My time on Team Summit has been truly something special - the experiences that I’ve had riding, training, and competing have been a significant part of my life and have really shaped who I am today. I started snowboarding in 2013, and I joined Team Summit the following year for the 2014/15 season. When I first joined, I was still in many ways a beginner - I could carve and ride most terrain on the mountain, but that was about the extent of my skills. Team Summit does an amazing job at training kids in fundamentals, and I was no exception. The skills I learned that first year set the foundation for the next five years, and enabled me to take my snowboarding skills to a higher level than I could’ve ever thought possible. 

I got my first taste of snowboarding competition the same year that I joined Team Summit - USASA held a couple boardercross races at Copper that year which I entered, and although I placed pretty terribly against a lot of local riders, I was hooked on competition. Over the next couple years, I really discovered my passion for racing boardercross, and with a lot of training from some amazing Team Summit coaches, reached a point where I was competitive with some of the top junior riders. Last year’s USASA Nationals at Copper felt like the event where the work that I had put in had built up to - I had come off of a crazy progressive season where I’d moved up to compete in USASA Open Class, raced and qualified for my first NorAm events, and started training with Team Summit four days a week. I finished 11th in Open Class against a stacked field of U.S. team members, Olympians, top up-and-coming juniors, and snowboardcross veterans - my best nationals finish and a result I’m really proud of. Back in 2014, I looked around at my competitors, most of whom had been riding for years longer than I had, and never would’ve thought that I’d be racing at the level that I was at this year and last.

I really want to highlight my coaches here - Over the past couple of years, I think I’ve ridden with almost all the coaches at one point or another, and I’d love to highlight how each one who has helped me has contributed to my riding. Sam was my first coach on Team Summit, and gave me the best fundamentals I could’ve ever have asked for, whether it was learning how to land 360s, sliding rails, or being introduced to boardercross. The next year, riding a ton of Big Mountain with Jen helped my all-mountain board skills progress, and I got super comfortable riding steeps, trees, cliffs, and more. My coach Kevin Bentley pushed me in so many ways, both physically and mentally. With KB, I learned to control my riding in many aspects, whether it was edge angles, body movement, or just going fast. Travis Norton, my coach for the last two seasons, has been amazing to work with - no matter if it was in the park, on the race course or in deep powder, it’s been awesome having a coach as cool to ride with and as skilled on a snowboard as Travis. 

Not all my coaches have been my “designated“ coaches, however, and I don’t think this would be complete if I didn’t mention all of the other people that have helped me. I’ve had the opportunity to shred with so many coaches, and I think this would go on forever if I went into detail about every one I’ve had the pleasure of riding with, but I’d still like to highlight a couple here. JW Wong, who took over the boardercross program this year, coached me at all my boardercross competitions this season, and his dedication and love for the sport gave me the best possible 2020 competition season I could’ve asked for - Team Summit boardercross is in good hands. Josh Underwood has always been the go-to coach to ride with if I was ever preparing for a freestyle contest, or even just to shred with on any occasion. The fun energy he brings while still making his group some of the best riders on the mountain is a prime example of a true coach. Finally, I’d like to highlight snowboarding director Matt Voegtle. Matt has been the coach I’ve probably ridden with the longest - from taking laps with him during my first season to having him as a full coach for part of the 2018 season, he’s always been an amazing coach. The training that I’ve had under Matt - in park, pipe, big mountain, and boardercross - has truly been the epitome of quality training. Once again, I’d like to thank my coaches, both official and unofficial, who’ve helped make me the snowboarder I am today.

My future plans are a bit unknown right now - With the pandemic going on right now, I’m still deciding on where, if anywhere, I go to college next fall. I’ve been accepted into Colorado School of Mines and the University of Rochester, and plan on going into mechanical engineering once I enter college. Although I think my days of pushing in competitive boardercross are over, I plan on continuing to snowboard when I can during the upcoming years. I’m eternally grateful for my training with Team Summit, and for all the amazing times I had, year after year. 

