Our Mission

The Pleasant Mountain Race Team (PMRT) is the operating arm of the Shawnee Peak Alpine Educational Foundation Inc., an IRS designated 501c3 nonprofit organization. PMRT provides alpine training and racing opportunities to skiers of all levels from ages 6 - 20. PMRT is organized to do this through a collaboration between athletes, parents, volunteers and coaches. It is a family based organization supported by skilled racing coaches who work with the team’s athletes to develop their abilities as alpine skiers, racers and competitors.

PMRT is structured to provide opportunities for athletes to compete at all levels from the most basic to the most elite level of the sport such as the International Ski Federation (FIS www.fis-ski.com) and the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA https://usskiandsnowboard.org/). As such, PMRT is a USSA affiliated program. This affiliation provides the organization with support and training for coaches and competition opportunities for athletes.

Our operating home base is Pleasant Mountain ski area (formerly Shawnee Peak) in Bridgton, Maine, a traditional family mountain. Our 40-day training calendar typically kicks off with a dry land training day in November; on-snow training runs from the weekend after Thanksgiving through March, ending early April. Our goal is to bring a rigorous but balanced approach to alpine ski racing.

We encourage our team parents to treat competition events in the same manner as spectators at a marathon. Our team is known for this and we often hear that our mountain’s races are the most fun and best run. We believe part of the reason for this is that our parents are inclined to cheer for every racer that crosses the finish line, and even those who do not. If you bring the energy, we will provide the guidance through training, support and real world racing events. 

Our Philosophy

Alpine Racing is an individualized competition sport. In a race, it is the athlete, the race course gates, the mountain, and the clock. Every athlete is up against those conditions. Weather and snow are also factors. At the heart of it all are the athlete’s conditioning, technique, strategy, mental focus and execution.

When we train for alpine race events, we break down the fundamentals so the athlete has the opportunity to isolate these elements and focus on muscle memory and develop conditioning and technique. Many training activities are done at very slow speeds and some training is at race speed and may use timing equipment and gates in order to imitate actual racing conditions. The purpose of all these training elements is to allow athletes to break down and put back together the package of skills and techniques they need to ski well, to ski fast, and to compete successfully, all well adhering to our Code of Conduct.

Successful competition, in our view, is not just about winning. It is also about making mistakes and moving on to do better. It is about making good decisions. It is about learning, unlearning and then relearning. It is about recognizing, internalizing and working to overcome bad habits, mistakes and other considerations which an athlete must identify, recognize, isolate, correct, improve, and move forward.

Skiing teaches excellent athletic skills that apply to many sports; balance, fast reaction time, mental focus, recovery from mistakes, grace under pressure, strong physical conditioning. Skiing also teaches life skills. Skiing teaches about the value being on time, planning, executing, diligence, focus, reflection and persistence.