Hello all,

We have just finished our fall camp in Hintertux. Everyone worked hard and I feel like we all have seen improvements in our skiing. We were lucky to have hard snow and clear skies for most the camp.

Two other highlights of our camp were going to the waterslides and watching the World Cup in Soelden. We went to the waterslides on our day off and had a great time. It was a good break from skiing and it helped us refocus for the last few days. On the last day, we watched the Men’s WC GS in Soelden; a new experience for many of us. Seeing all my childhood heroes in action was a pretty surreal experience for me. It was exciting to cheer on the Canadians and see them do so well. Erik Read got a career best result of 7^th, Trevor Philp scored some WC points, and Riley Seger started his first WC race. It was also inspiring to see some young up and comers contend for the podium. It’s motivating to see that our younger generation can be competitive with the best.

Hope you enjoy the video!

 – Jamie Casselman

Hello! My name is Gavin Donald. I’m part of the Alberta Ski Team and we are in Hintertux.

Check out my first “vlog”/athlete journal.

To start off the ASXT’s Athlete Journals, I’ve compiled a video from our inaugural Alberta Ski Cross Team camp in Saas Fee, Switerzland, in September.

 – Phil

This is my first athlete posting as a new member of the Alberta Ski Team.

Throughout the summer we were provided with some exceptional dryland training and I was to get back onto snow in Chile. Two days before departure I sustained a fairly severe concussion and all options for skiing in Chile were out. I spent the following four weeks laying fairly low. In my time off I was instructed to start to return to daily normality. That meant going for walks and doing things I would normally do in a day, and eventually progressing to low impact activities or sports. I found myself learning to refine a retirement game. I had picked up golf and was quite enjoying it. It was a nice way to be able to get out and feel like I’m doing something again, have the challenge of learning something for the first time and the reward you get when you start to figure it out. It reminded me a lot of the challenges I face with skiing and why I love my sport so much. 

                During my time off I watched a movie by the name of “In Search of Greatness”. It explores the role that creativity played in the careers of some of the greatest athletes. The group of athletes suggest that all the practice in the world can only go so far for those who don’t love what they’re doing. The movie introduces the idea of “implicit learning” which happens when young children aren’t being taught in obvious ways; language and speaking, for instance, is learned simply by living around adults as they speak. Compared to a child whose parents make her practice piano three hours a day becomes a different kind of player than one who casually starts playing in a room, aimlessly playing while life goes on around them. If the learning isn’t natural and fun, it’s hard to become a genius. Amongst many other things I learned from the movie it highlighted the importance of free-skiing and play as a natural and important part of developing into becoming a world-class skier. I highly recommend the movie. (Watch it on iTunes)

This week we are off to Austria. We are well prepared, having invested lots of time off snow and many hours spent visualizing and in the gym. I’m more than excited for what’s coming.

On this Thanksgiving weekend in Canada, I’m thankful for the joy that skiing brings to my life and I’m very grateful to be part of the Alberta Ski Team for this upcoming season. 

 – Devin

On October 2nd I was told to go to the Alpine Canada website by a good friend of mine. I was confused cause this friend doesn’t ever not tell me things straight up. I was thinking what funny photo is it now? But without hesitation I went to their website. As soon as I did, I called her. All I said was “I’m shaking.” She replied “I know”. We were on the phone for about 20 minutes, not one more word was said.

I was paralyzed when I read the news. A shiver took over my body and I felt cold. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t think, I couldn’t move.

“Mikayla [Martin] passed away on the evening of October 1 following a mountain bike accident while at home in Squamish, BC.”

That is what I read.

I think one of the hardest parts of that day was staring at her photo and still being able to hear her distinctive, contagious, lively laugh that could heal a broken soul. It didn’t feel real. It didn’t feel fair. It didn’t feel right.

And it still doesn’t.

Over the past week, I have had a lot of time to think. A lot of time to think about Miki. With that, comes emotions and I’ve been struggling quite a bit with it. I am doing my best at trying to put thoughts into words, so I thought maybe I could share some of those with you.

I didn’t grow up with Miki. I wasn’t her teammate or a life long friend. I grew up in the province over hearing her name constantly through my older sister and the ski circuit. I finally got to put a name to face my first year FIS, when I was racing with Banff Alpine Racers and she was on the BC ski team.

I watched “Introducing the 2016/2017 BC Ski Team” a few too many times that year, to the point where I was able to quote the entire clip. In fact, that was where I got the idea for my athlete journal where I introduced the AST when I made the team the following year. I remember one of the questions in BC’s video was “what are you known for?”. And from my memory, Mikayla’s answer was “Sendin’ it”.

