Outlaws ski team hits the slopes

Sisters High School's Alpine Ski Team fields 14 racers this season: 12 boys and two girls.

Four boys return for another season: junior John Banks, and sophomores Evan Palmer, George Chladek, and Mitchell Griffin. New additions are freshmen Ian Cash, Corbin Johnson, Christopher Lundgren, Conner Petke, Simon Rhett; junior Kincaid Smelzer; and seniors Ethan Morgan and Spencer Kemp.

Only two girls will be racing this year: senior Holland Hartman, and freshman Skylar Wilkins. Hartman has raced before, but didn't race her junior year. Coach Gabe Chladek told The Nugget that Holland's experience is already showing on the course. Wilkins is new to the team, and brings with her a strong, athletic background.

"Most of our racers have quite a bit of skiing experience, but are relatively new to racing," said Chladek. "Most of our team members are younger, with time to gain experience for future seasons."

High school alpine ski racing consists of two events: slalom and giant slalom (GS). Slalom courses are set with tight-radius turns that come in rapid concession. Speeds are slower, but the changes in direction are rapid. It requires technical skiing skills to navigate some of the course challenges, such as flushes, delays and hairpins. Slalom courses are set to challenge racers' rapid edging, and technical skills to stay on course.

The giant slalom courses are set with wider turns spaced further apart, which allows for higher speeds on the course. These courses challenge the racer to hold a carving edge through the terrain at higher speeds.

Racers get two runs per race, and are timed as they ski through the course. The fastest time gets first place and the most points, second place gets fewer points than first, and on down until 0 points are awarded. Scores of the two runs are averaged, and there is a winner for each race day. Points also accumulate over the season to produce an individual and team champion for the season.

The team started dryland training after the Thanksgiving break, with conditioning that is a mix of endurance, strength-building, and balance work. The team would have liked to have had more time on the hill/race course training, but the lean snow conditions made that a challenge.

Sisters was able to get three good days of training on the hill at Hoodoo the second week of winter break, which they felt made them ready for their first race of the season, which was a GS at Mt. Bachelor on Saturday, January 6.

George Chladek finished 16th, Evan Palmer took 26th, Kincaid Smeltzer was 35th, John Banks 57th, and Christopher Lundgren 62nd out of the 79 boys that raced.

First-year Coach Chladek said, "We want to thank the folks at Hoodoo for letting us set up race gates on their hill when they had very little snow. The training opportunity made all the difference for our team."