PARK CITY, Utah - U.S. Ski & Snowboard has launched its first-ever Official Fan Club. Since 1905, the year to which the American Olympic organization can directly trace its roots, U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes have depended on fans for inspiration, motivation, and support throughout their grueling competition and training schedules. From an aspiring young athlete to the die-hard fan that religiously supports the red, white and blue, the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Fan Club offers a channel for fans to have a direct, positive impact on athlete success. Whether you are an alpine, freestyle, freeski, cross country or snowboard enthusiast, the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Fan Club is for you.

Over the past 20 years, U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes have had quite the track record, much of which can be directly linked back to the immense support of U.S Ski & Snowboard fans. Since the Nagano Games in 1998, U.S. Ski & Snowboard athletes have earned 82 Olympic medals, 32 of which were gold, none of which would have been possible without the support of the team’s fans. Now, U.S. Ski & Snowboard looks to build on this success with the fan club serving as a catalyst to create yet more champions.

“Fans are super important to the sport of freesking,” said two-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time World Cup giant slalom champion Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah). “It’s still a niche sport, it’s not the biggest sport out there, especially in the U.S. Any of the fans we have are people that we cherish and we are super thankful for anybody who follows us.“

U.S. Ski & Snowboard Fan Club membership is available at three levels: bronze, silver or gold. Each package contains increasing levels of U.S. Ski & Snowboard merchandise so fans can support every athlete’s journey to the podium in style. These packages include caps, backpacks, sticker packs and more. In addition, fan club members will receive exclusive content throughout the 2018-19 season and beyond, and they will have the chance to interact with athletes through email content, videos, stories and more.

In a speech at the 2018 New York Gold Medal Gala, referring to supporters of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, PyeongChang Gold medalist Jessie Diggins said, “We feel like you believe in us, so thank you, because that’s the best gift you can give.”

U.S. Ski & Snowboard wishes to thank all its fans for their support and urges everyone who wants to help U.S. ski and snowboard athletes see their dreams come true to sign up below for their chance to join the team behind the team for this season and beyond.

Click here for more information on how to join the official U.S. Ski & Snowboard Fan Club.

Ashley Caldwell (Ashburn, Va.) enters the 2018-19 competition season with high expectations and eyes firmly on retaining her World Championship title in Park City, Utah this February. Caldwell, who underwent shoulder surgery in June following a crash sustained at the 2018 Winter Olympics, is looking for redemption from those Games, and to stamp her dominant mark on her sport.

Caldwell is no stranger to pressure, you might even say she thrives on it. A three-time Olympian and 2017 World Champion, Caldwell is the first U.S. woman to land both a full, full, full and “The Daddy” - a full, double full, full. A crash during 2018 Olympic training in PyeongChang left her out of finals and unable to compete for a medal. Caldwell pushes the boundaries of her sport to be recognized as an athlete - not distinguished by male or female status, but by what athletes in her sport can achieve.

Her strategy this competition season is to compete with her triples and compete with them smartly. In order to do that, she needs to be healthy. Caldwell elected to have surgery on her shoulder in June to correct the AC joint sprain she sustained in PyeongChang. “My shoulder was too unstable to jump with. The surgery wasn’t life or death but will make me a stronger competitor this season,” Caldwell explains. She is hopeful that she will be back 100 percent by the 2019 World Championships to defend her title as the reigning female aerialist in the world.

Leading up to the competition season, which kicks off at the Lake Placid World Cup event on January 19, 2019, you can find Caldwell at U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Center of Excellence facility, training in the gym and on the trampolines. With the cooperation of Mother Nature's low temperatures, Caldwell and her teammates will start training on snow at the UOP by late November.

The 2019 World Championships, to be held in Park City from February 1 - 10, provides a unique opportunity for Caldwell and her fellow aerialists. When the U.S. Aerials Team competes at Deer Valley Resort at the 2019 World Championships February 6 & 7 under the lights on White Owl ski run, they will do so on home soil - at a team-favorite venue no less.

“It’s a huge advantage, having the crowd, volunteers and course workers all speaking your language and rooting for you. I always feel like a rock star at Deer Valley and expect with this being World Champs, that energy will be that much more intense. Deer Valley’s crowd is our best crowd, the most excited crowd on the circuit. I’m looking forward to showing the world all of the hard work my teammates and I all put into this sport. It’s much easier to show our domestic fans here than when we’re abroad.”
    - Ashley Caldwell

For Caldwell, the 2019 World Championships mean a chance to compete her best on the international stage once more. “Nothing can take away the sting [of PyeongChang]. But in some ways a domestic World Championship win can be more gratifying than the Olympics,” she says.

