Despite Its Ramshackle HQ on Golden Peak, Ski & Snowboard Club Vail

CLUBHOUSE RULES

Despite its ramshackle HQ on Golden Peak, Ski & Snowboard Club Vail sent a dozen athletes or alumni to the Olympics in Sochi—and hopes to mint even more world champions at Beaver Creek in 2015. Meet the club that’s the heart of America’s home team. BY DEVON O’NEIL >> Vail Ski & Snowboard PHOTOS BY ZACH MAHONE Academy, one of Ski & Snowboard Club Vail’s three academic partners, is the nation’s largest snow sports– focused public school.

64 VAIL-BEAVER CREEK MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2014/2015 VAIL-BEAVER CREEK MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2014/2015 65 uring a rare moment of fluster, Aldo Radamus, the longtime executive director at Ski & Snowboard Club Vail (SSCV), rifles through his desk for a lift ticket. He’s struggling to recall Students at Vail Ski & Snow- a date from five years ago—the first board Academy in Minturn lug books—and skis and day of early-season race training at Golden D Aldo Radamus boots—to school. Peak, enabled by a new, cutting-edge snowmaking system—and he knows the elusive artifact will have the answer. As he searches, he chastises himself for Association (USSA) named SSCV its Club of much as six weeks earlier than is the norm. their quadriceps. When the 2015 FIS Alpine the memory lapse. “I should know that the Year for the second time in half a decade, Less than a year later, not only did the World Ski Championships commence in off the top of my head,” he mumbles. He and a dozen current or former SSCV athletes club have its private preseason training early February, if all goes as planned, SSCV is sitting in the club’s original and woe- competed in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games grounds (paid for by a multimillion-dollar alumnae Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shif- fully outdated headquarters at the base in Sochi, two of whom won gold medals—you donation), but when it wasn’t using the frin will headline the American hopes, sup- of Golden Peak, in an office that he once could argue the most critical was the snow- course, it rented it (a commodity the club ported by a host of lesser-known SSCV ath- used all the time but now sits empty most making expansion, which essentially added refers to as “lane space time”) to everyone letes and veterans. And behind the scenes, days. (Radamus, like the rest of the club’s a month and a half to Vail’s training season. from European World Cup teams to East as they have done at local World Cup races employees, elects to work at newer, nicer That, as SSCV athletic director Brandon Dyk- Coast ski academies. These groups gladly for years, a collection of SSCV athletes, digs in Minturn.) sterhouse says, “is really an unfair advantage flew thousands of miles to train on Vail’s parents, and supporters will handle the The mid-1980s-vintage office furniture in a sport where everything is driven by time snow, then flooded social media with re- grunt volunteer work that enables every serves as a reminder that the clubhouse is on snow.” ports on how good the conditions were. big event. Local kids, many of them wearing slated for a multimillion-dollar redevelop- How this pivotal moment transpired “It was one of those serendipitous clouds the club’s signature lime green anoraks, will ment, complete with residential units that involved a bit of kismet and cajoling. In De- with a silver lining,” says Radamus, who watch their heroes become world champi- will help offset the cost of the project. For cember 2008, Radamus was visiting the VIP notes that over the summer the resort, ons on the hills they ski every day. now, relics blanket Radamus’s walls, like the tent at the Birds of Prey World Cup races in which donated an 11,000-square-foot parcel The gears will turn, as they have for more 1996 Hahnenkamm poster and the hand- Beaver Creek when a U.S. Forest Service of- of land to SSCV for its clubhouse redevel- than half a century in Vail, where a tiny ski written note taped at eye level that lists the opment, also submitted a new proposal to Ski Club’s new $2.5 million elite athlete ficial hinted that the club’s long-anticipated club grew up to be the biggest and baddest training center—a partnership with the five core values he ascribes to and expects expansion on Golden Peak wasn’t likely to the Forest Service that, if approved, finally in America, for better or worse. town of Minturn—at Maloit Park. his athletes to emulate: be approved due to hydrological concerns would allow for the additional terrain and with the club’s proposed new terrain. upgraded infrastructure the club has done PASSIONATE (SSCV wanted to add 760 vertical feet to its without—and done well without—for so efore Ski & Snowboard Club Vail AGGRESSIVE course so the club could host FIS women’s long. “By changing our focus after that approached the 600-kid barrier its first junior members five years later, of-state FIS alpine racer)—not including FUNDAMENTALLY SOUND downhill or men’s super-G races, and pro- disappointment, we actually created some- (including nearly 300 alpine rac- when it operated on an annual budget of travel, equipment, ski tuning, and a variety ATHLETIC vide additional terrain for more acrobatic thing that exceeded all of our expectations ers), before it felt ordinary for Vail $16,000 and charged a $65 annual program of other camps and services that can be HOMEGROWN events like ski cross, snowboard cross, and in terms of what it meant to the kids and athletes to claim 10 of the top 15 fee ($1.2 million and $483, respectively, in added à la carte, and usually are. (Radamus moguls competition.) Demonstrating his the club, and how it attracted teams from spots in a race, and before joining the today’s dollars). Now the club operates on notes that program fees cover less than 80 “Oh, here it is,” Radamus says, trium- first two core values, over lunch Radamus around the world to come to Vail and train Bclub became an alternative to joining the a $4.5 million annual budget, and annual percent of SSCV’s annual budget, and that phantly plucking the lift ticket from a drawer. proposed an alternate plan: an early-season in November, when the only ones here are national team, SSCV was just like dozens of program fees range between $1,800 (for last season, the club awarded scholarships “November 3, 2009, was the first day.” Among snowmaking system—automated and cen- the mice and the locals.” other clubs around the U.S. a local 6-to-9-year-old future star athlete totaling $170,000, doled out to one out of the many events that have almost cosmically trally controlled, to take advantage of key Of course, this winter the world’s best ski Founded in 1962 to enable Vail Mountain who trains only on Saturdays and competes every five athletes.) converged to propel the club’s recent ascen- weather windows in October—that would racers will descend on the Vail Valley chas- to host FIS races, the club (one of the val- in the free Steadman Clinic Vail Cup on At a time when many ski clubs are losing dance—last spring the U.S. Ski and Snowboard allow on-mountain training to begin as ing bigger stakes than enhanced stamina in ley’s first, and oldest, nonprofits) accepted Sundays) and $13,000 (for a full-time out- >>

