Hello Everyone!

Welcome to my second athlete journal this ski season. My name is Makenna Lebsack and for those of you who are new, this is my second year on the Alberta Ski Team. I am currently writing to you from the Canada-USA border as Coach Sean, Polly and I embark on our 8-hour road trip from Kimberly to Bozeman, Montana for some NCAA GS races.

Going back a few weeks, I wanted to recap the last couple of races the Alberta Team has been to. After a well-needed Christmas break filled with a lot of turkey dinners and family time, the team flew out to Jamaica for some NorAms and FIS races. I know some of you must be confused and/or jealous when you read Jamaica, but what I should mention is I am talking about Jamaica, Vermont, which is a small town with not even a grocery store let alone sandy beaches…Our first day of training at the ski hill Okemo was definitely an experience, we trained the bumpiest course I have ever skied. The weather was also so warm that even a bear came out of hibernation and decided to wander onto our ski run. After some challenging but beneficial training, we headed to Stratton for two SL and two GS NorAms. With all the rain and warm weather, the conditions were very tough so starting 49th in the SL was a fight to finish. I managed to get into the top 30 and had a much better course for the second run. I moved from 49th to 19th place (coming 15th in the second run) earning my first-ever SL NorAm points. In all of my 14 years of ski racing, I have never seen such a lack of snow on a hill ski in January, and unfortunately, both of the GS races were canceled. We had to end our trip early as the rest of the FIS races we had planned were also canceled to preserve the snowpack. We were very disappointed but at least we got to stop at Target on the way to the airport with so much extra time on our hands!

Upon getting home we had a couple of training days to prepare for the GMC Cup at Mount Norquay. It felt so good to get back onto Alberta snow and out of the rain. Over four days of racing, our women’s team walked away with eight overall medals and nine U19 medals. As some people in the ski community know, I have been rehabbing a fracture in my spine since July and missed the first Norquay race as I was not allowed to train gates yet. I was very happy to be able to get into the start gate this time and finish with two victories and one silver medal.

Following all that racing, it was awesome to be able to spend a few days at home and have a short training block at Nakiska and COP. It was a great chance to slow down and just work on technique. After our last training day at Nakiska last Thursday, Polly and I drove up to Kimberly to meet the rest of the speed crew for the night SL. This was my first ever night race! This race has been canceled for the last three years due to either weather or COVID. There was a lot of unexpected snow but all the organizers, volunteers and coaches worked hard shoveling the track to make sure the race was a go. I ended up coming down in second place and then got to watch all the boys shred their second run. Now it’s time to put away the SL skis and get ready for some GS!

I wanted to graciously thank my parents, all the volunteers, coaches, and sponsors: Sporting life, Karbon, GMC Dealers of Alberta, and Mission Wealth Advisors for making this race year possible. I would also like to thank my personal sponsors Dynastar/Lange, and Shred for the sick set-up this year!

Thank you for reading and I hope to see you on the hills!

My name is Gered Thompson. I am 18 years old and this is my first year on the Alberta Ski Team. I have grown up skiing with Nakiska Alpine Ski Association where I was lucky enough to make lifelong friends. Growing up with this club has made me learn the importance of having fun and working hard at the same time and I believe that this combination can lead to great results!

I just finished racing the Norquay series. The team had some good runs and good learning experience. I was able to win my first race if the season!  I’m now moving in to a week of training before heading to Kimberly to do some speed series and a night slalom. 

I am so thankful to have the support of my parents. My dad is at every race and is my biggest advocate and my mom has shown me the importance of hard work. I am so appreciatative for my sponsors.  GMC dealers of Alberta, Karbon, Sporting Life and Raymond James Mission Wealth Advisors.  A big shout out to Fischer Skis and to all of my bottle drive donors that have supported me over the years. 

Gered Thompson

Howdy everyone!!! Hope you had the happiest of holidays!

