Ski and Snowboard Club Vail Alpine skier qualifies for Youth Olympic Games
The men's FIS team claimed several December successes, including a pair of slalom victories by Julian Arthur at Vail Mountain on Dec. 17

SSCV/Courtesy photo
December was a busy — but fruitful — month for the Ski and Snowboard Club Vail men’s FIS Alpine ski team.
Between Dec. 5 and Dec. 21, SSCV competed at the Copper Mountain and Beaver Creek NorAm Cup races, traveled to Jackson Hole for a three-day FIS-level tech slate, returned to Vail Mountain for a National Junior Race slalom and finished at the Holiday Classic at Steamboat Springs with four days of FIS slaloms and giant slaloms.
Head coach Pat Duran said two of the biggest storylines to emerge from the first period were Julian Arthur sweeping both slaloms in Vail on Dec. 17 and Stewart Bruce earning a spot on the U.S. team headed to Gangwon Province, South Korea, for the Youth Olympic Games later this month.
“He wanted to make the U.S. Ski Team last year, so any time he races the guys who did make it last year, you know, he definitely wants to beat them,” Duran said of Arthur’s efforts on Golden Peak. “It’s rare to win a FIS race in Colorado — for him to win two in one day is really exceptional.”
Duran said the coaches were “proud, but not surprised” by Arthur’s double victory against the country’s best athletes born between 2003-2007.

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“We’ve seen it coming for the past year,” he continued. “Everyone is watching Julian when he trains slalom.”
Duran said Arthur is stronger physically and more mature mentally this year.
“When he’s in a position like that, he can now win the race. He’s not skiing to finish. He knows he can win that race,” the coach said of Arthur, who is gunning for a top-30 finish in the NorAm Cup season standings. He’s currently ranked 42nd in slalom.
Bruce will join River Radamus, Alex Leever and Emma Resnick as SSCV Alpine athletes who have represented the U.S. at the Youth Olympic Games, a quadrennial event that will feature more than 1,900 athletes from 80 different countries. Mikaela Shiffrin was also selected in 2012, but did not attend because of her breakout World Cup successes at the time. Radamus won three gold medals at the 2016 event.
“I am very impressed by this group of Alpine skiers set to represent the U.S. in Gangwon,” stated Anouk Patty, U.S. Ski and Snowboard chief of sport, in a recent press release. “These Alpine skiers have an incredible opportunity with the Youth Olympic Games to put their Alpine ski racing to the test among international competitors.”
Chip Knight, Alpine development director, added, “It’s going to be an exceptional experience for them, and we hope they can bring home some medals too!”

Bruce was one of three selections for the men’s Alpine team. SSCV skier Nicole Begue is an alternate on the four-member women’s team. SSCV coach Scott Houser will accompany the athletes to PyeongChang, the site of the 2018 Olympics. Duran said he’s given his pupil a few pointers on the venue, where he watched his wife, Alice McKennis, finish fifth in the 2018 Olympic downhill.
“It’s cold over there. Last time the U.S. went, they didn’t have enough clothing,” Duran said.
“We’ve talked about what the snow’s going to be like. During the Olympics, the snow was very dry — like Colorado actually.”
Duran said his goal for Bruce is simple.
“I would say, just beat Austrians,” he said with a chuckle before shifting to a more serious tone. “We want him to win, you know — that’s what we want him to do. We’ll see how he does. There’s a lot of good Europeans, but he’s a really good skier.”
Duran highlighted several other notable individual performances for the club in December. Carson Hume placed in the top-30 to earn NorAm Cup points in all four Copper Mountain speed races at the beginning of the month. In addition to Bruce finishing as the top U18 male in two races in Steamboat Springs, Alex Krupka was topped the U18 field in a third race on Dec. 18. His teammates Oliver Helland and Henry Andrie also claimed U18 podiums there.
“Which, at those high level races, is really quite good,” Duran said. “Most of the best kids in the country are out here racing.”

A few SSCV skiers are currently in Vermont competing at NorAm Cups at Burke Mountain. Duran said that group will remain out East for a few college races before returning home. The rest of the squad is at Winter Park this Saturday, travels to Aspen on the Jan. 12 and competes at Breckenridge on Jan. 14-15. In other words, the New Year has brought back the same old busy schedule.
“We’re excited with how we’ve done so far this season,” Duran said. “It’s a long road ahead. We need to improve, but we’re excited with where we are.”