, and to local community foundations. Moving forward, the Community Foundation is expanding its programming to include support for mental health initiatives in our mountain communities. This work includes initiatives to reduce the stigma around mental health; providing specialized psychotherapies for first responders; and establishing a platform to convene mental health leaders in mountain communities to foster collaboration toward long-term strategic planning and holistic solutions.

Tabor Greenberg of Green Mountain Valley School (GMVS) took home the first cross country medal at the 2024 Youth Olympic Games, with a bronze medal in yesterday's skate sprint. 

Greenberg, who is representing the United States of America in Gangwon, South Korea, is making quite the impression in the first cross country competition of the Youth Olympic Games.

Vermont native, Greenberg is a three-time Junior National Champion and is ranked among the top U18 and U20 skiers in the country.

During the 2022-23 season, Greenberg qualified to represent Team USA at the World Junior Championships, Nordic Nations Cup (U18) and Youth Olympic Games, ultimately taking the Youth Olympic Games route. 

In the Youth Olympic Games skate sprint, Greenberg skied the qualification round, posting the 13th fastest time of the day, easily qualifying within the top-30 to advance through to the heats. Into the heats, where an athlete has to be within the top two of their heat to advance, or one of two lucky losers, Greenberg handidly won his quarterfinal heat alongside Maans Ravald of Sweden. 

On the semifinal start line, he again needed to be within the top two, or third fastest time, to advance to the sprint finals. Onto the course, Greenberg skied a strong race on the Gangwon course. Into the finish, he crossed the line third, putting up a fast enough time to advance through as lucky loser. 

As the young American stood on the final start line of the day, he was joined by Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Italy. Greenberg ultimately finished the day in third, right behind Jakob Elias Moch of Germany and Federico Pozzi of Italy. This is Greenberg's first Youth Olympic Games medal and the first cross country medal won by Team USA in the cross country discipline. 

USA's Landon Wyatt and Ben Barbier also qualified through to the heats, both ending their day within the top 30, with Wyatt in 25th and Barbier in 26th. For the women, there were three in the world's top 30, including Neve Gerard in 17th, Rose Horning 18th and Sydney Drevlow in 26th. 

Next, the cross country team will race the 7.5k classic individual start on Jan. 30th. 

RESULTS
Men

It was a jam-packed second day of competition at the 2024 Winter X Games in Aspen with top results across the board from several U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes. 

Men's Freeski Big Air

Mac Forehand came in with a chip on his shoulder after a fifth place finish in last night’s big air and put on a show in his second run, scoring a massive 94.33 and catapulting him to the top spot. After an impressive rail section on run two, an unfortunate fall on the first of two jumps forced Hall to put all pressure on his third and final run to grab a spot on the podium. Showing no signs of pressure, Hall strung together an effortlessly clean top-to-bottom run to best teammate Forehand and grab his second silver of the weekend. Norway’s Birk Rudd was the only competitor able to best the two Americans and added another X-Games gold to his resume. Stifel U.S. Ski Team member Colby Stevenson made an impressive return to competition, just missing the podium and placing fourth overall.

Women’s Snowboard Knuckle Huck

Aspen 2024 marked the X Games discipline debut of the women’s snowboard knuckle huck, and although pulling out of competition, knuckle huck legend and Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team Jaime Anderson, who competed alongside the men in 2021, was on the sidelines to support. Wowing both spectators and judges with her trick innovation and signature steeze, It was Japan’s Kokomo Murase who made history, winning the first-ever X Games gold in the discipline.

Women’s Freeski Knuckle Huck

It was then time for the X Games debut of Stifel U.S. Ski Team athlete Rell Harwood and the freeski women’s knuckle huck. The field of competitors included athletes who are not typically seen on the traditional competition circuit, including American Taylor Lundquist who is widely considered a street skiing pioneer. Rell showed off her style and deep bag of tricks, earning her first X Games silver medal.

Men’s & Women’s Snowboard Street Style

Although not a medal-winning discipline, attention shifted to the park for the men’s and women’s snowboard street style competition, where Luke Winkelmann represented the Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team in a field of legends of the street scene. Winkelmann proved he’s becoming a staple in the rail game, hanging with the likes of Zak Hale, Darcy Sharpe, Zeb Powell and Pat Fava. Winkelmann’s teammate and former X Games medalist Dusty Henricksen served as a guest judge and ultimately helped crown Fava as the winner. Winkelmann’s teammate Judd Henkes was set to compete but instead turned his focus towards tomorrow’s slopestyle competition.

Women’s Freeski SuperPipe

It was back to the SuperPipe to watch Stifel U.S. Ski Team members Svea Irving and Riley Jacobs drop in. Irving, the 2023 X Games bronze medalist in this event, and Jacobs, an X Games rookie, had their work cut out for them competing against the most highly anticipated skier of the weekend, China’s Eileen Gu. Gu, the three-time X Games medalist, was injured during Thursday’s SuperPipe practice causing her to withdraw from slopestyle, but showed no signs of injury as she continued the longest consecutive win streak in women’s halfpipe history, grabbing the X Games Gold. Zoe Atkin from Great Britain took silver and Canada’s Amy Fraser third, barely edging out Irving in the last run. 

