Chasing Snow
12/09/2024 01:29PM ● By Eugene Buchanan
Riley Jacobs in Kitzsteinhorn, Austria, at a training camp in 2023. Courtesy of Riley Jacobs.
While most of us spent the summer on the river, local lakes, trails, and hitting the links, some locals in town spent it chasing snow. In a winter version of “Endless Summer,” these athletes eschewed Steamboat Springs’ conventional summertime pastimes in favor of hitting the slopes to train, traipsing from Oregon to Europe and even Argentina. Below, we highlight four of these grass-isn’t-always-greener globetrotters who can’t get enough of Old Man Winter.
RILEY JACOBS
"Over the summer I travel to several places to train – usually Mammoth in California and Mount Hood up in Oregon,” she says. “But this year I also went to New Zealand to both train and compete in the season’s first World Cup."
While the rest of us were here mountain biking, hiking and fishing, Riley spent a month in Mammoth followed by another in New Zealand, perfecting tricks she hopes will take her to the podium. “My typical day in New Zealand entailed waking up way earlier than I wanted to, around 5:40 a.m. or so, and then training from 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., when the halfpipe closed,” she says. “We usually had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted.” She used some of her spare time to visit farms, chill by the local lake, or study for her college classes.
Skiing in New Zealand, she found, is a far cry from what it’s like here on her hometown mountain in Steamboat. “It’s a whole different type than I am used to in the Rocky Mountains,” she says. “Especially during their spring. It’s certainly no Champaign Powder. The snow tends to be heavier and they get more rain, making for ice and dust on crust. But the views are hard to beat.” And she was glad to not miss out on the entire Steamboat summer. “Luckily, even with all the training and traveling, I was able to be home for a lot of the summer,” she says. “I coached at the water ramps with SSWSC for a few weeks and also bought a pass to the bike park. I definitely miss home when I’m gone – and this fall I’ll be gone until Christmas.”
But it’s all part of pursuing her passion, which she hopes will carry her to the world’s biggest athletic stage. And one thing that’s not up in the air is her focus on training. She plans to continue to work hard, perfecting the new tricks she added to her arsenal this summer. “I hope to be able to show how hard I’ve worked,” says Riley, whose email prefix reads “flyingriley.” “I’m also shooting for an X Games invite again. And the Olympics are getting closer so I want to stay healthy so I can go to Milan.”
MADDY SCHAFFRICK
This summer she headed to Oregon’s Mount Hood for two weeks to train in the halfpipe, as well as Park City, Utah, for a couple of weeks to train and participate in the U.S. Center of Excellence’s physical, medical and neuro testing. A typical day in Hood entailed chowing a big breakfast, driving up to the mountain, warming up in the parking lot, snowboarding for four hours (“It’s always quality over quantity for me,” she says), driving back down to her Airbnb, refueling with a good meal, doing BrainKanix neuro-feedback training, squeezing in golf or a river swim, and then topping it off with dinner and stretching before hitting the hay. Then she’d repeat it all over again.
The snow might not necessarily be the blower she’s used to in the ‘Boat, but in the halfpipe it doesn’t need to be. “The biggest differences are the snow conditions and weather,” she says. “In June and July it’s slush conditions. The end of each day compares to the last few laps on Steamboat’s closing day when it’s warm and mashed potatoes.” It’s so warm, she adds, that most snowboarders are riding in only long sleeve T’s. And sunscreen, she says, “is essential.”
The former Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club freestyle snowboard coach, who in her earlier years placed as high as second on the Dew Tour, says she wouldn’t trade the schedule for anything – especially since she still gets some summertime in at home in Steamboat. “Thankfully, this year I still got to golf here and swim in the river,” she says. “If I was spending more than two weeks in Mount Hood, I would have brought my mountain bike and hit some Oregon trails.”
And her travels are far from finished. Maddy plans to compete in the World Cup halfpipe circuit this coming winter, which will bring her to China, Switzerland and Calgary, as well as stops in Copper Mountain and Aspen. “My goal is to earn results at these World Cups that will re-qualify me for the national team leading into the Olympic season,” she says. “I retired in 2015 never thinking I’d come back to competing again. But being back in the competitive halfpipe world got the itch going, so last winter I did three NorAms to see how it would feel to put on a bib again. I absolutely loved it and saw clearly how I could pursue that career more effectively and in the way I always wish I had before retiring in 2015. I’m currently giving snowboarding everything I have and am stoked and grateful to be able to pursue my dream.”
