Aspen Snowmass, in collaboration with the U.S. Ski & Snowboard and Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club (AVSC), will host the 2020 U.S. Alpine Tech Championships Mar. 28-31 at Aspen Highlands. The agreement also ensures the return of the U.S. Alpine Tech Championships to Aspen Snowmass in March of 2022. Tech Championships include the disciplines of men’s and women’s slalom, giant slalom and parallel slalom. 

“We are thrilled to bring elite ski racing back to Aspen for U.S. Alpine Tech Championships, says U.S. Ski & Snowboard Director of World Cup Events, Lindsay Arnold. “The 2017 FIS Ski World Cup Finals were a highlight for many of our athletes, and U.S. Alpine Championships is always a great opportunity to expose our up-and-coming national talent to the likes of some of the best alpine ski racers in the world, such as double Olympic champions Mikaela Shiffrin, Ted Ligety, and more.”

Mark Godomsky, executive director of AVSC continues, “Hosting U.S. Alpine Championships will be very special for Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club. Not only will our older athletes have the chance to compete with the best in the country on their home hill, but our younger athletes will have the chance to watch, interact with, and be inspired by the top competitors in their sport. We are incredibly grateful and proud of the Aspen Highlands race venue, and can’t wait to share it with athletes and clubs around the country during this awesome event.” 

The last time Aspen Snowmass hosted a U.S. Alpine Tech Championships was 60 years ago, but ski racing runs deep in the Roaring Fork Valley, as the resort not only hosted the first World Championships outside of Europe in 1950, but has been a continuous stop on the World Cup circuit for both the men and women. Aspen also hosted the 2017 FIS Ski World Cup Finals. 

“Ski racing is deeply engrained in Aspen’s heritage and our mountains have seen ski racing triumphs from greats such as Billy Kidd, Franz Klammer, Tamara McKinney, Ingemar Stenmark, Alberto Tomba, and Mikaela Shiffrin,” says John Rigney, senior vice president, Aspen Snowmass. “We are honored to continue this storied history and look forward to providing the best possible races for the U.S. Ski Team athletes and up-and-comers vying for the honor of national champion.”

Prior to hosting the U.S. Alpine Tech Championships, Aspen Snowmass will host the 2020 and 2021 NASTAR National Championships at Snowmass Mar. 24-28, 2020 and Mar. 23-27, 2021. NASTAR is a youth feeder program for the U.S. Ski Team, and U.S. Ski Team athletes set the pace for NASTAR. For the first time, both events will be at the same venue, allowing the top recreational racers to have the unique opportunity to compete side-by-side with the best American alpine ski racing athletes. 

The first NASTAR National Championship was held in the Spider Sabich race arena on Snowmass in the spring of 1998 and the event has expanded to include all age groups from U6 to 95+. More than 50,000 racers will compete at 100 resorts across the country to qualify for a spot at the National Championships. Recreational racers compete within their age and ability group to earn a National Championship title and place in the final, Race of Champions. Each National Champion carries their handicap into the race to compete for the overall win. For more information about the NASTAR National Championships, visit www.nastar.com/national-championships. 

The U.S. Alpine Speed Championships venue announcement will be forthcoming. 

U.S. Alpine Tech Championships Event Schedule
March 28 Parallel Slalom (National Championships) – Snowmass, Colo.
March 29 Slalom – Men and Women – Aspen Highlands, Colo. 
March 30 Women’s Giant Slalom – Aspen Highlands, Colo. 
March 31 Men’s Giant Slalom – Aspen Highlands, Colo. 

2019 Alpine Combined and Slalom National Champion Luke Winters (Gresham, Ore.) was victorious under the lights and through the fog in the Winter Games NZ parallel slalom opener Friday night at Coronet Peak, New Zealand.

The men's Europa Cup group (a.k.a. #SlamifestDestiny) has been training at Roundhill and Ohau, New Zealand since mid-August, with excellent training conditions and support from each of the resorts despite a relatively mild winter down under. The U.S. Ski & Snowboard staff—led by coaches Matt Underhill, Ryan Wilson and Josh Benge—together with resort partners, has worked tirelessly to water and prep the surface to allow for world-class training conditions in both giant slalom and slalom disciplines as the athletes get back on snow and dive into the 2019-20 prep period.  

Winters edged out Slovakia's Adam Zampa in the big final for the victory in spectacular fashion, with a tight finish and a near-crash at the bottom. Belgium's Sam Maes—the 2019 FIS Junior World Ski Championships slalom and giant slalom bronze medalist—rounded out the podium in third. 

