For club athletes, there is a moment every fall when ski and snowboard season goes from being a distant anticipation to an imminent reality. That moment usually coincides with the first snowfall, and it means it's time to gear up the dryland training.

Chris Carson, freestyle director for Team Summit, said once the snow falls, everyone starts getting amped up for the season.

“It's funny the buzz that starts happening once the snow falls,” Carson said. “The phone starts ringing a little bit more, ‘Hey, I need my new skis. How do I get my kid signed up?' Registration is coming along a bit faster, too.”

Dryland training is picking up with student athletes working on strength and endurance, which all coaches agree is an invaluable exercise for both skiers and snowboarders looking to separate themselves this winter. Olympic lifting, postures, foot-speed, balance and agility are some of the ways athletes prepare for the season.

“They're separating themselves right away,” Carson said of the athletes putting the time in this fall. “You get a kid who's training year-round for his sport. He or she has made that commitment to really excel. At a certain age, if skiing or snowboarding is going to be your sport, you really have to raise your commitment.”

Team Summit supports athletes of all creeds — racers, freeriders (park and pipe), freestyle (moguls), ski and snowboard cross and big mountain. While there are slightly different preseason focuses for the various sports in terms of dryland training, the coaches at Team Summit believe the regimens correlate quite closely.

“The longer I've been at this, the more I find each discipline — what we do in terms of preseason prep — they correlate really well,” Carson said. “That said, the snowboarding crew will do a lot of skateboarding. So that's definitely more sport-specific.”

Summit splashes into Lakewood

To aid the freestyle athletes, Team Summit is in the process of raising money to build a water ramp in Lakewood. They chose that location to cater to their Front Range athletes, who make up roughly 60 percent of the team, and because the weather lends itself to more training months on the ramp. Of course, Summit County athletes will have complete access to the ramp.

The club is holding a fundraiser on Oct. 22 from 5-8 p.m. at the LeMay Car Museum in Lakewood to help construct the ramp, which they hope will be operational next summer. Other clubs will be invited to participate, but Team Summit will hold the title on the facility, which will also hopefully generate revenue for the club.

This winter, the club is hoping to partner with the Town of Frisco to set up weekly programming on the peninsula. Carson said the venue is perfect for a community rail jam, tentatively planned for Sunday nights.

“We're super excited about that,” he said. “It's going to be a nice community hill. It can be entry-level or advanced athletes. We're really fired up about that.”

Athletes to watch

On the race side of things, athletes to keep an eye on this winter include Nicole Anderson and Connor McDonald, who are both being courted by the U.S. Development Team. McDonald is recovering from a back injury but should be cleared to be on snow shortly, Carson said.

An up-and-coming park-and-pipe athlete for Team Summit is slopestyle skier Kirsten Cooley, who won the Revolution Tour last year and, as a result, will have a shot on the U.S. Grand Prix circuit this season. Last spring at junior nationals, Cooley became the first woman to stomp a double front flip in competition.

Carson said it's tremendously beneficial and a privilege to see the top-level athletes come to Copper for the Grand Prix in the early part of the season.

“I don't even think the younger athletes know what a privilege it is to see all the biggest names show up here and see a 22-foot pipe open in December or November,” Carson said. “It's a great privilege and we're all super excited with Copper's efforts and Breckenridge's efforts — Keystone has got a great park, as well.”

While Team Summit is based out of Copper, the club will visit the other mountains in the county. The team has plans for a Friday freestyle program at Breck for Park County kids who have the day off from school. The park-and-pipe team will start off at Copper and then bounce around to Breck and Keystone. The big-mountain crew will spend a lot of time up at Arapahoe Basin.

Among the most exciting programs is the academic athlete program, which allows students to attend the middle and high schools, with the benefits of a ski and snowboard academy. Students can have their school schedule work around athletic training. The program is for high-level, ambitious athletes.

“I think that's what ski club offers — so much more than the on-snow stuff,” Carson said. “I think there's a lot of life maintenance and life coaching that we do behind the scenes, which is just as important as putting someone on the podium.”

For more info on Team Summit, visit the club's new website at www.teamsummit.org