New for the 2019 World Championships is the addition of the Team Aerials event, which will be a 2022 Winter Olympic event. Team Aerials turns a traditionally individual sport into a collaborative one. “It’ll be a whole different vibe that day. It’s really exciting knowing it’s a medal event and will make for some great competition,” says Caldwell.

Caldwell’s quest to defend her World Championship title has her laser-focused on her program. She looks forward to the opportunity of her home field advantage in February, but beyond that just wants to compete her best on any given competition-day during the circuit.

Olympic champion and winningest female alpine ski racer, Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.), crashed while training super-G Monday at the U.S. Ski Team Speed Center at Copper Mountain, Colorado. She was immediately transported to a local hospital for further evaluation. 

“Yesterday I crashed training Super-G and hurt my knee. The good news; I do NOT need surgery. The bad news; I won’t be able to race in Lake Louise. Lake Louise has always been my favorite stop on the World Cup tour and I am devastated to not be coming this year. Don’t worry though, I am down but I am NOT out!! #nevergiveup"

Vonn has won so many times—18 to be exact—at the Canadian venue that they've nicknamed it "Lake Lindsey." She is also attempting to break the Swede Ingemar Stenmark's once-elusive record of 86 World Cup victories before she retires at the end of the 2018-19 season. With 82 World Cup victories to her name, Vonn announced in mid-October this would be her final season whether or not she breaks Stenmark's record. 

"If I get it [the record] that would be a dream come true," Vonn said during a small business event in New York in October. "If I don't, I think I've had an incredibly successful career no matter what. I'm still the all-time winningest female skier." 

When healthy, Vonn has averaged about seven victories per season. Last season, Vonn grabbed five World Cup victories, despite the fact that she struggled to find her timing again after an early season crash on one of her favorite tracks in Lake Louise. 

More information will be forthcoming. Make sure to stay tuned to Vonn's Instagram for further details. 

Professional halfpipe freeskiers and snowboarders live lifestyles some would consider crazy. Whether it’s traveling the world year-round chasing snow, finding new and exciting ways to soar off of 22-foot walls of ice for a chance at victory, or maybe earning an education in a non-traditional way, it becomes difficult to find familiar territory and a sense of community.

In the 10 years that Copper Mountain and U.S. Ski & Snowboard have collaborated to host multiple events, including the Paul Mitchell Progression Sessions, FIS World Cups, and Olympic Qualifiers, one thing has remained constant and that is a clear sense of community. It’s undoubtedly contagious throughout the resort and the competition venues. This sense of belonging manifests itself in a variety of ways. Whether through the whole field of international athletes cheering each other on during training, joking around in the finish corral, or supporting each other’s progression throughout the week, everyone is simply happy to be where they are at that given moment. If you follow freeskiing and snowboarding, you will notice elements of this communal vibe throughout the season, but there is something different and special about the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix event at Copper Mountain.

“The Copper Grand Prix is different because it’s the first event of the season and everyone is getting acclimated to being on snow again,” said PyeongChang Olympic bronze medalist Arielle Gold (Steamboat Springs, Colo.). “It’s always that much more exciting to be part of, primarily because it’s usually the first time people in the industry are getting to see each other since last season. It’s especially fun seeing my international friends who I don’t often see during the summer, I love getting the chance to catch up with them.”

Sochi Olympic gold medalist Maddie Bowman (S. Lake Tahoe, Calif.) also is looking forward to spending time at Copper Mountain this December.

“It’s great to catch up with everyone and see all the excitement for the season,” says Bowman. “Copper feels like home so it makes it easier to get back into the flow of things.”

This unique sense of community creates a platform for world-class competition come game time. It may be smiles and high fives throughout arrival and training, but from the drop in to the finish corral, it’s all business. The Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain will kick off the 23rd year of the Grand Prix with four back-to-back days of international freeski and snowboard competition in the resort’s 22-foot superpipe Dec. 5-8. Don’t miss your chance to see the excitement unfold with some of U.S. Ski & Snowboards biggest stars. See how to be part of the action as it unfolds below.

TOYOTA U.S. GRAND PRIX - COPPER MOUNTAIN
Event Schedule
*subject to change

Dec. 6: Freeski Halfpipe qualifications
Dec. 7: Snowboard Halfpipe qualifications
Dec. 8: Freeski Halfpipe Finals
Dec. 9: Snowboard Halfpipe Finals

HOW TO WATCH
*All Times EST

FREESKI
December 7, 2018
1:00 p.m. - U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe, Copper Mountain - NBC Sports - Live

December 8
4:30 p.m. - U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe, Copper Mountain - NBC - Next-day broadcast

SNOWBOARD
December 8, 2018
1:00 p.m. - U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe, Copper Mountain - NBC Sports - Live

December 9
12:30 p.m. - U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe, Copper Mountain - NBC - Next-day broadcast
 

There are two things that former U.S. Alpine Ski Team athlete, Olympian, and Dartmouth graduate Libby Ludlow has always loved: skiing and writing. Ludlow's passions have merged as she has written her first book. She says that the greatest gift her parents gave her was her lifelong love for skiing, “I was able to endure the rigors of being a professional athlete simply because I adored my sport.”

