Vail skiers take home season titles at Junior Freeride Championships at Breckenridge

The Ski and Snowboard Club Vail freeride ski team concluded a successful 2023-24 season at the International Freeskiers & Snowboarders Association (IFSA) Junior Freeride Championships held at Breckenridge Ski Resort earlier this month. The precursor to the Freeride World Tour, the IFSA Junior Freeride Championships featured over 350 of the best North and South American riders across U12, U15 and U19 divisions.

SSCV’s Katie Pitkin earned a U19 silver medal and Fletcher Taylor took the U15 boys bronze as all five SSCV skiers made the April 13 final held on Peak 6’s Sixth Senses area. Taylor also captured the U15 overall season crown.

“Fletcher had a great season,” coach Matt Luczkow said. “He came out this year and made the winning look pretty easy.”

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Taylor opened his campaign with three-straight wins at Copper Mountain, Crested Butte and Snowbird en route to becoming the second SSCV skier Luczkow has coached to a season title after Finn Griffith won the U19 category last season.

Taylor was ranked second in the standings behind Whistler Freeride Club’s Carter Durlacher coming into Breckenridge. But Durlacher fell on his second run and only managed a seventh-place finish, opening the door for Taylor to accomplish his season-long goal.

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“I think he really wanted that top spot,” Luczkow said, adding that Taylor made his biggest off-season gains in the gym and through more serious dry-land training.

“I really noticed before winter started that he was working hard in the weight room and (he) went into the season really strong,” the coach continued. “He’s very athletic, very talented … and he really loves skiing.”

Even though Pitkin flashed signs of her potential this season — finishing first at the Copper Mountain Junior 2 (regional) event and second at the Snowbird Junior 3 (national) competition — her silver came as a bit of surprise, Luczkow said.

“I think she proved in the championship event that she’s one of the top skiers,” he said.

Ingrid Gerdes joined Pitkin in the top 10. Gerdes placed sixth, wrapping up a season in which she also earned a Freeride World Tour Junior Worlds spot via her fourth-place season standings finish. Luczkow said Gerdes has taken massive strides in her second season with SSCV.

“She’s gotten a lot better,” Luczkow said of the Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy student, who went right from the championship event to perform in a figure skating show at Dobson Ice Arena later that evening.

“She’s a go-getter,” the coach continued. “She’s really progressed and competed smart and consistently and that’s led her here. She’s also very friendly and a great ambassador for our team.”

Gerdes joins Finn Griffith and Jenna Myers as the only SSCV freeride skiers to compete at the FWT Junior World Championships. SSCV snowboarder Finn Eisenman earned a Junior Worlds silver in Austria this January.

Considering the caliber of the field competing in Breckenridge two weeks ago — only the top 60 U15 boys (out of 934 on the IFSA season standings) even made the IFSA Junior Freeride Championships cut — Luczkow was proud to see all of his athletes advance to finals at the championships. Drew Forestl finished 10th in the U19 boys division and Levi Flach was 17th for U15 boys.

“The team did great,” he said. “All of them have a lot of potential with their skiing and a lot of passion for it. And they’re a good crew — they enjoy hanging out.”

When Luczkow started SSCV’s full-time freeride program five years ago, he had six athletes and was the only coach. Currently, he and multiple assistants guide roughly 40 full-time athletes as well another 40-50 weekend team and rookie development skiers.

“The program continues to grow, especially on the full-time side,” he said. “What we’re seeing with these competitions is the level of skiing is very high, where you do have to be quite dedicated. It almost takes being a full-time athlete to really be competitive now, where that probably wasn’t the case 5-10 years ago.”