66 VAIL-BEAVER CREEK MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2014/2015 VAIL-BEAVER CREEK MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2014/2015 67 TIMELINE

Club enrollment The evolution of Ski Club Vail Club alums and members reaches 425 athletes. SCV named USSA Alpine shine at the Winter Olympics The season starts Club of the Year for the The first early in Sochi: Mikaela Shiffrin without Mikaela Ski Club Vail is founded First junior racers first time. training season 585 wins a gold medal in slalom, SCV coach Crawford Shiffrin, after her so the new resort, which sign up with the As membership expands begins on November Club enrollment Kaitlyn Farrington wins a Pierce is named USSA 16-year-old Lindsey father accepts a job Vail Ski & Snowboard opened for business on De- club. Annual budget: to 118 athletes, a second 2, thanks to an reaches 585 gold medal in halfpipe, and . Program floor is added to the Coach of the Year. Kildow makes her in New Hampshire. Academy becomes cember 15, can fulfill plans $16,000 SSCV-financed SSCV alumna athletes. Ayumu Hirano wins a silver World Cup debut in the to host international races. fees: $65 per child. clubhouse. first publicly $3 million snow- medal in halfpipe. 60 Club enrollment Park City. Mikaela Shiffrin Local legends Pete Seibert Vail Valley Academy is funded snowsports SCV’s original reaches 257 Aldo Radamus is making upgrade on makes her World and Dick Hauserman are on founded by Terresa Herbst academy in the clubhouse, serving 60 athletes. hired as executive Golden Peak. Cup debut at age 15. the board of trustees. with six students and five nation, launching athletes, is dedicated. director. teachers. with 31 students.

