DemocraSki.com is online

When Canadian aerialist Ryan Blais was elected to be a FIS Athlete Commission Representative at this year’s Freestyle World Championships in Inawashiro, Japan he took the four-year responsibility to heart. Within three months he has created an online social networking platform called DemocraSki.com. According to Blais, the site aims to become a centralized nucleus for FIS constituents to communicate and stay informed with all matters relating to the sport’s governing body. The site’s slogan? “Power to the People.”

“Our goal is to create an online hub for FIS athletes, coaches, judges, officials and key stakeholders to discuss all things FIS related,” writes Blais in an online “call to action” document. “DemocraSki.com is a private online hub (membership approval required) for all FIS members to discuss issues, share ideas and work on projects together in a transparent manner.”

Blais compares DemocraSki.com to social networking site Facebook, with the exception of its limited access to the public. The site will include community blogs, discussion forums, member profile pages and member inboxes. The site, which will be translated into 40 languages, will also feature a video section via youtube.com, a photo section through Flickr, RSS feeds and share buttons.
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Morse, Caston and U.S. D-teams train at Mt. Bachelor/Park City

A slow spring is not in the U.S. Alpine Development Team vocabulary. Athletes nominated for both the men's and women's programs rallied in May for a 10-day on snow camp at Mt. Bachelor, OR then rocketed to the newly opened Center of Excellence in Park City for three days of physical testing.

"We try to run pretty parallel programs for men and women," said U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association Competition Services Director Walt Evans. "The volume for each group is typically the same, but the content varies. Starting this block off at Mt. Bachelor set an incredibly positive and productive tone for the entire program."

"Mt. Bachelor was a super invaluable partner in providing the best possible spring snow training," said Sourbeer. "We had several wave tracks set up which held up incredibly each day. Mt. Bachelor is also at a pretty high elevation, so it was great to train at altitude and then bring the Team down to nearby Bend for recovery sessions and video review."

Women's on snow participants included Greta Byrne (Vail, CO; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail), Vanessa Berther (Sammamish, WA; TAS Alpintal Snoqualmie Ski Foundation), Rose Caston (Salt Lake City, UT; Park City Ski Team), Devin Delaney (North Conway, NH; Green Mountain Valley School), Julia Ford (Plymouth, NH; Holderness Ski Team), Anna Marno (Steamboat Springs, CO; Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club), Lauren Samuels (Minneapolis, MN; Team Gilboa) and Felicia Byers (Sandy, UT; Snowbird Sports Education Foundation), who did not ski, yet continued to rehab a late season injury.

Men's participants were Michael Ankeny (Deephaven, MN; Buck Hill Ski Team), Wiley Maple (Aspen, CO; Aspen Valley Ski Club), Ben Morse (Carrabassett Valley, ME; Carrabassett Valley Academy), Keith Moffat (Berkeley, CA; Squaw Valley Ski Team) and C Team nominee Will Gregorak (Longmont, CO; Ski & Snowboard Club Vail).

From Ski Racing Magazine