Each season collegiate club ski teams compete in a series of regular season races with hopes of qualifying for the regional championships in their conference, and with a strong finish there, continue on to USCSA National Championships. It’s not just dinky, no-name universities either. The Mideast Conference, for example, includes schools such as Syracuse University, Cornell University, Skidmore College, Clarkson University, and many others. Ivy League schools like Brown, Yale, and Princeton are also members of USCSA.

Q: What is the competition like in your conference, are you friendly with the other schools or is it strictly business on race day?
A: We have always been rivals with Cornell, but they are also an awesome group to ski with. We are essentially on par with each other as far as talent is concerned so it makes the competition that much more exciting. On race weekends, once we are off the hill and back at the hotel, we are all just college kids hanging out together, enjoying a weekend of skiing. That is what makes USCSA so great—for the one minute that we are actually racing, we take it very seriously, the rest of the time that lifestyle element of skiing takes hold.