The 2016-17 winter sports season has begun, and Bishop Union High School’s ski and snowboard teams have been practicing at Mammoth Mountain, training for their upcoming races. Without a doubt, the most important component of every team is the coach, and ski coach Mike Craven is no exception.

Coach Craven is a seasoned skier who has been shredding the hill since he was a teenager. Craven attended Fountain Valley High School in Huntington Beach, where he participated in the school’s surf club. After high school, Craven decided to trade salty surf for snowy slopes and moved to Mammoth so he “could get better at skiing.” But, as Craven confessed laughingly, one season “turned into decades of skiing.”

Craven has been coaching BUHS’s ski team since the 2002-2003 season, and believes that the best part of the job is “spending time with the kids,” getting to be outdoors, and “passing the love of skiing on to others.” While many students join the Bishop ski team with a passion for snow-sports already, Craven is excited that his coaching and the good times shared by students on the team can augment and encourage that passion to persist for years – even after high school. Some former team members who have experienced the love of skiing “on a personal level” return to Mammoth Mountain during their winter break and spread the joy of skiing by teaching at ski school. Many other past Bronco skiers also keep in contact with Craven and look back at their time on the ski team as an incredible opportunity and a very fun experience.

Last year, Bishop Union High School’s ski team placed eleventh out of thirty schools at the California state championships. According to Craven, this is an excellent position, especially “considering we have a small team.” This season, Craven plans on landing the team in the top ten or even the top five, which is a “reasonable goal,” as there is “no reason [the team] can’t.” Craven also hopes that some of Bishop’s ski team members will achieve a place in the top ten individuals at CIF this year.

Whether slicing through the giant slalom course, mobbing Broadway, or just taking it easy in one of Craven’s favorite out-of-the-way trails, the Bishop ski team will be skiing hard this year, while being headed by one awesome coach.