Established in 2007

The Tahoe Junior Freeride Series (TJFS) is a fun and challenging freeride competition series that consists of four big mountain freeride competitions for kids 12-18 years old. The TJFS was established as a fun competition series for junior ski and snowboard athletes in the Tahoe region. The series has grown to include athletes and families from the extended ski community in Truckee, North Lake Tahoe, South Shore Tahoe, the Bay Area, Yosemite, Shasta, Mammoth, Kirkwood and Reno.

The Tahoe Junior Freeride Series originated in 2007 as a friendly big mountain competition between teams run by co-founders Eric Deslauriers (Squaw Valley) and Sean Carey (Sugar Bowl Ski Team). The next year, current Director Jason Dobbs got his team (SquawFree) to join, and TJFS has continued to grow into a four stop regional series that boasts over 360 competitors. With other teams and a growing governing body, TJFS officially founded as a non-profit 501(c)3 organization in 2012, hiring its first Executive Director, Cathy Howard. Tahoe Freeride has continued to expand operations into operating IFSA Junior 3* events as well as offerings on the Adult IFSA Qualifier series and U12 offerings, seeing an average of 1,500 competition runs per season.  We are proud to have hosted Championship level events for both Adults (2019, 2021-2025) and Juniors (2017, 2025) and will continue to lead with innovation and creative approaches to ensure we fill the needs of the Far West athlete.

OUr Mission

Tahoe Freeride is committed to providing a competitive environment that is friendly, supportive and builds a healthy community on and off the venue. The competitions foster growth opportunities for athletes:
  • to participate in a healthy, supportive and competitive community.
  • to strive to be the best they can be within their physical ability.
  • to make healthy decisions
  • to gain resilience in the face of failure and humility in the face of success.
  • to have fun.
TJFS |Tahoe Freeride will make decisions about the junior series and the adult events that address the interests and needs of all athletes from the first time competitor to the world champion.


History of tjfs

The Creators

The TJFS was conceived and created by Sean Carey and Eric DesLauriers.  As the head coaches of Sugar Bowl Freeride and the Squaw Big Mountain Team, they saw growing interest in the sport and a need for additional junior events, and began a small inter-squad friendly competition at each resort. The next year, Jason Dobbs and his crew with SquawFree joined the ranks, and the growth continued rapidly with the greater growth in sport, as additional teams were founded and began to participate. TJFS events tripled in size, and justified the addition of further events to create the 4-stop series. Barely existing as a grassroots non-entity no longer served our size, and we established our 501©3 nonprofit in 2015. Meanwhile, IFSA needed to accommodate tremendous growth evident across the U.S. and Canada, and they divided North America into 9 regions, beginning the tiered Jr. Regional (2*) and Jr. National (3*) system, encouraging others to follow the Tahoe/Far West template to add competition opportunities. In time, a national event producer (MSI) ceased to exist for junior events, and so TJFS took on production of our 2 National events. In 2019, we hosted our first Adult Qualifier events, and in 2021, we added a single U12 competition. We continue to be a nationwide leader, working with and often leading IFSA as the sport of Freeride continues to witness searing growth, challenging many regions to keep up with demand. By implementing our innovative Dual Panels system, we have been able to meet the demand for most Freeride divisions, continuing to serve both the first-time competitors, as well as the numerous athletes who have risen through TJFS ranks all the way to the Freeride World Tour. Always adapting and always innovating as we represent our Far West Region as Series Directors and primary Event Organizers, we are excited for the fresh lines ahead!

The founders

The founding members of the TJFS and founding board of Directors are: Sean Carey,  Eric Deslauriers, Cathy Howard, Trevor Tanhoff, Jacques Fix, Wes Pyatt, and Jason Dobbs.