KILLINGTON—The Killington Mountain School airbag was up for training this past week, augmenting training for both development and academy athletes. Located at the bottom of Superstar, the airbag provided a soft, safe landing spot as they tried out new tricks.
KMS Freeski Coach Wynn Berns commented, “Freeski, snowboard, and freestyle athletes use the airbag as a part of their progression as athletes. They take tricks from the trampoline, to the airbag, and then from airbag to the snow, resulting in a safer progression. The whole point is to keep athletes safe and uninjured on their first attempts at new tricks.”
Quite a few athletes hit the airbag over the weekend, from kids as young as six years old—one of whom was landing 720s!—to seniors in high school, who worked on triples and doubles. The airbag is an invaluable tool in allowing the older freeski, snowboard, and freestyle athletes to perfect their tricks before major competitions, like Snowboard and Freeski Nationals, which are held the last week in March and the first week in April, Berns said.
Head of School Tao Smith, who was on site for Sunday’s bag jump training session, commented, “I’m in awe of what these kids can do already at this age. KMS is fully committed to making the dream of a four-season facility at Killington become a reality. I’m excited to work in partnership with Killington to help bring Wynn’s vision to fruition.”
Berns explained, “The end goal is to have a KMS four-season bag jump up by this summer, giving athletes access to the best possible year-round training, and we look forward to the possibilities that a four-season jump brings along with it.”
