For the first time ever, the Shames Mountain Ski and Snowboard Club (SMSSC) will be sending a full team of male and female Freestyle athletes to represent the Northwest Zone to the BC Winter Games held this year from Feb. 20-23 in Mission.
Three girls, Deirdre Lind, Emily Andrews, Autumn Dimitrouv, and three boys Ethan Fell, Aidan Carter, and Jonus Lecuyer will be traveling with SMSSC head coach Chance Healey.
And SMSSC athlete Michaela Yeo will be competing in Alpine and travelling with a coach and group of athletes from Smithers, which is also part of Zone 7.
This is the first competition of the season for most of these athletes.
The Kitimat Rail Jam was cancelled at the end of January due to lack of snow, but a few team members travelled to Smithers Jan. 25 to compete in the Rayz Face Off Freeride competition where Ethan Fell took third place in the 10-13 year old division.
The team also took the opportunity to train in the Terrain Park while there.
And they’ve also been taking advantage of the Shames Terrain Park, which has been up and running at Shames Mountain since the beginning of February.
Athletes have been putting in a lot of time there, said the club’s Angie Healey.
The skiing events will be held at Hemlock Resort outside of Mission, with Dual Moguls and Slopestyle slated for Freestyle skiers and Slalom, Giant Slalom, and Skiercross on the schedule for Alpine athletes.
But because of the weather, it’s looking like some events are going to be scaled back, dropping Dual Moguls for Freestyle.
And planned race courses for Alpine are being changed due to the lack of snow that has been plaguing not only the host hill, Hemlock, but most ski hills in the province this season.