My name is Zoe Gray and this is my first year on the Alberta Alpine Women’s team! I grew up in Panorama, BC, and skied for those blue jacket racers every since I could click into bindings. Growing up, all my siblings skied so I quickly found the love for it too. By the time I was 8 my parents were already hearing about my World Cup dreams and my love for skiing hasn’t changed. I am so excited for this season and I’m so lucky to have such an amazing group of girls to call my teammates! These past few months have been both important training, and the kick off to our racing season. Leading up to the Panorama Christmas series we got the privilege to train at my home hill and favourite run, Oldtimer! The Christmas series was definitely one for the books, being one of the coldest races I have attended, marked at -30. Luckily we had such amazing volunteers to pull it off and fight the cold much better than I did! The racing went well for us Alberta Alpine athletes, with many overall and u19 podium finishes for both our male and female teams! We also got in the Christmas spirit with many cups of hot chocolate and a team Secret Santa! After our Pano racing, everyone headed home for a couple days of holiday fun with their families.

At 6am on the 29th of December the Alberta Women’s team was taking off to our next stop, Vermont!!! We were able to touch the eastern snow a few times before the races started, which was for sure needed! Most of us were used to the hero snow out here in our Rocky Mountains, so it was a little bit of a shock the first time we dove into a foot tall rut! Our first race down there also happened to be the first NorAm of the season! For many of the women on our team the NorAm circuit is new territory, so we approached these races with that understanding. We started off with two slalom races at Stratton Resort, although those conditions weren’t ideal, they were able to keep the racing on schedule. I was proud all my teammates as they put up a good fight, even though it wasn’t the warmest of welcomes to the NorAm track! Unfortunately the rest of races had to be canceled due to the unsafe snow conditions, but on a positive note, we were able to walk away with some new experience under our belts.

We arrived home a few days ago, and now are in preparation for the upcoming Norquay race! The girls and I were able to get our good feelings back today with some amazing training at Nakiska and I hope it continues into our future races!

I wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone making this year possible! All the volunteers, parents, coaches, athletes and of course our sponsors, Sporting Life, Karbon, GMC Dealers of Alberta, and Mission Wealth Advisors who help fuel my love for skiing, thank you so so much! I hope to catch you out on the slopes!

Zoe Gray 🙂

Hey Alberta Alpine crew!  I’m writing to you guys today sitting in our hotel room in Bromont Quebec.  We have been training here (in the rain)  for the last few days in preparation for the upcoming Burke Noram series in Vermont.

This has been an incredibly exciting season so far; we’ve travelled to 5 different countries and have had close to 100 days on snow already.  This has been the most amount of skiing I’ve ever  done in the first half of the season by a long shot, and not all of it has been easy .  But through the ups and downs of constant hard work, challenging conditions and those days where nothing seems to be working, the crew this year has persevered and kept the vibes at an all time high.   After the first nor ams in Colorado, all that hard work seemed to pay off.  Jesse qualified for world juniors, the boys did some solid runs in the speed events, and me scoring my very first nor am point in the slalom.  After a little break for the Christmas season, I’m super stoked to try and put some results down in some tough conditions in Burke.

I’d like to quickly just give a quick thank you to our sponsors, Sporting Life, Karbon, GMC Dealers of Alberta, and Mission Wealth Advisors.   Also thanks to Rossignol for the sweet ski setup.

I’m super excited for what’s to come and thanks for reading!

Hi, I am Sean Cameron the Women’s coach with the Alberta Ski Team.

I have been coaching within the Alberta community for many years and this is my second time coaching with the Alberta Ski Team. Through the years I have not crossed paths with many of the athletes currently on our team, so we are all just getting to know each other, but I can say the athletes on this team are collaborative and very supportive of each other.

Now that our pre-season training is complete, we are starting our first extensive block of racing this season. I am excited to see where we are and how close we are to our goals.

Thank you to our sponsors, Karbon, GMC Dealers of Alberta, Mission Wealth Advisors, and Sporting Life.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and thank you for your support, especially to every ski racer’s biggest sponsor their parents, and family.

Hi Ski Family! My name is Julia Buehrer and it’s my first season with The Alberta Team. I am from Edmonton and I’m stoked to be representing the north on the team this year! I grew up skiing for the Edmonton Ski Club and spent my first two years of FIS on Team Panorama.

I am really excited about our team this year as it is full of strong, determined, and hard working individuals. We are super lucky to have such an awesome dynamic filled with positive and supportive energy! Thanks to Karbon, the team is also looking pretty sharp in our new gear.

