LOVELAND SKI AREA/ASPEN, Colo. – The University of Denver ski team begins the alpine portion of its 2026 collegiate campaign this week with four days of races on home, Colorado snow at Loveland Ski Area and Aspen Highlands in the Denver and CU Invitationals.
The Pioneers host the annual DU Invitational starting on Monday with slalom at Loveland Ski Area. The meet's official giant slalom race will be held at Aspen Highlands on Wednesday.
DU and the University of Colorado are sharing hosting responsibilities this week, as the CU Invite's slalom race is also being held on the Pioneers' home ski course at Loveland on Tuesday before alpine wraps up the meet on Thursday in Aspen.
The GS events were initially scheduled to be held at Eldora Mountain Resort, but recent snow conditions forced a rescheduling of venues and dates.
For fans interested in watching the Pioneers race, the best viewing option are the giant slalom events on Wednesday and Thursday at Aspen Highlands. Unfortunately due to the venue location at Loveland Valley, the slalom races on Monday and Tuesday are not viewer friendly and walking up to the finish line from the base area is prohibited.
Denver is hosting its home meet at Loveland Ski Area for the fifth-straight season and is returning to Aspen Highlands just three weeks after it raced at the Holiday Classic's giant slalom events there in mid-December. Aspen is also hosting the FIS Nor-Am Cup Finals in March.
Monday and Tuesday's slalom events are set to begin at 10 a.m. MT and fans can follow the results throughout the day at
https://live-timing.com/. Giant slalom results will also be available in real-time at Live-Timing.com.
Denver is returning six women and five men on its alpine unit, led by defending NCAA National Champion
Sara Rask as a graduate student. Rask won both slalom events last year at Loveland on the way to a season sweep with seven victories in the discipline. She has placed on the podium in all six career races on the Pioneers' home course, owning three wins, two runner-up placements and a single third-place finish.
Also returning on the women's side are seniors
Mia Hunt, Nicola Rountree-Williams, Josephine Trueblood and sophomores
Stella Buchheister and
Liv Moritz. Mortiz will not be racing this week as she is set to compete at the FIS Alpine World Cup in Flachau, Austria, on Tuesday with the U.S. Ski Team.
Denver's five returning men include seniors
Thomas Hoffman, Adrian Minde Hunshammer, Eirik Kveno and
Christian Soevik and sophomore
Pietro Motterlini. Hoffman and Motterlini represented DU at last year's NCAA Championships, while Kveno and Soevik also have experience at the collegiate nationals.
The Pioneers added three newcomers to their alpine group for the 2026 winter season in freshman
Caman Beauregard (Steamboat Springs, Colorado) for the men's and fellow first-year student-athletes
Elisabeth Creighton (Montreal, Quebec) and
Cecilia Pizzinato (Courmayeur, Italy) for the women.
Denver's alpine team has been training on snow since Oct. 31 and has been busy taking part in several FIS and
Nor-Am Cup events over the past month.
Hunt won the overall slalom title at the Holiday Classic in December in Steamboat Springs, and the
team raced at the NorAms last week in Quebec.
Otto Tschudi Alpine Head Coach
Joonas Rasanen and Associate Head Coach
M.R. Hostetter are both in their fifth seasons at the helm of the team. Since taking over prior to the start of the 2022 season, Rasanen and Hostetter have helped alpine skiers record 27 individual victories, three individual NCAA Championships and 24 All-American awards.
Rasanen recently previewed the Pioneers' ski season on the weekly DU Coaches Radio Show.
SCHEDULE
Monday, Jan. 12
Denver Invitational
Alpine Slalom
Loveland Ski Area, Clear Creek County, Colo.
Tuesday, Jan. 13
Colorado Invitational
Alpine Slalom
Loveland Ski Area, Clear Creek County, Colo.
Wednesday, Jan. 14
Denver Invitational
Alpine Giant Slalom
Aspen Highlands, Aspen, Colo.
Thursday, Jan. 15
Colorado Invitational
Alpine Giant Slalom
Aspen Highlands, Aspen, Colo.
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