Mastering Mammoth Mountain

Young Palisadians Show No Fear on the Slopes as Members of Junior Ski Squad

Anyone who has skied in Mammoth this year has probably seen them. One by one, they descend the steep slopes, slicing through blankets of white powder wearing cool black and gray uniforms that distinguish them as members of the Mammoth Mountain Ski and Snowboard Team. “It’s really awesome being on the team,” says 10-year-old Alana Entin, one of 23 Palisadians on the Mammoth squad. “It’s the only place I ever ski and it’s a lot of fun.” Alana, a fourth-grader at Marquez Elementary, started skiing when she was two and has been on the team for four years. She currently races and trains in the J5 division and was clocked at 62 miles per hour during Mammoth’s annual Speed Trap race in February. Next year she moves up to the J4 division (ages 11-12). “I can ski the double black diamonds but I mostly train on blue diamond (intermediate) runs,” says Alana, who also likes to tapdance. “Sometimes you race head-to-head against someone else but most of the time you’re racing strictly against the clock.” Alana is not the only one in her family who loves to ski. So too do her parents and her siblings, seven-year-old twins Drew and Kyle, both trainees and competitors in the Mighty Mites division. Residents of Castellammare, the Entins also have a place in Juniper Springs, a resort community minutes away from the mountain, where they spend many weekends and holidays. “I like racing my brother to the bottom,” says Drew, who posted the fastest time at the Mighty Mite Championships and had the second-fastest combined time out of 60 racers in last month’s Kittridge Fun Cup, a dual giant slalom race. Second-graders at Marquez, the Entin twins were teammates on Blue Thunder, a local AYSO team that won the U-8 championship in the fall. They also enjoy other sports like baseball, football, basketball and surfing, but nothing thrills them quite like speeding down a slope in the tuck position, cold wind whipping at their faces. “I like everything–jumps, speed, powder, trees and bumps,” says Kyle, who loves to fly off “House Jump,” one of 150 named runs at Mammoth. He won the six-year-old division at last year’s Mighty Mite Championships. Despite stumbling out of the gate on the red course, he clocked the fastest overall time of the day on the blue course at Kittridge. That evening he and fellow Palisadian Tommy Tilton (who attends Corpus Christi) were recognized as athletes of the month in their age division. Mighty Mites is the entry-level program in which kids ages 6-8 ski in a half-day camp every Saturday and Sunday. Kids in higher divisions train all day on weekends and during school holidays. As kids get older, more emphasis is placed on competition. In the beginning, however, the top priorities are safety and having fun. “The danger for kids that young is that their skill development in most cases far surpasses their judgment,” father Rick Entin says. “One of the great things about the team is that it stresses safety first. The idea is that if you’re wearing the uniform you’re an ambassador for the mountain.” Upon joining the team, kids are expected to abide by the rules and follow proper etiquette, meaning you maintain proper distance between yourself and other skiers and you never cut into line while waiting for the lift. All new team members are required to transcribe the Skier Responsibility Code and hand it in to their coaches. “For a lot of parents, taking kids skiing is a nightmare,” Rick admits. “But kids on the team know exactly what to do. Even a lot of the six-year-olds can go to the lockers and put on their own boots and skis without supervision. It’s not unusual to see a group of Mighty Mites exiting the top gondola carrying their own skis and barreling down double blacks without a fear in the world.” While the Entin brothers enjoyed their share of success at the Mighty Mite Championships, so too did Tilton and Whit Spain, locals who finished second and third, respectively, among 8-year-old boys. Other Palisadians making noise on the Mammoth team include Palisades Highlands’ Brody sisters: Jackie (14), twins Madeline and Katherine (12) and Caroline (7). Jackie, an eighth-grader at Calvary Christian, is a J3 level skier who participates in travel races in places like Lake Tahoe and Snow Summit. An exciting moment for her was meeting 2006 U.S. Olympian Stacey Cook, who trained with the Mammoth Mountain Ski team herself as a young girl. “It was neat to meet Stacey in person because she started out at Mammoth too,” says Jackie, who joined the Mammoth team four years ago. “She even skied a run with us that day.” Jackie also plays volleyball at Calvary and is a member of the Cougars’ cross country and track teams. When it comes to skiing, she enjoys all types of races–slalom, giant slalom, super giant and downhill–and her favorite run at Mammoth is a double black called “Climax.” “Some of the runs are pretty scary,” she confesses. “I’ve fallen in races and been disqualified. That’s never fun but it happens.” Madeline and Katherine currently race in the J4 division and they, too, know the risks associated with the sport. Three weeks ago, Madeline fell and broke her elbow, but the nasty spill did not prevent her from participating in the season’s final competition. “It was what we call a yard sale,” her mom Cindy recalls. “Maddie’s gear was launched every which way. Her skis went flying in one direction, her poles in another and she actually slid across the finish line.” Katherine cited the “White Bark Ridge” run as her favorite. She and her twin will move up to the J3 division next year. Caroline skis on the Mighty Mites and enjoys “meeting new friends” most. The Brodys have a place in Mammoth where they often stay on school vacations. Cindy believes riding in a car together for five has a way of bringing the family closer, dog Scooby included. “It gives each of us an opportunity to talk about anything and everything.” Former St. Matthew’s student Daniel Edelstein (now at Harvard-Westlake), who formerly competed in Nationals for Border Cross, is currently on Mammoth’s Junior Snowboard team and another local boy, Chris Fink, is on the Development Snowboard squad. Rounding out Palisades’ contingent are Mighty Mites Riley Aronson, Will Beutner, Max and Jack Goldman and Julian Leeds; Mighty 5 Ross Aronson; J5s Michael Beutner, Grady Miller, and Riley Spain; J4s Molly Miller and Peter Tilton and J3 Judy Borah.