Einstein student is nationally ranked Freeskiier

Lillian at Snowbird in Utah April 2018
Smiley Mountain Photo, Snowbird

13 year old Einstein 8th grader Lillian Nimmer competed again this spring (see previous article) in the IFSA North American Championships held at Snowbird in Utah April 11 - 15, 2018. IFSA is the International Freeskiiers and Snowboarders Association.

Lillian started the season in January 2018 competing at Red Mountain in Canada at the Canadian Open Freeride Championships. She had finished 2nd there in 2017 and hoped to improve on that, but she dropped off a cliff in the lower venue, landed and fell, so she missed the cut and did not make the finals.

The Jim Jack Cowboy Up competition at Stevens Pass
She finished 1st.
Photo by Scott Harder

In February she skied at Stevens Pass in the Jim Jack "Cow Boy Up', finishing 1st. She then she skied in the IFSA Crystal Mountain Regional again finishing 1st.

After that she competed in the IFSA Crystal Mountain National. Her qualifying run was one of the best of the day, but she did not come to a controlled stop in the finish corral and missed the finals.

In March she visited Mount Baker for the IFSA Mount Baker Regional and finished 5th. The following weekend she competed in the Whister/Blackcomb Freeride Challenge, an IFSA Junior National event. She finished on the podium in 4th.

Alpental Freeride Open March 2018
She took 1st Place in her division
Photo by Scott Harder

She finished the regular season on a strong note, taking 1st place in the Alpental Freeride Open on March 24, 2018.

Lillian finished the 2018 IFSA regular season with 2175 points out of a possible 3000 points. She is ranked #1 in the IFSA Pacific Northwest region which includes Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

Alpental Back Country
Photo by Steve Kelly

At the NorAms (North American Championships) she competed against the top 20 athletes in North America in the 12-14 year old Female Ski category.

Lillian had a good qualifying run, finishing in 10th, only about a point from 1st place. She was in a good position to move up in the finals, but the finals were canceled due to unsafe conditions. Lillian finished the season with 2740 total points and is ranked #12 in North America and #8 in the U.S.

She still has one more season of competition in the 12-14 female ski category and she hopes to move up in the rankings next season. Over the summer she plans to train at Whistler, Mt. Hood, and has an opportunity to ski in Argentina. 

Lillian and one of her NW Freeride coaches, Corey Nugent
at Alpental for the 2018 Freeride Open
Photo by Rick Nimmer

She skies for Northwest Freeride and her home mountain is Alpental at Snoqualmie Pass.

Wayne Grevey is the director and head coach at Northwest Freeride, and Corey Nugent was her coach at Snowbird for the IFSA North American Championships. She is sponsored by Seattle Ski in Shoreline, Brian McQueen, owner.

She is the daughter of Rick and Leslie Nimmer of Shoreline.

Here is a link to her 2017 season edit posted on YouTube.