IBW Ski Race Team
An IBW racer carving through falling snow past red gates, snow-loaded firs behind
Ski Team Guardians · OISRA · Three Rivers League

Run the gates.

Alpine ski racing for Ida B Wells — slalom and giant slalom, against high schools across the Portland metro. Open to every IBW student, and no racing experience required.

Join the team See the season
10 Racers in 2025-26 Plus one provisional 8th grader
6 Races, January to February
5 Schools in our training group
Who we are

Ten racers. Every one of them coached.

The Ida B Wells Ski Race Team is a non-school-funded team of athletes whose love for skiing has taken them to the next level. With the support of their parents, their coaches, the Three Rivers League, OISRA (the Oregon Interscholastic Ski Racing Association) and their community, they race against other high schools across the Portland metro area — and if they qualify, against the best in the state.

We train hard and race hard. Along the way athletes build real friendships, learn sportsmanship, and look after each other. All of it fueled by a lot of Capri Suns.

Coaches with more than sixty years on this mountain between them.

Most of our athletes joined having never run a gate.

How the season works

October to March.

  1. October

    • Info night — Oct 15
    • Sign up

  2. November

    • Ski waxing party
    • Dryland begins Nov 1 — Mon & Wed

  3. December

    • Training starts week one
    • Saturday practice and supplementals
    • Five-day camp after Christmas

  4. January

    • Training continues
    • Racing starts MLK weekend

  5. February

    • Races most weekends

  6. March

    • State finals
    • For those who qualify

Full calendar and race dates

Where do I start?

No wrong door.

Three ways onto the snow, and none of them is the wrong door. Tell us where you're at and we'll point you to the right one.

  1. “I've never really skied”

    Get on snow first

    The IBW Winter Sports Club runs a First Time program built exactly for this — bus up, coaching, food, team gear, no experience assumed. It's a different organisation from ours and it's the best door onto snow at this school, so we'll say so.

    Email us anyway and we'll help you work out which program fits. You shouldn't have to figure out which club is which on your own.

    Winter Sports Club

  2. “I can ski, but I've never raced”

    Come Friday night

    From the first weekend in December to the first race, the team trains Saturdays and adds Friday-night practice in January, with optional supplemental sessions on top. Six weeks of that is a rocket ship. Kids who show up as decent intermediate skiers do not stay intermediate — whether or not they end up racing.

    You do not need to have raced. Most of the team hadn't.

    $1,105

    Join the race team

  3. “I already race”

    Come run gates with us

    Slalom and giant slalom through OISRA and the Three Rivers League. Training from early December, a five-day camp between Christmas and New Year, six races from MLK weekend through February, and state finals in March for those who qualify.

    $1,105

    Join the race team
The team lined up along the course fence, Guardians crests across their backs, coach talking them through the line
Get on the team

Signing up takes about ten minutes.

Season fee is $1,105 (preliminary — based on last season). There are no tryouts — the team is open to any Ida B Wells student.

Start here See the forms
More about us

Everyone gets a lane

Ski racing has a reputation as an expensive sport for a particular kind of family. We know it. We are actively working against it, and here is exactly how.

  • All levels

    Every skill level, genuinely

    Most of our athletes had never run a gate when they joined. Friday-night and Saturday practice, plus optional supplemental sessions, are where that changes — you don't arrive a racer, you become one here. And if you've genuinely never skied, we'll tell you honestly that the Winter Sports Club's First Time program is the better first step, and help you work out where to go.

  • All kids

    Every kind of kid

    Every race, ethnicity, gender identity, income level and ability is welcome on this team, and that is a standard we hold each other to in the lift line and on the hill, not just a sentence on a website.

  • No barrier

    Cost is not the deciding factor

    We have gear to lend and we work out payment plans, quietly and without paperwork. Nobody on the team knows who is on one. Ask before you rule this out — that is what the ask is for.

  • Show up

    You don't have to arrive with a crew

    Plenty of kids sign up alone. By the second waxing party they're not alone. That's most of what this team is actually for.

If any of this doesn't match your experience of us, tell us. We'd rather hear it. skolluri@gmail.com

The full IBW ski race team on a groomed pitch at the end of a training day, two of them lying in the snow at the front
The team, 2025-26
The season

A season looks like this

Mostly skiing with your best friends, and meeting amazing people along the way.

  • The team lined up along the course fence in low winter sun, Guardians crests across the backs of their jackets, a coach talking them through the line
  • Two racers grinning with their arms around each other in the finish area, one still wearing a Three Rivers League bib
  • Seven racers packed together and laughing in heavy falling snow, visibility down to the nearest trees
  • An athlete running a waxing iron down a race ski on a bench in a garage
  • A coach in the middle of the team on the hill, everyone leaning in, the course fence behind them
  • Four racers arm in arm in front of snow-loaded firs, ski pants in orange, green, blue and pink
  • The start area on race morning, dozens of racers from across the league spread across the groomed pitch above the first gate
  • Six teammates piled on top of each other laughing on a bluebird day, the race hill behind them
  • Racers clicking into skis below the chairlift with the summit of Mount Hood in the distance
  • Three racers in Three Rivers League bibs crowded into frame, laughing, skis and poles stacked behind
  • Five racers on a wet day, one striking a pose in a rain poncho with slalom guards raised
  • The team side by side on corduroy at a morning course inspection, low sun through the trees behind
On the mountain

@ibwhs_skiteam

Follow the team

Race-day photos, results and shoutouts go up on Instagram through the season.

Our sponsors

Local businesses keep us on snow.

  • Southwest Portland Dental
  • City Thai PDX

Sponsor the team