BY KAREN BOSSICK
Conor Davis discovered the adrenaline rush of skiing off big cliffs and threading his way through narrow chutes as a teenager.
He competed in his first big mountain ski competition as a Community School senior in 2006. And, following a brief stint at college, he ended up competing on the Subaru Freeskiing World Tour from 2009 through 2013.
Now, he’s about to introduce 22 youngsters to big mountain skiing as part of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation’s first International Freeskiers and Snowboarders Association (IFSA) team.
“I’ve been pushing for this since I started coaching the SVSEF’s Park and Pipe Team four years ago. And it finally happened,” said Davis.
Skiers have been pushing the limits since before Davis was born in 1989. As big mountain skiers began jockeying to see who was best, Shane McConkey started the Freeride World Tour in 1996.
By 2014 more than 30 North American ski resorts were hosting more than 40 sanctioned events. And, following huge growth at the junior level, collegiate teams got a competition of their own a year later.
Davis, a 28-year-old Hailey native, grew up racing with the Hailey Ski Team and Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation’s alpine race team while dabbling in telemark skiing alongside his father Craig Davis, a lift supervisor with Sun Valley Company. He then followed his friends--Reid Pletcher, Taylor Sundali and Mike Matteson--to the Nordic team in high school.
“I was the most fit I’ve ever been while on the Nordic team,” he said. “Coach Rick Kapala understands how to train the entire body. And he kept it fun with games like Capture the Flag on skis. He instilled a passion for leading an adventurous, outdoor lifestyle in me and that’s what I want to impart to the kids on the big mountain team.”
The first time Davis skied off a cliff his heart was racing. But he knew he could parlay the skiing skills he’d developed on Sun Valley’s Bald Mountain to ski in control.
“My friend Tai Barrymore told me years ago to ‘do something every day that scares you.’ To me that’s about overcoming your fear with confidence in your ability,” he recounted.
While Baldy’s not known for cliffs and couloirs, Davis says it has some stashes on which his young athletes can hone their big mountain skills. Among them: Sleeping Bear under the gondola, the lower slopes leading into the Cold Springs chair and the south slopes off of Lower River Run.
“Baldy’s consistent vertical and short lift lines will give our athletes ample opportunity to learn how to use their skis and work on turns, building a solid foundation they can take anywhere,” he said. “Just look at the big mountain skiers who have come out of here, including Mackenzie Peterson, Lexi duPont, Drew Stoecklein, Collin Collins…”
In addition to skiing Baldy, Davis is partnering with Sawtooth Mountain Guides to take the kids on two overnight trips to the Williams and Fisher yurts in the Sawtooth Mountains.
There, they will learn to navigate the backcountry safely with an opportunity to get their level 1 avalanche certification. They will also make day trips to ski the backcountry around Galena Summit and Butterfield Mountain north of Ketchum.
And they will compete in IFSA competition.
The Ski Education Foundation capped this year’s enrollment at 22, and the youngsters have been preparing with weight training, tumbling and trampoline work and running. The kids come from all the SVSEF’s teams; a few are boarders at the Community School dorm who came specifically to be part of the new team.
“We’re super enthusiastic about our initial response. We’ve got great coaches lined up,” said the SVSEF’s Executive Director Sam Adicoff, in a nod to Davis, freestyle coach Alden Carter and Gary MacKenzie, a new coach from Targhee.
The new members of the team wanted to try big mountain skiing for a variety of reasons. Axel Diehl wants to try something new, while improving his skiing and testing himself in competition. Paris Pratt wants to hone big mountain skills in hopes of getting into ski films.
Davis says his experience skiing on the big mountain circuit was like a big party in which he skied with the best big mountain skiers from around the world on some of the world’s most extreme terrain.
Among his favorites: Revelstoke near Nelson, B.C.
“It’s incredibly steep—5,600 vertical feet. It takes 45 minutes to ride the chair to the top,” he said. “Crested Butte was cool, too with its chutes and cliffs.”
Davis returned to Sun Valley after he finished skiing the big mountain circuit because of his love for the Sawtooths and other nearby mountains and the fact that so many of friends from the class of 2007 have settled here.
He lives in a family cabin in Stanley with his two huskies Misha Avalanche, who pull him on skis to the frozen Redfish Lake in winter and accompany him on fishing trips to high alpine lakes during summer.
“I figure I would be doing a 45-minute commute if I lived in the city—without the scenery,” said Davis, who stays in a trailer parked at a friend’s when bad weather keeps him from going home.
Armed with wraps, quesadillas and dehydrated fruit bars, Davis reveled in several backpack trips this summer, including one encompassing Cramer, Sawtooth and Imogene lakes and another from the Born Lakes to Quiet and Noisy Lakes and the Chamberlain Lakes.
He also enjoys kayaking, paragliding, scuba diving and rock climbing.
“I’ve always been one to say ‘Yes’ to things so I get invited on a lot of trips,” he said. “And I had some amazing adventures this summer, rafting the Middle Fork of the Salmon twice on private trips and hiking and backpacking 400 miles.”
As a coach, Davis noted, he gets to know his team members well since he spends eight hours a day with them on weekends and more on weekdays.
“Riding up the chair I know all the gossip, who’s dating who, all that stuff,” he said. “I just hope I can be a good role model and that the kids will walk away with a passion for skiing.”