Nordic Coaches
shamilton@teamavsc.org
Sophie has been on Nordic skis since she could walk. Growing up in a skiing family in Vermont, she got her start in the Bill Koch Youth Ski League before racing for Dartmouth College and then competing professionally with the U.S. Ski Team and the SMS T2 Team. Over her eight-year professional career, she represented the U.S. in two Olympics and earned ten World Cup podiums. Today, Sophie and her family call the Roaring Fork Valley home. She is passionate about giving as many kids as possible the chance to experience Nordic skiing and supporting athletes to take the sport as far as they can. Sophie is excited to lead the Nordic Program and to build on its strong momentum alongside the dedicated AVSC staff and athletes.
Lina Sutro | Race Team Head Coachlsutro@teamavsc.org
Lina was promoted to Race Team Head Coach in 2025. She is an AVSC alumni who grew up in Carbondale and attended CRMS for one year before heading over to Mora, Sweden, and attending a ski academy there for four years. She raced for the Dala Sports Academy team in Falun, Sweden, for one year after high school. After her stint in Europe, Lina returned back to the U.S. to attend the University of Vermont and skied on their ski team for four years. After that she joined a professional cross-country team, SMST2, team based out of Stratton, VT, and skied for them for three years. She retired from skiing and returned home to join the amazing team of coaches at AVSC!
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Weronika Kaleta | Bill Koch/Pre-Devo Director and Race Team Assistant Coach wkaleta@teamavsc.org
Bio coming soon!
Simi Hamilton | SkiMo and Nordic Coach
simi@teamavsc.org
Born and raised in Aspen, Simi grew up doing every discipline he could with skis attached to his feet. He went through the AVSC program himself and graduated from Aspen High School in 2005 before attending Middlebury College. He eventually focused his efforts on competing in Nordic, competing in 3 Olympic Games and earning multiple World Cup podiums, but he used backcountry skiing as a mode of cross training as much as possible. He is currently a mountain guide and has the FKT on the technical Elks Traverse. Simi has been involved in AVSC in both Nordic and SkiMo and is excited to continue working with athletes in both disciplines.
Maggie Casey | Race Team Coach
maggie@jvamlaw.com
Bio coming soon!
Nika Meyers | Aspen Lead Devo Coachnmeyers@teamavsc.org
Nika grew up nordic skiing in Vermont as soon as she could walk. She starting racing in the Bill Koch League and then helped start her high school team to continue racing through her senior year. While earning her BA from Mount Holyoke College in Art and Environmental Studies she stayed part of the Nordic community by volunteering at NCAA races, working/instructing at ski centers and competing in local races. After a decade of work in environmental education and stewardship, she found the magic of the Roaring Fork Valley’s nordic scene when she moved here in 2018 and has been coaching with AVSC ever since. She loves sharing a lifelong love for the challenge, friendship, inspiration and silliness nordic can bring with such an enthusiastic group of athletes! When she's not at AVSC, you can find Nika in her art studio in the Red Brick Center for the Arts or on an outdoor adventure. She has hiked over 12,000+ miles of long-distance hiking trails across the United States and has set several Fastest Known Times including the 500 mile Colorado Trail in 9.5 days. She feels incredibly lucky to get to work and learn along side such a incredible team of athletes and coaches.
Pete Van Deventer | Aspen Devo Coachpvandeventer@teamavsc.org
Pete is from Underhill, Vermont. He began skiing in his local Bill Koch program in Vermont in elementary school and got serious about the sport in High School. He went on to race for Dartmouth College and for a year abroad trained with the Kjelsaas Ski Club in Oslo. After a stint as a professional mountain guide, he returned to Bill Koch as a coach around 2015 and then jumped up to coaching the Devo team in 2021. Nordic skiing has connected him to such a strong community of enthusiastic, passionate, and uplifting people and left a strong mark on him as a young athlete. The passion, whether around training and racing or traveling or an approach to the world is infectious, and he loves the strength of the Nordic community in the valley. The support that he got from his coaches, especially as a junior, was integral to where he finds himself today, and he hopes to be able to provide some measure of that same support to another generation of athletes.
Scott Lacey | Aspen Devo Coachslacy@teamavsc.org
Scott Lacy is a born and raised Aspen Nordic skier. He grew up competing for AVSC and went on to race NCAA skiing for Dartmouth College. After completing an engineering degree, Scott attempted the “real world” for a year in Seattle, WA before moving to Jackson, WY where he began coaching and racing in the intermountain region. In Jackson Scott rose to program director of the Nordic team for the Jackson Hole Ski Club while beginning to train at a high level again. In 2019 Scott left coaching for full time racing on the Super Tour circuit in the United States. In a last minute decision to jump into some Biathlon races in 2020, he realized it was his true calling and quickly qualified to race internationally for US Biathlon. After 2 years of racing in Europe including being named to multiple Eurochamp Teams, Scott was named to the US Biathlon National team and competed another year where he earned a National Title before returning home to Aspen full time in January 2024. Scott views Nordic as a way of life and loves being a part of the Nordic community in the Roaring Fork Valley. Outside of coaching you can find Scott kayaking the local rivers, searching for excellent snacks, being a cat dad, and grooming the Nordic trails.
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Justin Silcox | Spring Gulch Lead Devo Coach jsilcox@teamavsc.org
Justin began coaching with AVSC in 2014. He began his coaching career in the 1990s and has coached for several clubs in the Intermountain, New England and Rocky Mountain regions. He grew up in Vermont and first raced as a member of a local Bill Koch ski league. He continues to love to race today and he loves to share his passion for cross country ski racing with kids and feels fortunate to have the opportunity to do so. Justin is a US Ski and Snowboard Level 200 certified coach. Justin also teaches science at Roaring Fork High School and loves spending time on the Roaring Fork Valley’s trails with his family.
Devon Blanchard | Spring Gulch Devo Coach
dblanchard@teamavsc.org
Bio coming soon!
Noah Wheeless | Spring Gulch Devo Coachwheelessnoah@gmail.com
Bio coming soon!
Sarah Kuhn | Lead Spring Gulch Pre-Devo + Bill Koch Coach
skuhn@teamavsc.org
Bio coming soon!
Liz Axberg | Lead Aspen Pre-Devo Coach
elizabeth.axburg@gmail.com
Bio coming soon!