With her passion for skiing still strong ten years after retiring from the U.S. Ski Team, Ludlow is the first to point out that her love for skiing started way back on the bunny hill when she was two years old. “Skiing is such a special sport, the mountain is a like a gigantic playground. I want the next generation of skiers to fall in love with skiing as much as I did.”

On November 13th, Ludlow launched A-B-Skis, a children’s alphabet book about the magical world of skiing. “I couldn’t be more excited to make A-B-Skis available to the skiing community. Adults will treasure sharing it with the kids in their life, and kids won’t be able to wait for their next trip to the ski hill.”

Designed to instill a lifelong love for skiing, A-B-Skis is a glimpse into everything that’s at the heart of the sport—from hot chocolate breaks to ripping runs with friends. The colorful illustrations by PSIA ski instructor Nathan Jarvis pique kid’s curiosity for the winter wonderland that awaits them on the slopes, while playful rhymes guide kids through everything they can expect on a typical ski day.

“I’ve always been an avid writer,” says Ludlow, “A-B-Skis is the perfect intersection of my passion for skiing, my love of writing, and my interest as a mom to share memorable experiences with my toddler. By using Kickstarter to launch A-B-Skis, Ludlow is collecting the orders needed to finalize her self-publishing push. She says that while her primary motivation for writing A-B-Skis is to help kids fall in love with the magic of skiing, the added benefit comes in the improved expectations and life-lessons that kids glean from the book.

“To me, an adult’s primary job when it comes to introducing kids to a new sport is to make sure they love it for life. A-B-Skis makes it easier for adults to share the stoke of skiing with their little ones.”

The funds from the Kickstarter campaign will help Ludlow pay for the cost to publish the book. Purchase by December 13th on Kickstarter. It is expected to be on shelves in the fall of 2019. To view or donate to the campaign, visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/abskis/a-b-skis.

Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.) opened her quest for her sixth career FIS Ski World Cup slalom crystal globe with another dominating victory in the season-opening slalom under the lights in Levi, Finland on Saturday.

“I felt good, I was even surprised at how good the course felt with the warm conditions,” said Shiffrin, who now has 44 career World Cup victories, including three slalom wins in Levi—which equals Germany Maria Höfl-Riesch's record win count on the Levi Black slope. “I had a little bit of a scary moment on the pitch, but I fought through it and it was fun!”

The start of the first run was delayed an hour and moved further down the mountain due to windy conditions. Due to the wind, the gondola was also inoperable, so athletes were shuttled on buses to the start for inspection. But despite the warm temperatures, the course remained hard and fast. Shiffrin started first in the opening run and never looked back, taking a 0.14 second lead over Sweden’s Friday Hansdotter, who eventually settled for fourth.

Slovakia’s Petra Vhlova skied a solid second run to finish second, 0.58 seconds back of Shiffrin’s winning time, and Austria’s Bernadette Schild was third, 0.79 seconds back. Resi Stiegler (Jackson Hole, Wyo.), who was racing for the first time since sustaining a knee injury at the Olympic slalom in PyeongChang, and Nina O’Brien (Denver, Colo.), also started for the U.S. but did not qualify for the second run.

Saturday’s victory also moves Shiffrin into the overall World Cup lead, following her third-place finish in the giant slalom at Soelden, Austria, last month. With 160 points, Shiffrin leads the standings over France's Tessa Worley (100 points) followed by Switzerland's Wendy Holdener (81 points). 

The women’s World Cup circuit moves on to Vermont’s Killington Resort for the Killington Cup, Nov. 24-25 with giant slalom and slalom events. Shiffrin has won the slalom the past two years at Killington and finished fifth in the giant slalom in 2016, and second in 2017.

Shiffrin’s reindeer herd also expanded with her third slalom victory in Levi. She named her newest addition Mr. Gru (from the movie Despicable Me). Mr. Gru joins Sven, won in 2016, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer won in 2013.

Following the cancellation of the giant slalom in Soelden, the men’s World Cup season kicks off Sunday at Levi with slalom. American men's starters will be Mark Engel (Truckee, Calif.), Hig Roberts (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) Robby Kelley (Starksboro, Vt.), River Radamus (Edwards, Colo.) and Luke Winters (Gresham, Ore.). 

