In the Gunnison Valley there are hundreds of local skiers but only a fraction of those skiers actually compete in competitions and train at Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR). There are four students at Gunnison High School who represent the beautIful Gunnison valley in competitions throughout the nation. These students compete in various events including Downhill ski racing and FreeRide competitions.

Sam Anderson is a freshman at GHS (Gunnison High School) who participates in the Mountain Sports Program ,Sam

started skiing when he was four years old when like most residents of Gunnison County he was taken up to Crested Butte Mountain Resort by his parents. Later on, when he was eight, his parents signed him up for the Mountain Sports Program.He quickly excelled in the sport and now loves to compete. His favorite memory from his career in skiing was the time he won nationals in Aspen, but his favorite resort overall to ski at is SnowBird in Utah because he gets soft powder while still having similar terrain to Crested Butte. Sam has 6 competitions in FreeRide and big mountain this season and is excited to compete and try his hardest to do great and make memories.

Atalaya Hausdoerffer, who goes by Aya for short, is one of the students that participates in Mountain Sports competitions. Aya started skiing when she was just one and a half years old because her parents got her into it .One person she strongly admires is Tia Schenk. She started competing in the big mountain category which is just Freeride when she was eight so she has been doing it for seven years. Her best competition was the FreeRide World Tournament in Breckenridge, Colorado back in April of 2021 where she placed 41st out of 252nd female skiers, while her favorite mountain to ski is Snowbird in Utah. She also has the unique ability to be able to tell others that she has skied 100 consecutive months by traveling all around the world following the snow.

Emma Commerford is the only competitive ski racer that attends GHS (Gunnison High School) She is a sophomore,

and competes in slalom, giant slalom, and super G, and other downhill events. Emma initially got into skiing at the age of three when her dad took her up to Crested Butte, but she didn’t get into ski racing until 9 years later after hearing stories of how her dad used to ski while visiting her aunt in Big Sky, Montana. Not only did hearing those stories inspire her to race but she also grew up watching ski racing, and one of her family friends from Minnesota who taught ski racing recommended her to get into it. Ever since then Emma has fallen in love with this sport and has been competing for the past 3 years. Emma says that her biggest inspirations are her dad, and Mikayla Shiffrin won her first World Cup race at the age of 17 and now that she is 27 she has 83 World Cup wins under her belt; she only needs one more to have the record for the most world cups ever won. Emma is unsure of what she wants to do in the future with ski racing but is currently trying to have the most fun she can with it.

Rowen Downum is one of Crested Butte Mountain Sports participants that skis Freeride. Rowen

started skiing when he was three years old when his parents signed him up for ski lessons and he stuck with it for a while. He is inspired by his parents to be the best form of himself, as well as Ferdinand Dahl and Alex Hall who give him the love for skiing. He competes in Freeride competitions and usually has 6 competitions per season.  This season he is hoping he makes it to the NORAMS (North American Series) in Kicking Horse Canada by getting good results from two regional events and three national events to qualify. One of his favorite tricks is either a slow rotated 180, backflip, flatspin or corked mute 360. His favorite memory from skiing is when he first visited the waffle shack on top of a 4 mile tram ride at the very top of the mountain at the Jackson Hole Resort in Wyoming . Ever since his first competition he had the passion to go pro and wanted to compete at four star competitions which are the top