After a super productive pre-season, our women’s team has just kicked off the race season with the first GMC cup of the season at Norquay! As we got back into the groove of racing, the team all walked away with a podium finish. We learned a lot there, dusted off the cobwebs and are ready to take on the season! We now have a quick training block with some time in the gym as we cheer on our men’s team which is currently starting off their Nor-am season in Colorado.

Lately, mother nature has been working hard to make those 5am wake ups worth it!

In a couple days the Women will head to Panorama where the guys will meet us for a few days of training before the Christmas series! I am looking forward to racing on my home hill and alongside our entire team! After the Panorama race, we will all head home for a quick Christmas break before the Alberta women take off to Stratton on December 29th for our first Nor-ams of the season!

I want to say a huge thank you to Scotia Wealth Management, as well as the other businesses and individuals, who have supported me this season. This truly would not have been possible without you. I also want to thank our team sponsors, Sporting Life, Karbon, GMC Dealers of Alberta, and Mission Wealth Advisors along with Fischer for the sweet set up this year! I am super grateful for everyone’s support.

Happy Holidays and I hope to see everyone on the hill!

Hello Ski World, my name is Caleb Brooks. I’m a 17-year-old rookie on the Alberta Ski Team. This is my first entry in the athlete journal. I grew up racing with the Lake Louise Ski Club and it was amazing. This season’s training has been excellent so far. We spent 3 weeks training in Switzerland in August and later on, we headed back to Europe where we spent 3 more weeks training in Austria and Belgium. Now that we’re back home, the training has picked up a notch. The snow conditions are great! We’ve been training at Nakiska with members of numerous national teams, including the Canadian men’s speed team and a Spanish speed skier.  Let me tell you, they are fast!! It was very motivating and inspiring. The Alberta men’s team is getting ready to kick off the season in Copper Mountain, Colorado, where the first Noram of the season will be held. The first race will be the speed series at Copper followed by the tech series at Beaver Creek.

Thank you to all our amazing sponsors who help us reach our goals! Raymond James Mission Wealth Advisors, GMC Dealers of Alberta, Sporting Life, Karbon. Additionally, I would like to thank Rossignol for the gear this year.

Thank you for reading!!!

My name is Polly Lang and I am in my third year of FIS but this season is my first season on the Alberta Ski Team! My home club is Nakiska Alpine Ski Association and I have been skiing out of Nakiska for the entirety of my time in racing. It has been exciting this past week and a half getting back to Nakiska to ski on Canadian Snow for the first time this season. The training at Nakiska has been amazing and we have been able to collaborate and train alongside some extremely talented national team athletes from various nations.

Although we only recently started our Canadian season we have been kept busy all through the Summer and Fall. Between dryland training and 2 European Camps, the whole team has been putting in lots of dedicated hours. In August the team headed out to Saas-Fee, Switzerland where we enjoyed lots of chocolate and cheese! but more importantly some great skiing. Initially, there was a worry about how the conditions would be in Saas-Fee after a warm European summer, but we were all pleasantly surprised with how good the snow was. Despite the long trek to get up the mountain and the difficult altitude the views from the glacier and the awesome snow made for great training. We spent a few days getting back into the groove of things and then got into a solid training routine. The whole team made lots of technical improvements and I enjoyed watching everyone find their footing. Along with great training, Saas-Fee was memorable for some weather/rest day activities. Many gondolas in the Saas valley were explored and lots of glacial lakes were visited. The girls even took an afternoon trip to Zermatt where we enjoyed some delicious gelato whilst admiring the stunning Matterhorn. After 3 weeks of training in Switzerland, I came home with lots of chocolate and no more storage left on my phone from the number of pictures taken! Following Switzerland, we returned back to the gym for an important block of strength training.

At the beginning of October, we headed back to Europe but this time to Austria and Belgium. The first part of the camp was spent in Hintertux and was primarily focused on GS. We were lucky to have mostly good weather out there. The whole team made lots of improvements and was able to thrive in the competitive yet supportive environment. After finishing the Austrian leg of the camp, the team drove all the way from Austria to Belgium. Arriving at Snow Valley in Belgium was a bit of a shock to the system. Don’t be misled by the name, Snow Valley is actually an indoor training facility where we trained on a sheet of pure ice. It took a couple of runs and some very sharp skis but I eventually got the hang of it. It was definitely a mental challenge but I was able to overcome it and get some quality slalom training in. We left Belgium with lots of bruises, a love for Belgian waffles and a much-improved ability to stand on the downhill ski. Since arriving home and getting onto normal snow I can see the benefits of indoor training and lots of improvements in my slalom skiing.

