Cypress Mountain may have trumped Grouse Mountain and Mount Seymour as the site for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games freestyle ski, ski cross, and snowboard events, but North Shore alpine ski clubs have their eyes on the bigger picture.

In February, Cypress will also host both a men's and a women's World Cup freestyle-ski moguls and aerials competition at its new venue. Granted, World Cup alpine races have been staged on Grouse Mountain in the past. However, during the next three years–and, hopefully, beyond, as the legacy of the 2010 Games persists–the stars of the "white circus" will shine on the North Shore like never before in a series of World Cup races. Young skiers with their sights set on making the national team will get a close-up look at their heroes, such as 2006 Olympic gold-medallist Jennifer Heil of Alberta and current world champion mogul skier Kristi Richards of Summerland, B.C.

Some of the local downhill and freestyle skiing clubs hired new head coaches over the past summer. In the run-up to 2010, there's never been a better time for North Shore clubs to work together, at least to a point. When contacted by the Georgia Straight, Grouse Mountain Tyee's new head coach, Sead Kauvic, affirmed that the harmonious mood being fostered between the clubs is good, but he also wants his teams to be competitive. "I tell kids cooperation is good to a point, but when it comes to racing, I expect them to show club spirit."

In terms of working together, Kauvic cited several examples. Over the past summer, Grouse Mountain Tyee–with more than 500 members, the largest ski club in Canada–shared a training camp with Mount Seymour racers on the Blackcomb Glacier. As well, joint weekly dry-land fitness sessions welcomed members from all clubs. This winter, top skiers from each club will gather on Fridays for informal competitions.

At the Cypress Ski Club, Shona Crawford has assumed leadership of one of the most successful–and competitive–ski clubs in the country. In 2005, Cypress was named Alpine Canada's club of the year, and its coach, Brent Kehl, was similarly honoured as top leader. (During the summer, Kehl left to work with the newly formed national ski cross team in Calgary.) When interviewed at the recent Vancouver Snow Show, Crawford, a former Scottish national ski team racer, told the Straight: "There's a new cohesion on the North Shore among Sead at Grouse, Rob Lahti at Mount Seymour, and myself. We're pooling our resources to let the kids get to know each other." (In most cases, club membership is open to both children over the age of six who have mastered basic ski skills and adults keen to improve.)

Contemporary ski technology is fuelling the move away from traditional racing. New designs mean that skiers can choose between more traditional alpine disciplines, such as slalom and mogul racing, and newer contests, such as freestyle aerials in the halfpipe and ski-cross contests.

The Vancouver Freestyle Ski Club's Katherina Kubenk, a former world champion, teaches the entry-level Jumps and Bumps program on Grouse Mountain while her co–head coach, Tanya Callon, works with the club's high-performance program at Cypress. Both women are new to their roles with the 100-member club. "The World Cup at Cypress this year will show our kids what jumps and bumps are really like," Callon told the Straight. "They're talking about it already."

Former national-team members Tami Bradley and Kelly Ringstad will be guest coaches for the club this year. Nine of the club's sixteen other coaches are women, which Callon said is "huge" in comparison to other freestyle clubs. Kubenk agreed: "Our goal is to boost membership by having a highly regarded, entry-level program, not just for kids but also for adults, which has been nonexistent locally. Kids want to know how to get air and ski like the big guns in the Blackcomb halfpipe, where they go with their parents on vacation. Our program is a confidence builder. We guide everyone to safely push beyond their limits." On the North Shore these days, the sky itself is, literally, the limit.

Links: Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club
Cypress Ski Club
Vancouver Freestyle Ski Club