1962 1967 1977 1986 1993 1996 1997 1999 2003 2007 2009 2011 2013

1973 1981 1990 1995 1998 2000 2002 2004 2010 2014

SCV adds a freestyle Rudd Pyles become A $122,000 halfpipe Aldo Radamus, the moguls program, the first SCV athlete to The club adds SSCV adds a cutter (financed by club’s future executive with 31 skiers. The Minturn Fitness Center, be named to the U.S. snowboarding as a Nordic program. SSCV) begins servic- director, is named USSA a $2.5 million partnership Ski Team. permanent program ing Golden Peak, the Domestic Coach of the between SSCV and the Town and changes its name Halfpipe rider Broc Year. new home to the of Minturn, opens as a training to Ski & Snowboard becomes the Waring Burton U.S. Open, center for elite snowsports The club’s annual Club Vail. first SSCV athlete to SCV adds a Nordic which moves to Vail athletes at the club, VSSA, and ski swap breaks Ali Levy becomes be named to the U.S. Program, then from Vermont after local residents. triple digits for the the first current Snowboard Team. disbands it after SSCV alumna Heidi 30 years. first time, netting SSCV athlete to be a single athlete Kloser is named to SCV racer Mike Brown $105,000. named to U.S. Free- enrolls. the U.S. Freestyle (who was recently in- style Ski Team. U.S. Ski Team head alpine Team. With a record enrollment of ducted into the Colorado Lindsey Kildow SSCV alumni Lindsey coach Bob Beattie brings 174 students, VSSA is now the Ski & Snowboard Hall joins SCV. Alumna Lindsey (Kildow) Vonn and the national team training largest ski and snowboard of Fame) is named to Kildow makes her Chris Del Bosco win camp to Vail—and returns academy in the United the U.S. National Junior A 5-year-old Mikaela Olympic debut in Olympic downhill and in 1963 and 1965. States. Team. Shiffrin joins SCV. Salt Lake City. X Games Skier X gold Club enrollment medals, becoming the reaches 315 club’s first Olympic athletes. and X Games champions, respectively.

traction in their communities and seeing based public school it partners with, Vail who oversaw more than 1,000 employees at serve as tutors for kids who have intensive Radamus’s backstory makes for an un- Radamus decided he was going to become a their memberships dwindle, especially Ski & Snowboard Academy (VSSA). Comcast (and was an all-American slalom travel schedules that take them overseas likely ski-racing lifer. Born in Buenos Aires ski racer. He joined his high school team as among teenagers, SSCV basically decides The process weeds out all but the most skier for the University of Colorado), start- and around the country for competitions), to Estonian refugee parents, he emigrated a 13-year-old in 10th grade and went on to how much it wants to grow every year. serious competitors. In addition to overall ed as general manager a few months before and even a professional chef. with his family to Golden Valley, Minneso- race in Nor-Ams and on the Peugeot Grand Before a full-time athlete can join SSCV, USSA Club of the Year awards in 2010 and Dyksterhouse, the 1997 NCAA champion in Yet it all starts with Radamus, the steel- ta, at 7 when his father was offered a job as Prix Tour as a professional. After two years the club’s admissions committee screens all 2014, SSCV was also named USSA Freeski giant slalom, took the AD job. The club hier- blue-eyed face of the club. He looks the a violin maker and was granted a work visa coaching at Wilmot Mountain outside Chi- applications, then prospective candidates Club of the Year the past two seasons, USSA archy also includes a small army of program part with silver hair slicked back, his face that allowed the family to settle in the Unit- cago, he took a position as head J-2 coach at must complete an in-person interview, Snowboard, Alpine, and Freestyle Club of directors and coaches, as well as high- weathered by decades of exposure to wind, ed States. Radamus had no connection to then–Ski Club Vail in 1981. submit school transcripts as well as coach the Year in 2014, and USSA Nordic Club of performance trainers (one of whom, Erin cold, and sun. As the pack’s alpha male, he ski racing when, at age 11, his mother, notic- Radamus left the club in 1984 to coach and teacher references, fill out a handful of the Year in 2013. Beskid, works full time as the club’s “peak encourages his program directors to be ing that he had been inspired by watching the U.S. Ski Team’s World Cup women’s essay questions, then pass a skills evalua- To support the growth that followed the performance coach,” a sports psychologist creative, he says, “but I’m also a borderline the 1968 Olympic Winter Games on televi- technical team for two seasons. He then ran tion on snow or a trampoline. Not everyone awards, Radamus created two new, high- helping the kids learn to deal with the pres- micromanager. I want to understand what’s sion, took him to meet triple gold medalist the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club makes the cut, and only members of the level positions at the club in 2013. Mike sure of elite competition by belly breathing, going on everywhere, and oftentimes I have Jean-Claude Killy at a public presentation alpine program for eight years, returning to

