Team AVSC News

AVSC is thrilled to announce that AVSC Post Graduate (PG) athlete and coach Hanna Lamm has been awarded the Andy Mill Award. This honor is typically bestowed on one of AVSC’s four Team Pursuit of Excellence winners to recognize an athlete who has achieved outstanding national and/or international results in the past year. Last season, Lamm finished 15th at the FIS World Championships in Switzerland in Freeski Park & Pipe and has already placed fifth this year at the Australian New Zealand Cup in September.

Although Lamm has been with AVSC since age eight when she joined the Alpine/Freestyle Pre-Devo program, Lamm’s rise to the World Cup stage in the halfpipe has been exceptional — and exceptionally short. Skiing was always on the menu, however.

“I grew up in the Roaring Fork Valley, and everyone wants to ski here. My parents wanted it, my friends were in Pre-Devo,” she says. “It’s a great way to meet people who love the same thing.”

She started out in moguls and switched to big mountain, competing there through her senior year in high school. At age 18, she decided to give Park & Pipe a try. Last year, Lamm told The Aspen Times that just a few short years ago, she couldn’t even ski up the halfpipe wall.

“I started late in this,” Lamm admits. “But it was great to try all the disciplines. Usually, athletes will try slopestyle and halfpipe, then pick one. I went straight into halfpipe when I was 18.”

Lamm found success through Aspen’s USASA series, competing against more seasoned athletes. Series Director Jason Cook says this is exactly why the series is so important to our community and to our local athletes. “It gives them the opportunity to compete at a high level, qualify for higher-level competitions, and still come home to their own beds at night.”

Today, Hanna is a member of AVSC’s Post Graduate (PG) program with Dave Zweig as her coach. Zweig coached her through her first USASA competition and first encouraged her to try the halfpipe at Copper.

“He’s a great coach, so supportive, and really connected to each athlete and how we train,” Lamm says. “His coaching style is so personal, and he recognizes what each athlete needs and when to push us. He really cares about us.”

This season will be her third competitive season in Park & Pipe and her second on the World Cup circuit. She’s currently ranked fourth in the U.S. based on last year’s points, and if she can hold on to that ranking or improve, she’ll be headed to the Olympics in February (save the date to cheer her on — she’ll compete in Aspen at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix on January 11, with the Olympic team announcement coming on January 15).

Lamm, who spoke to AVSC from an Austrian training camp, says the AVSC name comes with a certain international cachet.

“We have phenomenal training resources here with all four mountains,” she says. “AVSC has had so many great athletes come through — Hanna, Alex, Kai, Nick. When I say I’m from Aspen, people know what that means, and it’s really cool.”

In addition to training in Austria, Lamm has spent time this summer training in New Zealand and at the AVSC Clubhouse. She’s also kept busy coaching trampoline camps and will coach weekend freestyle programs this winter in between her own competition and training schedule. Looking ahead, she’s focused on being strategic in her approach, eliminating the noise, and dialing in her mental preparation.

“Hanna is an amazing member of our team — supportive of her athletes and respectful of fellow competitors,” says Coach Zweig. “She will be looking toward another season of World Cup starts and has a high goal of putting herself into the mix for a potential Olympic spot. This season is going to be a big one, full of excitement and challenges, but Hanna is looking to make the most of her season between World Cup and Nor-Am starts.”

After learning she won the Andy Mill Award, Lamm said, “That’s crazy. It means a lot. I’ve worked really hard, and this is motivation to keep going. It’s so nice and encouraging to be recognized by my hometown club.”

The Andy Mill Award is named after longtime local Andy Mill, who was considered America’s premier downhill racer in the 1970s. In the downhill at the 1976 Olympic Games, he competed on a leg so bruised from a training injury that he couldn’t stand on it without pain. He froze his leg in the snow minutes before entering the starting gate and took home sixth place.

We wish Lamm congratulations on the Andy Mill Award and a phenomenal season. We will be rooting for her the whole way!
Follow her on Instagram at @_hannalamm_