RESULTS
Women’s Slalom

HOW TO WATCH
*All times EST.

ALPINE
Sunday, Nov. 18
4:00-5:30 a.m. - World Cup men’s SL, first run, Levi, FIN - NBC Sports Gold*
7:00-8:30 a.m. - World Cup men’s SL, second run, Levi, FIN - NBC Sports Gold*
7:00-8:30 a.m. - World Cup men’s SL, second run, Levi, FIN - The Olympic Channel
12:00-1:30 p.m. - World Cup slalom weekend recap, Levi, FIN - NBCSN

*NBC Sports Gold, NBC Sports Digital’s direct-to-consumer live streaming product “Snow Pass” provides fans access to live and on-demand domestic and international competitions of seven Olympic winter sports from October 2018 through April 2019.

The Snow Pass provides access to every second of race action throughout the season. Whoever you support, their races will be broadcast on the Snow Pass. NBC will also email you prior to each event to remind you of live broadcast times on Snow Pass, and if you can’t watch live, the entire event will be available to replay, all for under 20 cents per day.

In Finnish Lapland, the FIS Ski World Cup slalom kickoff is a bit more magical than most stops. Santa attends the races, the prize is a reindeer, the Northern Lights are alive, and you can't escape the sparkles and the holiday vibes. 

After a solid training block for the women in Copper Mountain, Colorado with an injected surface, and some time to acclimate to the time difference, the ladies are ready to rock up in the Northland. The slalom crew will be led by Olympic gold medalist, World Champion, two-time overall winner and five-time slalom titleholder Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.), who already has two reindeer to her name. In 2013 and 2016, Shiffrin grabbed the Levi win and named her reindeer Rudolph and Sven, respectively. 

Last season, Shiffrin was second to Slovakia's Petra Vlhova, but she's feeling prepared, confident and strong heading into Saturday's slalom kickoff. It's not easy to travel across the world for the slalom kickoff, and the ladies were able to get some good time ahead of the weekend's race to get over jet lag, get some training under their belt on Levi soil, and they're looking forward to crushing. Nina O'Brien (Edwards, Colo.) and Resi Stiegler (Jackson, Wyo.) both got some great training in while in Colorado and were able to see where they stacked up against the best in the world in training with teammate Shiffrin. 

On the men's side, new coach Martin Andersen touched base with us earlier this week and said that although it's been a warm, wet week of training in Levi, the guys were able to get some great training in at both Kvitfjell, Norway, and Levi. The weather forecast for men's race day is looking good and the guys are feeling ready. With Sölden, Austria's giant slalom canceled due to weather, this will be Luke Winters' (Gresham, Ore.) debut World Cup start. Keep an eye on both he and teammate River Radamus (Edwards, Colo.), who are fresh faces on the World Cup circuit, but will make it more of a home this season. 

See who to watch and where to catch all the action below.

WOMEN’S STARTERS

• Nina O’Brien
• Mikaela Shiffrin
• Resi Stiegler

MEN’S STARTERS

• Mark Engel
• Hig Roberts
• Robby Kelley
• River Radamus
• Luke Winters*

*Denotes first World Cup Start

HOW TO WATCH
*All times EST.
ALPINE

Saturday, Nov. 17
4:00-5:30 a.m. - World Cup women’s SL, first run, Levi, FIN - NBC Sports Gold*
7:00-8:30 a.m. - World Cup women’s SL, second run, Levi, FIN - NBC Sports Gold*
7:00-8:30 a.m. - World Cup women’s SL, second run, Levi, FIN - The Olympic Channel

Sunday, Nov. 18
4:00-5:30 a.m. - World Cup men’s SL, first run, Levi, FIN - NBC Sports Gold*
7:00-8:30 a.m. - World Cup men’s SL, second run, Levi, FIN - NBC Sports Gold*
7:00-8:30 a.m. - World Cup men’s SL, second run, Levi, FIN - The Olympic Channel
12:00-1:30 p.m. - World Cup slalom weekend recap, Levi, FIN - NBCSN

* NBC Sports Gold, NBC Sports Digital’s direct-to-consumer live streaming product “Snow Pass” provides fans access to live and on-demand domestic and international competitions of seven Olympic winter sports from October 2018 through April 2019.