Irving ultimately ended the day in fourth, with Jacobs in sixth. 

Women’s Freeski Big Air

Stifel U.S. Freeski Team athlete Rell Harwood was back in action for her second X Games event of the day, the women’s ski Big Air and ultimately took home her second X Games medal in the process, finishing the big air contest in third. 

This is Harwood’s second medal of X Games in her debut appearance in Aspen, putting her name at the top of the list and solidifying herself as one of the dominant athletes at this year’s event. 

Men’s Snowboard Big Air

Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team athlete and previous X Games bronze medalist Chris Corning represented the team in the men’s snowboard big air competition. With three-time defending X Games champion Marcus Kleveland of Norway out with a concussion and unable to contend for the four-peat, it was anyone’s game in the field of eight riders. Japanese rider Taiga Hasegawa won his first X Games gold medal, throwing a switch backside 1980 on his final run and securing his place at the top of the big air podium. Corning was edged out of podium contention by Norway’s Mons Røisland, finishing the day in fourth.

Men’s Freeski Knucklehuck

In the final event of the evening, the corral was packed with fans to watch the men’s freeski knuckle huck event, a contest that showcases a unique style of skiing - where athletes launch themselves off the knuckle of the big air jump. Throughout the event, each athlete threw down, showcasing their style on one of the sport’s biggest stages. At the end of the night, it was Stifel U.S. Freeski Team athlete and Olympic medalist Colby Stevenson who took home the X Games gold medal. Stevenson just returned from injury last weekend in the Laax Open in Laax, Switzerland, and only a handful of days later, he’s now an X Games knuckle huck champ. Alongside Stevenson was teammate Cody LaPlante who finished within the top five in fifth and X Games legend Alex Hall in seventh. 

The Stifel U.S. Ski Team alpine men had a strong day in the Garmisch super-G with two in the top 10 and five in the top 30. River Radamus scored his best super-G result with an eighth place and his teammate Ryan Cochran-Siegle continued his streak of top 10 results in 10th position.

“The surface changed a lot today but I think today I was driving strong and had a good technical foundation all the way through,” said Cochran-Siegle. “Super-G has been a process for me this year and I am happy with today,” said Radamus.

The weather Sunday was opposite of the day prior, starting out with crystal clear skies and a stronger surface underfoot. The top skiers all pushed hard on the super-G track knowing that it was just one of the last speed races of the season. This after hearing the news that the Chamonix speed series, slated for the coming week, got canceled because of poor snow conditions

“We were all looking forward to Chamonix. I've yet to race that downhill and I think finding out late notice it was a bit of a ‘what are we doing now’,” said Cochran-Siegle. 

The sport’s top male skiers pushed hard to find their way on the top of the result sheet again. The overall, downhill, super-G and giant slalom leader, Marco Odermatt, skied with fire to take the win ahead of Austrian Raphael Haaser and young swiss skier Franjo Von Allmen. Cochran-Siegle skied a very solid line to land 10th. This is his fifth top 10 result of the season. Radamus coming from behind in bib 34 had very fast splits all the way down to find his way into the eighth spot. His career best super-G result.

“I know with my best run I could have finished higher both days but I am psyched with where the skiing is at and ready to close out a busy January,” said Radamus who just wrapped up 10 races in the month of January alone. 

It was also a day of success for the rest of the Stifel U.S. Ski Team. Sam Morse, or as his teammates call him “Moose” blasted up from bib 54 to the 23rd position. Veterans Jared Goldberg and Bryce Bennett cracked the top 30 in 28th and 29th place. Jack Smith made his World Cup debut in Garmisch and skied into 43rd place. Kyle Negomir, Wiley Maple and Isaiah Nelson landed in 36th, 37th and 42nd place. 

While there will not be another speed race for a little bit longer than usual, the men’s speed team is feeling the momentum building with solid results all season long. The squad is ready to rest and ramp up for the final speed series before the World Cup finals in Kvitfjell, Norway February 17-18.  It will be one super-G and one downhill race. 

RESULTS
men's super-G

Both Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team pro team rider Rebecca Flynn and Oliver Martin of Ski & Snowboard Club Vail stepped on the Youth Olympic Games podium in Gangwon, South Korea, taking the silver medal in big air.

"I’m happy to get on the podium for this because that was my goal," said Flynn. “I just wanted to land two clean runs and I think I put that down.” 

Flynn finished behind Yura Murase of Japan, who won gold. Lucia Georgalli of New Zealand was third for the bronze medal.

Martin, who hails from Colorado, was also stoked about his medal. “Today was amazing for me. I had a good sleep and everything kind of faded out,” he said. “It all went my way today, so I am really happy about that. It is super awesome. I know I could have done better, but it’s really awesome to get on the podium.”

Eli Bouchard of Canada won the gold for the men with Campbell Melville Ives bronze.

Rounding out Team USA, Brooklyn DePriest of the Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team was eighth for the men and Olivia Lisle, also of Ski & Snowboard Club Vail, was 19th.

RESULTS
Women
Men