For the first time the Alberta mogul ski team has not one, but two skiers from Jasper.

Addison Eady and Brendan Mahler wrapped up their first training camp with the Canada West mogul team in Whistler last weekend (May 16), making the 15 and 16-year old’s the first Jasperites to make it to that level of freestyle skiing.

It is the first time since Loni Klettl (in the late 1970’s)  a Jasper-born skier has made a provincial team for any type of skiing, according to Jasper Freeride Ski team president Cam Jenkins.

“It’s pretty cool. This is the first time we’ve had any kids move on to the provincial program in a long, long, long time ... We’ve had four kids in the last two years come out of Jasper Freeride. With Brendan and Addison, we’ve actually put 16 athletes from our club in 1995, onto the Alberta Mogul Team. But Brendan and Addison are the first two Jasperites to make it on. The other guys are from Spruce Grove, Edmonton. So that’s why we are pretty psyched,” Jenkins said.

Eady and Mahler will be some of the youngest skiers on the team. There are skiers in B.C. who are 19 and 20 years old. “They have a little bit of experience,” Eady said, but mostly, he has been learning from the coaches.

Skiing on the Canada West team means the two will spend more time with their new coaches and team in Whistler, and travelling to more competitions, some in Quebec. But Eady credits the coaches right here on the Jasper team for their success to date.

“The coaches in Jasper are really good. This is just another step up from that. The coaches here made a huge difference, and basically taught us everything that we knew and got us to this point,” said Eady, who has been with the team for five years. “Chris Peel and Sabra (and Randy) Timmins have been putting kids on the Alberta teams. They’ve been coaching for pretty much as long as I’ve been on the team.”

The Jasper Freeride Ski club has put four skiers on the provincial team in the last two years, however none of them have ever actually been from Jasper. Many Freeride skiers travel from cities such as Edmonton, Hinton and Spruce Grove. 

“When my family got started in this five years ago, there was one kid from Jasper, and there were 12 athletes on the team. And now we’re looking at numbers in the mid 70’s this next year, and 80 per cent of those are from Jasper, it’s pretty exciting,” Jenkins said.

The provincial team has 11 athletes, four of which come from the Jasper Freeride Ski club, including Eady and Mahler.