Dashing through snow in a one-horse open sleigh. Over the fields we go- Oh, wait a minute. That’s not right. He’s on skis, not a sleigh. And he’s definitely going down the slopes, not crossing fields.

Powell High School freshman Jacob Hieb competes as part of the Silver Run Ski Team in the Northern Division of USSA (United States Ski Association) and will also be part of the Cody High School Alpine Ski Team.

“It’s pretty fun to compete,” Hieb said. “You get to know a lot of people.”

After he joined the team at six years old and began racing at 10years old, Hieb has “made it to tri-divisionals, won the Hancock cup and crashed a lot.”

The team’s coach is Mr. Curtis Shuck, who has 36 years of experience under his belt, having coached the US Ski team, the regional team and the divisional teams for the Western and Northern United States. He has been coaching Hieb for three years.

“Skiing is a sport of miles,” Mr. Shuck said. “It’s a process. You have to create your foundation and then build on it.

“For Jacob’s level of athlete, which is really the elite level, a lot of what we do has to do with the mental aspect of the sport. We really push them to find their level. He certainly is a coachable athlete. He works hard and listens well.”

Hieb practices in the winter, but he also attends camps in the summer, giving lots of time to the sport.

“It’s a big commitment,” Hieb said. “Some of the skis are pretty expensive and some of the courses we do are, not really scary, but nerve-wracking and you have to get over that.”

Preparation for the competition begins with practice.

“An average practice starts with warm-ups which is a combination of stretching and dynamic warmup and depending on what we’re doing- Slalom or Super G- we set up that particular course for the day and sometimes even some timed training,” Mr. Shuck said.

Throughout the 4-hour long practice, if the focus is Slalom, the athletes will go around at least 200 gates and for Super G, the athletes do about 100 gates.

Just like athletes from all different sports, Hieb has a routine to help prepare for the race.

“It all comes into play for inspection like inspecting all the courses,” Hieb said. “Right before I’m about to race I’ll clear my head, make sure I know the course and I don’t really talk to people.”

All the practice pays off.

“[Jacob] just moved into a new group this year, so it’s really his year to shine,” Mr. Shuck said. “He had a stellar performance in Big Sky and that was kind of an affirmation of what we already knew he could do.”

Hieb competes in Wyoming, Montana and California among other places and is

working toward competing in the Western Regionals.

”One of the things we’re really excited for Jacob to do is attaining higher levels of skiing,” Mr. Shuck said. “Jacob is going to be doing to high school racing and racing for Cody High School so he’ll being dome recognition to himself and to Powell High School.

“He’s a well-rounded athlete. I don’t always agree with his music taste but I’m excited for Jacob and his career.”