Lifting our athletes and our sport through energy, enthusiasm and commitment

Need some support for a fundraiser? You can count on Bruce. Need more volunteers to help slip the course? Need a hand at the start? Bruce and Corinne are there. Need to ensure the best athletes in our province are well outfitted with the best skiwear? Bruce and Descente are there.

Bruce Legree and Corinne Percy are always there. Volunteering, bringing ideas, leading with fundraising projects or helping out in the background. Opening their home to young, aspiring athletes. Providing invaluable support with products, donations and guidance at every level – from ski club to our National Team.

“Every fundraising project we launch, from the Highest Peak Gala, Poles to Pedals, ski club auctions or individual athlete fundraisers, we are always able to count on Bruce to jump up and help us out” shared Alberta Alpine President, Rob McCloskey. “Bruce also goes above and beyond to makes sure our athletes get what they need when it comes to good ski gear. We can never take for granted the tremendous value of our relationship with Descente and all the extras that come with someone who really cares for the athletes.”

Bruce always had ski racing in his blood. “I grew up minutes from Grouse Mountain and was introduced to ski racing by buddies in high school”, said Bruce. “I went into the high school championship and knew instantly I had to do it!” Bruce joined the Grouse Mt. Tyee and raced throughout western Canada and the Pacific Northwest. “The comradery of travelling in a crowded van with a bunch of energetic youths was pretty special.” Corinne hails from the Percy family and their extensive ski racing credentials through the Sunshine Ski Club and her racing experience in Alberta.

Upon retiring from active competition, Bruce turned his efforts towards volunteering like so many in our community. He was one of the race crew working the events leading up to and including the 1988 Olympic Winter Games. More recently, while sons Cole and Ben progressed through all levels of the Alberta Alpine program, we could always count on Bruce and Corinne to help out in U14, U16 and FIS races.

His passion for ski racing grew into a life-long passion for the sport of skiing, as Bruce joined Rossignol and Dynastar. Two other jobs brought him back to work closely with the highest levels in ski racing in Canada” Dale of Norway and Descente, as Race Service Manager, as well as the Alberta Retail Representative. For the past 20 winter seasons, Bruce has ensured Canadian Teams, along with the Alberta and BC Provincial Ski Teams are looking great on the slope and fast in the race courses.

Ski racing is a family passion for the Legree family. “It’s very special for us that both of our boys caught our passion for ski racing,” said Bruce. “For them, to have enjoyed racing throughout the province and Canada, the friends they’ve made. And to see them go on to coaching and they love to be on the mountain, is a very special highlight for both of us.” The Legree family have been members of the Banff Alpine Racers for more than 20 years.

“It takes a community to help young athletes achieve their dreams” shares Bruce. “To make it happen we must step up and help fundraise, work hard, be a role model for upcoming kids. It’s worth it, as our sport builds strong, respectful young people – it’s the best education your child will get. The life skills learned while racing, travelling and training will last a lifetime. And remember, don’t be consumed by points or race times. It’s the friendships and experiences that you will remember.”

Join us to recognize a lifetime of dedication and enthusiasm as our ski community recognizes the tremendous contribution of Bruce Legree as recipient of the President’s Award and is inducted into the Canadian Rockies Ski Racing Hall of Fame.

The 2019 Class will be inducted at the Highest Peak Gala, hosted at the Markin-McPhail Centre at WinSport in Calgary on Wednesday, October 30^th. This event was first held in 1968, to support ski racing excellence in Alberta and western Canada. The Canadian Rockies Ski Racing Hall of Fame event is a legacy event with the goal to support future champions in the province, with all proceeds invested into Alberta Ski Racing programs.

From a passion for timing, a leader who has shared his knowledge and friendship for a quarter century

It’s hard to believe that our Honoured Official described his first timing assignment as a “disaster”.

“I think it was the 93/94 season that I volunteered to help in Timing” recalled Dave. “Now I got to sit in the heated hut, what a privilege! We rented equipment and for whatever reason we could not get the equipment to work. It was a disaster! The whole weekend required hand times, the results came very late, and I didn’t get home until about 10:30PM that evening.”

To avoid future problems, Dave Bartle volunteered to source solutions, which led him to the late Dick Beare (2016 Honoured Official), who “seemed to know lots about computers and offered to write a software program to help us with the timing. Dick and Dave formed DB Timing, starting a 25 year relationship with their well-known dTris and Measures timing and results software and live timing program.

Like so many in our sport, we can thank our children for igniting the flame. “It was my daughter, Rachael, who started us ski racing. Our neighbours were involved with Skimeisters, encouraged us to join the club” said Dave. “When the call came for volunteers to help at the races I volunteered and was given the position of Gate Judge. After a few more races I progressed to the position of Starter and was talking to the Timers over headsets.”