The Snow Pass provides access to every second of race action throughout the season. Whoever you support, their races will be broadcast on the Snow Pass. NBC will also email you prior to each event to remind you of live broadcast times on Snow Pass, and if you can’t watch live, the entire event will be available to replay, all for under 20 cents per day. ​​​​

U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced today an exciting new partnership with Bulletproof 360, a leading science-based food and beverage company, focusing on their widely popular Bulletproof Coffee beverage. Bulletproof’s iconic coffee beverage is not your average latte; it is made with Brain Octane oil® and grass-fed butter to provide a quick and reliable energy source throughout the day. As U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s official coffee supplier, Bulletproof 360 will help keep the world’s top ski and snowboard athletes fueled, focused and achieving optimum performance levels on and off the slopes.

The partnership will kick off on November 23 at the Killington Cup in Killington, Vermont. Spectators and fans at home will watch female national and international alpine ski superstars debut the Bulletproof branded race bib during the Giant Slalom event. This is the only domestic stop for the women of the alpine ski team, including two-time Olympic gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin who will seek a third consecutive top finish at the venue. Bulletproof will also support athletes at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix Copper Mountain Freeski and Snowboard event in December, among other domestic U.S. Ski & Snowboard events throughout the season.

“Bulletproof’s belief that all people have the ability to achieve super-human goals falls directly in line with U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s mission of creating the best ski and snowboard athletes in the world,” said Dan Barnett, U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Chief Marketing Officer. “Bulletproof’s coffee products boost energy and brain function and will help athletes on their journey to the podium. We are excited to offer these products to our athletes as they train and compete this season.”

“We’re thrilled to support some of the most elite athletes in the world and help them achieve peak performance levels with Bulletproof Coffee,” said Karen Huh, VP of Brand and Product Strategy of Bulletproof 360. “We offer products that enable anyone to perform at the top of their game. These are competitions where athletes are looking to optimize their control, speed, and focus, and Bulletproof Coffee offers just that.”

After a productive final prep period camp featuring sunshine, blue skies, “hero snow,” and many very early, cold mornings at the U.S. Ski Team Speed Center at Copper Mountain the last couple of weeks, U.S. Ski & Snowboard has officially announced the 2018-19 U.S. Alpine Team, featuring three Olympic champions including Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah), Mikaela Shiffrin (Avon, Colo.) and Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.). 

The season kicked off in Sölden, Austria with women’s giant slalom race the last weekend of October, where Shiffrin grabbed a hard-fought podium, finishing third place. Unfortunately, the men’s giant slalom race was canceled due to weather but will be rescheduled in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria in December. With some solid training under their belt in a very wintry Copper Mountain, the team is ready to tackle this weekend’s slalom kickoff in Levi, Finland, and eagerly awaits the North American tour, starting with the much-anticipated women’s tech series in Killington, Vermont and a men’s speed series in Lake Louise, Canada on Thanksgiving weekend.

First, let's get you acquainted with the TV broadcast schedule. 

So, what’s there to look forward to this season?! Plenty. Let’s talk shop.

Vonn has done it all...almost. Winningest female ski racer of all time with 82 FIS Ski World Cup victories across all five disciplines—slalom, giant slalom, super-G, downhill and combined. She’s the 2010 Olympic downhill champion. She has a record 20 World Cup titles, and seven World Championship medals to her name. There’s just one more thing left to do, and Vonn has her eyes on the prize. With just five more World Cup wins, she’ll surpass the Swede Ingemar Stenmark, becoming the winningest ski racer of ALL TIME. But that’s not all, folks.  

After missing the downhill globe to Italy’s Sofia Goggia in the 2017-18 season by a mere three points, Vonn will be going for the downhill globe too. It won’t be easy. A 34-years-old veteran, Vonn will have a host of solid speed competitors to fend off this season. She’ll have multiple opportunities at Lake Louise, Alberta, aka, “Lake Lindsey”—where she has won more than any athlete ever, setting the stage for what will very likely be a historic season. Injury after injury…and Vonn has gotten back up. Every. Single. Time. Plus! It’s a World Championships season, and the alpine team will be heading to Åre, Sweden in February. Don’t count Vonn out as a medalist in speed. Keep a close eye in on Vonn in her final season to see if she will go into the record books as the winningest ski racer—male or female—of all time.

One of the most humble and hardworking to touch the sport of alpine ski racing, Shiffrin has been crowned the number one female alpine skier in the world two years in a row. At just 23-years-old, this double Olympic Champ and silver medalist is en fuego. She’s a three-time World Champion in slalom, and a five-time overall slalom titleholder in the last six years. This “slalom specialist” has even got a downhill victory to her name. Yup. It’s not about all of that, though. For Shiffrin, it's about skiing her best on any given day and maximizing the time she has on the mountain as a true student of the sport. And, to her, that means perfecting giant slalom. With the Olympic gold medal no longer elusive, she wants that globe. Another slalom globe? Yup. More speed success, and a super-G win? Yup. Overall? You better believe it. World Championship gold in giant slalom? It's on her radar!

