Clubhouse Chronicles: AVSC senior spotlight with freestylers, Part 2
Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club
Courtesy photo
As the 2022-23 winter season comes to an end, the Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club wants to congratulate and celebrate all of our graduating seniors. To recognize their careers and dedication to AVSC, we asked each of them a few questions about their time with the club and what lifelong values they will carry with them.
Below are select responses from our graduating freestyle athletes Thomas Gavin, Nick Geiser, Hanna Lamm and Andy Bass. To see the responses from the remaining freestyle athletes, check out our previous column here.
Question: What is your favorite memory from your time at AVSC?
Thomas: My favorite memory is being up in Kicking Horse and skiing a new mountain with all my teammates with whom I have skied with the last five years.
Nick: My favorite memory from the long time I spent at AVSC was when I landed my first double. It was the COVID year and the mountains were closed a couple weeks after I landed the trick. My coach Greg Ruppel made a ski edit of “Nick’s First Double” and I thought it was really funny. So did everyone else. All the time I spent during quarantine I was so ready to go back skiing and landing my first double was the fuel to keep my motivation and love for the sport going while I was quarantined.
Hanna: One of my favorite memories from AVSC has to be when I was 9 years old and I won the Triple Crown and got a first-place cookie medal. At this point I was the only girl doing 360s in competition and it inspired me to keep giving it my all and pushing myself to get better.
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Andy: Traveling with my coaches and teammates around the world to ski and compete at the highest level at the best mountains in the U.S., Canada and Argentina. Oh, and learning all the lines to “Step Brothers” from coach Racecar.
Q: What skills has AVSC given you that you will carry with you in your next steps in life?
Thomas: My coach Johnny Rossman taught me to keep my chin up no matter if you win or lose.
Nick: AVSC has shown and given me a variety of skills that I will carry and use in the future. The skills I have learned from AVSC are discipline, teamwork, the power of setting goals, managing my time, and adapting to changes. To get where I am in skiing it required a lot of dedication and practice. This has helped me learn the skills of discipline and perseverance. These two traits will help me out greatly later in my life. AVSC has also taught me teamwork. Throughout my senior season I have grown my friendships with my teammates: Hunter Maytin, Owen Nelson, Luke Geiser, Nico Savi, and our coach, Dave Zwieg. This year, with the help of our coach, we have all had great seasons, we have learned new tricks, competed in big competitions and had success throughout the winter season. I have learned that teamwork is one of the most important skills a person could have and I will be using teamwork throughout the rest of my life.
Hanna: By being on AVSC I have learned that you can accomplish anything you put your mind to and I will carry this mindset with me throughout the rest of my life.
Andy: Adaptability. Being able to adjust no matter how challenging the conditions are that I face.
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Q: What AVSC core value most resonates with you and why? (Commitment, Integrity, Teamwork)
Thomas: Teamwork, because I love supporting my teammates and making friends for life.
Nick: Commitment, as well as teamwork, are AVSC core values that most resonate with me. Being fully committed and invested with skiing has allowed me to have great success. Without fully committing to this sport, my ability in skiing would be nowhere close to how it is today. Also teamwork because teamwork makes me and everyone else around me ski better.
Hanna: The core value of commitment resonates with me most because I like to set high standards for myself and in order to achieve those, I must stay dedicated and continue to work hard year-round.
Andy: Teamwork. Celebrating both personal and team success with coaches and teammates who’ve worked together toward a common goals.
Q: What’s next for you?
Thomas: I am going to the University of Utah and will continue skiing there on the freeride team and compete in Freeride World Tour qualifiers.
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Nick: I plan on going to college at the University of Utah. There I will pursue my degree in kinesiology, all while still competing and skiing.
Hanna: As of right now, I will be attending Montana State University in the fall and plan on continuing to compete in possibly big mountain and halfpipe.
Andy: Headed to the University of California Berkeley’s School of Environmental Design to major in architecture.
Q: If you could tell the community one thing about AVSC, what would it be?
Thomas: It is an unforgettable experience that I can guarantee you will never regret.
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Nick: AVSC is one of the greatest organizations I have been a part of. The lessons, memories, abilities and knowledge I have gained from AVSC is indescribable. I would suggest to any parent that they should think about signing their kids up for AVSC because AVSC has played a major role in shaping who I am today.
Hanna: I believe that AVSC has taught me life lessons as well as created many lasting connections with teammates and coaches. AVSC pushed me to become a better person and step out of my comfort zone. I encourage anyone who enjoys skiing to join the team, as it creates a fun and positive environment to grow as a skier.
Andy: It’s so much more than skiing.
Clubhouse Chronicles is a behind-the-scenes column written by the Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club that runs periodically in the Aspen Times sports section.
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