No one notices when the timing system works. To ensure timing systems function smoothly involves setup, training, knowledge of the rules and skill with timing systems and software. Dave has generously contributed his time and knowledge to train new volunteers and be available at all hours to answer questions. And while timing remains the central passion for Dave, he became a National Technical Delegate in 2004, has also served as a leader of officials training in western Canada.

 “Dave’s role in timing means he is not usually visible or in the spotlight,” says Mark Bowman (2018 Honoured Volunteer). “Dave has continued to provide World Cup Standard Timing to all levels of Races in Alberta and BC. He has gone above and beyond to assist timers at various clubs to ensure their timing crews provide quality races and results.  He has been a great mentor to timers from several clubs over the past few decades, educating them on both computer training and equipment set-up. He has been generous to maintain critical infrastructure equipment such as the reels of cable that several hills need to run races and will always find a spare timing eye or scoreboard for a ROC that needs it.”

The list of events and sports that have benefited from the skill and dedication of our Honoured Official has become quite lengthy. He has worked in alpine, ski-cross, equestrian, speed skiing, telemark, snowboarding and across the spectrum of the athlete pathway from U12 to Nor-Am to Canadian Championships to World Cup events. If your daughter or son have been in a ski race, Dave Bartle has made sure the timing is ready and accurate. His expertise even extended to timing Canadian engineering universities concrete toboggan races.

 “I think the key influence has been Dick Beare” said Dave. “He was a great teacher, mentor, partner in crime, and friend who lived and breathed ski race timing. Sadly, Dick passed away almost 3 years ago.” Others that Dave includes who have been key volunteer partners are Mark Bowman and Don Boyce, “both of whose friendship, mentorship and support have been critical to my success.”

 “Although I am now in my 25^th year of timing races, I still really enjoy what I do and always look forward to the next season. It’s given me lots of pleasure, met lots of interesting people, made lifelong friends. I have always loved the outdoors and being in the mountains. Living in western Canada and being involved in ski racing seem a natural fit for me. Similarly, my skills as a Civil Engineer and Project Manager are a great fit for Ski Race Timing and vice-versa.”

 “A sense of belonging to a Community is really important to people” says Dave. “This ski racing community has been mine. It invited me to participate, taught and supported my voluntary role, provided challenge and enjoyment, and great friends.”

The Canadian Rockies Ski Racing Hall of Fame and Alberta Alpine are pleased to recognize Dave Bartle, our 2019 Honoured Official, whose passion for excellence and leadership as a teacher, mentor and friend has ensured our events across Canada are run smoothly and seamlessly, giving our clubs and race organizers the essential tools to run great events for our athletes.

The 2019 Class will be inducted at the Highest Peak Gala, hosted at the Markin-McPhail Centre at WinSport in Calgary on Wednesday, October 30^th. This event was first held in 1968, to support ski racing excellence in Alberta and western Canada. The Canadian Rockies Ski Racing Hall of Fame event is a legacy event with the goal to support future champions in the province, with all proceeds invested into Alberta Ski Racing programs.

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

An iconic ski racing sponsorship has sparked a lifetime of volunteer dedication

Volunteers are the rock-solid foundation of our sport, organizing events and leading ski clubs. Like so many in our community, Doug Airey, our 2019 Honoured Volunteer, represents the very best of the ski family.

“What an amazing, life-long family sport” is how Doug describes the many years his wife Mary and their children Michael, Noelle and Janet have been totally engaged at all levels of alpine ski racing. “We always must be passionate about the sport and willing to contribute, what we can, in the most positive of ways.  I feel sorry for the folks unwilling or unable to volunteer.  They are missing amazing times, friendships and opportunities.”

The spark to get involved in ski racing came from one of the most iconic sponsorships of our sport. “When I was with GM of Canada I was lucky to be part of the team to bring back the Pontiac GMC Cup and I was “bitten!” said Doug. When the Airey family moved to Calgary, they started their kids skiing at Canada Olympic Park and subsequently joined the Kananaskis Alpine Ski Club. “Our involvement really took off when we moved to Edmonton and joined Snow Valley Racing. Volunteering was a necessity and then it became a passion because of the great folks we worked with and the great cause we were helping (our kids!).”

Like so many ski families, volunteering became a central contribution to support ski racing. Doug became fully engaged with the Snow Valley Ski Club as Alpine Chair and is currently President of the club with his focus now on operations. He stepped up to Chair of the North Zone and as an Alberta Alpine Board member. He took up leadership roles with officials and as a Technical Delegate. His passion extended into volunteering for many years with the World Cup races at Lake Louise, the World Ski Championships, Special Olympics Canada ski races in Jasper and the World Winter Games for Special Olympics in Korea.

“Doug personifies a skiing racing pioneer” said Charles Gushaty, a volunteer who has worked alongside Doug and Mary. “He has a passion for skiing and our organization, always excited and willing to help us with anything we ask of him. His gentle personality shines through and he is always positive and energized about the kids and the sport. He is a great ambassador of our sport”.

