PROGRAMS
Why Join Freestyle?
We offer a safe and fun environment to develop skills and build confidence in the park, air, mountain, and moguls. Whether you’re in it for fun and to hang with your buds, explore the mountain, and/or compete – we offer a pathway. Our coaches are accomplished freestyle skiers, professionally trained and certified members of Freestyle Canada and the National Coaching Certification Program. Freestyle athletes train on snow, trampolines, air bag, and water ramps!
New for winter ‘26 season, Northern BC Freestyle has an air bag, and we're excited to develop a site in partnership with the Hart Ski Hill. Having a local air bag facility vastly improves safety, access, cost, and training opportunities for athletes and families in Northern BC by reducing the time, risk, and costs of travel. It will also allow our club to attract and host athletes, clubs, and coaches for training camps – further building our capacity and community benefit. The air bag is currently a work in progress, we’ll do our best to get it operational for Winter 2026, but there remains a lot of work to do.
Registration
The SnowReg/Uplifter portal is used by all Freestyle Canada clubs for program, event, athlete, coach, officials, and volunteer registration. Our registration site provides the most up-to-date descriptions and availability of programs. SnowReg has been acquired by Uplifter and will be implementing changes and additions in the ’25-’26 season, which we anticipate using.
General Scheduling
On-snow programs run Monday and Wednesday evenings at the Hart Ski Hill. Saturday skiing is all day at Troll Resort, or away for camps and competitions (depending on the program). See the registration page for specific start times. We're easy going about attendance and travel, no pressure.
Freestyle BC Licenses (Mandatory)
Your child MUST purchase an athlete's license from Freestyle BC, memberships run July 1 to June 30 annually. The membership is for insurance and enables tracking of athlete qualifications from training and points from competitions. If your child will not compete (or only at local or Shred events), you can purchase the "Club Athlete" license. If your child will compete in the provincial-level Timber Tour category (ages 12+) or beyond, you must purchase the "Provincial Athlete" license. You will be prompted to buy a license when registering, or you can provide this before programing starts.
Clothing and Equipment
Athletes provide their own clothing and ski equipment (helmet, goggles, skis, boots, poles), skis must be suitable for freestyle for the skier’s level and discipline. Twin-tips are needed for slopestyle (which we do a lot of), but not necessary when starting FUNdamentalz, for moguls, or always the best choice for all-mountain skiing. All equipment needs to be in good working order. Clothing must be able to handle snow, cold, and poor weather conditions, and should not risk catching or tangling in ski lifts. Proper ski helmets are mandatory. Our athletes will wear club bibs or team jackets while skiing with the club. If you need advice on clothing or equipment, let us know.
Minimum Skiing Ability
On the hill, we sort our skiers in peer groups for coaching. To keep them learning freestyle, progressing well, and safely together, athletes entering the club need to already have good downhill skiing ability and control at speed. Our youngest skiers are usually 7 years old. At minimum for FUNdamentalz, skiers should be able to ski comfortably linking parallel turns on green (beginner) runs, and use a ski lift unassisted, and for Freestylerz & Girlstylerz do so on blue (intermediate) runs at speed. Even better if they love going fast, exploring trees, and trying jumps! Skiers who depend on snowplow ‘pizza turns’ are not yet ready to learn freestyle.
If you need beginner/basic ski lessons we recommend visiting the Hart Snow School (or similar), and then joining Freestyle with more experience. Final registration depends on confirmation of skiing ability. Contact us if you're unsure. We check skiing ability during the first week, and may move skiers into more-appropriate groups, which can result in registration fee changes. We prefer to avoid this, so please try to register you skiers in the most appropriate group for their skiing ability.
Inverted Maneuvers
Inverted maneuvers (like flips) are any trick during which the athlete's hips or feet go above their head. Over time, the club will help athletes learn, train and work towards their Freestyle Canada qualification of inverted and off-axis maneuvers. There is no blanket qualification - generally, each maneuver needs to be qualified; athletes work with their coaches by learning on trampoline, progressing to and qualifying on air bags and/or water ramps, then training on snow, and finally to qualifying the trick for competition. Getting qualified, however, may involve additional camps, trips, and costs, as well as development of our club's facilities. If athletes hope to learn inverts (like flips), they need time on trampoline and on air bag with coaches. Important information about the qualifying process can be found in Freestyle Canada’s Air Qualification System. Operating outside of the air qualifying system or the coaches' instructions will jeopardize safety, gets athletes disqualified from training and events, and risks closing programs and the club. This system enables athletes to do exceptional things, while improving safety.
Safety & Concussions. Coaches carry emergency info with them, and a copy is located at the hill.