-Gabe

Watching Gabe grow into not just a good snowboarder but a great human is one of the highlights of my time with Team Summit. I hope when he looks back at his time with the team he will remember where he started on his snowboard. The progression is amazing, and it proves that if he works hard, there are so many things in life he can excel at. I’m pretty confident that with the way he carries himself, he’s going to excel at a lot of things, and I’m proud to know that I could be a small part in helping him discover that about himself.

I started skiing when I was 4 years old and I started snowboarding when I was about 7. My first introduction to Team Summit was when I guest rode with them for a boardercross competition in 2014. I fully joined the snowboard program the next year in 2015.

It is super hard to choose my favorite Team Summit memory because there are so many. One that stands out is from my first year of Academy during early season. We had the Woodward Barn to ourselves and my coach, Josh Underwood, got a semi-circle used for tumbling from the spring floor, stood in the foam pit with it over his head so that we could try hand drags and miller flips over it into the foam pit. We had to drop in off of the skater drop in for small to get enough speed for it. Another memory is going to  Mt. Hood in the summers, with the freezing water of the river and cliff jumping. The Slash and Burn Banked Slalom the past two years at Steamboat have also been really fun and memorable.

My plans after graduation are to take online classes through Colorado Mountain College and work towards an Associate of Arts degree while pursuing competitive snowboarding. I hope to start competing internationally next season and traveling to Canada and Europe in the future for snowboarding. I also want to go to New Zealand during the summer as I was unable to attend last year because of my ACL reconstruction and meniscus surgery recovery.

I am almost a year out from my surgery which was April 30, 2019, and everything has been going great with my knee and I feel stronger than ever. I got about 5 fully cleared weeks of snowboarding this year and that included Snowboarder Magazines Ms. Superpark at Eldora and the Slash and Burn Banked Slalom.

Thank you Team Summit and all my coaches for everything that you have taught me, not only as a snowboarder, but as a person.

-Ellie

Here’s what we have learned about Ellie during her years with Team Summit - She’s one of the most genuinely nice humans on the mountain while also simultaneously wanting to destroy you in competition. Ellie finds the good in everything, works hard to keep a positive outlook in all circumstances, and genuinely roots for her teammates and peers to succeed. You have probably seen this side of her many times on the hill. You may have seen her encouraging someone else when they are learning a trick. Maybe you got a high five from her when you pushed yourself to do something new. Or you might have even noticed her take time away from her own riding to come watch you take your competition run so you felt supported by your teammates and friends. I have vivid memories of Ellie saying “That’s so sick” after watching Karis, Bodie, Isaac, or many other snowboarders do something progressive. You might know that side of Ellie. Do you know the other Ellie? The super competitive Ellie that wants to be the best at everything she does? Maybe you know that side of Ellie if you stood at the top of a competition start area before the second run, and she had just fallen on the first run. As a coach, you try to be calm and say all the right things to get them in the right mindset to perform their best. Meanwhile, Ellie patiently listens and nods, waits for you to finish your inspirational speech, and just says “I got this”. Far more often than not, she’s right. Maybe you think it’s not that uncommon to get super competitive during competition times. I would say you are right, but there is a big difference between wanting to win, which everyone does, and having the will to win. But if you still aren’t convinced, I could tell you about how Ellie will try things she would never think of when even a little friendly competition is introduced. There was the time she hiked the large jump in Freeway to do her first spin ever over a big jump simply because there were points on the line for her team during the Jimmy Points Challenge. No boys on her team hiked that jump by the way. Or how she stepped up to frequently get noticed at her first Ms. Superpark because she wants to be at the top of the list, not just fit in. However, if you truly know Ellie, you can witness her competitiveness if you are willing to challenge her to a game of Mario Kart. Many of her teammates have learned this lesson the hard way. Here’s a tip, make sure the track isn’t Rainbow Road. She’ll crush you, but you can bet she’ll be as nice about it as humanly possible.