Mike Schirf 13y

The kids of Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah

Utah's Little Cottonwood Canyon, the site of Snowbird and Alta ski areas, is home to an abnormally high number of pro skiers and those who are good enough to go pro but choose to lay low instead. So it should come as no surprise that some young skiers from Little Cottonwood who call themselves Dubsatch Collective are quickly emerging as athletes who will very soon -- if they're not already -- garner the spotlight.

Sam Cohen, Leo Ahrens, and Nate Cahoon are the founders of Dubsatch Collective. Dubsatch, as explained by Cohen, "is a collection of skiers born and raised in the ski lifestyle of Little Cottonwood Canyon." Other Dubsatch members include John Collinson, Andrew Pollard, Grant Howard, Taylor Lyman and Jason Astle.
Most of their parents have worked and lived in the canyon for the past 25-plus years -- as ski patrollers, ski photographers, and more -- so for their kids, skiing wasn't really something they were introduced to, it was their way of life from the beginning.

"We are just a group of dedicated skiers who love to ski in Little Cottonwood, or anywhere for that matter," says Cohen, who got the Sickbird award and eighth place at the Canadian Freeskiing Championships at Revelstoke. "We are working hard to put out some video edits. We want to give you a feel of what we feel."

Dubsatch recently joined up with Discrete TV -- the webisode series of Discrete hats -- to help distribute their edits. And as for garnering the spotlight? It's happening already. Four of the Dubsatch crew (Collinson, Ahrens, Cohen, Pollard) were featured in Powder Magazine's February 2011 story, "The Draft," about up-and-coming skiers. Ahrens will appear in Sweetgrass Productions' 2011 film, "Solitaire." And Collinson, who upon returning from climbing the world's seven highest summits last year went on to win the overall Junior Freeskiing World Tour, is currently holding down seventh place in the adult overall rankings of the Freeskiing World Tour.

"This group has a few major advantages: they've grown up skiing some of the best terrain and snow and they all push each other every time they head out on the slopes," said Snowbird's PR director Jared Ishkanian, who works with the dozens of pro skiers who come through Snowbird. "The talent these kids have and the potential for their skiing careers going forward is pretty limitless."

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