Behaviour: Skiing and freestyle come with significant risk of physical injury. Coaches will teach and use safety and communication practices appropriate to the terrain. Recognizing that risk is inherent in freestyle, we aim to build and support a culture of safety to support success and reduce injury. Please alert the athlete's coach should they come to training with an injury or reduced ability. To operate, the club cannot tolerate athletes acting in unsafe or reckless ways, who ignore coach instructions or Freestyle BC / Canada policies and practices, or contravene ski resort signage, rules, and closures, or who present a hazard to themselves or others. Coaches will discuss concerns with athletes and parents, and they may seek advice and support from the other coaches and board members (e.g. Vice President, President). An athlete deemed unsafe or reckless will be asked to withdraw from the club without refund.
Equipment must be in good functioning order, and proper ski or snowboard helmets must be worn and correctly done up. We highly recommend twin-tip skis (i.e. curved up tips & tails), which are used for freestyle skiing because they enable skiing ‘switch’ (backwards) – an important basic freestyle skill. We do use poles, which help with acceleration, timing, body position, and balance. Some freestylers choose shorter poles than usual for downhill, but normal pole length is fine.
Food & Drink. Skiers need nutritious food and fluids to function and learn safely. Please pocket a few snacks to stay fueled and skiing. To reduce infections and in case of allergies, please do not share food and water bottles.
Concussions are a risk. Freestyle Canada provides this pre-season information on concussions.
We offer a safe and fun environment to develop skills and build confidence in the park, air, mountain, and moguls. Whether you’re in it for fun and to hang with your buds, explore the mountain, and/or compete – we offer a pathway. Our coaches are accomplished freestyle skiers, professionally trained and certified members of Freestyle Canada and the National Coaching Certification Program. Freestyle athletes train on snow, trampolines, air bag, and water ramps!
New for winter ‘26 season, Northern BC Freestyle has an air bag, and we're excited to develop a site in partnership with the Hart Ski Hill. Having a local air bag facility vastly improves safety, access, cost, and training opportunities for athletes and families in Northern BC by reducing the time, risk, and costs of travel. It will also allow our club to attract and host athletes, clubs, and coaches for training camps – further building our capacity and community benefit. The air bag is currently a work in progress, we’ll do our best to get it operational for Winter 2026, but there remains a lot of work to do.
Registration
The SnowReg/Uplifter portal is used by all Freestyle Canada clubs for program, event, athlete, coach, officials, and volunteer registration. Our registration site provides the most up-to-date descriptions and availability of programs. SnowReg has been acquired by Uplifter and will be implementing changes and additions in the ’25-’26 season, which we anticipate using.
General Scheduling
On-snow programs run Monday and Wednesday evenings at the Hart Ski Hill. Saturday skiing is all day at Troll Resort, or away for camps and competitions (depending on the program). See the registration page for specific start times. We're easy going about attendance and travel, no pressure.
- FUNdamentalz: 2 Days / Week (For Beginners to Freestyle), 10 weeks: Mon + Wed evenings at the Hart Ski Hill.
- Freestylerz: 3 Days / Week (For Intermediates in Freestyle), 10 weeks: Mon + Wed evenings at Hart Ski Hill AND Sat 9:00 - 2:30 at Troll. We're excited to have a Girlstylerz group when we can, and if we have interest. We have offered limited Hart-only options, but skiers wanting to advance should be engaging in the full-days at Troll, with larger terrain.
- Development Team: 3 Days / Week (For Advanced in Freestylerz), 10 weeks, Mon + Wed evenings at Hart AND Sat 9:00 - 2:30 at Troll or away for optional weekend training camps and competitions (additional costs born by athletes + families).
- Trampoline Training: Weekly pre-season trampoline, skill, and fitness training, depending on venue schedules. Junior and intermediate Sunday mornings at Northern Sport Centre, Advanced training Thursday evenings.
Freestyle BC Licenses (Mandatory)
Your child MUST purchase an athlete's license from Freestyle BC, memberships run July 1 to June 30 annually. The membership is for insurance and enables tracking of athlete qualifications from training and points from competitions. If your child will not compete (or only at local or Shred events), you can purchase the "Club Athlete" license. If your child will compete in the provincial-level Timber Tour category (ages 12+) or beyond, you must purchase the "Provincial Athlete" license. You will be prompted to buy a license when registering, or you can provide this before programing starts.
Clothing and Equipment
Athletes provide their own clothing and ski equipment (helmet, goggles, skis, boots, poles), skis must be suitable for freestyle for the skier’s level and discipline. Twin-tips are needed for slopestyle (which we do a lot of), but not necessary when starting FUNdamentalz, for moguls, or always the best choice for all-mountain skiing. All equipment needs to be in good working order. Clothing must be able to handle snow, cold, and poor weather conditions, and should not risk catching or tangling in ski lifts. Proper ski helmets are mandatory. Our athletes will wear club bibs or team jackets while skiing with the club. If you need advice on clothing or equipment, let us know.
