SNOWBASIN -- While the 2002 Winter Olympics put this formerly obscure resort firmly on the world map, it also helped forge a partnership that lives on today with a nation halfway around the world.
Since 2003, Snowbasin has been the official training base in the United States for the Australian Women's Aerial Ski Team, affectionately dubbed The Flying Kangaroos. While most of their actual jumping practice is done at the Utah Olympic Park in Park City, the team does the majority of its skiing and fitness training on Snowbasin's slopes.
During the summer months (winter in the Southern Hemisphere), the team is based at the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia in Melbourne, where its home training base is Mt. Buller.
Steve Rogers, North American operations manager for the OWIA, said all of The Flying Kangaroos have experience in gymnastics.
"Australia is a strong summer--sports country, and it's easier to teach a gymnast to ski than it is to teach a skier to flip," Rogers said.
When they aren't competing, The Flying Kangaroos stick to a strict and structured regimen that involves a combination of technical ski training, fitness workouts and cross-training beginning at 8:30 a.m. every day. They have a medical care partnership with Ogden Regional Medical Center, as well as a gym training partnership with Gold's Gym and Elite Gymnastics in Ogden.
Rogers said it's much more than just practicing jumps and tricks.
"To be strong on the landings, they have to be good all-around skiers," he said.
"Takeoffs are optional, but landings are mandatory."
Their comprehensive approach to training has paid off in recent years, as Australia won gold in women's aerial skiing in the 2002 and 2010 Olympics, and bronze in 2006.
In a recent World Cup competition at Deer Valley, the team narrowly missed the podium, although all the Australian team members made it to the finals. The ladies are now preparing for competitions in China and Europe this season.
Two Olympic champions from the team have been honored at Snowbasin with gondola cabins dedicated in their names -- 2002 gold-medalist Alisa Camplin, and more recently, 2010 gold-medalist Lydia Lassila, who had a cabin on the Needles Gondola dedicated to her two weeks ago.
"It only seems natural to honor one of their star athlete's hard work with having Lydia's name and flag on one of our gondola cabins," said Snowbasin spokesman Jason Dyer. At the same event, Carol Holding, wife of Snowbasin owner Earl Holding, was named the first honorary member of The Flying Kangaroos.
A new mother at age 30, Lassila is essentially the matriarch of the team, as most team members are in their early 20s. She is now balancing training in Utah and raising her son with the goal of defending her title at the 2014 games in Sochi, Russia.
"I am so thrilled that Snowbasin has chosen to recognize me," Lassila said.
"The resort has been a great supporter of The Flying Kangaroos for nine years now and provides an amazing mountain for training."
Perhaps it's appropriate that one of the world's premier women's aerial programs trains at Snowbasin, a resort once frequented by Utah skiing legend Bob Burns, who is credited with pioneering freestyle skiing at Sun Valley (Holding's other resort) in the 1960s.
Before 2003, the team's North American training base was in Canada.
Rogers said the snow, atmosphere and terrain at Snowbasin prompted the move.
He said a symbiotic relationship with Snowbasin has allowed the team to continue training there for 10 years and counting. While Snowbasin promotes The Flying Kangaroos, the team acts as an ambassador for Snowbasin around the world.
The team will continue training locally until the end of February, when it returns home before the start of the Australian winter season, but plans to return next winter and indefinitely into the future.
For The Flying Kangaroos, the 14-hour flight from Sydney to Los Angeles is all worthwhile once the members touch down on the slopes at Snowbasin.
"Ogden has been a great home, and Snowbasin is the crown jewel of ski resorts," Rogers said. "We couldn't ask for anything more."
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