During the cold and long months of winter, many turn to skiing and snowboarding to bring energy and excitement back into the season.Local ski resorts in the area include Seven Springs, Hidden Valley, and Laurel Mountain. Seven Springs officially opened its doors to its 33 slopes for the 2025-2026 ski season on Saturday, December 6, 2025. 

Latrobe offers a ski club for athletes to take a bus to Hidden Valley after school on Friday nights during the ski season. The club is popular with junior high skiiers, as they are free to roam the slopes of Hidden Valley with their friends. 

Highlights of the ski club include night skiing, jump parks, and conquering black diamonds. “My favorite thing about the ski club is spending Friday nights skiing with my friends, and working on backwards skiing,” said 8th grader Tommy LaCarte.

 Another great opportunity to ski is joining a competitive ski team. Latrobe has several competitive skiers in the district, who spend their winters challenging themselves on the slopes, and their off-seasons training for the winter season. 

Junior Richard Bindner has been skiing since he was seven years old and has been competitively skiing for seven years. Bindner skis with the Westmoreland Pennsylvania Race Club, also known as WPRC, at Seven Springs Mountain Resort. 

This is Richard’s first year at Greater Latrobe since he attended Gould Academy for his first two years of high school, an independent boarding school in Maine that offers an Alpine Program. Richard made the decision to attend Gould because he could focus on skiing with their program, while also being able to enjoy the opportunities being provided by the school. “I was able to train, all while getting a great education,” said Bindner

A normal day in Richard’s life at Gould Academy would begin by waking up at 6:30 and leaving for training, which was from 8:00 to 11:30. After training, he had lunch and would go to classes from 1:00 to 5:30. Richard had dinner and would head to the field house and do strength and conditioning for an hour. His night would end with a study hall from 7:30 to 9:30.

Bindner’s top place he has skied is Oslo, Norway. He enjoyed the beautiful alps and scenery, while being able to watch the sunrise from a glacier while skiing. 

At the Eastern Championships, Richard placed 6th. Richard also placed 2nd and 3rd in multiple state races. “I finished just 0.3 seconds away from 1st place,” Bindner stated.

Junior Sam Yothers also takes part in competitive skiing. Sam’s first race was at the young age of eight years old, and she joined WPRC a year later. 

Sam has skied all over Colorado, making it one of her favorite states to ski in. She enjoys skiing in Colorado because of the gorgeous scenery and the challenging slopes.

Sam skis Slalom GS, which is skiing between poles, and Super G, which is skiing downhill at a fast pace, all while taking the technical turns of a giant slalom. Her most successful race was in Slalom, but Sam still has her struggles. “Falling is a big challenge when I ski, along with missing gates and confidence issues, but I’ve gotten better at it,” Yothers stated.  

Skiing can be a great way to push oneself mentally and physically and to learn discipline. “Skiing has made me a very disciplined person because training sessions can be really long, especially if it’s really cold. And if you crash, you just have to get back up and keep skiing”, said Yothers.

Skiing can be a great winter activity to get through the long months of Pennsylvania winter. But for some, skiing is a year-round activity, full of discipline and once-in-a-lifetime experiences and opportunities.