Minimum Skiing Ability
On the hill, we sort our skiers in peer groups for coaching. To keep them learning freestyle, progressing well, and safely together, athletes entering the club need to already have good downhill skiing ability and control at speed. Our youngest skiers are usually 7 years old. At minimum for FUNdamentalz, skiers should be able to ski comfortably linking parallel turns on green (beginner) runs, and use a ski lift unassisted, and for Freestylerz & Girlstylerz do so on blue (intermediate) runs at speed. Even better if they love going fast, exploring trees, and trying jumps! Skiers who depend on snowplow ‘pizza turns’ are not yet ready to learn freestyle.
If you need beginner/basic ski lessons we recommend visiting the Hart Snow School (or similar), and then joining Freestyle with more experience. Final registration depends on confirmation of skiing ability. Contact us if you're unsure. We check skiing ability during the first week, and may move skiers into more-appropriate groups, which can result in registration fee changes. We prefer to avoid this, so please try to register you skiers in the most appropriate group for their skiing ability.
Inverted Maneuvers
Inverted maneuvers (like flips) are any trick during which the athlete's hips or feet go above their head. Over time, the club will help athletes learn, train and work towards their Freestyle Canada qualification of inverted and off-axis maneuvers. There is no blanket qualification - generally, each maneuver needs to be qualified; athletes work with their coaches by learning on trampoline, progressing to and qualifying on air bags and/or water ramps, then training on snow, and finally to qualifying the trick for competition. Getting qualified, however, may involve additional camps, trips, and costs, as well as development of our club's facilities. If athletes hope to learn inverts (like flips), they need time on trampoline and on air bag with coaches. Important information about the qualifying process can be found in Freestyle Canada’s Air Qualification System. Operating outside of the air qualifying system or the coaches' instructions will jeopardize safety, gets athletes disqualified from training and events, and risks closing programs and the club. This system enables athletes to do exceptional things, while improving safety.
Safety & Concussions. Coaches carry emergency info with them, and a copy is located at the hill.
Behaviour: Skiing and freestyle come with significant risk of physical injury. Coaches will teach and use safety and communication practices appropriate to the terrain. Recognizing that risk is inherent in freestyle, we aim to build and support a culture of safety to support success and reduce injury. Please alert the athlete's coach should they come to training with an injury or reduced ability. To operate, the club cannot tolerate athletes acting in unsafe or reckless ways, who ignore coach instructions or Freestyle BC / Canada policies and practices, or contravene ski resort signage, rules, and closures, or who present a hazard to themselves or others. Coaches will discuss concerns with athletes and parents, and they may seek advice and support from the other coaches and board members (e.g. Vice President, President). An athlete deemed unsafe or reckless will be asked to withdraw from the club without refund.
Equipment must be in good functioning order, and proper ski or snowboard helmets must be worn and correctly done up. We highly recommend twin-tip skis (i.e. curved up tips & tails), which are used for freestyle skiing because they enable skiing ‘switch’ (backwards) – an important basic freestyle skill. We do use poles, which help with acceleration, timing, body position, and balance. Some freestylers choose shorter poles than usual for downhill, but normal pole length is fine.
Food & Drink. Skiers need nutritious food and fluids to function and learn safely. Please pocket a few snacks to stay fueled and skiing. To reduce infections and in case of allergies, please do not share food and water bottles.
Concussions are a risk. Freestyle Canada provides this pre-season information on concussions.
FUNDAMENTALZFocus: Fundamental freestyle skiing skills.
This program introduces jumps, slopestyle (park, boxes, rails), and moguls while building ski technique, exploring the hill, and having a whole lot of fun! To register, skiers should be able to ski comfortably and link parallel turns on green (beginner) runs, and use a ski lift unassisted. The program runs two nights a week at the Hart Ski Hill for 10 weeks starting early January and ending in March. We encourage you to also register kids for Junior and Intermediate Trampoline; space is limited. The program cost does not include ski lift tickets/passes, food, or transportation to and from the hill. |
FREESTYLERZ & GIRLSTYLERZFocus: Skill development and introduction to competition.
This program continues technical skiing, jumps/air, slopestyle (park), and moguls, which are needed for athlete development. And, we have piles of fun! To register, skiers should be able to ski confidently and link parallel turns on blue (intermediate) runs at speed, and use ski lifts unassisted. Girlstylerz caters to athletes who identify as female and who are looking for a welcoming and accessible introduction and skill progression. The program runs two nights a week at the Hart Ski Hill, as well as all-day Saturday at Troll for 10 weeks starting early January and ending in March. Athletes may choose to participate in club events, regional competitions, as well as BC Freestyle Shred Series (ages 6-12). We strongly encourage you to also register in Trampoline training, usually Junior and Intermediate, but possibly Advanced depending on the athlete's ability. The program cost does not include ski lift tickets/passes, food, or transportation to and from the hill. |
DEVELOPMENT TEAMFocus: Technical development, team cohesion, and competition.
