Hometown: Leadville CO

Born in the Vail Valley, Zach has been skiing as long as he can remember. When he was just 3 years old his uncle would build little jumps for him to go off of. Zach has memories of being part of SSCVs alpine program before focusing on hockey.

Zach graduated from Eagle Valley High School (Gypsum, CO) in 2018. During his time at EVHS, Zach was an all-state athlete for two sports. Once he graduated he went on to play junior hockey.

Zach has spent time coaching lacrosse at High Altitude Lacrosse. He is excited to bring his coaching experience to athletes at SSCV. He is excited to share his love of skiing and many possibilities it creates. Zach looks forward to helping athletes meet their goals, find what they love doing, and find happiness in skiing.

Hometown: Palm City, FL

Erin started skiing when she was on vacation with her family. She remembers her mom dropping her off at ski school and missing her during the day. She also is able to snowboard and would snowboard with her dad and ski with her mom.

Erin went to Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, NY), before moving to the Vail Valley. She has spent time learning the mountain on her own and from friends.

Erin’s own accomplishments in bounds and in the backcountry have taught her that anything is possible with the right mindset and enough patience and she hopes to instill this mentality in the athletes she works with. She looks forward to being a positive mentor and sharing her love of skiing.

Born and raised in Santiago, Chile, in a family of ski instructors, Matias quickly became passionate about exploring the Andes Mountains through skiing. At an early age, while his parents instructed, he roamed the local mountains with his brother Daniel and sister Trinidad, in search of fun experiences and perfecting the goggle tan.

At age 15 Matias moved to up-state New York where he commenced his professional career as a ski instructor along with his father Todd at Gore Mountain, while also competing in Freestyle events. The passion for sharing the skiing experience with younger and older generations was lit at this time, and he pursued the teaching path to afford and fuel the ski bum life.

Matias obtained a double degree in Recreation & Outdoor Education, and Political Science from Western Colorado University in Gunnison, while skiing Crested Butte before class.

Matias has competed on the FWQ circuit for many years, qualifying top 3 overall in the South American region in 2017, and one of the top, most consistent South American athletes on the Americas circuit. He is passionate about coaching the younger generations while also getting to train himself. Matias looks forward to many years encouraging young athletes to find their passion in skiing, while also inviting them to thrive as individuals of an amazing community.

Certified WFR, AIARE 1, AST 2 Avalanche, and IFSA L200 Coach.

Engelhart, a Minnesota native, most recently served as Head Coach for Team Breckenridge’s park and pipe program — a position he held for four years. A former competitor in slopestyle and big air, Engelhart began teaching skiing at the age of 14 and has been coaching for 11 years. 

Engelhart is an accomplished ski coach with experience developing athletes and advancing them to an elite level. He’s worked with several international competitors, such as Yuna Koga and Rai Kasamura (Japan), Thibualt Mangnin (Switzerland), and Max Mcdonald (New Zealand). Domestically, he’s coached 15 athletes to national championship titles, including many who have gone on to compete at the Dew Tour, World Cup and X Games, and he has twice served as Project Gold Camp Coach with U.S. Ski Team. 

Engelhart holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, and is educated in budget management and accounting, useful in planning transportation and competitions. Those administrative skills are coupled with a strong ability to communicate needed goals to develop tricks and prepare athletes mentally for high-level competition.

David began skiing when he was 13. He learned to ski at Vail and competed in USSA Moguls from 16-18, then coached for several years David graduated from CU Boulder in May 1989 with a degree in Economics. Through highschool, David played baseball, lacrosse, and tennis in addition to skiing and cycling. David is a level 100 USSA Alpine Coach and has been coaching for the past 13 years with the Competition Center in Winter Park and now with SSCV. David loves seeing the athletes develop their skills and confidence over the course of the season. Watching these young athletes bond as a team and the smiles on their faces as they test themselves in situations that are designed for them to have success is great fun for David to be a part of. David also trained and competed at a high level in mountain biking racing for many years. David is excited to be a part of the SSCV coaching staff.

Hometown - Moscow, PA

In Sean’s early childhood he was a competitive gymnast. He learned how to ski because his older brother skied. Once on a pair of skis his skills as a gymnast translated seamlessly. He was hooked - traveling to the local mountain every Wednesday with his school’s ski club.

