Later this month, the U.S. Snowboard team will head to Idaho, for a training camp at Soldier Mountain nearly 110 miles east of Boise. But this week, a few of those riders got a early start.
Red Gerard, Dusty Henricksen, Brock Crouch, and Judd Henkes are all on-hand ahead of next week's Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Copper Mountain in Colorado.
"Although Soldier Mountain will host the training camps for the slopestyle teams for the Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team and the Stifel U.S. Freeski Team through Dec. 20, the very best of the best are there right now and most will be done by Dec. 18," Ski Idaho's Tony Harrison said in a press release.
Photo: Emma Hamill/Soldier Mountain
Those who wish to see some of the best snowboarders in the country practice will be able to this weekend. Soldier Mountain GM David Alden says that the mountain should open from Friday to Sunday for limited skiing and snowboarding this weekend, with lift tickets costing $25. Training sessions are open for the public to watch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 13-15 from the base area or from inside the lodge.
Soldier Mountain announced that it would become the U.S. Snowboard and Ski slopestyle team’s training grounds in mid-November. The training facility features a course from renowned terrain park builder Charles Beckinsale. The site helps support the slopestyle teams’ need for larger jumps, which are involved in competitions but hard to find in training grounds. Riders headed to Waterville Valley Resort in New Hampshire's White Mountains at the end of November to take advantage of its early-season snowmaking and cheese wedge jumps. Those courses were also designed by Beckinsale.
The U.S. team will return to Soldier Mountain for a training camp in late March. Soldier Mountain is doubling its snowmaking capacity from top to bottom to make this happen. Its Idaho location makes the ski area an ideal spot for training, as it is a five-hour drive from U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Park City, Utah headquarters.
“Soldier Mountain has presented us with a unique opportunity to build world-class jumps in the USA at a time of year that will give our Slopestyle teams a huge advantage going into the competition season,” U.S. Snowboarding Director Rick Bower said in a press release from November.
Related: Idaho Mountain Once Owned by Bruce Willis Is U.S. Snowboarding's New Home