VAIL — Last Wednesday, after a day of training at Copper and a ride over Vail Pass, Bruce Knoepful and his three skiers pulled into the Vail parking lot.

The van, a 1986 Dodge Ram that in its better days was sky blue, couldn’t fit in the underground lot, so it sat, protruding from a parking spot, on the upper level.

Discounting its previous services, the van had seen plenty of skiing parking lots this season but not nearly as many as the skiers. Vail’s Hunter Schleper, Kitt Flowers and Cooper Cartmill have been hitting the slopes all over the world since late summer.

The three former Ski & Snowboard Club Vail athletes are now training with their longtime coach Knoepful as an unaffiliated program.

“We wanted to do something a little different,” Knoepful said. “I’ve coached Kitt and Hunter since they were 7, and we wanted to keep it all together.”

Cartmill, who had trained on and off with Knoepful, jumped at the idea to have him as a coach.

So since last spring when the skiers finished up on the hill, Knoepful has been working closely with the three kids — all the time.

“It’s a lot of time commitment,” Knoepful said. “We have a big dry-land fitness commitment, and we train six days a week.”

A job-like commitment? Well, considering Schleper and Cartmill took care of school online this summer and Flowers goes to school in Utah from April to November, it’s safe to say they can put all their efforts into skiing.

And with only three kids, Knoepful can take them just about wherever, whenever.

“We are free to do whatever camps we want to do,” Knoepful said. “We went to camps in Italy, Chile and Austria. We were able to train with Europa Cup teams and in one case a World Cup team.”

The kids also got some instruction from Slovakian coach Igor Urban, who helps Knoepful whenever they travel to Europe.

Chemistry

All three skiers train together, even though Schleper and Flowers are J2s and Cartmill is a J3. While the J2s like to give Cartmill flak for being younger and often relegate him to the back seat, Cartmill brushes it off with a smile.

“I don’t care; I can sleep,” Cartmill says of the spacious tan interior of the van. “They don’t consider me J3 in training, just in age.”

Knoepful, who drives the van all over the state for training and competitions, knows just how close of a bond the boys have formed.

“The chemistry is really good,” he said. “We know how to work with each other. I know what to expect from them, and they know what to expect from me.”

All three skiers couldn’t be happier with their coach.

“He’s one of the best coaches in the country,” Flowers said. “He took Hunter to the Topolino games and the Whistler Cup the past two years.”

“If he wasn’t coaching us, I don’t know what I’d be doing right now,” Schleper said.

In addition to the Vail skiers, Kieffer Christenson, a J3 who lives in Alaska, decided to hop on the team.

“He trains with us whenever he can,” Knoepful said. “He spent the summer training with us, and he’s trained with us a few times over the years.”

Fast

Dedication is essential for any young ski racers, but these kids also happen to be some of the best in the nation. Recently, Schleper was ranked No. 1 for his age group, with Flowers in the top five, while Cartmill and Christenson are one and two, depending on the event.

“They’ve all done extremely well,” Knoepful said. “They’ve had great results in the early season and are in great shape to qualify for junior nationals.”

Schleper, in only his first year doing International Ski Federation races, bibbed up from the 66th spot to take second at a slalom in Eldora two weeks ago.

“After my first run, I was a little worried because I was two seconds out, but then I had a really good second run and was stoked with that,” Schleper said.

Last week, Flowers and Cartmill each finished first in his age class at a downhill in Copper. And a few weeks ago, Cartmill, who has been winning some J3 races by more than four seconds, missed out on the sole American bid to the Topolino games by 0.05 of a second.

After some more races and training, the guys are heading to Whistler, British Columbia, for some freeskiing in early February.

“They were talking about rail parks and terrain parks they are going to ride in Whistler,” Knoepful said. “They don’t always have the chance to do that when training. They love the sport, and that’s their key to success.”

For these guys, burnout isn’t a problem.

“No. It’s fun to come every day,” Schleper said. “It’s not like, ‘Oh, I have to go skiing.’”

On the road

Life on the road, especially without a large program, does have its drawbacks.

Knoepful can’t be in two places at once, which is an issue when Cartmill has a race in a different location than the J2s.

“Occasionally he has to fend for himself to some extent, but we get cooperation,” Knoepful said. “I have a network of coaches I know (who will help).”

For the three high-school-age guys, the time away from home takes a bit of a toll.

“I miss all the social stuff,” Cartmill said. “It doesn’t make a difference because I wouldn’t have time for it anyway.”

The costs of running a smaller-scale program are higher, too.

“We’re spending more money because we’re traveling more and training more,” said Buzz Schleper, who helps Knoepful coaching.

Currently, the band of skiers and Knoepful are looking for a team sponsor, and there’s plenty of ad space on the side of the ’86 Ram.

For now, though, they’ll be concentrating on skiing fast.

Sports Writer Ian Cropp can be reached at 748-2935 or icropp@vaildaily.com.