It’s all downhill from here: Montana ski team preps for season

As holiday motorists crawled along a slippery and congested Reserve Street with teeth clenched, somewhere Allie Maynes was smiling.

The weather system that had brought Missoula's first real dumping of snow this winter left a pristine blanket of white over the Garden City just in time for the travel-heavy Thanksgiving holiday.

Residents frantically dusted off their snow tires and made a beeline to the nearest tire shop.

Maynes, on the other hand, was more eager to break out her skis and get the downhill season under way as the new captain of The University of Montana's alpine ski team.

With thoughts of hitting the slopes already in her head, the unseasonably early snowfall only expedited the Vermont native's resolve.

"I know last year we didn't really even have snow in Missoula when we left for our first race [in January]," Maynes said.

On a team of only 10 athletes, she is one of the two returnees from last year's squad.

Maynes manages the team and, without any leadership back from the previous campaign, has found it challenging to keep up with certain demands.

"It's a lot of learning how to do the paperwork," Maynes said. "And for me, I have to learn how to run a team."

Senior Jackson Ball is entering his third full season with the team and, like Maynes, has been thrust into a demanding position due to his wealth of experience.

"It's definitely hard to get everything together because we don't have a coach or someone to organize this year in and year out," Ball said.

On Monday night, the team held an emergency meeting after the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association told them that the team hadn't paid its dues.

The problem is, the team had already paid its dues to the USCSA and can't pinpoint why it's being told otherwise, Maynes said.

Despite being a member of UM's sports club union, paying dues to the USCSA is doubly important for the ski team because without paying them, they won't be allowed to compete in sanctioned collegiate events.

Although the loss of paperwork is generally uncommon, Maynes and Ball both anticipate that it will get straightened out over winter break and the team will be cleared to compete when competition begins on Jan. 21 in Red Lodge, Mont.

While not every school competes every season, the Grizzlies are part of a nine-team conference that includes Weber State, Utah State, Rocky Mountain College, Montana State's club team, Brigham Young, Idaho State, Utah Valley State College and Westminster College.

Even if the Grizzlies were full members of UM's athletic program, that's still a tough group to race with.

Westminster, for example, added alpine skiing into its program in 2008, dominated the Grand Teton Conference last season and is coached by Chris Hendrickson. The legendary ski coach guided Sierra Nevada College to 13 men's national championships and 10 women's national titles in 13 seasons before having a cup of coffee at Boise State and eventually making his way to Salt Lake City.

Additionally, Rocky Mountain College is in the process of moving its team into a Division I program.

While the Grizzlies may not have the resources or scholarships that the other schools in their conference provide to their teams, they still compete at a high level and have fun doing it, Maynes said.

Last year, the women's team finished fourth (behind Westminster, Rocky Mountain and the Bobcats) and qualified for regionals but couldn't compete due to lack of funding.

This winter, the team has yet to hold an official practice; however, they will be eternally grateful when they do.

The only place for the team to practice within a convenient distance has always been at Snowbowl. Fortunately for the Grizzlies, the operators at Snowbowl understand the club's plight and allow the team to practice for free during the week.

Moreover, the Snowbowl ski team helps instruct the coach-less Grizzlies and has traditionally gone out of its way to ensure that they have a good time and hone their skills, Maynes said.

Regardless of the results and the personal accolades, Maynes and Ball, like many athletes,  are just happy to be with teammates and friends who are all doing what they love to do.

"We want to promote ski racing and teach people who haven't skied before to ski," Maynes said. "We just want to make it into something fun."

troy.warzocha@umontana.edu