The group, including Winters, double Junior World Champion River Radamus (Edwards, Colo.), Junior Worlds silver medalist Ben Ritchie (Waitsfield, Vt.), Bridger Gile (Aspen, Colo.), Jacob Dilling (Vail, Colo.), as well as invitees Jimmy Krupka (Waitsfield, Vt.) and Jett Seymour (Steamboat, Colo.) traveled to Coronet Peak from Ohau on Friday for the event, and will conclude their New Zealand training camp, heading back stateside on Monday, August 25.

More details about Winter Games NZ can be found on their website. 

HIGHLIGHTS
Winter Games NZ Parallel Slalom Highlight Video

U.S. Ski & Snowboard is doubling down on athlete physical fitness with its national validated physical fitness testing program, SkillsQuest-Fitness. 

SkillsQuest-Fitness is part of SkillsQuest, a cornerstone program of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Training Systems, designed to motivate and reward athletes in working toward and improving abilities in the key areas of emphasis. 

SkillsQuest-Fitness tests eight physical properties including strength and power, coordination, speed, and aerobic fitness. It’s a holistic view of an athlete’s fitness, and through the data gathered during testing sessions and already amassed by the high performance staff, athletes have the ability to see where they stack up against peers and national team members in their sport.

Alpine athletes on the development team, National Development Group and anyone aspiring to compete in the Alpine World Junior Ski Championships will have to pass a minimum overall standard assessed by SkillsQuest-Fitness by November 1 of this year. Minimum physical fitness standards will be phased into all levels of the Alpine National Team over the next few years. 

“Physical fitness is extremely important for athletic development for athletes coming up the pipeline onto the national team,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard Alpine Development Director Chip Knight. “We want there to be a baseline of physical conditioning that aspiring athletes have as a foundation for them to continue to move forward in our sport. Anyone who has national elite level aspiration should be targeting these SkillsQuest-Fitness events and working on their physical conditioning in the summer.”

“Research consistently shows that improved physical fitness is correlated to improved alpine ski racing performance, particularly in junior skiers,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s High Performance Director Troy Taylor. “The fitter you are the more quality training you can do, the more quality training you get, the better you can improve.”

“We’re pushing fitness to support quality skill and technical development,” emphasized U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s High Performance Coordinator Calin Butterfield. “Fitter, more physically robust athletes can train for their sport with higher quality and less likelihood of injury.” 

U.S. Ski & Snowboard will offer multiple SkillsQuest-Fitness validated tests across the country before the November 1 deadline. However, these tests are not exclusive to the alpine community. Taylor encourages any ski or snowboard athletes 14 years or older to participate in the events so that they can get assessed and see where they stack up against the best in their age group, their region, or the best of the national team members. 

For more information on registering for validated SkillsQuest-Fitness testing and dates in each region, please visit our registration website.

-- A special thanks to John Dakin for contributing this wonderful story about Pepi Gramshammer.

Somewhere around 8 a.m. on Saturday, August 17, the heart of Vail, Colorado skipped a beat. The air in the heart of Vail Village seemed to become lighter and a sense of calm settled over the Gasthof Gramshammer.

Austrian ski legend and Vail pioneer Pepi Gramshammer had left his beloved valley for a higher place⁠—he was 87. He is survived by his wife Sheika, daughters Kira and Sheika, and two grandsons.

Gramshammer spent the waning days of his storied life in the place he loved most⁠—Vail. His hospital room’s window looked out on Vail Mountain and the Riva Ridge ski run.  His family played video thank you messages from other ski racing legends including, Mikaela Shiffrin, Franz Klammer, Hermann Maier, and Annemarie Moser-Proell, along with celebrities Arnold Schwarzenegger and Wolfgang Puck.

Many in the Vail Valley will forever wonder what could have been or, more appropriately, what might not have been if Pepi Gramshammer had decided that he was a better cheesemaker than a ski racer.  Born in Kufstein, Austria in 1932, he was determined to make the Austrian National Ski Team following the completion of his apprenticeship making cheese.

Gramshammer began skiing at the age of ten, moving to Innsbruck as a 17-year-old and joining the Innsbruck Skiing Association to ensure himself better training opportunities.  He initially worked as a ski instructor in Igls, while also teaching skiing during the summer months on the Stevio Pass in Italy.

It would take him four years to work his way up the ranks to earn a spot on the powerful Austrian team of the 1950s, joining the likes of Toni Sailer, Anderl Molterer, Christian Pravda and Ernst Hinterseer.  Gramshammer’s first major international victory came in 1956 in a Giant Slalom in Obergurgl, Austria.

Following the conclusion of his amateur career in 1960, Gramshammer moved to the United States, settling in Sun Valley, Idaho to teach skiing with Kitzbuhel native Siegfried Engl, who served as the ski school director. He also jumped aboard the newly-created U.S. Professional Ski Tour, becoming the circuit’s top racer in 1962, sponsored by Head skis, Nordica boots and Look/Nevada bindings.

