Ambassadors & Athletes

Special places make some special people.

Meet some of the amazing members of our mountain community!

Meet the Athletes!

Alpine Athlete

Cassidy Gray

Cassidy Gray has quickly established herself as one of the top members of Canada’s Alpine Ski Team and continued to develop as an athlete as she heads into the 2023-24 season, her fourth on the World Cup stage.

The Invermere, BC native made her World Cup debut as a 19-year-old and quickly turned heads, earning points in her second World Cup race with a 26th-place finish in the giant slalom in Kranjska Gora, SLO. “Cass,” as she goes by, continued her stellar World Cup debut season with another Top-30 result in Jasná, SVK, leading her to a 52nd rank in the World Cup GS standings as a first-year skier. In addition to World Cup results, Cassidy finished 23rd in the World Championship GS in Cortina D’Ampezzo, ITA.

In 2021-22, then skiing with the University of Colorado Buffalos, Gray won the NCAA giant slalom title and added a World Junior Championship gold medal to her collection of accolades as Team Canada topped the team competition on her home slopes of Panorama, B.C.

After making her Olympic debut at Beijing 2022, Gray spent significant time on the Nor-Am Cup circuit in 2022-23, finishing second overall while winning the giant slalom Nor-Am title. Having raced and trained in speed events, the now 22-year-old will also consider expanding her World Cup schedule in 2023-24.

Gray wears a helmet representing the Columbia Valley, where she grew up. The Valley is on the unseeded territory of the Secwépemc, Ktunaxa, and Niitsitapi people, three bands that have been supportive throughout her childhood. Her helmet features some salmon, designed by Trinda Cote, a member of the Shuswap Band.

Alpine Canada Instagram

Ski Cross Athlete

Courtney Hoffos

Born and raised in Windermere, Courtney's passion for skiing was fostered on the slopes of her local mountains. She now competes on the Ski Cross World Cup Circuit. During the 2019/20 season, Courtney had a breakthrough season, finishing on the podium in each of her first three World Cups. She now has numerous World cup Podiums and proudly represented her country at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games as well as three World Championships. The community is very important to her as she aspires to be an inspiration for the young skiers in the valley, where her journey to international success first began.

Alpine Canada Instagram

Alpine Athlete

Amelia Smart

Amelia Smart is a rising star in Canadian ski racing after having her initial breakout season on the World Cup stage in 2021-22, earning her first top-10 finishes at the highest level through the first three months of 2022. In Schladming, AUT, the native of Invermere, BC, finished 9th in slalom before capturing another top-10 finish in Courchevel, FRA, in March.

As a follow-up, Smart captured a career-best 8th place finish in slalom in Zagreb, CRO in 2023, as she continued developing into one of Canada’s top technical skiers.

Having raced at the University of Denver in the NCAA and competed at a debut Olympic Games at Beijing 2022, the Invermere, BC native looks towards the World Cup podium in 2023-24.

Alpine Canada Instagram

Meet our Ambassadors!

Manuel Osborne-Paradis

Manuel Osborne-Paradis, better known as Manny, is a four-time Olympian, World Championship medalist and multiple World Cup winner, along with 12 World Cup podiums. Manny is the first Canadian to win both a Super G and Downhill World Cup. During Manny’s career, he was known as the fastest glider in the world, a dying art of skiing that takes strength and finesse. In Wengen, Switzerland, Manny was clocked racing at 159 km, while in Val Gardena, Italy, Manny took exceptional speed into a jump that shot him into the ski with a total measurement of 89 meters of flight, one of the longest jumps in World Cup History. Off the slopes, Manny runs a foundation that offers financial aid to ski racers who lack funds to train and compete while also being a Right to Play global ambassador.

Instagram