JETT SEYMOUR
“I was there for about a month total,” says Jett, a graduate of the University of Denver where he was the two-time National Slalom Champion. “In Peer we use an indoor ski hall that offers very consistent training during the summertime when the weather on the glaciers can be unpredictable. In August and September, the U.S. World Cup Slalom team was in Saas-Fee on the glacier. We train at around 12,000 feet on a glacier that has some of the best conditions in the world during this time.”
In Belgium, the team would train from 8 a.m. until noon, followed by a road ride in the afternoon. In Saas-Fee, they’d load the lift around 5:30 a.m. to hit the snow early while it was still frozen and train until 10 a.m. or noon. In the afternoon, it was onto such other activities as rollerblading, soccer, tennis and lifting–meaning he didn’t miss out too much on Steamboat’s summer. “The afternoons in Saas-Fee and Belgium are great,” he says. “It’s full-on summer so we can go hiking, play summer sports, and are usually in shorts and a T-shirt as soon as we’re off the glacier. It’s an awesome contrast for training.”
While he adds that “nothing compares to skiing in Steamboat,” he says skiing on glaciers is a unique experience. “You’re surrounded by huge mountains as far as the eye can see,” he says. “And there are crevasses all over the hill that you have to watch out for.”
He hopes that all the hard training – and traveling – pays off this winter, which he’ll spend mostly in Europe traveling and racing. “I want to continue getting consistent results on the World Cup tour while improving my top speed,” says Jett, who had his best result on the World Cup last year with a seventh-place finish in Chamonix, France.. "I want to continue to enjoy the journey and push the limits of what I thought was possible for myself. Hopefully, in February I’ll be competing in the World Championships in Saalbach, Austria.”
LANDON WENDLER
The Steamboat-born skier placed in the top 20 in last year’s World Cup, including notching his first-ever World Cup podium with a third-place finish in Shymbulak, Kazakhstan. But to maintain and better those results, he knows he has to train, which means racking up those frequent flyer miles on a plane as well as on the mogul course.
“This summer we went to Austria, Chile and Oregon to chase snow for the best training possibilities,” he says. “We also train on the water ramps in Park City and travel to other places to put those skills learned on the water ramps to the test on snow.”
The on-snow training, when he works on turns, airs and full course practice, is intensive. “We stay at each place for about two and a half weeks and ski for 11 days,”he says, adding a typical training day consists of skiing for about four hours and then working out for an hour and a half. “The days can change from being more focused on skiing, jumping, or full runs.”
These locations provide great training, he adds, but it’s nothing like ripping the bump runs or trees of Steamboat. “They don’t compare to powder skiing in Steamboat at all,” he says.
He’s thankful he still has enough time back home to pursue his other summertime hobbies as well, knowing those options will disappear again come snowfall. Whenever he can sneak in some free time away from skiing, you’ll find him fly-fishing, skateboarding, wakesurfing and playing hockey. “I can still enjoy my typical summer hobbies somewhat in between training,” he says. “Which is a great balance of training and fun.”
Goals he’s shooting for this season include breaking the Top 10 ranking and competing at the World Championships in Switzerland. “I’m always striving for podiums and look forward to competing my highest degree of difficulty jumps – a cork 1080 and cork 720 tail grab."
While most of us spent the summer on the river, local lakes, trails, and hitting the links, some locals in town spent it chasing snow. In a winter version of “Endless Summer,” these athletes eschewed Steamboat Springs’ conventional summertime pastimes in favor of hitting the slopes to train, traipsing from Oregon to Europe and even Argentina. Below, we highlight four of these grass-isn’t-always-greener globetrotters who can’t get enough of Old Man Winter.
RILEY JACOBS
Courtesy of U.S. Ski & Snowboarding.