club are eligible to attend the Minturn- Trueblood, a finance and operations guru among other tactics), academic aides (who BOB COURTESY RESORTS; VAIL COURTESY LEFT: TOP FROM USSA COURTESY (2); SHUTTERSTOCK NEWTON; MATTY BEATTIE; no shortage of opinions.” in Minneapolis. After listening to Killy talk, the U.S. Ski Team in 1994 to coach the men’s >>

68 VAIL-BEAVER CREEK MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2014/2015 VAIL-BEAVER CREEK MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2014/2015 69 s it? Trueblood, the club’s GM, grew up in Boulder and used to think so. Then he started working for SSCV and quickly changed his mind, dismissing the “numbers game” jabs with a shrug: “We just want to be the best we can be.” IThe club’s longtime alpine director, Kar- en Ghent (a U.S. Ski Team veteran whose daughter, Abby, a SSCV/VSSA alumna, races on the U.S. Ski Team’s Alpine B Team), says those who criticize the club’s methods are missing the point. “There was this noise out there that all we are is a training factory—gates, gates, gates,” she says. “Yes, we train a lot, but we spend a lot of time freeskiing. That’s what The first and only KJUS store creates the passion. Freeskiing is just as important to us as gates.” in North America. To fully grasp the uniqueness of SSCV’s model, it helps to visit the Vail Ski & Snowboard Academy, housed in Minturn’s An eight-year-old Mikaela former middle school in leafy Maloit Park. Opening November 2014 Shiffrin (above); one of Since opening in 2007 with 31 high school the club’s first snowboard in Beaver Creek Village. teams, circa 2000 students, VSSA has grown nearly sixfold, with 174 students currently enrolled in grades 5 through 12. It remains the sole publicly funded school of its kind in Amer- ica—one where students must meet certain Ph: 970.306.0108 athletic standards before being admitted. Only Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School in New York City, with an academic program geared toward gifted arts and music students (including alumni such as Jennifer Aniston and Al Pacino), compares with VSSA, says head of school Geoff Grimmer. The academy is hopping on this early September day, teenagers buzzing between KJUS. classes, coaches prepping their afternoon workouts in offices that the club leases uncompromising. from the school district. Once on-snow training starts, every student will ski or snowboard before class four mornings a kjus.com week (Mondays are mandatory rest days), then bookend classwork with a dry-land World Cup technical team for two years vidual attention—it’s not lost on him that session. Many of those sessions take place before he was named alpine development higher numbers also give the club a greater 100 yards away at the shiny new Minturn director. In August 2002, he became SSCV’s statistical chance of success, a snicker that Fitness Center, a $2.5 million partnership executive director, where he quickly built a SSCV parents and coaches hear from time between the club and the town of Minturn reputation, especially internally, as a doer. to time from rival clubs. that opened in August. (Lest any aspiring His colleagues call him alternately the “best “Sometimes half the field is from Ski Club athletes grow lazy, they need only heed the fundraiser I’ve encountered,” “the hardest- Vail,” argues longtime Breckenridge coach example of Olympic downhill champion working human being on the planet,” and John Leffler, who runs the Quantum Inter- Lindsey Vonn, who has logged hours on the “the person for whom the phrase ‘never rest national Team. “They are a goliath; they are gym’s specialized compressed-air-powered on your laurels’ was invented.” very aggressive; they’ve got a lot of infra- strength-training machines virtually every Exceptionally fit for 57, Radamus works structure that Aldo has put together. And day since it opened.) a room like a politician. He locks eyes I congratulate him on that—he absolutely VSSA represents the most obvious in conversation and speaks with confi- is a junkyard dog; his tenacity is his biggest differentiator between an East Coast ski dence on a wide range of topics. Just as strength. academy—and its roughly $50,000 starting he understands the perceived limitations “But we call them infomercial ski clubs. cost per child—and a club like SSCV. It is of running a club with nearly 600 mem- Who has the best infomercial right now? why more and more families are relocating

