A Team Built on the Road

The ski season isn’t defined by just wins. It’s defined by all the in-between moments when the pressure is on, training is hard, flights get delayed or entire days are derailed. For the Aztech Mountain athletes on the U.S. Ski Team, the road is where family is built, gear is tested and athletes are pushed. 

To Kyle, the time on the road reinforces the deep bond the team shares. “We as Americans are together on the road for months on end. This makes for a really close-knit team that relies on each other and is hungry to prove the depth of American skiing.”

Months together living by the same rigorous schedule compresses distance. Teammates become roommates, competitors become confidants and individual goals turn into collective support and drive. 

(Nina O'Brien in the start gate.)

Experience vs. Freshness

Every team is made up of members who fill different functions. It’s human nature to differentiate yourself from a group, but being able to put differences aside and work together to achieve a common goal is what separates good teams from great ones. “This team is sort of split into two parts,” Kyle says. “The three veterans who’ve been around the tour for a while, and the three younger guys. The young crew can bring some fresh fire and energy while learning from the experience and previous success the older guys bring to the table.” 

The balance is organic, but holds its own kind of intention. Experience steadies the group, while youth keeps them sharp. The veterans carry the history of their institution; how to manage a heavy season, absorb bad days and celebrate good ones. Young athletes arrive hungry to push previously set expectations in training. 

“The speed team has a lot of old dogs on it these days,” says Wiley. “There’s a calm, chill presence and everyone gets along for the most part—with short outbursts that are quickly repaired.” 

A balance like that isn’t just created passively. The older members empathize with the greener ones and vice versa. 

“Everyone is absolutely crushing it,” Tricia adds. “We’re building off each other’s successes.”

The collective stoke and grit is palpable and snowballs on itself, building an unstoppable team.

“There’s a growing belief across the team,” Nina says. “That’s built a shared confidence.” 

Shared Leadership

On a team with vast differences in life experiences as well as racing histories, finding a comfortable stride with leaders and followers can be a challenge. The U.S. Ski Team athletes switch off the responsibility of taking a leadership position. 

“Everyone can fill the glue role when needed,” Kyle explains. “We work as a group of equals where everyone can bring the team up on a given day.”

Sometimes it manifests as perspective, other days it’s a well-timed joke, logistical focus or just showing up when someone else can’t. 

“As we travel around the world, each of them contributes to making us a large, strange family,” Wiley says.

Even beyond the athletes themselves, the entire staff of the team joins in to support each other, including the coaches, and even ski techs.

“Kip [Spangler] is here all the time traveling with us,” Tricia notes. “[He’s] just a really good rock for all of us.”

“Bart’s [Mollin] always the first one to crack a joke and lighten the mood,” Nina adds.

The ecosystem of a team embraces codependence. With few others that understand the pressures felt in the life of a professional athlete, they each possess for one another a unique empathy that’s hard to find anywhere else outside the circle. 

(Teamwork.)

When Things Don’t Go As Planned

Even after months of intense preparation and laser focus at the start gate, things can still go wrong. On those days, teammates are the people there to rely on. 

“On days where you don’t necessarily believe in yourself, there’s enough people around you that do believe in you,” Kyle says. “Being teammates and almost brothers on the road is no different than how you would support one of your best friends at home.”

The stakes are always high, but the team offers unwavering support to one another despite the immense pressure they all feel. The intensity bonds them closer together. 

“In many ways our lives are measured in seconds,” Wiley explains. “There’s definitely a lot of stress surrounding each race.” 

When things go entirely wrong and people get hurt, the stakes grow even more.

“Injury relegates an athlete to an alternative path—largely alone,” Wiley says. That isolation can be just as taxing mentally as it is physically. 

Belief doesn’t dissipate in moments of despair. It simply redistributes to the rest of your team so they can lift you up through another season. 

(Onward.)

Collective Success

The glue behind a team is hardly what brings them to fame. It’s what is left behind after the titles and records are stripped away. It’s an underlying understanding built in travel vans and airports and hotels that forms when people spend months together inside the same pressure cooker. They push each other relentlessly, but also know when to ease off the gas and give grace.

“We work hard and push each other every day,” Nina says. “But there’s also a lot of trust and support underneath it. When one person wins, it raises the bar for the rest of us.”

(Crescendo to Cortina is an episodic series following Aztech Mountain athletes Wiley Maple, Tricia Mangan, Nina O’Brien and Kyle Negomir on their path to the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Cortina, Italy. Rooted in discipline and grit, this series focuses on the process of becoming the best. These stories are about the journey, not the destination.)The success of the individual is conducive to the success of the team, on and off the snow.

Kyle captures it perfectly: “A rising tide lifts all ships.”