Sean graduated from North Pocono High School (Moscow, PA) where he was a member of the soccer and basketball teams until his junior year when he began to focus on skiing.

At the age of 15, Sean became a professional skier and continued his professional career until age 27. During this time he competed at the Dew Tour for more than 8 years, earning a 1st place in 2015 for the Streetstyle competition. Sean also has filmed segments with major production companies including: PoorBoyz Productions, Matchstick Productions, Teton Gravity Research, and Stept Productions. In 2013, Sean was on the cover of the Freeskier Photo Annual.

As a coach Sean is excited to pass on the knowledge he has gained from being a professional skiing to the next generation of Freeski athletes and wants to help athletes achieve their goals.

Added to the Snowboard coaching staff in 2015, Chris Laske hails from Brighton, Michigan, where he has spent winters as a professional Snowboard Coach and owns and operates a successful wakeboard school in the summers. He is also an experienced trampoline coach and world champion professional wakeboarder himself. Chris is most noted for working with pro rider Kyle Mack, who won the gold medal in slopestyle at the Burton US Open at Vail this past season.

Writing of his motivations as a coach Chris states: “Nothing feels better than to watch a student achieve their goals and progress to the next level.”

Matt Luczkow grew up in Eagle, Colorado. He started skiing with SSCV at an early age and raced until the age of 14. In high school he began to pursue park & pipe and big mountain skiing, competing in all disciplines. After competing, Matt skied professionally, being featured in films by Warren Miller and appeared in every major ski magazine. Matt started coaching part-time in the big mountain program in 2017 and found it very fun and rewarding. Starting as head coach in 2019, Matt wants to help all the young Vail skiers realize their full athletic potential, and to develop in them a love for mountains, skiing and nature.

When Max was just 2 years old, his parents strapped him in a backpack and took him to the snow-covered mountains - he loved it. Shortly after, he retired from the backpack days and found his love for skiing among his high school extracurriculars, football and lacrosse. Max attended the University of Maine at Farmington where he studied Elementary Education.

After graduation, he was able to combine his passion for teaching and coaching. He has been ski coaching here in Colorado for 4 seasons after he taught Middle School in Maine. Max has an Elementary Education K-8 teaching certificate as well as a PSIA Alpine 1, PSIA Freestyle 1, and USASA Level 200 ski certifications. He is looking forward to bringing positivity to both athletes and co-workers to push his peers to their full potential on and off the mountain.

Andy Weber went snowboarding for the first time on Sugar Mountain, North Carolina, with a group of his middle school peers. After a rough first ride, he tried again years later and filled his favorite high school memories snowboarding with his buddies. He grew up riding in the sun by day and under the lights by night.

Andy graduated from the University of Tennessee in 2015, where he received a degree in kinesiology. Following graduation he moved to Copper Mountain, where he worked as a Woodward Coach. His journey to Colorado led him to Ski and Snowboard Club Vail in March of 2019. Even though being a snowboard coach is not the job from his childhood dreams, he believes he has his dream job. He shares the sport that he loves with some of the “raddest” kids he has ever met.

His goal has always been to mold athletes into great snowboarders, but use the sport to cultivate a program that molds his kids into greater people. Andy holds a AASI Level 1 certification and a USASA Level 200 certification.

Hunter found his passion for skiing in the Alps when his family was living in Europe. He began ski racing at Cardigan Mountain School in New Hampshire, and later transitioned to Freestyle and Freeride reams at Gould Academy in Maine.

Hunter is actively pursuing his Alpine Cert 2 and FS-3, and has been working on his individual skills simultaneously. He recently received an achievement award from the Colorado National Guard for excellence as a military trainer. Hunter is looking forward to sharing his wide breadth of knowledge with his athletes.

He is excited to continue watching his teams’ skills, knowledge, passion, and comfort zone grow throughout the season. He places an emphasis on identifying his athlete’s personal comfort level, and specifically tailoring his coaching to the individual in order to help them optimize their maximum potential. Hunter will be working on improving dynamics both individually and as a team, and they become more efficient and technical in all their skill sets.