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Video Girdwood
2020 |
Youth program
produces champion skiers One of the
world's best youth ski programs is located right
here on the slopes of Alyeska. Founded in 1962, the
Alyeska Ski Club and its affiliated programs have
more than 200 youngsters and teens in this year's
training program. Longtime Girdwood resident Don
Conrad started Alyeska Mighty Mites, the entry
level program with kids as young as age 6, in the
early 1960s. Volunteer parents and ski instructors
such as Bill Hume, Bud Gibbs, Howard Holtan, Butch
West and Phil Ramstad aided the program's early
success. For the upcoming
ski season, Alyeska Ski and Snowboard Club has 30
coaches working under a full-time program director.
The scope and depth of the program ranges from
entry level ski racing and boarding, to a program
for young athletes aspiring to go to college on ski
scholarships or make the U.S. Ski Team and World
Cup. Success of the
program should be measured by results. No mountain
in North America of Alyeska's size can claim to
produce better competitive results than our own.
The first Alyeska Ski Club member to make the U.S.
Ski Team in the late 1960s was former University of
Alaska Anchorage Ski Coach Paul Crews. Alaska's
most famous skier, Tommy Moe, honed his skiing
skills at Alyeska to become an Olympic gold
medallist. Megan Gerety,
Mike Makar, and Kjersti Bjorn-Roli started out as
young Mighty Mites and spent several years
traveling the world with the U.S. Ski Team,
representing our nation internationally and on the
World Cup. Rosie Fletcher, who also started as a
member of the Alyeska Ski Club, is now one of the
very best snowboarders on the World Cup. These
athletes have made Alyeska a household name among
the European ski elite. Many other Alyeska skiers
have excelled in college ski racing. The mountain
alumni are now productive Alaskans, professionals
and business people with their own children and
grandchildren skiing the mountain. Lights and
snowmaking equipment have been added to the Tanaka
Ski Lift on the face of Max's Mountain. Youngsters
will be able to ski and snowboard after school on
lighted slopes. The ski club has invested in its
own bus for transportation to and from the mountain
for Anchorage ski club members. For information
on how to get your youngsters involved in the
exciting and rewarding sports of alpine skiing and
snowboarding, you can call the Alyeska Ski and
Snowboard Club's Race Training Center at 783-2160.
The center is located right off the parking lot at
the base of Chair 4. Few things in life are as
rewarding as when your youngster says,"Follow
me!" |
