U12 Program

While the rest of the WMSC FIS team is away at Panorama and then on to Lake Louise, two members of the team have been traveling in a different direction this winter. Emeline Bennett and Nick Katrusiak are chasing Ski Cross races across the country and beyond. Nakiska Ski Area is the new home of a training centre for the Canadian National Ski Cross team. As a result, Em and Nick have spent a lot of time on that hill training this season and have already participated in four Nor Am races there.

The first Nor Am weekend was in December and the second was in January on the same track as the World Cup that was held only days before. “The post-World Cup track was way longer and the features were significantly bigger than the event in December. You really had to know how to handle yourself in the air and how to make the most of very tricky passing opportunities.” said Nick Katrusiak who had an excellent result, making it to the Small Final and finishing 8th. The result was all the more significant because the National Team stayed at Nakiska to participate in the event before traveling to Beijing, skipping the World Cup race in Sweden before the Olympics. “It was very exciting being in the start gate for the Small Final with a bunch of National Team members: Chris Del Bosco (former World Champion), Kris Mahler (World Cup Winner on the same track just days before) and Carson Cook! I knew I didn’t have much of a chance to beat them, but I wanted to stay with them and finish as part of the pack.” Nick’s friend Callum McEwen (brother to SX National Team member Abbie McEwen) was the only other non-national team member to make the Finals and finished in 3rd place (Reece Howden took 1st and Jared Schmidt placed 2nd).

Em Bennett has also had a fantastic season so far. At the December Nor Am she made it to the Big Final, finishing 4th. At the January Nor Am, Em also had to contend with 4 National Team women who stayed for the race and who filled all the spots in the big final. Em finished in 6th place overall against veteran Alberta Alpine team members in the Small Final. Both athletes also competed at the most recent Nor Am at Calabogie Peaks Resort near Ottawa. Nick made it to the Small Final both days collecting a 6th and 5th place. Em finished 6th on the first day and won the gold medal, finishing first in the Big Final on the second day.

Emeline, now 18 and finished high school, headed to Europe this week to participate in some Europa Cup races and will be gone for a month and a half. Nick, 17 and finishing grade 12 at Whistler Secondary, continues on to Gore Mountain, NY later this week for another Nor Am and then will head back to Whistler to squeeze in some classroom time before participating in the FIS alpine events at Grouse and Whistler scheduled for the end of March. Both athletes are waiting to hear if they will be invited to represent Canada at the Ski Cross World Juniors in Italy at the end of March. Considering their results, they both have a very good chance.

Diane Katrusiak

Hello U12 Team!

Enchanted Forest
We will enter our U12 team into The Enchanted Forest event on Whistler. This event will be a great opportunity for kids to get some race experience in a fun environment. All U12 team members are required to enter if you would like to partake in our programing for this weekend. Please note if your child is in the Sunday only program and would like to race both days then they will need to pay for the extra training day as well as the $35 race entry.

I have only just gotten the information through to enter and register today, I appreciate your patience on this. Registration will close tomorrow at 6pm! as I will have to finalize our teams prior to Friday mornings team registrations.

Dates: Saturday, Feb 5th : Super G – 1 run (bring GS ski’s)
Sunday, Feb 6th : SL Stubbie Course – 2 Runs
Cost: $35 for both days (no single day fee available)
No Race Suits Allowed
Awards at 3pm. Location: TBD

Please click on the attached Race Notice for more information on the event.

Registration Link_ (closing Thursday, 6pm!)_
https://campscui.active.com/orgs/WhistlerMountainSkiClub?season=3006244&session=54708932
Registration Closes tomorrow at 6pm

WB Waiver
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/enchanted-forest-wb-ski-school-race-waiver-2022-registration-258629847837

Things of note:
• Gymnastics – On Saturday Feb 5th form 16:10 to 17:15 at Whistler Gymnastics Club. We currently have 2 spaces left!
Sign up link: https://www.wmsc.info/clubs/6388/pages/185979
• WhatApp- Please direct message me if you need me as messages get lost on the group chat.
• Home Race- Please note that I will be sending out the information for our upcoming Janyk Cup and Skills Event tomorrow. This will also include our registration link.