bers—notably, how size might restrict indi- It’s just a numbers game.” to the Vail Valley to support their children’s (2) SSCV COURTESY

>> Photo: Stefan Schlumpf

70 VAIL-BEAVER CREEK MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2014/2015 wanted tobeapartofit.” came becauseofthemodel,” shesays. “I emy, askiacademy, orachessacademy—I enrolled atVSSA.“Itcouldbea socceracad ride toVail andhastwo kids fouryearsago ski academy. Suplizio moved fromTellu Mountain Valley School,another Vermont and aformerteachercoachatGreen Suplizio, VSSA’s assistant headmaster public schoolwithaspecialty,” says Cindy up closeswear by it. those whohave experiencedSSCV’s system tal globes, medal.But andanOlympicgold world championship, twoWorld Cupcrys Academy inVermont andhassincewona Shiffrin left Vail toattend Burke Mountain traditional skiacademy—after all,localgirl sole reasonwhy outperformsthe SSCV work withtheclub.) school inEast Vail, alsotailorsprograms to potential. (Vail Mountain School,aprivate the cost ofmaximizing youngathletes’ academy hasbasicallyhalved model,SSCV private schoolfromthetraditionalsports- winter sportsaspirations:by removing 72 “It was groundbreaking tohave a Yet theschoolitselfcan’t possiblybethe

VAIL-BEAVER CREEK MAGAZINE 2013 Birds ofPrey World Cup forerunning at the Babbitt, after alpine Men’s FIScoachBen and SeanMcCormickwithhead Team’s alpinedevelopment squad) Szwebel (now ontheU.S. Ski center (above right);alumsFlorian the club’s new MaloitPark training (this image); theworkout floor at The gymat SkiClub’s clubhouse HOLIDAY 2014/2015 - - - “but ourpassionmeansmoretous.”“but LeBlanc says withaconcessionaryshrug, mountains, ashave many ofhisclassmates. every daylight hourtoschussingdown icy medal.Hegold isalreadydedicating nearly race intheworld—aswellasanOlympic in Kitzb wants to wintheHahnenkammdownhill No. 5). yet, heishomegrown (RadamusCoreValue for World Cupstarts inthefuture.Better pects who, coachesbelieve, couldchallenge LeBlanc isoneofahandfulclubpros on hisvertical leapandbroadjump. At 14, winter, entersthegymnasiumtobetested titlelast won theJunior Olympicsuper-G Gus LeBlanc,ababy-faced freshmanwho ers walk tothefitnesscenterliftweights. premier halfpipecoachesintheworld.Oth program directorElanaChase,oneofthe freeski poline roomtotrainwithSSCV breached dam.Someheadintothetram stream through thebuildinglike fishfroma “Our sociallifeiskindoftaken away,” Asked about hisgoals, LeBlancsays he When theday’s finalperiodis over, kids