With decades of volunteering now behind him, Doug has some advice to share with our current and future leaders: “You learn every time you help. You meet your best friends. It’s an opportunity to help, share experiences and be mindful to yourself to show patience. Ski racers make great citizens and we can always use more great citizens in our communities.” With pride, he shared that his three children, now grown and well past their ski racing days, starting to make their own mark: Michael is now serving in the Canadian Army, Noelle has just accepted a position in the ski tourism field in Switzerland and Janet is a 3^rd year at UBC-O and a ski coach at Big White.

The Canadian Rockies Ski Racing Hall of Fame and Alberta Alpine are pleased to recognize Doug Airey, our 2019 Honoured Volunteer, whose passion for ski racing has provided leadership to athletes, volunteers and officials across Canada, ensured our clubs and race organizers have the essential tools to run great events and successful programs.

The 2019 Class will be inducted at the Highest Peak Gala, hosted at the Markin-McPhail Centre at WinSport in Calgary on Wednesday, October 30^th. This event was first held in 1968, to support ski racing excellence in Alberta and western Canada. The Canadian Rockies Ski Racing Hall of Fame event is a legacy event with the goal to support future champions in the province, with all proceeds invested into Alberta Ski Racing programs.

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

Hey Everyone!

This is my second athlete journal and I just wanted to review on the past year! This season has gone by so quickly, and I would like to take you through my experiences on and off snow.

My season started off well, as I had some successes early on in the year. My highlight being my double SL win at Norquay. I was elated and pleasantly surprised with my results and I felt that it gave me a lot of confidence to bring into the year. I was able to carry these results throughout December and came back to Edmonton for Christmas as a happy (but extremely tired) little lady. Right after the holidays Claire and I left for Collingwood, Ontario where we both had some awesome races. One of which being when we both qualified for the panelled slalom. We had the opportunity to race against girls who are dominating the NorAm circuit. Although Claire and I were eliminated in the first round, we had so much fun being apart of all the action!

When I came back from Ontario, I felt the best I had ever felt in my skiing career. I was putting out good results while still making gains at every race and training block I came out of. So what could go wrong?

It was mid-January when I started to feel pretty unwell. I had high fevers, chills and extreme tiredness, but I was still determined to try and ski the Lake Louise race series. I ended up staying in the hotel room for two days, and that’s when I felt a continuous sharp pain in my left side. My family and I drove back to Edmonton and that’s when I was diagnosed with mononucleosis. On top of all my symptoms, I had an inflamed liver and an enlarged spleen. These two factors prevented me from being able to ski, and I wasn’t going to be on snow until I was cleared. The illness progressed into my lymph nodes and throat, which caused major swelling all over my body. Another common symptom with mono is extreme fatigue that could last for months after the initial signs of illness. This is something my coaches and I feared would hinder my performance when I would return back to skiing. I was sick for a month and a half, and this was the biggest adversity I experienced the entire year. As I sat on the couch, I could feel my muscles slowly getting weaker and all the hard work I put in the summer had now diminished. Mentally, all I wanted to do was ski and it was unbearable to watch my team go to race after race without me. It reminded me of the things you take for granted until it’s gone. I have to admit, the month of February was an extremely difficult time for me (and not just because of the cold weather!)

When I got back to skiing, I was 10 pounds lighter but had an undying motivation to get back to skiing. I knew the month of March was jam-packed full of racing and I knew I had some major ground to make up. I only had about two weeks to prepare, and within that time I tried my best to get back to where I was at the start of the season.

The month of March had many downs, but consistent sparks of success. One good run here and there but just couldn’t put two together. After we came back from out East I was excited to race back in Alberta and hopefully have some good results on terrain that I felt comfortable on. I think that it was that mindset that set me up for Panorama Spring Series. I felt awesome on my GS skis, and even better on my SL skis. I was even able to sneak in a win on the first SL race. Finally! I felt back to where I was at the beginning of the season.

Now, what could go wrong right? Well, unfortunately, I sustained a tailbone injury the very next day, and it arguably ended my season. It was devastating for me, as I was so hopeful for the last couple races. But as I sit here and type this athlete journal with a sore butt, it reminds me of all the great moments I had. Yes, it wasn’t my best year, but everyone has “one of those seasons”. I realized I can’t dwell on the negatives, I need to look into the future and start planning for the positives. My coach Leslie told me that “ski racing is a grind, and you have to learn how to love the grind,” and this quote is something that stuck with me over these past couple months. Now it’s time to take a short break, finish school and get back to the grind 🙂

I would like to thank my sponsors Sporting Life, Western GMC Buick, Descente and Pro Sport Protection for all their support over this past year!

Cheers,

Tora Hoshizaki

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