Meeting Locations and Times
Friday, 04/02/2022
Location: Chic Pea – Whistler
Time: 09:00am
Equipment: Slalom Ski’s and protective gear
Finish: 14:00 Chic Pea

Saturday, 05/02/2022
Location: Chic Pea – Whistler
Time: 09:00am
Equipment: Giant Slalom Ski’s
Finish: 14:00 Chic Pea

Sunday, 06/02/2022
Location: Chic Pea – Whistler
Time: 09:00am
Equipment: Slalom Ski’s and protective gear
Finish: 14:00 Chic Pea
If any plans change last minute, I will update on WhatsApp

Extra Training Days(For Core and Sunday Programs)
Please see the link below for information regarding extra training days.
https://www.wmsc.info/clubs/6388/pages/181905

Equipment Checklist
Please label all equipment and ensure bindings and boots are fitted correctly. If you are unsure on bindings let the coach know and we can check them on hill.
U12 Equipment Checklist
• Correct Ski’s, Boots and Poles
• Lift Pass
• Pack Lunch
• Hard eared helmet
• Backpack
• Back protection (strongly recommended)
• Gloves (warm, dry, and possibly padded is a good option) Spare gloves are always a good idea
• Ski socks (extras on a cold day)
• Facemask
• Water bottle and/or thermos
• Snacks
• Warm thermal layers and face covering
• Warm, water resistant outerwear
• Inner layers like soft shell or puffy jacket

Thank you for reading!
Jack Evans
WMSC U12 – Lead Coach
Jack@wmsc.info
+1 (604) 203-4429

WMSC Alumni Olympic Bound

With the Olympic and Para-Olympic opening ceremonies just around the corner, we are honored to share with you the WMSC Alumni bound for Beijing.
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Competing in the men’s Alpine Speed events we have Broderick Thompson, Jack Crawford and Brodie Seger, in the women’s Ski Cross Marielle Thompson and in the Para-Alpine events, Mollie Jepsen. On the coaching front, WSMC is also excited to highlight Mark Tilston, Conrad Pridy and Nick Cooper as Team Canada representatives and coaches for the Men’s Alpine team and Ben Wilkinson, Coach for Canada Ski Cross Team.

Please join us in cheering them on and making sure they feel the love all the way from home!!!

Safety Net Set | Meeting day is Saturday, January 29 at 9:00 at Garbo Hut.

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Calling all WMSC parents! Please come out this Saturday, Jan 29 and help with net set for the upcoming U14 Speed Camp. All hands on deck for this important safety net set up. It doesn’t matter if you have athletes racing in this event – we need your help! Please meet at Garbo Hut at 9:00 a.m. No experience setting nets? No worries – there will be lots of people to help guide you! The more volunteers the quicker the job gets done! Please email volunteers@wmsc.info to confirm and your attendance and don’t forget to sign in at Garbo Hut. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday!

Nat Bosa Award | Deadline Monday, January 31st
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There are only few days to apply for this bursary. All WMSC Athletes U12-FIS are eligible. Learn more at WMSC Bursaries. Email now bursaries@wmsc.info to apply.

2022/23 WMSC-HH Team Uniforms – Deadline Sunday, January 30 at noon
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In response to the delays in all stages of the supply chain and anticipated shipping delays to North America, the deadline to buy uniforms for the 2022/23 season has been pulled to January 30th at noon.

Email your order form to info@wmsc.info as soon as possible to ensure you receive all the items you need.

Document links
2022-2023 HH Adult Uniform Order.pdf
2022-2023 HH Junior Uniform Order.pdf

Extra Training Days – February | Opens for registration Sunday evening
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Extra Training Days will be available for purchase from December 2, 2021 to April 24, 2022.

Registration opens every Sunday evening and closes every Tuesdays at midnight.