That same year, Pepi was approached with another new opportunity, a fledgling ski resort in Colorado called Vail.  Resort pioneer Dick Hauserman showed him a film about the new ski area that impressed Gramshammer enough to agree to meet with developers Pete Seibert, Morrie Shepard, and Bob Parker, following a pro race at Loveland.  The next day, the men visited the mountain and skied the Back Bowls.

Pepi credits his decision to move to Vail to Hauserman and his wife, Blanche. “It was the best move I ever made in my life,” he maintained. Initially, Gramshammer worked for the ski school, but the lion’s share of his responsibilities came in public relations and racing for Vail.  He quickly became the resort’s Ski Ambassador, showing people around the mountain.

At the conclusion of his first season, Pepi approached Hauserman with an idea—he wanted to make Vail his home. Gramshammer had always harbored a desire to operate an Austrian-style hotel and wanted to build one in his adopted home.  With the help of investors that included Howard Head, Endicott Davison, Edward Lynch, and Jack Crosby, Gasthof Gramshammer and Pepi Sports became reality.

In the summer of 1966, Gramshammer, along with fellow Austrians Erich Sailer and Anderl Molterer, founded the Red Lodge International Summer Ski Racing Camp in Red Lodge, Montana in an effort to help teach alpine ski racing techniques to American youth.  He also created training programs for adults in Vail called “Wedel Weeks”.

When President Gerald R. Ford made Vail the Western White House during ski vacations, Pepi was one of his most frequent companions, both on and off the slopes. “Don’t worry about the White House,” advised Gramshammer, “you’re skiing now”.  As a result of this friendship between the Fords and the Gramshammers, the President and Mrs. Ford returned the favor, hosting Pepi and his wife Sheika at the White House.

But perhaps the Gramshammer’s greatest contribution to the Vail Valley has come from their love of skiing and ski racing. Through the proceeds of their annual Crystal Ball, which celebrated its final chapter in 1998, over $2 million was raised and donated to ski-related organizations and programs throughout the gala’s 20-year run, with beneficiaries including the Vail Valley Foundation, the U.S. Ski Team, Ski and Snowboard Club Vail and Vail Resort’s Adaptive Ski Program. Pepi also served on the board of directors of the Vail Valley Foundation for 20 years.

Gramshammer was instrumental in helping to return World Cup ski racing to the Vail Valley in 1983, along with helping to direct the campaigns to bring the 1989, 1999 and 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships to Vail and Beaver Creek. He also created the Legends of Skiing competitions in conjunction with Vail’s annual American Ski Classic, while being inducted into the Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame in 1990.

Pepi has been fortunate enough to enjoy a very special love affair with Vail since day one. During the 1994 FIS Congress in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he stepped to the microphone as part of the Vail/Beaver Creek World Championships presentation and laid it out for the international delegation. "I was born and raised in Austria and I am proud of that”, Gramshammer explained. “But my home is Vail, Colorado and I love that.”

Throughout his life and career, Pepi Gramshammer has truly been the heartbeat of Vail, embodying the American “can do” spirit, along with the fun that is skiing.  His love for his adopted home and for all things skiing will remain as his lasting legacy and gift to Vail. The Vail Valley, along with everyone that visits Vail and Beaver Creek each year, most certainly owes the cheesemaker a great debt of thanks.

A memorial service for family and close friends has been scheduled for Monday, August 26, at 11 a.m. at the Vail Interfaith Chapel. A reception will follow at Pepi’s. A community Celebration of Life will be hosted at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in September.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made in Pepi’s name to the Colorado Snowsports Museum, Vail Health Hospital or the Vail Valley Foundation, targeted for World Cup ski racing.

One of U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s most revered ski racing officials, Allen Church, 91, passed away August 17 in Albuquerque, N.M. after a long illness. Church’s career as a volunteer official spanned five decades. In 2002, he was selected to take the oath on behalf of all competition judges and officials at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, where he served as chief of timing and scoring for alpine skiing.

Church began his career serving as an official with his home ski club in Taos, N.M. His career extended around the country and the world. With a primary focus on race timing, he became one of the world’s most knowledgeable experts and has been responsible for training thousands of other officials.

“Allen Church typified the passion we see in our volunteers that helps our sport thrive,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard President and CEO Tiger Shaw. “While we miss Allen, his legacy will be in the thousands of officials he has impacted throughout his career.”

His professional career was as a scientist, heading the Sandia Labs in Albuquerque. He was also an actor, appearing in several cowboy westerns.