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- - - T club andenrolled atVSSAtotrainunder halfpipe aceAaronBlunck,18, joinedthe the freeskiingside,Crested Butte–raised Olympic pipeduringthecompetition. On then coachedthemfromatopand below the and aswitch backside720forFarrington— tably aCabdoublecork1080for Hirano them thetrickstheyneededforSochi—no coaches ElijahTeter andBenBoyd taught ly, intheOlympichalfpipe last winter. SSCV andsilver medals,winning gold respective from Japan, before cametotrainwithSSCV and AyumuHirano, 15, apint-sizemissile rington, 24, anative of SunValley, Idaho, what itoffers. will considerany elite athlete whowants training run—theclubhasmadeitclear Sochi afterblowing outherkneeduringa mates duringtheopeningceremony at hobbled oncrutchesalongsideherteam That ishow snowboarders Kaitlyn Far skier Heidi Kloser, whofamously stage—like, say, Olympicmoguls native representsVail ontheworld ably benefitstheclubmoreifavalley the club’s success. Andwhileitprob hat passionjust mightbethekey to >> - - - - -

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: ZACH MAHONE (2); COURTESY SSCV your private tour awaits |cordilleraliving.com | 800-528-1656 over 7,000 acres ofrocky mountain majesty in the vail valley Friends,

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Chase on his way to Sochi, and Aspen- art clubhouse below its state-of-the-art raised Nordic skier Noah Hoffman—the top training venue, just up the road from its U.S. finisher in all three Olympic distance state-of-the-art fitness center and a first-of- races—was recruited by Vail program direc- its-kind public sports academy. tor Dan Weiland. Our vision is to If you ask Radamus, he believes only one Radamus, who still uses many of the club in the world outshines Vail when it tactics he learned while working for USSA, be the best snow- comes to performance: the famed Schigym- says (with a hint of pride) that the club is nasium Stams in Austria, which has pro- not trying to usurp the national team (after sports club in the duced dozens of World Cup stars including all, his son, Ski Club alum River, skis on world—and to be Olympic alpine champions Benni Raich USSA’s alpine development squad). “But,” and Stephan Eberharter. It is no coinci- he says, “our goal is to support our athletes recognized in our dence that three years ago SSCV began an to the highest level that they aspire to and exchange program with Stams. their potential will take them. Not get to a community as a Yet Radamus insists his club’s mission is point where we say, ‘Gosh, we can’t help you not strictly tied to results. “It’s to pro- anymore.’” place where kids vide an opportunity for growth,” he says. Vail’s training atmosphere is so optimal— can grow up. “Personal growth, character growth. They perfect snow, perfect weather, no outside learn those lessons of humility when they distractions—that sometimes coaches will let succeed, frustration and commitment when a racecourse stand for a week or refrain from they fail, and perseverance when they pick NEW LISTING SOLD cutting the pipe overnight to steel athletes for granted. “I think we need to consistently themselves back up. for the less-than-optimal conditions they be the best in the country,” says longtime “Our vision,” he continues, “is to be the will encounter elsewhere. “We’re constantly SSCV alpine coach and former World Cup best snow-sports club in the world—and to 155 ARROWHEAD DRIVE | ARROWHEAD HUMMINGBIRD LODGE A205 | BACHELOR GULCH exploring opportunities to make our venues racer Dan Stripp. “If we don’t do that, I be recognized in our community as a place Offered at $7,695,000 Sold Price $2,050,000 less user-friendly,” Dyksterhouse says. think it’s a flaw in the way our machine where kids can grow up.” 5-bedroom | 7-bath | 8,555+/-sq.ft. 3-bedroom | 4-bath | 2,148+/-sq.ft. It is easy to forget that every award, every worked. The kids are here.” If they happen to grow up and become superlative result, only heightens expecta- Soon, thanks in part to the land gift from Olympic champions and world champions, tions in a place where success can be taken Vail Resorts, SSCV will have a state-of-the- well, even better.

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BC Sports: (970) 754-5400 Vail Sports: (970) 476-3600 970.845.2330 970.331.1590 [email protected] [email protected] 74 VAIL-BEAVER CREEK MAGAZINE HOLIDAY 2014/2015