Yang, Cherney following in older siblings’ tracks en route to freeride skiing success

Alexa Yang and Canyon Cherney are skiing a line carved out by their older siblings.

Much like when Bodhi Yang and Orion Cherney competed at the Freeride Junior World Championships last winter, the younger rippers also are making names for themselves in the world of big mountain skiing.

“After I went out and watched him compete at worlds, it’s been a goal of mine to also qualify,” Canyon Cherney said. “It’s super awesome to see that goal come to fruition. Also, the whole season for me has been super awesome. It takes a lot of consistency to be able to put yourself in a position that you can do well overall going into that last comp of the year.”

Skiing with the Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club, both of the younger siblings are coming off a season-long national championship that has them in position for even bigger things down the line. They were part of seven national championships won by the AVSC’s freestyle program this winter, led by longtime director Eric Knight.

“It’s the most successful year that freestyle has ever had across the board between moguls, park and pipe, and freeride,” Knight said. “We’ll see the success continue for a while with the coaches and athletes and programs we have in place right now.”

Not just Bodhi’s little sister

Bodhi Yang, now a senior at Aspen High School, finished 15^th at the 2023 Yeti Freeride Junior World Championships in Kappl, Austria, which was fourth among American men on skis.

This is something Alexa Yang has had to put up with ever since.

“A lot of the times I get called ‘Bodhi’s little sister’ and sometimes that makes me mad and pushes me to get better at skiing,” she said.

And get better she has. On April 13, Alexa finished second at the season-ending IFSA Junior Freeride Championships in Breckenridge. Her placement secured her the region’s overall season title in skiing for the U15 girls. This included athletes from not just North America, but also Chile and Argentina.

The final line that Alexa chose in Breckenridge was the same one she crashed on in a competition the year prior. This time around, things went a lot better and secured an important goal for the AHS freshman.

“I had a good line picked that I knew would score really high. Basically, what I was thinking was I just had to land it,” she said. “Most of the hardest people I had competed against in the past years, they moved up an age group. One of my goals was to win it, because I knew it would be the best chance I had.”

The next major goal for Alexa will be to follow in Bodhi’s tracks to the Freeride Junior World Championships. Only 14, she wasn’t yet able to qualify for junior worlds. Next season, however, she’ll move up to the 15-18 age group and will be eligible to earn a spot in the larger events.

And as much as Alexa wants to be out of her brother’s shadow, she also gives Bodhi a lot of the credit for helping get her to this position.

“He chose to do freeride and I watched him ski a lot and followed him around the mountain,” Alexa recalled of her start in the sport. “I just thought he was so cool. I really love skiing with him and whenever I do go skiing with him, he pushes me to do bigger cliffs or to try a new trick.”

Last gasp for Canyon

Canyon Cherney, a junior at Carbondale’s Colorado Rocky Mountain School, was facing the possible end of his junior freeride career during the IFSA Junior Freeride Championships in Breckenridge. But a strong showing in the finale, taking second, pushed him over the top and he went from seventh to first in the region to win the season’s overall U19 skiing title.

“Going into the season, I had a goal set for myself of being able to qualify for worlds, because this is my last year I’ll be able to qualify,” Canyon said. “That was a goal of mine, to push it on finals day and see what happened. Coming out second in that comp, it was able to push me into the first overall place.”

Like Bodhi Yang, Orion Cherney competed at the Freeride Junior World Championships last winter, finishing 19^th overall. Now, Canyon will have the chance to compete at junior worlds next winter, based off his success the past few months.

And, if all goes to plan, Canyon will then dive headfirst into the Freeride World Tour Qualifiers, with the hope of making it onto the main circuit. He’ll have a chance to possibly compete alongside his brother in some of the qualifiers.

“I just think in terms of the competition next year, I’ll have more fun and enjoy myself more in the adults category,” Canyon said.

So many champions

Alexa Yang and Canyon Cherney are only two of the seven AVSC freestyle national champions this past winter.

Lenna Persson — also a standout golfer — won the U17 moguls title on March 17 in Park City, while four others won titles in park and pipe skiing. This included Hunter Maytin winning the FIS open halfpipe division from April 7-9 at Copper Mountain. Other champions are Nico Savi (age 17-18, halfpipe); Ryder Hutchinson (15-16, halfpipe); and Boti Bartha (11-12, slopestyle).

“I’m incredibly proud of all the freestyle disciplines and what we were able to accomplish this year in being our most successful year if we look at national champions and results, and also with the size of our program,” Knight said.

“None of those results would be there without our incredible coaching staff, who are dedicated and some of the best coaches, seriously, in the world for what they are doing.”

acolbert@aspentimes.com