Tahoe's Next Generation of Freeride Icons

Schreiber purchased his first pair of Blizzard skis, the Cochise, from Willard Sport Shop in Tahoe City at age 11. The same year, he competed in his first U12 IFSA competition at Homewood Resort and won.

Schreiber won competition after competition that season and decided it was time to get sponsored. So, he made a resume and posted an edit to YouTube. When it came time to start sending them around to brands, he struck out trying to find the emails of anyone he was looking for. Which brings us back to an 11-year-old kid with a manila envelope.

Schreiber sent letters to the addresses he found on the Helly Hansen and Blizzard Tecnica websites, in hopes of a response and eventually sponsorship. He never heard back from Helly Hansen, but one day Schreiber got an email from the old team manager for Blizzard Tecnica. His letter had gone all the way to the factory in Austria before being forwarded to the US Headquarters.

While Schreiber wasn’t offered a full sponsorship at 11-years-old, they did give him enough of a discount for him to go around telling everyone he was sponsored and keep skiing their products. Six short years later, 17-year-old Schreiber is officially a member of the Blizzard Tecnica Global Athlete Team.

The name Gaffney is another that’s synonymous with freeskiing in Tahoe. After growing up on the east coast, brothers Scott and Robb Gaffney moved to the Tahoe area in 1993. Scott soon became known for his filmmaking accolades and the many years he spent at the helm of Matchstick Productions.

Robb, on the other hand, was in and out of the area for several years while he attended medical school and completed a residency. During that time, he made regular visits to Tahoe and whilst in residency wrote the book Squallywood: A Guide to Squaw Valley’s Most Exposed Lines. Robb went on to create the legendary game of G.N.A.R. with the late Shane McConkey, and further ingrained himself in the mountain’s history.

In 2003, Robb moved back to Tahoe full time along with his wife and two kids. Robb’s son Noah, found the same passion for skiing at an early age and joined the Big Mountain team at Palisades when he was 9-years-old.

By 15, Noah had skied most of the terrain around Tahoe and had skied several major mountains in Tahoe National Forest, the Eastern Sierra, and climbed and skied multiple 14,000 foot peaks throughout the rest of the state. Noah’s dad was his main ski partner and had held a good relationship with Blizzard Tecnica through his own skiing for a long time.

Then two years ago, the brand took an interest after seeing him ski and do, "a lot more crazy stuff," according to Noah, signed him to their team.

When he wasn’t bagging peaks alongside his dad, Noah spent time skiing with other Tahoe kids growing up, namely, Kaz Sosnkowski.

Unlike Schreiber and Gaffney, Sosnkowski spent his childhood at Palisades in a speed suit as an alpine racer, a funny image if you’ve only seen him rocking the XXL bibs he wears now.

Sosnkowski raced for Sugar Bowl all the way through high school and attended Nationals in 2019. But after years of racing gates, Sosnkowski decided it was time to move on. He headed for Colorado to study mechanical engineering and business.

When the COVID pandemic sent him back to Tahoe during one of their legendary storms, Sosnkowski fell back in love with skiing. He moved to Jackson Hole for a season and skied as much powder as he could before returning to Boulder to finish his degree.

Over the next three years, Sosnkowski skipped as much class as he could to ski, travel, film, and compete on the FWQ. On a trip back to Jackson, Sosnkowski found himself amongst the right folks and soon enough was a member of the Blizzard Tecnica team alongside Gaffney.

Although they come from the same mountain, the path of each of these skiers took its own twists and turns through the sport. And yet, despite these differences, their paths also led all three of them to a lunch table covered in ski gear and half eaten schnitzel platters at Kitzsteinhorn last month, where I met Schreiber and Gaffney and reconnected with Sosnkowski, whom I’d met several years prior.

For some time, Blizzard’s athlete team has been hallmarked by skiers like Marcus Caston and Elyse Saugstad, known for powerful, picture perfect turns, descents of huge lines, and stomping cliffs.

While Sosnkowski, Schreiber, and Gaffey are fully capable of all of the above, they also represent a new generation of skiing.

It used to be that most professional big mountain skiers came from a race background, which is still true for Sosnkowski, but now, the ability to arc a turn around a gate is no longer a prerequisite for kids like Schreiber. His generation is built on a love for skiing that's forged from a different kind of passion, and best expressed through freeskiing.

Although a bit different from skier to skier, all three ski with a playful, yet intentional style that shows his own personality clearly. A style that’s reminiscent of a young Sean Petit or Sammy Carlson, and is distinctly different from their teammates.

Maybe it’s something in the water at Palisades, but in a way that’s wise beyond their years, all three skiers have figured out that making a life as a skier is about far more than just sponsorships.

“I think a lot of the younger kids don't really understand that it's not all about steam. The legends that are sitting in this room with us, it's not because they're the sickest skiers of all time. It's because they're good people and they make good connections. I feel like that's what's most important in the skiers,” said Schreiber. The attitude they share comes through in their skiing. It’s free, creative, full of style, and not trying to please or mimic anyone else.

Over the few days I spent skiing with Gaffney, Sosnkowski, and Schreiber in Austria, it was clear to me that in a time where the soul of skiing can feel a bit muddled by social media, the future is still bright.

The passion, humility, and talent displayed by the trio are that of those who came before them.