With 32 slalom victories, she’s on the heels of her childhood hero—Austrian Marlies Schild—who holds the record of 35 slalom victories. It seems like every weekend there’s a new record for Shiffrin to break. She can’t even keep track anymore. Actually, she never has. And this year she has the chance to make history as the first ski racer to win four consecutive World Championship gold medals in slalom.

Two veterans on the women’s side—Resi Stiegler (Jackson, Wyo.) and Laurenne Ross (Bend, Ore.) are a formidable pair that have the speed to land on the podium in tech and speed, respectively...and the flair, ferociousness, and competitive fire to boot.

Ligety is a father, a business owner, and a game changer in the sport of alpine ski racing. Ask rookie teammate River Radamus (Edwards, Colo.), and he’ll tell you Ligety revolutionized the discipline of giant slalom. He’s a legend. This two-time Olympic champion, five-time World Champion, and five-time giant slalom globe winner has gas left in the tank—and with a full, injury-free prep period for the first time in two years, Ligety is looking for another gear. He had five straight giant slalom victories on the famed Birds of Prey, a track he loves and looks forward to returning to in December, in the giant slalom opener of the season. You can count on Ligety when it matters most. Keep an eye on him as he travels the road to World Championships.  

At 36-years-old, veteran Steven Nyman (Sundance, Utah) will be returning from back-to-back seasons with knee injuries for a full 2019 season schedule, starting with Lake Louise. Most known for his “King of the Saslong” title, with three victories on the classic Val Gardena, Italy track, Nyman could tie former Italian ski racer Kristian Ghedina with four victories. Fun fact? They share the same magic man—Fischer serviceman extraordinaire—Leo Mussi. Plus, like a fine wine, downhillers get better over time, as knowledge of the track benefits downhillers. Nyman could shine once again in Val Gardena and watch closely during World Championships in Åre—a track he’s had a lot of experience on, as he and the downhillers have a lot of miles of training at that venue.

2015 World Championships downhill silver medalist Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, Calif.) and teammate Thomas Biesemeyer (Keene, N.Y.) will return from injury as well, and Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, Calif.) and Jared Goldberg (Holladay, Utah) look to capitalize on their strong skiing during the 2017-18 season. A pair of giant slalom/super-G skiers—Tommy Ford (Bend, Ore.) and Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Starksboro, Vt.)—are skiing fast and focused in training, and looking to lay it down and make their mark on the big stage.

Coming out of the PyeongChang Olympics much has been said about the renewed focus on alpine development, and this season you all will be able to witness the fruits of that effort. The “young guns” to watch this season as they make their transition from NorAm and Europa Cups to the World Cup stage are 17-year-old A.J. Hurt (Squaw Valley, Calif.), Radamus, and Luke Winters (Gresham, Ore.). Hurt snagged her first World Cup start at just 16-years-old in Killington, Vermont last season, and has the talent to do something special for years to come.

Radamus and Winters had a double podium in super-G at World Juniors in Davos, Switzerland in 2018. Radamus has flair on the mountain, to match his name. And speed. He won the hat-trick of golds at the Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway in 2016, then grabbed a silver medal in the alpine combined at World Juniors in 2017, and was the NorAm Overall winner in 2018. Hometown boy Radamus will grace this year’s Birds of Prey poster, and he couldn’t be more stoked. He grew up collecting every Birds of Prey poster, so this is pretty rad (yep, I did that) for him. However, he notes, if you go to his house to check out the collection, you'll find "an embarrassing amount of Lindsey and Ted posters."

Keep an eye on these young athletes this season, as they make more frequent World Cup appearances, and definitely watch them as we head into the next Olympic cycle. 

2018-19 U.S. Alpine Ski Team
Name (hometown; home club; birthdate)

A TEAM
Men
Travis Ganong (Squaw Valley, Calif.; Squaw Valley Ski Team; 7/14/1988)
Ted Ligety (Park City, Utah; Park City Ski and Snowboard; 8/31/1984)
Steven Nyman (Sundance, Utah; Park City Ski and Snowboard/Sundance Ski Team; 2/12/1982)

Women
Breezy Johnson (Victor, Idaho; Rowmark Ski Academy; 1/19/1996)**
Alice McKennis (New Castle, Colo.; Sunlight Winter Sports Club/Rowmark Ski Academy; 8/18/1989)**
Laurenne Ross (Bend, Ore.; Mt. Bachelor Sports Education Foundation; 8/17/1988)
Mikaela Shiffrin (Eagle-Vail, Colo.; Burke Mountain Academy/Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 3/13/1995)
Lindsey Vonn (Vail, Colo.; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail/Buck Hill Ski Team; 10/18/1984)
Jacqueline Wiles (Aurora, Ore.; White Pass Ski Club; 7/13/1992)**

