OUR STORY
The three of us (Jimmy, Luke and George) were first brought together in the summer of 2016 after competing against each other for several years prior. Our team, for two years, was the U.S. Ski Team's D-Team / National Training Group, nicknamed "The Shiver" (A 'shiver' is a group of sharks--why sharks? Long story; ask us sometime). After those two years, we were named to different teams: George to C-team, Luke to B-team, and Jimmy as invitee-status. Still, we end up doing most of our training together in the same tight-knit group of guys. Via the NorAm circuit, George ha secured starts at every World Cup GS. Luke is headed into his fifth World Cup slalom season and is starting to show some serious speed. Jimmy will be gunning it in NorAms, Europa Cups, and hopefully World Cups this season.
Though we are still young in our ski racing careers, there's a lot we have already worked through and experienced. George and Luke have both completed impressive recoveries from knee injuries. Four years ago, Jimmy and Luke raised $78,000 to help bridge the National Training Group funding gap. All three of us have learned from mistakes and successes alike. We took different paths, starting from opposite sides of the country, but ended up in the same place. All of three of us came from families that knew nothing about ski racing. Now, we want to share--as older skier to younger skier--what we've learned, and what we are
currently still learning We will be coaching you not as
a coach removed from the sport, but as an athlete who
understands and is currently living the same dream.
American World Cup slalom skiing hasn't been Best in the World in a long time, aside from Mikaela Shiffrin's success. The American men hadn't scored World Cup points in over two years before Luke Winters' breakout race in Val d'Isere in 2019. The last American men's
slalom victory was fifteen years ago. This is why we call our camp the "American Slalom Project." The three of us strive everyday with the intent to put the U.S. back at the top of the slalom podium. We want you to be a part of that journey; we want you to join our movement. This season marks year five together as teammates, and after talking about it for a few years, we finally started a slalom camp!
At the heart of it all, we absolutely love ski racing (slalom in particular). And we started this camp because we wanted to share our love of the sport with young racers. When we were young, we were all inspired by older, faster skiers to work hard and dream big, and now we want to give back to younger skiers in the same way.
Jimmy Krupka was born in Boston, MA, and learned to ski at Cannon Mountain. At age 12 he moved to Waitsfield, VT and started racing on the slopes of Sugarbush, attending the Green Mountain Valley School. He has spent several summers coaching young ski racers at ELITEAM dryland camps. Currently, Jimmy attends Dartmouth College part-time and is named to the US Ski Team's B-Team. He is 23.
Luke Winters grew up in Gresham, OR and spent the weekends skiing all day (and night) at the Mt. Hood Ski Bowl. He attended school in Oregon until his junior year of high school, then spent two years at
Sugar Bowl Academy. Luke has taken classes at the University of Utah and recently acquired his Pilot's License. Currently, he skis World Cup slalom and is spearheading the movement to rebuild the American slalom team. He has also spent time coaching young ski racers at Mt. Hood. He is 24.
George Steffey grew up in Lyme, NH and spent his days skiing with Ford Sayre ski team. He attended Stratton Mountain School for high school and was accepted to Dartmouth College, which he attends part-time. In the fall of 2018 he crashed and tore his PCL, but has had an impressive recovery. He skis on the World Cup GS and SL circuit. He also has experience coaching young ski racers, at Stratton. He is 24.