Currently the team is headed to Panorama for a week of training and then the girls will come back to Nakiska and we will kick off our race season at Mt. Norquay. I am super excited about the season so far and what’s to come. A big thanks to the team’s sponsors: Sporting Life, Karbon, GMC Dealers of Alberta, and Mission Wealth Advisors for making this season possible. As well I would like to thank my family and friends for all their support!

Thanks for the read and I hope everyone is enjoying the fresh snow in the Mountains!

Hey everyone,

My name is Jesse Kertesz-Knight, I am 19 years old, and this is my second season with the Alberta Ski Team. I am checking in this week from our home base at Nakiska as we begin to ramp up our season. I am super excited to be starting out the year as we have a brand-new squad this season who are all skiing very well.

After a long and very beneficial block of training overseas, we are beginning training again at home this week with some GS alongside the Canadian Men’s Speed Team. Soon the boys and I will be heading off to Panorama for some more preseason training before the races begin.

This start to the year has been amazing for me so far thanks to the great teammates and coaches I have pushing me every day to become better. I also want to say a huge thanks to our team sponsors Raymond James Mission Wealth Advisors, GMC Dealers of Alberta, Sporting Life, Karbon, and World Cup Supply for their support this season, and to all the people who have helped me reach my goals so far, your support means everything.

Hope you all have a great start to the season and thanks for reading!!

Jesse

Hello Everyone! My name is Makenna Lebsack and I am currently going into my second season representing the Alberta Ski Team. It is presently snowing while I am writing this which means it’s one step closer to skiing! I hope everyone reading is just as excited for the season as I am!

My summer training looked a little different from the rest of the teams as I have been rehabbing a back injury. Last January I crashed in a GS race and hurt my back but after many days off, physio sessions, and a lot of ice I thought it had completely gone away. For the first few months of summer training, I was in the gym 5 days a week feeling stronger than ever, I even hit my bench press goal of 135! Sadly, in mid-July, just a few weeks before the team took off to Switzerland, my back pain suddenly came back in a workout. I spent the next couple of weeks unloading my back in the gym and loading up my schedule with doctors’ appointments to figure out what was wrong.

The day before we left for Europe I had a bone scan, which let me tell you is not recommended when you have to go through airport security and set off every alarm because you are “radioactive!” Thankfully everyone safely made it to Switzerland and we had a beautiful bluebird day for our first session back on skis. On day 2 I got an email with my bone scan results which unfortunately showed that I have a stress fracture in one of my lower vertebrates. From then on I was put onto a modified ski program and although I didn’t get a lot of gate training, I still enjoyed the stunning mountain views of Saas-Fee and worked on the basics of my ski technique plus a LOT of core.

Even with the best efforts to get me back for our second training camp in October, I was sadly not cleared so I stayed back to rehab and train in the gym. I am so grateful for the amazing support system I have from my physio Lauren Vickery, trainer Nathaniel Morris, Dr. Brian Benson, coaches, teammates and parents. With them, I have been able to stay positive and get stronger. I recently did strength testing and all my tests have improved since the beginning of summer which is really exciting seeing as I have not been able to do all the heavy Olympic lifting I usually do. On another happy note, I have been cleared to start my back to skiing program. Although my return to snow will be slower than my competitive self would like, I am still so stoked to get back at it and am very optimistic this will be an amazing race year!

Lastly, I want to say none of this would be possible without the support from the ski community, my parents, and sponsors; Sporting Life, Karbon, GMC Dealers of Alberta, and Mission Wealth Advisors. I would also like to thank Dynastar/Lange, and Shred for the sick set-up this year!

See you on the slopes!

Hello Everyone, Peter here! I hope everybody is doing well and enjoying some time off. We just finished our spring camp 2022/23 at Sunshine. Believe or not… the new season is already here!

I was lucky enough last year to be exempt from writing an athlete journal. Not this year… Busted! OK. Where do I start?

After 15 years of working with ACA, I rejoined AST in 2020 once again. It feels good to be back where I started my coaching journey in 1996 after spending 2 years in Paskapoo Ski club.