But his passion was working in alpine ski racing where served as a technical delegate from 1978 to 1995. In his career, he worked at the highest levels of the sport, including World Cup, World Championships and Olympics. He is a past recipient of some of U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s highest honors for officials, including the Westhaven Award for international technical delegates (1996), John Clair Award for service to the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Teams (2014) and the Bud and Mary Little Award for service to the Olympics and International Ski Federation (2003). He was inducted into the New Mexico Ski Hall of Fame in 2007.

In 2015, he was recognized with the organization’s highest honor, the Julius Blegen Award. “Allen’s hallmark was that he was always available at any time to help anyone in our sport,” said Paul Van Slyke. “He was a true mentor to others and largely responsible for bringing Thelma Hoessler (2019 Blegen recipient) into our sport. He taught at her first timing clinic many years ago and mentored her through many events and experiences. Allen was an icon and mentor to many of us, his patient ways and thoughtful approach was an inspiration to us all.”

Church was born in Los Alamos in 1928 where his parents ran the Los Alamos Ranch School. His mother, Peggy Pond Church, was a famous poet. He grew up skiing at Sawyer’s Hill. In the 1940s, the Manhattan Project took over the school and the family moved to Taos. Church attended both Colorado State and Colorado A&M, initially to study veterinary science but then deciding to go into acting. After serving in the Korean War, he enrolled at Stanford, earning an engineering degree, returning to his home to work at the Sandia National Laboratories. He is survived by his two daughters, Janet Harrison, and Nancy Whetstone. It was their engagement in ski racing that brought him into the sport.

Inclement weather may have cut U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Park City, Utah-based fundraiser short, but it didn’t rain on their parade entirely, as the event - graciously hosted by Park City local Mike Engel - more than doubled their fundraising efforts over last year’s event. 

The event’s origin resulted in a relationship Engel had with the cross country team, having hosted athletes and coaches at his home when they came through for training camps. It began as a small, intimate gathering hosted in Engel’s home, and now, nine years later, it has grown into a community event drawing more than 170 attendees this year, as well as strong support from more than 30 local businesses who participated in the silent auction. 

Athletes representing all U.S. Ski & Snowboard teams were in attendance, ranging from seasoned veterans to the future of U.S. Ski & Snowboard. This included double Olympic champion and Park City local Ted Ligety, members of the gold medal-winning relay team at the 2019 FIS Junior World Cross Country Ski Championships Ben Ogden (Landgrove, Vt.) and Gus Schumacher (Anchorage, Alaska), double Junior World Alpine Ski Championships gold medalist River Radamus (Edwards, Colo.), Jaelin Kauf (Alta, Wyo.), who happens to be the fastest woman on the World Cup freestyle circuit, and many more. 

“Mike takes pride in hosting the event, and talks a lot about how other cities have pro sports teams,” noted Special Events Coordinator Elaine Minahan, “yet Park City gets the privilege of having the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team here at home - a tradition we should be proud of as a community. He really hopes to grow the event, encouraging the community to rally around our ‘home team.’”

The event was emceed by U.S. Ski & Snowboard alumnus, TV personality, U.S. Ski Hall of Famer and former freestyle legend Trace Worthington. President and CEO Tiger Shaw, Chief Development Officer Trisha Worthington, and numerous other U.S. Ski & Snowboard employees were present at the casual, backyard event. Aerialist Nick Novak (Woodbridge, Va.) wowed the crowd when he did a backflip on command, Radamus shot hoops with a 15-year-old attendee, and Ligety’s (and his wife Mia) son Jax stole the show with his cuteness while Ligety spoke to the crowd about what it was like to grow up as a local community Park City Ski & Snowboard kid who came up through the ranks to Olympic champion. 

The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Foundation hosts a variety of formal and on-snow fundraising events across the country that raise over $1.7 million for the Team annually. These featured events provide the perfect opportunity to meet the athletes and hear their stories firsthand. Special events account for a significant portion of the Team's annual fund and are supported and chaired by U.S. Ski & Snowboard Trustees, private donors, individuals, and businesses.

For more information about our upcoming events across the country visit https://www.usskiandsnowboard.org/foundation/foundation-special-events. 

Athletes in Attendance
Alex Bowen
Cooper Cornelius
Olivia Giaccio
Johnny Hagenbuch
Breezy Johnson
Jaelin Kauf
Noel Keefe
Zak Ketterson
Ted Ligety
Novie McCabe
Alice Merryweather
Kyle Negomir
Nick Novak
Ben Ogden
River Radamus
Gus Schumacher
Jackie Wiles
Brad Wilson

To support U.S. Ski & Snowboard on their quest to become the Best in the World! 

Donate Today!