And the more I got to know her, the more I realized how true that was.

At the end of Mikayla’s final alpine year before she made the jump to ski cross, there was a speed camp in Panorama that I was invited to. Of course Miki was there, she loved SPEED!!! I looked up to her and the older girls who had more experience on the long boards. I was a newborn to speed. Did I love it? Yes. Was I comfortable with it? No, not really. But being able to have someone like Miki to help me and push me in those couple days, to feel a little more steady with speed, was incredible. She was so encouraging but in such a supportive way that didn’t feel forced. It wasn’t just in what she said but in how she did things. How she made things look so easy. When you’re surrounded by a girl with so much energy, you begin to feed off of it. And for me, energy brings me confidence. And confidence is something I need to be able to overcome fear.

Let’s take that first day of speed camp for example. I was so nervous. If I recall correctly, I was wearing snow pants and a big puffy jacket so I wouldn’t go too fast too quickly. I was gonna ease into it. But then I look over and watched this girl strip to full suit run 1, point her skis down the hill without hesitation and just fly with such control. I was in awe of her talent and fearlessness. It seemed as if she had no fear in life, no fear in failure, no fear in being unapologetically herself. She didn’t wait for the world to come at her, she came at the world with every ounce of her presence. THAT quality of Miki’s has tattooed itself onto me and is what comes to mind when I think of her.

I got to know Mikayla and her laugh a lot more that trip. And I’m so lucky I did.

Her absence has left a hole in quite a lot of people. She was a light in this world. A life lover. An avid travel bug. A happy human. And it’s hard to understand why someone who loved and lived life that much only got 22 years. I don’t think I will ever understand. I guess I’ll have to live with that even if I’m not okay with it. But despite it only being for a few years, I am so grateful and honoured to have known her.

I get sucked into reading about her anywhere I can. Reading all these stories about her and how she impacted everyone she met. There has been such an outpour of emotion and support this past week from everyone, even people that didn’t know her. I think it is evident her impact on this world and this community; she was something special.

There is a gofundme page that has been created by the Martin family in “intention to fund a scholarship to give to another promising young athlete who displays those same qualities of passion and exuberance and dedication and friendship and camaraderie” that Mikayla embodied. Their goal was $10,000 but they have already almost quadrupled that goal in less than 5 days. It is inspiring. If you are interested in contributing to turning Mikayla’s life into a legacy, I will attach the link to her gofundme at the end of this passage. Even if you don’t donate, I encourage you to go look at the messages and comments that her family have written on the page.

And this is why —

I never thought knowing how it happened would bring me any closure. I thought it would make it that much more painful. That much more heart breaking. I was quite timid on whether I should read the details or just let it be. But I did. Ollie, the friend she was riding with, told his story on what happened that day. From start to finish. It took me a while to get through it but when I did, I was shedding tears of what felt like comfort. It was healing to hear. How happy she was, as she always was, and what a good day she had. It is what I needed. So thank you Ollie for being so brave in telling your story. I push you to go read his story on the gofundme page at your own pace.

Yes, I’ve been struggling quite a bit. But I know that’s not how she would have wanted it to be. She would want me to be all in— “to do my thing, do it every day and do it unapologetically”. So that’s what I am going to do.

Thank you for being you Mikayla. You’ve been an inspiration to more than you think.

And with that, it is finally beginning to feel real.

Rest easy Miki. We will be living like you down here.
#livelikemiki

-Claire

In memory of Mikayla Martin
January 8, 1997 – October 1, 2019

Hello Everyone!

We just finished the first week in our fall dryland camp. Everyone is pushing themselves very hard in the gym and is, more importantly, having fun!

This season, there are significantly more athletes on the Alberta Ski Team, growing from three ladies to seven. What better way to get to know everyone than a carpool karaoke-style Q&A?

Everyone is looking forward to getting back on snow and are eager to see what this season has in store for them.

Stay tuned for more updates from myself, and the other athletes!

A special thanks to our sponsors, Sporting Life, Descente, Silvertip Resort, and Nakiska. See you on the hill!

 – Charlie

Woohoo first Athlete journal for me!!

I am actually still in Chile as of right now, because after our camp in Pucon I got the opportunity to join the National Team in Chillian for about 10 days – which has been insane!

Chillian is quite the opposite to Pucan though. So far we’ve had beautiful blue bird days and for the most part pretty hard snow. I’m honestly just super stoked to be here. Pucan and Chillian are similar however since they are both volcanoes and they both ironically are highly likely to erupt this month. Quite often the bright blue skis of Chillian have one singular smoke cloud bellowing out of the volcano. Its very surreal to watch from a distance but I would not be thrilled if I had to see the eruption up close and personal.

