U.S. Ski and Snowboard has announced their riders will train in slopestyle at Soldier Mountain. Slopestyle is a discipline where skiers and snowboarders ride rails and hit massive jumps.
"The tricks these athletes are doing are unbelievable," said Rick Bower, the sports director the Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboarding team. "They are flipping three times, spinning six times and it is unbelievable where the sport has progressed to."
Bower told us slopestyle is the most popular discipline for up and coming skiers and snowboarders, but it's hard to find a place to train because the jumps are so big, but they found an unlikely partner with a mom-and-pop ski area near Fairfield called Soldier Mountain.
"It’s a real unusual opportunity for a tiny independent community hill to partner with such an elite organization," said David Alden, the general manager at Soldier Mountain. "We are really excited about it and I think they are too."
It's a three-year partnership that will give Soldier Mountain more exposure, provide a chance for the people in Idaho to see the best skiers and snowboarders in the country, and enable them to double their snowmaking operation to build the jumps.
"Each of these jumps requires 8,000 square meters of snow, you could almost bury our lodge with each one of these jumps," said Alden.
World-renowned terrain park builder Charles Beckinsale from Australia will come to Soldier Mountain to build two 50-foot jumps. These jumps will be on a run called Canyon that will be directly below lift one.
"Our guests are going to be able to watch them hit the jumps directly under the chair lift," said Alden. "People can hike up the mountain and the general public will have a full view and skiers can watch from the side. It’s going to be really cool having these world-class athletes at Soldier."
Soldier Mountain is a beautiful mountain, featuring one of the best cat skiing operations in Idaho and they give free season passes and lessons to every student in the Camas County School District.
However, this small resort has seen many different owners including Bruce Willis. When the Alden's took over they faced adversity right away as a wildfire forced them to evacuate the resort and it almost burned down. Now they are optimistic about the future and what the investment from U.S. Ski and Snowboard will mean for their infrastructure.
"The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association is putting a ton of resources and has committed to making this a world-class endeavor."
Top athletes need a world-class training facility to compete on the world stage, Soldier Mountain will provide snowmobiles to give athletes more training time and Soldier is located only about five hours away from the U.S. Ski and Snowboard headquarters in Park City, Utah.
"I think these small mountains and the family-owned mountains are coming in to save us," said Bower. "We are very grateful to Soldier Mountain and the opportunity they are providing us."
The training is planned for December before the season starts and there is also a plan to have the athletes come back in late March after the season is over. We will have much more on these developments as they happen at Soldier Mountain.
