Monster Army is excited to announce that four of our athletes have been named to the official U.S. Ski Team for 2019/20. Congratulations to Abigale Hansen, Connor Ladd, Hunter Carey and Hanna Faulhaber!

With three of the athletes making the team for the first time and one, Abi Hansen, moving up from the U.S. Rookie team to the U.S. Pro team. We caught up with all four of them to get the low down. Follow along as each athlete answers a few questions from Monster Army, 

Hey, congrats again! Tell us what this means?

AH: Thank you soo much! This just means I'm closer to all my goals! I had a really good season!

CL: Thank you. It means a lot to me just because I have worked hard to get to this point and it is super cool to be on the team.

HC: Thank you it means a lot. Getting on the Halfpipe team is super nice and I am stoked to ride with the rest of the team and coaches.

HF: Being on the team means that I get to meet, train, and compete against my idols form when I started skiing. It also opens me up to more skiing resources for my training.

How does it feel?

AH: It feels amazing it has always been a goal of mine to make it on to the pro team!

CL: It feels awesome. I am really excited to be on the team and to be able to train with them.

HC: It feels amazing. I have been working towards this basically my whole life and then this past year I made it happen. Super happy about my results and how everything worked out.

HF: Being on the team is amazing. This has been a dream of mine that i have had ever since I started Freestyle skiing

Have you been on the team before?

AH: I've been on the rookie team for about 4 years!

CL: I have not been. I had been on the Winter Park Freeski team but this year is my first year on the U.S. Team

HC: No, I have never been on this team before. It's my first time making it which is super exciting.

HF: No, I have not been on the team before. This will be the first year skiing with the team.

What’s it like to represent your country?

AH: It's amazing! I'm so happy to be apart of a great group of people who do!

CL: I think that it is very exciting but it hasn’t sunk in yet. I think it is a big honor to be able to represent the U.S.

HC: Representing the US is crazy because we have some of the best people in the world for halfpipe skiing and to be a part of that group is unreal.

HF: Being able to represent my country is unbelievable and humbling. Although it does put a little more pressure on me than before I was on the team.

Do you have eyes on the Olympics one day?

AH: Of course I do! It's been a dream of mine since I was a child!

CL: I do. I hope to go to the Olympics and compete in World Cup events in the next few years.

HC: The Olympics is definitely on my mind in the future. Also, the Youth Olympics is next season, so that would be an amazing experience too.

HF: It has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid to go to the Olympics, and I think that if I continue to grow as a skier and consistently keep that growth, and have a little luck, hopefully someday it will happen.

What can we expect from the 2019-2020 season?

AH: Lots of hard work. I'm just hoping to have fun next season and do my best to get a new run together! I have a couple things I'm working on that would be huge for me!

CL: Lots of competitions and traveling. I will compete in Rev tours, NorAm events and hopefully some Grand Prix events.

HC: Next season is going to be insane. A lot of comps and training going down. Hopefully I will just keep improving and skiing even better than last year.

HF: In the 2019-2020 season I will be training with the US Rookie Team which means a lot of travel and training. This year I will compete in all of the Rev Tour’s and hopefully a few World Cups and Nor Am events. I will also continue to learn harder tricks, work on my amplitude, and make my run better.