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!
Nika Meyers | Aspen Lead Devo Coachnmeyers@teamavsc.org
Nika has been coaching nordic skiing with AVSC since 2018. She loves sharing the feeling of flying on snow that Nordic skiing can create with such an enthusiastic group of athletes! She grew up as a four-season athlete competing in x-country, Nordic, Track, and swimming. She raced Nordic skiing from Bill Koch League through high school in Vermont and stayed part of the Nordic community by volunteering at races and working/instructing at ski centers and competing in local races. When she's not at AVSC, you can find Nika in her art studio or out on an outdoor adventure. She has hiked over 11,000+ miles of long distance hiking trails across the United States and has set several Fastest Known Times including the 500 mile long Colorado Trail in 9.5 days. Nika earned her BA from Mount Holyoke College in Art and Environmental Studies.
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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.
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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.