Dreams to reality: Navigating the men’s U.S. Ski Team with Bridger Gile

Growing up in a mountain town, many kids have one dream in common … to make the U.S. Ski Team. Local skier Bridger Gile turned his dream into a reality by earning a spot on the Stifel U.S. Ski Team in 2020 and lived out a personal dream by getting a start at the Birds of Prey races in Beaver Creek just last month. 

Gile, who now calls Aspen home, is from the Vail Valley and raced for Ski and Snowboard Club Vail, so getting his World Cup start on his home snow was extra special.

“Getting the start was definitely a dream come true, growing up skiing with SSCV, I slipped and worked on the Birds of Prey course for four years and was always amazed with the spectacle,” said Gile, who’s now on the U.S. Ski Team’s C team.

Unfortunately, his Birds of Prey run ended in a DNF (did not finish), but the roar of his hometown crowd never quieted as he made his way to the bottom of the course. 

With most of the world’s best athletes making the trip out to Beaver Creek for the Birds of Prey races in December, it allowed everyone to be on a more even playing field when it came to traveling and rest before heading back to Europe for the majority of the season. In the past, some of the European athletes opt out of the early season U.S. races and put more focus into the circuit on their home continent, allowing them more training time over travel time.

Gile said he likes the idea of the Euro racers now being on a similar travel schedule because “we kind of have an edge since we’re used to it.” The U.S. team has had to handle the long travel days that come along with their season in the past, and Gile feels like that may give them a leg up on the European skiers who may not be used to it. 

Another factor that sets apart the Stifel U.S. Ski Team is its veteran skiers who have proven to be great assets to the younger generation. Tommy Ford is one of those guys, and with three Winter Olympics and five World Championships under his belt, Ford’s who Gile looks to as a mentor. 

“I would not be where I am right now without Tommy Ford. He has won World Cups and has been racing them for 15 years, so he has a ton of experience,” Gile said of the 35-year-old Oregon native now from Hanover, New Hampshire, who won a World Cup giant slalom on the Birds of Prey course in Beaver Creek in 2019.

Gile and Ford are sharing a service tech this year, so they have been training together every day. Gile said that has made it super helpful and convenient to get to talk to him about his line, ski setups and general advice. 

The pair have become close, and Gile says, “I like to think of it as he is sharing his wisdom trying to make us younger guys better and us younger guys are keeping him young.”

This type of community within the team makes those long travel days and months away from home all worth it. 

As the season continues, Gile, 25, is hoping for more World Cup starts to prove to himself and his team that he deserves to be there. The men race a super-G, downhill and slalom on the legendary Lauberhorn course in Wengen, Switzerland, this weekend, but Gile – a tech skier by trade – is not on the start list for the slalom.

One thing Gile can be sure of is the support from everyone back home in the Vail Valley, which has produced some of the greatest ski racers in the history of the sport, including River Radamus of Edwards – currently the top-ranked American man in 25^th overall in World Cup standings – and Mikaela Shiffrin, also of Edwards, and former Vail resident Lindsey Vonn.

Coming out of retirement this season, Vonn will continue her comeback tour this weekend in women’s speed events in Cortina, Italy – site of the 2026 Winter Olympics – while Shiffrin is still battling back from an injury sustained in a race in Vermont in late November. Shiffrin is the all-time World Cup record-holder with 99 career wins, followed by Vonn with 82.

Despite more than a month off the tour, Shiffrin is still ranked 13^th in the overall World Cup standings. Vonn, following a sixth and fourth last weekend, has already climbed to 36th in points. The women will compete in GS next weekend in Kronplatz, Italy, followed by more speed events the following weekend in Garmisch, which Shiffrin is unlikely to come back for. 

Realistically, her specialty slalom might be the most enticing return event, which will next be contested in Courchevel, France, on Jan. 30.

As for the men, Gile, whose best event is GS, might be eyeing Schladming, Austria, the weekend of Jan. 28-29.