Youth Fest

The Intermountain Youth Ski Festival was held at Soldier Hollow over the weekend and it may have been the most fun 230 kids have ever had in 48 hours on skinny skis! Team Soldier Hollow had 31 racers under the age of 16 come out for the event. We were the 2nd biggest team behind Sun Valley's GIANT crew of 55!!!!! 

The events kicked off on Saturday with the mass start skate races. Team SoHo skied strong on the home course. Top 10 got awards in each category!  

U8 Boys
7th Finnian Schaffer
8th Jasper Jewkes
9th Jacob Chamberlain
10th John McGinn

U8Girls
Margot Peterson 2nd
Montana Leonard 3rd
Raina Hammon 4th

U12Boys
Reed Chamberlain 9th

U12 Girls
Sophia Burkemo 5th
Sara Livingstone 9th

U14Boys
Logan Chamberlain 6th
Mason Heimburger 9th

U14 Girls
Lina Farra 2nd

U16Novice
Mix Broadhead 6th

Saturday afternoon everyone got to do a downhill obstacle course! It was a blast!!! Obstacles included slalom gates, bucket spin, big rollers (some kids did some big tricks off of them! the rest of us kept both skis on the ground), side stepping, hay bail hoping, 360 degree turns, and hula hoop diving. It was a total blast! Turns out Team SoHo really excels at these kind of races. Top 5 got awards in each category for the obstacle course:  

U8 Girls
Margot Peterson 2nd
Raina Hammon 3rd
Montana Leonard 4th

U8Boys
Jacob Chamberlain 5th
Jasper Jewkes 6th
John McGinn 8th

U10Girls
Adrina Hammon 9th

U10Boys
Maddux Leonard 3rd
Easton Boyer 8th 

U12Girls
Sara Livingstone 1st
Sophia Burkemo 3rd

U12Boys
Reed Chamberlain 2nd

U14 Boys
Mason Heimburger 3rd

U16Novice
Mix Broadhead 4th

When the skiers were not participating in or watching (may have been just as much fun as participating) they were able to go try biathlon with the Paralympic riffles, play on the "whale" in the stadium, or play on the slalom hill. 

After a full day of fun on skis everyone headed over to the Soldier Hollow Grill (at the Golf Course) for dinner and TUBING!!! 

Sunday the events turned to the classic technique. Despite having only 11 racers we still had quite a few top 10 finishes! 1km-3km Individual Start Classic Top 10's:

U8Girls
Montana Leonard 2nd
Margot Peterson 3rd

U10Girls
Zoe Peterson 7th

U12 Girls
Sophia Burkemo 6th
Sara Livingstone 9th

U14 Boys
Mason Heimburger 6th

U14 Girls
Lina Farra 2nd

U16Novice
Mix Broadhead 5th

Cross-country skiing is often thought of as an individual sport but at the Intermountain Youth Ski Festival the most coveted awards are the Sportsmanship Award and the overall Team Award.

For the Team Award the top 20 skiers in each event and in each category scored points. Team Soldier Hollow scored their first podium ever at the Youth Festival finishing 3rd! Powerhouse teams Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation and Park City Nordic Ski Club finished 1st and 2nd.

The Sportsmanship Award is given to the team who best exemplifies the elements of good sportsmanship such as teamwork, fairness, courage, respect, and gratitude. Wasatch Nordic Ski Academy won the 1st place trophy with Team Soldier Hollow in 2nd and Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation in 3rd.

For complete results from the weekend’s events go to www.summittiming.com 
If anyone has photos they would like to share please send them to [email protected] and I will gladly add them.