The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Alpine snowboarder Belle Brockhoff slices down the face of Howelsen Hill as though she were born on its steep, pitched slopes.

But she wasn’t.

Belle’s home is more than 8,000 miles away in Dromana, Australia. The small resort town is located about 70 kilometers south of Melbourne on the southern rim of Port Phillip Bay.

“This has been quite a journey for us, and it’s hard to predict which direction it will end up,” Belle’s mother, Kristine said. “But Steamboat has really grown on me, and we have come to feel like it is a second home.”

Belle, 15, is one of an in­creasing number of Alpine snowboarders who have come to the Yampa Valley to join the ranks of the Steamboat Spr­­ings Winter Sports Club’s Alpine snowboarding program and then have fallen in love with the town.

“She asked me the other day if she could stay here,” Kristine said.

Coach Thedo Remmelink said the club’s reputation for producing top-level snowboarders is spreading across the world. Australian Olympian Johanna Shaw trained with Remmelink in Steamboat Spr­ings prior to the 2006 Olympics in Italy.

“Almost all of the riders in our Alpine program have moved to Steamboat Springs from other places to be a part of our program,” Remmelink said. “We would love to see more kids from Steamboat get involved in our Alpine program, and I think we are starting to see it.”

The coach said it’s hard to ignore the large number of riders who have come to Steamboat Springs for a chance to train with the club.

“They like the reputation of our team, and that reputation brings them to Steamboat Springs,” Remmelink said.

That was the case with Belle and five other riders who have come to the Winter Sports Club this winter to train and race with Remmelink and the other Steamboat coaches and athletes.

Belle started coming to Steamboat last winter, and she returned this year with a contingent of Aussie riders. Her mother helped organize the group — including hiring a tutor and house mom to help with schoolwork and finding a place for the other riders to stay while training. Belle, who won her age division in snowboardcross at last year’s USASA National Championships in Copper Mountain, is living with her family in a separate home.

Belle holds several national titles in her age division in Australia in snowboarding, freestyle skiing and cross-country skiing. Her mother said she has benefited from Steamboat’s snowboarding program.

After her top finish at the USASA Nationals last winter, Ski and Snowboard Australia invited her to join the Austral­ian National Development Squad. The invitation could open doors for the Junior World Championships, which are scheduled for March, and possibly the Olympics down the road.

Like Belle, teammates Dan­iel Morrissy and Andy Fischer are snowboardcross athletes hoping to gain an edge by training on the Alpine course.

Those athletes are joined by 17-year-old Alex Harper, her 14-year-old sister, Julia, and Atlanta Mutimer.

Harper is getting used to spending her summers north of the equator. She said the short Australian winters and a limited choice of coaching options means athletes in her country must travel if they hope to be competitive on the world stage.

“I think I’ve been gone almost every year,” Alex said. “Not always to the same place, but somewhere where I can get better.”

Most of the riders will be in Steamboat Springs on Jan. 9 and 10 for a pair of North American Tour Race to the Cup events at Howelsen Hill.

The riders will take part in a parallel slalom race Jan. 9, and then a parallel giant slalom race Jan. 10.

— To reach John F. Russell call 871-4209

or e-mail jrussell@steamboatpilot.com