Freeski halfpipe athlete Riley Jacobs is at home in the air: The air she catches off halfpipes and the flights she takes every summer to head south to find snow. Named to the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Women’s Halfpipe Pro Team for the upcoming World Cup season, Riley, 21, was born in Steamboat Springs, raised in Oak Creek, and trained with the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club. With several top-five finishes and a top-10 world ranking last year, she has her sights set on the 2026 Olympics in Italy. But to do so, she knows she must migrate every summer back to the slopes."Over the summer I travel to several places to train – usually Mammoth in California and Mount Hood up in Oregon,” she says. “But this year I also went to New Zealand to both train and compete in the season’s first World Cup."
While the rest of us were here mountain biking, hiking and fishing, Riley spent a month in Mammoth followed by another in New Zealand, perfecting tricks she hopes will take her to the podium. “My typical day in New Zealand entailed waking up way earlier than I wanted to, around 5:40 a.m. or so, and then training from 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., when the halfpipe closed,” she says. “We usually had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted.” She used some of her spare time to visit farms, chill by the local lake, or study for her college classes.
Skiing in New Zealand, she found, is a far cry from what it’s like here on her hometown mountain in Steamboat. “It’s a whole different type than I am used to in the Rocky Mountains,” she says. “Especially during their spring. It’s certainly no Champaign Powder. The snow tends to be heavier and they get more rain, making for ice and dust on crust. But the views are hard to beat.” And she was glad to not miss out on the entire Steamboat summer. “Luckily, even with all the training and traveling, I was able to be home for a lot of the summer,” she says. “I coached at the water ramps with SSWSC for a few weeks and also bought a pass to the bike park. I definitely miss home when I’m gone – and this fall I’ll be gone until Christmas.”
But it’s all part of pursuing her passion, which she hopes will carry her to the world’s biggest athletic stage. And one thing that’s not up in the air is her focus on training. She plans to continue to work hard, perfecting the new tricks she added to her arsenal this summer. “I hope to be able to show how hard I’ve worked,” says Riley, whose email prefix reads “flyingriley.” “I’m also shooting for an X Games invite again. And the Olympics are getting closer so I want to stay healthy so I can go to Milan.”
MADDY SCHAFFRICK
Maddy in the halfpipe last season at Steamboat Resort. Courtesy of Maddy Schaffrick.
After taking a break from competition between 2015 and last spring, local Maddy Schaffrick, 30, is back in the snowboard halfpipe saddle, with her eyes firmly set on the 2026 Olympics in Milan, Italy. Which means it’s travel time again, out of her beloved Yampa Valley.This summer she headed to Oregon’s Mount Hood for two weeks to train in the halfpipe, as well as Park City, Utah, for a couple of weeks to train and participate in the U.S. Center of Excellence’s physical, medical and neuro testing. A typical day in Hood entailed chowing a big breakfast, driving up to the mountain, warming up in the parking lot, snowboarding for four hours (“It’s always quality over quantity for me,” she says), driving back down to her Airbnb, refueling with a good meal, doing BrainKanix neuro-feedback training, squeezing in golf or a river swim, and then topping it off with dinner and stretching before hitting the hay. Then she’d repeat it all over again.
The snow might not necessarily be the blower she’s used to in the ‘Boat, but in the halfpipe it doesn’t need to be. “The biggest differences are the snow conditions and weather,” she says. “In June and July it’s slush conditions. The end of each day compares to the last few laps on Steamboat’s closing day when it’s warm and mashed potatoes.” It’s so warm, she adds, that most snowboarders are riding in only long sleeve T’s. And sunscreen, she says, “is essential.”
The former Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club freestyle snowboard coach, who in her earlier years placed as high as second on the Dew Tour, says she wouldn’t trade the schedule for anything – especially since she still gets some summertime in at home in Steamboat. “Thankfully, this year I still got to golf here and swim in the river,” she says. “If I was spending more than two weeks in Mount Hood, I would have brought my mountain bike and hit some Oregon trails.”
And her travels are far from finished. Maddy plans to compete in the World Cup halfpipe circuit this coming winter, which will bring her to China, Switzerland and Calgary, as well as stops in Copper Mountain and Aspen. “My goal is to earn results at these World Cups that will re-qualify me for the national team leading into the Olympic season,” she says. “I retired in 2015 never thinking I’d come back to competing again. But being back in the competitive halfpipe world got the itch going, so last winter I did three NorAms to see how it would feel to put on a bib again. I absolutely loved it and saw clearly how I could pursue that career more effectively and in the way I always wish I had before retiring in 2015. I’m currently giving snowboarding everything I have and am stoked and grateful to be able to pursue my dream.”
