I first decided to change my life from Alpine Skiing to Ski Cross in the summer of 2010. It was a summer of many ski related decisions, mostly related to how we were going to pay for the alpine season and which club would be the best suited for our financial needs. Then we found ski cross, not only was it going to be a fraction of the cost but it also had the potential to be a lot more fun. The Alberta Ski Cross Team had just been created with ski cross legend Stanley Hayer as the head coach. He has two x games gold medals and has been to two olympics, one for Alpine and one for Ski Cross. The team consisted of 9 athletes originally, Tristan Tafel, Geoff Massing, Tomas Domenach, Mac Bailey, Foster Kennedy, Jake O’Brien, Matt Ruta, Corbin Bishop and Robert Dunn.

The 2010/2011 season: In April 2011, I was the top 15/16 yr old Ski Cross point scorer in the world. I also placed 6th in under 21 worlds that season. It was a great year!

    We begun our training at COP (Canada Olympic Park) by carrying a big metal start gate onto the snow and learning how to pull out of a start gate.

    In our first trip of the year we competed in three Nor Am races in Mt Hood OR, Steamboat Springs CO and Alpine Meadows CA.  We stopped at the Xgames in Aspen to watch while Stanley race. I learned about doing rollers, hip jumps, berms, step-ups and getting big air. I finished tenth at Steamboat and my ski cross points went from zero to 44 in three weeks. I enjoyed it and loved the speed.

    This is a fairly new sport and there were no races nearby at this time. In the past three years, we have raced all over eastern and western North America. I had the best skiing of my life at White Water. There was masses of champagne powder. Since then I have realized ski cross is my calling, and decided to pursue my olympic dream through this sport.