Beyond the X: Snow schools for Olympic hopefuls

Sugar Bowl Academy (Norden, Calif.) Director of Athletics Bill Hudson got right to the heart and artery of the matter: Bacon.

The former U.S. Ski Team national alpine champion and Olympian applauded 20-something 12th graders for their unyielding commitment to the sport and one another at the expense of, among other things, creature comforts, junk food and mainstream high school activities.

"You gave up pancakes and bacon and eggs at breakfast for Gatorade and health bars," he said while addressing the SBA graduating class of 2013 last spring. "You gave up homecoming dances and proms to travel to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with other athletes and coaches."

Don't forget about other teen treasures such as sleeping in, pep rallies and Friday night football games.

All are replaced by strength and conditioning workouts, rigorous academic courses and four-hour ski sessions up and down the challenging terrain of Sugar Bowl Resort in the scenic Sierra Nevada on Donner Summit, near Lake Tahoe. Those activities sound tough, but it's a nice break from traveling all over the Western states competing in two- even three-day events.

"There are certainly huge time sacrifices these kids make and we know Sugar Bowl Academy isn't for everyone," said Sugar Bowl headmaster Tracy Keller. "But for competitive kids whose passion is skiing, this is a great place for them."

If you want to be a competitive high school skier, with collegiate, national team and even Olympic aspirations, academies like Sugar Bowl are pretty much the only place. The days when elite skiers like Hudson, who went to public school North Tahoe (Tahoe City, Calif.) in early 80s, are long gone.

Hudson, whose mother Sally Neidlinger competed in the 1952 Olympics, said he was the exception back 30 years ago. Competitive skiers, especially in the winter, didn't have time to attend public school all day then hit the slopes in the middle to late afternoon. Ski academies, with elements of the military peppered with prep school regimens and covered with white powdery snow, were beginning to pop up in ski resort areas, though Sugar Bowl Academy didn't open until 1999.

Somehow Hudson, a 1988 Olympic team member in Calgary, was talented enough to break the mold. Then again, he had pretty good genes. (Ironic Hudson left the skiing world at one point to be a spokesman for another kind of jean, Calvin Klein).

"Most kids either took the GED or attended ski academies back when I was in high school," Hudson said. "But most of the academies were back east."

Of the 50 or so scattered across the country today, most still are located in the northeastern part of the country, especially the prominent ones. That includes perhaps the most accomplished and prestigious, the Stratton Mountain School (Vt.) in southern Vermont.

Established in 1972 by Warren Hellman and Donald Tarinelli, Stratton has produced 102 national team members and 40 Winter Olympians (51 spots), 12 of which are competing in Sochi on this year's Olympics. They even have produced a pair of Summer Olympians.

To see a complete list of SMS Olympians, see Page 7.

Among the alums are 2002 snowboard gold medalist Ross Powers (1997 SMA class), who won bronze in 1998, and 2006 snowboard silver medalist Lindsey Jacobellis (2003), who is back again in 2014.

Also among the current SMA Sochi dozen is three-time nordic Olympian Andy Newell (2002) and 2008 graduate Sophie Caldwell, who Tuesday became the best American nordic female finisher in history by taking sixth in the women's individual Olympic sprint. This was the five-time All-American at Dartmouth's first Olympics and first year on the U.S. Cross Country team.

A group of 20 Stratton students huddled around the TV Wednesday to watch Caldwell make history, including Caldwell's father Sverre, who is also SMS's head alpine coach.

"You know, I would have loved for her to have an Olympic medal, but I'm so proud of her and she did so well," Sverre told WPTZ reporter Stephen Watson. "That's probably the best race of her life and I couldn't be more proud."

Said SMS senior and future Dartmouth skier Jack Elder: "Just to see someone come through the ranks of SMS and go through college and know they are competing on the Olympic stage ... it really makes it seem like everything we do here has a purpose."

That's the whole idea. If not to foster future Olympians, then to get kids to aspire to greatness.

MaxPreps went coast-to-coast two weeks ago to unveil those lessons and aspirations while visiting Stratton Mountain School and Sugar Bowl Academy.

On the day we arrived at SMS, the eastern deep freeze was in full force as temperatures dipped below zero with the wind-chill factor. On the other coast, a welcomed 8 inches of fresh powder dropped upon SBA, putting a small dent in one of the region's longest droughts.


Video by Scott Hargrove and courtesy of Stratton Mountain School/Edited by Scott Hargrove