Every weekend hundreds of alpine skiers gather at the local mountains here in the Northland. It is an all day endeavor as the courses are set sometimes before the sun rises. The athletes spend all day in the cold as they practice and prepare all for the minute of fast paced skiing that it all comes down to.

While it may just be one athlete out on the course against the clock, the alpine racing culture is very team oriented, Violet Mueller from Highland Hill shares “We have a really strong team at Gilboa. I’d say our core valleys really fuel us. And I like the support, like just being at the start here, just having nice conversations with everyone, hyping them up. And it’s just a great atmosphere. It really motivates you to get through the cold nights and the long winters, all that.”

Even the coaches remark how this sport really succeeds of the community in brings together between all the teams and mountain in the Midwest. Coach Jack McNeill for Team Gilboa mentions how ” It’s a very small community in the upper Midwest. The coaches are all working together. We’re helping each other’s athletes, even though we have separate teams, it’s very much a community sport. And we’re all dedicated towards making sure that the athletes are building life skills as well as having fun in a sport that’s as demanding and challenging as ski racing.”

Despite the smaller mountain in our local area, the competition is still steep as the talent continues to grow. Corey Danelski, the Program Director for Team Duluth describes just how competitive the field can be for alpine racing in the region, “Yeah I mean when they they compete they start when they’re young and they race just against kids here. But then as they get older and get some of these races you get to see what some of the top racers in the country and where you actually fall. And you know you can actually make the US ski team or make a college team and keep skiing. And skiing is a family sport so you continue to do this. I look at alumni and they make ski trips with their families. But when these groups you know you look at how competitive our kids can be against kids across the whole you know US it’s fun to see.”

Still for many of these alpine racers its not the results or hardware that keep them in the gates year after year.