Kevin Roop began his duties as AVSC head coach of the new Skimo program on August 1. The program will be increasing its recruiting efforts in the near future.
The Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club has a leader who is helping to develop the ski mountaineering athletes of the future.
Kevin Roop comes from the U12 Alpine team and will lead the AVSC’s newest program, which aims to develop diverse competitors for the newest Olympic sport of Skimo by combining the cardio and workout elements of uphill and Nordic skiing with the technical components of Alpine skiing.
Roop, personal trainer, ski and cycling coach and holder of numerous other titles, wants to share his love of sport and the fitness associated with it.
“The ability to ride up a mountain and then ride back down — and then do a little bit of bootpacking where it’s super steep — is what drives me,” Roop said. “I just want to help kids and adults get faster in this sport, and I love being out there with them.”
“I just love going up the mountain and then going down, working against gravity and then working with it.”
Roop said he started skiing as a child, buying skis and leather at a Goodwill store near his grandparents’ house in Virginia, then started hiking up and skiing down Virginia’s mountains.
As an official, he organized skimo races as an executive at Sugar Bowl Resort in California and helped build the Vail Ski and Snowboard Club’s skimo program. Together with Brian Chimileski, he won the Veterans Division of the Power of Four in 2022.
He came here from Vail last June and spent one season as head coach of the U12 alpine team before taking on the new role. He started on August 1st and has since settled in by beginning to reach out to the entire community, parents and prospective athletes.
“The ski mountaineering community here is very excited. I’ve met a lot of people who want to get into the program as coaches, but we just need to get out there… spread the word and get more kids involved, because the response – and it’s early days – hasn’t been great as far as kids go,” Roop said. “I think we’ll grow, but we just need to get the word out.”
AVSC would like to put together two teams: a U20 competition team and a U16 development team. In total we are looking for 12 children for the program.
As of Tuesday, Roop had recruited four kids to the development team. There’s still time; the development team isn’t scheduled to begin training until October. Roop said he’s excited to have kids in the younger ranks who can build them up. He also mentioned that Vail’s program started with six kids.
After the program was announced, AVSC Nordic Director August Teague expressed his hopes for it, saying he believes there is potential to create the best skimo club, “certainly in the country, if not the world.” Roop is a little more cautious.
“I put the community first, academics second, and skiing third,” Roop said. “The most important thing is that I want to create good, well-rounded people who love ski touring and can do it for the rest of their lives.”
“If someone wants to make it to the Olympics now, that’s definitely a goal for the club. I think having someone on the national team by the 1930 Olympics… that would be a big goal for us.”
Roaring Fork Valley already has representation on the U.S. Skimo team. John Gaston, the 12-time Power of Four champion, is currently on the team along with Joe DeMoor of Carbondale. Tiernan Pittz of Aspen is on the junior squad. Locals such as Kristin Layne, Jessie Young and Max Taam are former national champions.
And many of the sport’s biggest names are willing to help run the program as assistant coaches, Roop said.
“There is a wealth of knowledge in the valley and people are willing to help,” Roop said.
The program fee for the race team is $5,740 through September 3rd, then increases to $6,380. The Devo team is $3,150 if registered before September 3rd, then $3,500 afterward. Scholarships are available.
For more information, visit teamavsc.org/Skimo-Programs.