B TEAM
Men
Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley, Calif.; Squaw Valley Ski Team; 7/14/1992)
Tommy Biesemeyer (Keene, NY; New York Ski Education Foundation; 1/30/1989)
Ryan Cochran-Siegle (Starksboro, Vt.; Cochran’s/Mount Mansfield Ski & Snowboard Club; 3/27/1992)
Tommy Ford (Bend, Ore.; Mt. Bachelor Ski Education Foundation; 3/20/1989)       
Jared Goldberg (Holladay, Utah; Snowbird Sports Education Foundation; 6/15/1991)
Sam Morse (Carrabassett Valley, Maine; Carrabassett Valley Academy; 5/27/1996)
River Radamus (Edwards, Colo.; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 2/12/1998)
Luke Winters (Gresham, Ore.; Sugar Bowl Academy; 4/2/1997)*

Women
AJ Hurt (Carnelian Bay, Calif.; Squaw Valley Ski Team; 12/5/2000)*
Alice Merryweather (Hingham, Mass.; Attitash Race Team/Stratton Mountain School; 10/5/1996)
Nina O’Brien (San Francisco, Calif.; Burke Mountain Academy/Squaw Valley Ski Team; 11/29/1997)
Resi Stiegler (Jackson, Wyo.; Jackson Hole Ski Club; 11/14/1985)

C TEAM
Men
Cooper Cornelius (Glenwood Springs, Colo.; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 6/20/1999)*
Nick Krause (Northboro, Mass.; Stratton Mountain School; 5/12/1993)
Kyle Negomir (Littleton, Colo.; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 10/3/1998)*
George Steffey (Lyme, N.H.; Stratton Mountain School; 8/8/1997)**

Women
Abi Jewett (Ripton, Vt.; Green Mountain Valley School; 1/10/2000)*
Tricia Mangan (Derby, N.Y.; Holimont Race Team; 3/7/1997)
Katie Hensien (Redmond, Wash.; Rowmark Ski Academy; 12/1/1999)
Galena Wardle (Aspen, Colo.; Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club; 4/24/1998)

DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Men
Andrew Miller (Park City, Utah; Park City Ski Team; 12/18/1998)*
Isaiah Nelson (Wayzata, MN.; Buck Hill Ski Racing Club; 4/3/2001)*
Ben Ritchie (Waitsfield, VT; Green Mountain Valley School; 9/5/2000)*
Jett Seymour (Steamboat, Colo.; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club/University of Denver Ski Team; 11/5/1998)
Trey Seymour (Steamboat, Colo.; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club; 10/13/2000)*

Women
Keely Cashman (Strawberry, Calif.; Squaw Valley Ski Team; 4/4/1999)
Cecily Decker (Saranac Lake, N.Y.; New York Ski Education Foundation; 5/16/1998)**
Ainsley Proffit (St. Louis, MO; Sugar Bowl Ski Team & Academy; 3/21/2001)*
Nellie-Rose Talbot (Vail, Colo.; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 8/24/1999)
Nicola Rountree-Williams (Edwards, Colo.; Loveland Ski Area/Ski & Snowboard Club Vail; 7/7/2002)*
Zoe Zimmermann (Gilford, N.H.; Burke Mountain Academy; 5/16/2002)*

*Newly named to the U.S. Ski Team
**Currently sidelined due to injury, but WILL be back in the future. Stay tuned. 

Official U.S. Alpine Ski Team Partners can be found here.

HEY! Would you like to sign up for Megan Harrod's World Cup Notes—a behind-the-scenes race day communication? Yeah?! Click here, fill out the form, and tick the "Alpine World Cup Notes from Megan Harrod" box. 

Emotions run high in the opening seconds of Off Piste: Tragedy in the Alps, a new film released by the Bryce and Ronnie Snow Safety Foundation (BRASS). Young athletes dig frantically in the snow searching for their two friends buried under meters of heavy, compacted snow. But it’s too late.

Avalanches are a powerful force of mother nature. The very mountains that bring such life to skiers and snowboarders can just as quickly take it away. Off Piste: Tragedy in the Alps is a poignant reminder of that and a brilliant educational tool to help introduce skiers and snowboarders to basic steps to stay safe in the backcountry.

In January 2015 an avalanche in Sölden, Austria took the lives of two promising young stars of the U.S. Ski Team. They and their teammates were innocently enjoying the sport they love when tragedy struck. The BRASS Foundation, formed in 2016, was born out of the tragic avalanche deaths of Ronnie Berlack and Bryce Astle to create a legacy of changes in the culture of avalanche safety. Its mission is to lobby for the evolution of snow safety systems and to advocate for greater penetration of avalanche education.