On the skiing side of things, I am so grateful for this opportunity to train with so many awesome girls! Both the AST girls and the CAST girls have made this last month an absolute blast. There is so much fun and supportive energy from both teams! Coming off of last season on Team Pano where we also had a super strong girl group, I have definitely realized how much fun you can have and how inspiring it can be to feed off of each other.

Our days start bright an early at 6am here is Chillian, and were on snow by 7:15, just in time to watch some spectacular sunrises. Super stoked with how this second camp has been going, and I’m making some big jumps on the technical side of things, as well as experiencing the National Team atmosphere. Fingers crossed for more blue bird days and sweet turns to come!

– Cass

Hey everyone,

The team is really starting to come together on and off the hill! Unfortunately, after a loss in my family, I left our training camp in Chile early.

After some much needed time at home in Fredericton, NB, I was back in Calgary and ready to start working hard again! I’ve spent the past couple of weeks working in the gym, river surfing and riding my mountain bike. I’ve just been doing everything I can make sure I’m in good shape and to not feel “behind” the rest of the team.

The Alberta Ski Team just finished its camp in South America and everyone is home now and back In the gym. I’m feeling as strong as ever and can’t wait to get back on snow this October in Hintertux, Austria! A special thanks goes out to our sponsors, Sporting Life, Descente, Silvertip Resort, and Nakiska. See you all on the hill!

This video was filmed at CSI Calgary, the Kananaskis river and around Calgary.

 – Caeden

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had an amazing summer! The team is currently in Pucon, Chile and we are having a blast! The weather hasn’t been optimal so when we are not skiing we have been occupying ourselves with hikes and lots of volleyball. The new team is looking amazing and are all super stoked to be skiing after a long few month in the gym. The girls and I have put together a little Vlog to highlight the first two weeks of this camp. I hope you all enjoy!

See you on the slopes,

Ashleigh

Hello everyone and welcome to my first athlete journal of the new season! A new season also means a new team which has been an exciting change of pace.

We have been in Pucon, Chile for the past couple of weeks now. Although the weather has held us back on a couple of days, I couldn’t be happier with how the trip is going as well as how the team as a whole is gelling and beginning to become more in sync. We have just wrapped up the slalom portion of the camp with 6 quality days of freeskiing, drill work, brush courses, and full-length slalom courses. I personally have seen notable improvement over those training days and feel comfortable as ever on my skis.

As for off the hill we have been staying right on the beach of Lake Villarica. We have great facilities at our disposal including swimming pools, a full-size basketball court, as well as spin bikes and all of the necessary equipment for dryland. We have had a couple weather-induced days off which has allowed us to take full advantage of these amenities.

All in all the trip has been great so far with excellent training both on and off the hill. This has allowed us to develop as a group and everyone has seen improvement. I am pleased with the group of people I now know as teammates and look forward to the rest of the season!

 – Angus

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– Alyssa

In the least cliché way possible; that’s a wrap! This past weekend of racing at Nakiska concluded the FIS racing calendar in Alberta for the 2018-19 season. During this season we visited 4 countries, 6 states and provinces, 16 different ski resorts, raced 55 times, stood on the podium 77 times, flew and drove 1000s of kilometers and spent countless hours together. These hours included their fair share of ups and downs, laughs, frustrations, joys, nerves and the odd set of tears, both happy and sad. But in the end, as a team, we had a pretty awesome season. This was my first year with the team and I truly enjoyed working with all the staff and athletes at Alberta Alpine. The season saw a lot of personal bests and personal growth and created a lot of excitement for that the future holds. As mentioned in the most recent Alberta Ski Team Instagram post, there is a lot of depth in this group both in talent and in personality.  Everyone stood on the top step of a podium at least twice this season and contributed in their own way to making this one awesome group of athletes and I am very excited for next season.

Currently the team is on a bit of a break before we hit the slopes for a couple of spring camps at the end of April and beginning of May. During these camps we will be getting on snow in the mornings with the goal of getting high volume with some solid technical focus and ironing out some equipment set ups. The afternoons will involve some gym time and probably some mountain biking and other none skiing activities. I also wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved in making this a great year: the volunteers and ROC at all the races, the parents, friends and family that put up with and support the crazy ups and downs and travel schedule of all the athletes and coaches, and the sponsors of the Alberta Ski Team, Western GMC, Descente, Sporting Life, Pro Sport Protection, Ski Big 3 and Nakiska for providing us with transportation, clothing, equipment, protection and training space. I hope everyone enjoys the warm spring weather and hopefully hot summer away from the cold and white landscape. See you all on the mountain bike trails soon!

Cheers,

Jonas