Costs: U12 and U14 $75/day | U16 and FIS $80/day. For specific details visit our website www.wmsc.info | Programs |select your page (U12 to FIS) | Extra Days

“U12 Extra Training Days”https://www.wmsc.info/clubs/6388/pages/181905
“U14 Extra Training Days”https://www.wmsc.info/clubs/6395/pages/181906
“U16 Extra Training Days”https://www.wmsc.info/clubs/6396/pages/181907
FIS Extra Training Days | Contact your coaches

Dear WMSC Membership,

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Following our announcement of the 2022 Whistler Cup’s postponement, (See link to press release below) we’d like to share an internal note to everyone with our intentions for those dates. It was not an easy call to postpone this event for another year, but with the internationals not ready to commit to travel in the current covid climate, we felt there was just too much uncertainty to make our commitment to move forward with this year’s Whistler Cup.

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We do recognize, however, that the up and coming U14 and U16 athletes have been starved for ski racing opportunities and we are going to hold on to the April 7th-10th, 2022 dates to put on an alternate event. We’re working closely with BC Alpine to see what options are available and would best suit this age group in the province. Whether this is a Zone, regional, provincial, or national race, we’re exploring it all for our U14 and U16 athletes on those dates. We’ll keep you posted on the developments.

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Thank you for your patience and understanding through this.

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Sincerely,

Michael Janyk
Executive Director
Whistler Mountain Ski Club

Ski racing is back!

Big thank you to Teck for sponsoring this event.

Teck Zone racing returned to Whistler Mountain after an 18-month hiatus with over 80 U16 and FIS racers from the Coast Zone racing strong on Whistler Mountain this past weekend. Under both sunny and overcast skies, with some fog moving about, the U16 and FIS racers competed in a two-run combined time giant slalom race on Saturday and a two-run combined time slalom race on Sunday on near perfect, hard packed Ptarmigan run which proved to be a challenging and rewarding re-entry back into racing. Everyone was grateful to the National Training Centre on Whistler and to Vail Resorts for producing a high-quality race surface after rainy weather earlier in the week. Volunteers from all Clubs (Whistler, Grouse, Cypress, Seymour, Sasquatch, and Mt. Washington) helped to make this first race of 2022 an outstanding experience for the racers.

A shout out to Robin Courcelles

Robin is a U12 parent, and one of our dye guys on Saturday. He rescued Maddy Irwin’s runaway ski. He went out of his way to do so through some very icy, crusty snow.

Also, high fives to all our Club coaches for helping our WMSC racers ski to many top ten and podium finishes.

TOP-3 U16 FINISHERS with WMSC top ten finishers

Womens Giant Slalom January 15th

First Place: Vanessa Young, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Second Place: Marlo Parkhill, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Third Place: Viveka Deck Stang, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Fourth Place: Nicole Webb, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Fifth Place: Allie Lavis, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Sixth Place: Madeline Wardle, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Seventh Place: Mia Aiello, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Ninth Place: Thea Lutz, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Tenth Place: Thea Torn, Whistler Mountain Ski Club

Mens Giant Slalom January 15th

First Place: Tai Exley, Cypress Ski Club
Second Place: Thomas Hung, Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club 
Third Place: Gavin Santoro, Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club 
Fifth Place: Nick Kokot, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Ninth Place: George Sarkis, Whistler Mountain Ski Club

Womens Slalom January 16th

First Place: Nicole Webb, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Second Place: Hannah Jensen, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Third Place: Erica Zander, Cypress Ski Club
Fourth Place: Vanessa Young, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Sixth Place: Thea Torn, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Seventh Place: Olivia Imregi, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Ninth Place: Sophia Cross, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Tenth Place: Marlowe Cook, Whistler Mountain Ski Club

Mens Slalom January 16th            

First Place: Gavin Santoro, Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club 
Second Place: Thomas Legg, Whistler Mountain Ski Club 
Third Place: Archie Clarke, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Fifth Place: Joseph Gibbons, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Tenth Place: Aiden Thornhill