I would like to start my journal from the end of this season; “The Highest Peak Celebration” show that happened last week. It was amazing for me to see all of the people I have either worked with, are friends with, or the parents of all the athletes I had a chance to coach. It was priceless!

It is a privilege and honor to be part of this skiing community. It feels like home again. I get to see all of the young coaches who went through the Alberta clubs, provincial or national team, who are now carrying the coaching torch to continue and develop another generation of athletes.

I feel that it is time for me to share my knowledge and experience. Experience is not something that you learn in a year or two. It needs to be gained through many years of hard work. Developing athletes is a never-ending process and is frankly, one of the hardest jobs. However, with that type of challenge comes a lot of reward. You have to be prepared for anything and take it day by day. Sometimes you have a great day and sometimes you don’t. The energy of the team and the athletes is contagious and I must say, it does makes you feel young again! However, I do wish everything would go the way we plan it. The unfortunate thing is that it not always does. There are athletes who achieve their goals but also the ones who don’t. However, the number of hours spent on the hill and in the gym giving their all no matter what, is an achievement itself. I hope all the athletes know this and are very proud of themselves. I would like to congratulate all of the athletes on the Alberta Ski team! There are athletes who will be moving on and experiencing different opportunities and there are athletes who will be continuing their skiing careers on many different levels. I wish everyone all the best. I hope they all had fun, learned something and created memories that will last forever.

I would like to thank our office staff; Alied and Sanne for their never-ending work and support, as well as Pat for his leaderships in AASA. Thank you to Josh, all coaches Jonas, Gavin and Jim.

Thanks to all of the Board members for their support and how they looked after the team.

Lastly thanks to all sponsors GMC, Sporting Life, Karbon, and Raymond James.

Thank you everybody, it was fun season. See you on the hill soon.

Have a great summer.
Peter

Hey Everyone! My name is Zuzana Rybarik and this was supposed to be my first year on the Alberta Team. As many of you know, much of life doesn’t go as planned. You don’t plan on getting back surgery and missing your first two years of FIS or skiing a day of a one-month camp, but that is just how life goes.

I tore my ACL and lateral meniscus on the 2^nd day in Italy. I had so much fun skiing the first day. The feeling was just indescribable. I just wish I did one more run. But I guess I can’t make wishes or look at the what if’s because you can’t change what’s already happened. Injuries come with a lot of heartbreak but also with many lessons.  As much as this season pained me, I’m happy with everything I’ve gained from this experience. I bet you didn’t know how hard it is to walk up the stairs with crutches and a glass of water, or even how to walk after not doing it for a month and half. It’s heel to toe, by the way. However, the most important lesson an injury shows you is how much you truly love a sport. You take granted what you have because you think it will always be within your reach, until one day it is gone. You only feel the exhilaration from videos you see or the memories you have. I think about the 4 starts I had my whole FIS career and ache for just one more. I think about the feeling I got after a GS run or an XL jump in the park. It truly is the best and unforgettable feeling in the world. I could ski for hours and not get tired. I love it. After back surgery, I could do 20 runs and still ask to do more. There was never an “enough” amount of runs.

Sure, there’s days where you wake up and don’t want to ski because it’s snowing or it’s freezing. But when you’re injured you wish you had to wake up to the snowy mornings or freezing days. You wish you were at the hill putting your boots on instead of tying your running shoes to go to the gym. There are many little things you miss when you’re injured. I simply just miss running or playing spike ball whenever I want to or juggling a soccer ball with the kids I coach. Injuries teach you to cherish the little things in life and to never take anything for granted. Especially being able to straighten your leg fully, I’m still working on that one.

I will forever be thankful for everything my injuries have taught me and I’m just aching to be back doing everything I love to do. I want to thank the Alberta Team, especially the Women’s team for the amazing summer of training and to congratulate them on their great season. I also want to give a huge shoutout to our coaches; Gavin and Jim, My physio and our trainer; Izzy and Nate, who have been helping and making me stronger every day. I also want to thank everyone for their endless amount of support throughout the year! Thank you; Josh, Sanne, Alied, my parents, friends, and all of Alberta Alpine. I would also like to thank our sponsors Sporting Life, GMC Raymond James, Karbon, and biosteel.