With the weather heating up, ski season is winding down.
Members of the Prince George Alpine Ski Club have their last event of 2016 this weekend, the northern zone finals at Hudson Bay Mountain in Smithers. Zones will conclude what has been a successful year for the club.
"I think it was a really good season," said coach Kali Holahan. "We pulled together a lot of good results between provincials and Whistler Cup and all our zone races. We had a lot of top finishes. We've got some outstanding athletes that will be fun to watch in the next few years."
One of those athletes is 13-year-old Hayes Layton, who posted some eye-popping results at last weekend's international Whistler Cup. Skiing against his peers from around the world, Layton finished 12th out of 133 entrants in a slalom race and was 29th in a giant slalom event.
For Layton, the Whistler meet started with a dual slalom race but he wasn't able to crack the top 16 and move on to the final.
"Day 1 was a big initial shock," Holahan said. "It was like, 'Oh my goodness, everybody here is a brilliant skier, from all over the world.' You've got Norway taking the podium, so to come out the next day and finish 12th I think made (Layton) feel pretty darn good.
"He put everything out there, gave everything he had, and it paid off for him," Holahan added. "He stood on his downhill ski like he knew he had to, he skied the pitch really clean, had a high early line and it brought him through the finish in 12th. He was pretty ecstatic. How do you not get excited about that? Over a hundred athletes and you're top 15."
P.G. skiers Lucas Gairns, Charlotte Gibson and Melinda Kobasiuk also qualified for the Whistler Cup. Gairns, 15, was at his best in the Super G, a race in which he placed 48th out of 87. Gibson, 13, had a top result of 48th in a two-run slalom event that had a field of 131. And Kobasiuk, 12, placed 31st of 131 in a two-run slalom race.
At the zones in Smithers, giant slalom races are scheduled for Friday, while skicross will take the spotlight on Saturday. The intention of the skicross - which has multiple people on the course at the same time - is to expose the skiers to something new and to end the season on a fun note.
"(Skicross has) different elements than what they see on a typical training day or a typical race day, with the higher start, the rollers and jumps," Holahan said. "We don't see those in our courses anymore."