The film and a detailed accident report were released by BRASS to help build greater awareness in the skiing and snowboarding community for avalanche safety.

The 13-minute film was produced for BRASS by Trent Meisenheimer and Arius Sorbonne from the Utah Avalanche Center. It will be utilized at workshops produced by BRASS and other avalanche education organizations. Ski and snowboard competition clubs around the country and the world will use it as a teaching tool. Among the stars featured in the film are Olympic champions Bode Miller, Mikaela Shiffrin and Ted Ligety, as well as downhill star Steven Nyman.

"Right from the time of Ronnie and Bryce's accident it's been the goal of the families to use the tragedy as an opportunity to educate others," said BRASS Chairman Jamie Astle, father of Bryce. "For that reason, we wanted to be very candid and forthcoming with the film to reach viewing audiences with a very simple yet poignant message."

Off Piste, roughly translated as ‘off trail,’ is titled after the common terminology in the sport referring to skiing or riding off traditional groomed ski runs in a resort or in the mountain backcountry.

The film is impactful from the start with a re-creation of the rescue of Ronnie and Bryce as teammates frantically search for their friends. It features dramatic avalanche footage from other backcountry accidents that show vividly the power of sliding snow.

Most of all, though, it conveys a powerful message and simple tips to help skiers and snowboarders stay safe.

Through the eyes of their families, you learn who Ronnie and Bryce were. From their teammates who were with them, you learn what they were thinking when they ventured off the groomed trail. You share the powerful, intense emotions they felt trying to find their friends.

"None of the young men in that group knew the difference between on and off piste," said Ronnie's father Steve Berlack. "Off piste in the United States is defined as out of bounds, going through a gate. In Europe, when you are off a groomer you are off piste."

The avalanche that day caused over 7-million pounds of snow to slide. Video of avalanches and a graphic rendition of the Sölden avalanche paint a vivid picture. Accounts in the film document the small but important elements of the accident that could have changed the story that day.

"It takes all of 20 minutes to be learn and be educated enough to have an impact on that situation," said gold medalist Bode Miller.

"You want to be prepared," says Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin. "There are five points that are good to remember: You want to get the gear, get the training, get the forecast, get the picture and get out of harm's way."

Through the eyes of both U.S. Ski Team stars and avalanche experts, each of the five points are explored in the film.

"Being a ski racer is a definitely a dangerous sport. What we're going down is a highly regulated area with fencing and snow prep - you have all these things to keep you safe," said Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety. "You get out there into the backcountry there are none of those luxuries, that's for sure."

"For the people who assume that just because know how to ski terrain or rip down a mountain because they ski downhill, it's a very different beast," said Shiffrin.

BRASS is making the film available at no cost to clubs or individuals to help increase awareness and educate.

"We hope that Off Piste gets people thinking," said Astle. "It's not a replacement for an avalanche safety course. But in 13 minutes it will give any skier or snowboarder some tools they can use for decision making."

The release of Off Piste: Tragedy in the Alps is combined with a very candid and revealing report of the details of the accident in Sölden, which is available at www.brassfoundation.org. "The film Off Piste and the accident report are designed to share actual information from the accident so it will positively impact others and prevent similar tragedies," said Astle.

The video is available from BRASS free for any educational showing. It can be found on the BRASS website, YouTube, Vimeo or Facebook. <add links>

Additional information on avalanche safety and education are available from a host of regional and national organizations, including the Utah Avalanche Center which is releasing a series of free online avalanche courses.

Avalanche Information Resources

• BRASS Foundation
• American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education
• Colorado Avalanche Information Center
• Know Before You Go
• National Avalanche Center - U.S. Forest Service
• Utah Avalanche Center

Off Piste: Tragedy in the Alps

• Full length (high resolution)
• Full length (low resolution)
• One minute trailer (high resolution)
• One minute trailer (low resolution)

NOTE: Off Piste: Tragedy in the Alps is available license-free for educational use only. It may not be excerpted or shown commercially without permission of the BRASS Foundation.

About BRASS Foundation
The Bryce and Ronnie Athlete Snow Safety Foundation was born out of the tragic avalanche deaths of U.S. Ski Team athletes Ronnie Berlack and Bryce Astle to create a legacy of changes in the culture of avalanche safety. Its mission is to lobby for the evolution of snow safety systems and to advocate for greater penetration of avalanche education. It works closely with avalanche industry organizations in the USA and around the world. The BRASS Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit relying entirely on donations from passionate private and commercial supporters.