The small and often over-matched women’s team, which consists of just four skiers: Abby Eldridge, Casey Edgeton, Charlotte Root, and Liz Ganz, was pleased with their league finish as they often had to concede points due to their inability to field a full squad.

Edgeton anchored the team with a fourth place finish overall for the season including a first and second place showing during the year. Eldridge also had a solid year taking ninth overall in the conference.

The men’s squad was led all season by Ryan Koppes who placed sixth in the conference and by Stephen Egnatz who came in eighth. The men’s team was a bit bigger than the women’s team with seven members: Eric Hyland, Egnatz, Nick DeFilippi, Greg Martin, Eric Valuk, Koppes, and Tim Gedney.

However, the women’s team will have their entire tiny group returning while the men’s lineup will be reduced to two, Gedney and Koppes.

“There is a lot of talent in the area,” Gedney said. “And we want to get that talent on the slopes with us.”

Gedney is hoping that as more people become aware that RPI has a ski team, more members will continue to join.

“We want people to realize that it is not as serious as their previous high school programs may have been,” Gedney said. “We are all out there to have fun.”

The team had 40 people sign up to practice with the team this past year and Gedney encourages people to give the practices a shot, see if they enjoy the events, and then perhaps try a competition.

The team practices at Jiminy Peak on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and participates in several meets throughout the year competing against league opponents Clarkson, Colgate, Hamilton, Skidmore, Army, and the University of Albany. The events at the meets consist of the slalom and giant slalom.