Big Jump

Diamond Peak sent five athletes and a coach to the Far West Speed Camp held at Mammoth.

They were: Julia Bjorkman, Lila Lapanja, Remi Wolf, Lauren Keller, Ian Reeves, and J3 Coach Vojko.

With approximately 37 participants from the Far West attending the camp, Diamond Peak sending 5 racers is a good representation and speaks well of the development here.

Lauren

The purpose of the Camp is to teach and develop speed techniques and jump skills for future Downhill and Super G events.

Despite being held on some difficult and rapidly changing snow conditions the four day camp went well. The afternoon thunder storms, rain and hail just added a little spice to it.

The J3’s polished their jump skills and the J4’s had their first taste of going off jumps.

They learned quickly that going off jumps is a technique and it must be practiced and worked at to be successful.

Ian

The Speed Camp is a great opportunity for the racers to meet and spend time with their peers around the Far West and make new friendships that will last a long time.

At the April 2-5 Far West Championships at Mammoth Mountain, the Diamond Peak J4/J5 skiers had a strong finish to a great season.

On the first day of racing, difficult weather conditions brought early challenges to the skiers. After watching the girls finish their races in extremely high winds, the mountain closed down many of the lifts, postponing the boys’ J5 second run and the boys’ J4 single run.

Despite the high wind, the Diamond Peak girls skied well with three top 15 finishes. J5 Amanda Pretti was on the podium with a second place finish followed by teammate Belle Johnson (tenth). In J4 super G action, Lauren Keller finished 15th.

The difficult course, rather than the wind, was the challenge in the April 3 slalom races. Nelson Bedient brought the team its second podium with his third place finish in the J5 division.

The girls J5 skiers had three top 15 finishes: Amanda Pretti (sixth), Erica Kennedy (tenth) and Hannah Laurie (14th).

In the J4 division, the team had two girls, Remi Wolf (11th) and Hannah Johnson (14th), and two boys, Zane Bensing (12th) and Gavin Chen (13th) in the top 15.

In the GS on April 4 the team continued with strong results, with seven top 15 finishes:

Nelson Bedient (fourth) and teammate Winston Pretti (seventh) led the J5 boys, with Amanda Pretti (seventh) and Erica Kennedy (tenth) leading the girls.

In the J4 division, Hannah Johnson (fifth) and Remi Wolf (tenth) placed in the top 15 for the girls, with Ian Reeves (eleventh) having a great finish for the boys.

On April 5 the boys completed their super G and GS races from Thursday. The J5 race results were close. Diamond Peak boys Nelson Bedient (fifth) and Winston Pretti (seventh) finished in the top 15.

After concluding the season, coach Josee Lacasse was impressed with the results of all her skiers.

“Everyone continued to improve throughout the season, skiing to their ability and responding to the pressure of difficult terrain, conditions and weather,” Lacasse said. “I am so proud of the entire team.”

The Diamond Peak J4/5 team placed third overall for the season, ahead of many larger teams.

Diamond Peak’s J3 Ski Team wrapped up their 2008-9 technical season with strong results at the Far West Championships featuring two giant slaloms at Sugar Bowl, April 3 and 4, followed by the Emily Clothier Memorial slaloms at Heavenly, April 5 and 6.

First-year stand-out Ty Sprock showed his technical strength with an outstanding performance during the weekend, winning the gold in the slalom finale at Heavenly. Making his mark moving into next season, Sprock also stood out from his competition by securing a J3 silver and 4th in giant slalom and a podium silver day-one of slalom.

Capping a stellar season, Lila Lapanja won all four J3 titles in convincing fashion and was in the hunt for the overall at each competition, going 4-3-4-2 against all J2 through mid-racers (20 years and older). Teammate Julia Bjorkman had her first J3 podium finish, winning bronze in slalom.

J3s Sarah Wright and Kerrie Tonking of Diamond Peak also raced well, setting up their points for solid solid start positions going into the 2009-10 season. The team heads south now to Mammoth for the six final races of the season at the Far West Speed Championships featuring downhill, super-G and one giant slalom. For complete results, please visit www.fwskiing.org.

For information on the Emily Clothier Memorial Scholarship Fund, please visit www.emilyclothier.org.

Coach Vojko and his J3 girls
Heavenly Valley, 4/6/09

Click here to read an article in the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza about the J3 racers (January 29, 2009).

Click here to read an article in the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza about J4-5 racers (January 22, 2009).

Waxing and Tuning Services

Why wax and tune skis yourself, or pay high prices for a “mass produced” job, when you can get personalized service at a fair price?  Erik Johnson, a J3 Junior Olympics qualifier for the 2007/08 season, is taking a season off to fully heal from an untimely accident in the Mt. Rose terrain park.  While he is recovering, Erik is maintaining his involvement in ski racing and keeping his tuning skills well honed by offering tuning and waxing services to racers on the Diamond Peak Ski Team.  All work is done by hand, using top quality files, stones, and brushes, and will be done with care and finished on time.  Minor base repairs also done.  No full stone grinding or binding adjustments – See Village Ski Loft or Starthaus for those items.   All prices include temperature appropriate Holmenkol wax.   Contact Erik (mountainbro18@aol.com) or Steve (steviecj@aol.com) for more information or to arrange for work.  Limited number of clients accepted.

Services offered

Basic iron wax and hand brush out:  $15 CH wax, $20 LF wax
Race tune and wax:  $30 CH wax, $35 LF wax
New ski prep and wax:  $50 CH wax
Other services: Ask for quote

Notes:

All waxing includes hot scrape and 3 step brush out.
LF wax includes initial CH wax plus LF final wax.
Race tune includes edge filing, finished with diamond stones and polishing stones.
New ski prep includes sidewall removal, and initial base and edge bevel set.

The end-of-season means time to think about next season, especially your equipment needs.  THE BEST STUFF GOES FAST!  Check over your ski gear and figure out what won’t fit next season… and then turn it into some cash!  And then search the listings for the next size up.  If you want to list some gear, send an email to dpskiteam@dpsef.org with your list, and it will be posted on this website.  Only youth race equipment and outerwear clothing in good condition, please!

1. Used Equipment
2. Used Junior Clothing
3. New Team Gear

Hurry before the good stuff is all gone!    This list is updated regularly, so check back often!!