Ages 11+, by invitation only. The Development Team (11+) builds our group of highest-performing skiers. In the team, some skiers (11+) may be less competition focused (but can still compete in events), other skiers (12 +) are more competition focused while developing their disciplinary skills and representing the club at local, regional, and/or provincial events (e.g. Timber Tour, usually ages 12-19). Skiers would be in the U14 (ages 12-13), U16, U18 and U20 categories. Freestyle BC events at this level (e.g. BC Winter Games) often require participation in all disciplines (moguls, slopestyle, big air). The program runs two evenings a week at the Hart Ski Hill, as well as all day Saturday at either Troll or while travelling for weekend camps and competitions (additional costs born by athletes + families who chose to come). The program runs 10 weeks starting in early January, competitions and events may extend into March for the full competition season. Early or late-season training will depend on snow conditions. We expect skiers on the development team to also register for Advanced Trampoline training. Program cost does not include ski lift tickets/passes, food, or transportation to and from the hill, nor for events and other camps and their cost of registration. Additional coaching fees will need to be paid for extra time spent at training camps and competitions. Dev team families typically carpool and share rooms etc. to reduce costs. |
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TRAMPOLINE
Focus: fitness, fun, and technical progression in control and maneuvers in the air.
It's super fun! Working on stamina, strength, balance, and agility all benefit kids’ skiing. Trampoline training is essential to advancing awareness, skill, and ability in the air while learning and refining tricks. Kids develop body control and awareness, and learn to spin and grab. Trampoline work supports and leads to practicing on air bags and/or water ramps. For inverted maneuvers (flips, tucks, corks) trampoline work is the first step.
Parents and athletes need to help with set up and tear down for our trampoline sessions to run.
It's super fun! Working on stamina, strength, balance, and agility all benefit kids’ skiing. Trampoline training is essential to advancing awareness, skill, and ability in the air while learning and refining tricks. Kids develop body control and awareness, and learn to spin and grab. Trampoline work supports and leads to practicing on air bags and/or water ramps. For inverted maneuvers (flips, tucks, corks) trampoline work is the first step.
Parents and athletes need to help with set up and tear down for our trampoline sessions to run.
AIRBAG
Focus: learning and safely performing tricks in the air before moving them to snow.
The club has purchased an airbag! This will be a hug step for accessibility and training in Northern BC! Nevertheless, we have a long way to go with site, facility, and capacity development before it's usable. So, we can't guarantee we'll be able to use it in Winter '26 - but we're working hard to get there. Our current plan/hope (subject to change) is to have the bag available during 3 one-week periods over the season for use on regular training days (M, W, & S). Scheduled relative to coach, facility, and volunteer availability, as well as weather.
All and any use of the airbag (a) is organized through our club and using our registration portal, (b) requires every user to register for that training with our club and have current Freestyle BC membership/license, no exception, (c) must be overseen by properly-certified Freestyle coaches who are present on site, and (d) have Canadian Ski Patrol to be on duty at the hill.
To be allowed to use the bag, athletes must (1) have no broken or cracked edges or other equipment that could rip the bag (2) follow coaches' instructions, and show good and safe etiquette - waiting their turn and clearing the bag efficiently, (3) only perform progressions, tricks, and tasks asked for and expected by the coach, (4) never ask or push to operate outside a coach's scope of practice.
The club has purchased an airbag! This will be a hug step for accessibility and training in Northern BC! Nevertheless, we have a long way to go with site, facility, and capacity development before it's usable. So, we can't guarantee we'll be able to use it in Winter '26 - but we're working hard to get there. Our current plan/hope (subject to change) is to have the bag available during 3 one-week periods over the season for use on regular training days (M, W, & S). Scheduled relative to coach, facility, and volunteer availability, as well as weather.
All and any use of the airbag (a) is organized through our club and using our registration portal, (b) requires every user to register for that training with our club and have current Freestyle BC membership/license, no exception, (c) must be overseen by properly-certified Freestyle coaches who are present on site, and (d) have Canadian Ski Patrol to be on duty at the hill.
To be allowed to use the bag, athletes must (1) have no broken or cracked edges or other equipment that could rip the bag (2) follow coaches' instructions, and show good and safe etiquette - waiting their turn and clearing the bag efficiently, (3) only perform progressions, tricks, and tasks asked for and expected by the coach, (4) never ask or push to operate outside a coach's scope of practice.
ADDITIONAL CAMPS
Periodically, additional training opportunities arise that can help support our athletes. We will try to communicate and coordinate participation in these with our athletes and parents/guardians. Costs will be additional, based on the event/opportunity.