JETT SEYMOUR
Jett plans to spend this winter competing in Europe. Courtesy of U.S. Ski & Snowboard.
For Steamboat Springs slalom skier Jett Seymour, 25, traipsing around the globe every summer comes naturally – it’s part of the package for being one of the world’s top slalom skiers. In the past, it’s brought the four-year U.S. Slalom Team member to such locations as Ushuaia, Argentina and New Zealand chasing winter in the southern hemisphere. This summer it brought him to an indoor training facility in Peer, Belgium, and to the glaciers of Saas-Fee, Switzerland.“I was there for about a month total,” says Jett, a graduate of the University of Denver where he was the two-time National Slalom Champion. “In Peer we use an indoor ski hall that offers very consistent training during the summertime when the weather on the glaciers can be unpredictable. In August and September, the U.S. World Cup Slalom team was in Saas-Fee on the glacier. We train at around 12,000 feet on a glacier that has some of the best conditions in the world during this time.”
In Belgium, the team would train from 8 a.m. until noon, followed by a road ride in the afternoon. In Saas-Fee, they’d load the lift around 5:30 a.m. to hit the snow early while it was still frozen and train until 10 a.m. or noon. In the afternoon, it was onto such other activities as rollerblading, soccer, tennis and lifting–meaning he didn’t miss out too much on Steamboat’s summer. “The afternoons in Saas-Fee and Belgium are great,” he says. “It’s full-on summer so we can go hiking, play summer sports, and are usually in shorts and a T-shirt as soon as we’re off the glacier. It’s an awesome contrast for training.”
While he adds that “nothing compares to skiing in Steamboat,” he says skiing on glaciers is a unique experience. “You’re surrounded by huge mountains as far as the eye can see,” he says. “And there are crevasses all over the hill that you have to watch out for.”
He hopes that all the hard training – and traveling – pays off this winter, which he’ll spend mostly in Europe traveling and racing. “I want to continue getting consistent results on the World Cup tour while improving my top speed,” says Jett, who had his best result on the World Cup last year with a seventh-place finish in Chamonix, France.. "I want to continue to enjoy the journey and push the limits of what I thought was possible for myself. Hopefully, in February I’ll be competing in the World Championships in Saalbach, Austria.”
LANDON WENDLER
Landon competes at the 2024 Intermountain Health Freestyle International World Cup. Courtesy of U.S. Ski & Snowboard.
Don’t expect U.S. Freestyle Moguls skier Landon Wendler, 23, to get jumpy when encountering turbulence on an airplane. He’s quite comfortable getting bounced around in the air, both on a mogul course and flying around the world in the offseason to train.The Steamboat-born skier placed in the top 20 in last year’s World Cup, including notching his first-ever World Cup podium with a third-place finish in Shymbulak, Kazakhstan. But to maintain and better those results, he knows he has to train, which means racking up those frequent flyer miles on a plane as well as on the mogul course.
“This summer we went to Austria, Chile and Oregon to chase snow for the best training possibilities,” he says. “We also train on the water ramps in Park City and travel to other places to put those skills learned on the water ramps to the test on snow.”
The on-snow training, when he works on turns, airs and full course practice, is intensive. “We stay at each place for about two and a half weeks and ski for 11 days,”he says, adding a typical training day consists of skiing for about four hours and then working out for an hour and a half. “The days can change from being more focused on skiing, jumping, or full runs.”
These locations provide great training, he adds, but it’s nothing like ripping the bump runs or trees of Steamboat. “They don’t compare to powder skiing in Steamboat at all,” he says.
He’s thankful he still has enough time back home to pursue his other summertime hobbies as well, knowing those options will disappear again come snowfall. Whenever he can sneak in some free time away from skiing, you’ll find him fly-fishing, skateboarding, wakesurfing and playing hockey. “I can still enjoy my typical summer hobbies somewhat in between training,” he says. “Which is a great balance of training and fun.”
Goals he’s shooting for this season include breaking the Top 10 ranking and competing at the World Championships in Switzerland. “I’m always striving for podiums and look forward to competing my highest degree of difficulty jumps – a cork 1080 and cork 720 tail grab."