Ski racers at Bainbridge High School could easily all meet in a phone booth.

Bainbridge High School junior Jarett Grimm is one of that small minority. Grimm celebrated his recent birthday wearing a speed suit and winning first place in the Evergreen Cup Men’s Slalom at Stevens Pass. The day before he also grabbed third place in the Giant Slalom.

Grimm is a Bainbridge High varsity football and tennis athlete who has had a passion for ski racing from an early age. He has trained for years with his older ski racing brother Alec Grimm, now a football lineman at Hamline University in Minnesota.

Jarett Grimm, two Wenatchee cousins and other Stevens Pass Alpine Club racers train at Stevens when they’re not on the road for competitions.

Grimm’s races take him throughout the Northwest and Western Canada, where he competes in US Ski Association-sanctioned events.

The US Ski Association is the base of a pyramid leading to the US Ski Team, and while few racers will make it to the US Ski Team, Grimm has gotten the chance to compete against current and former US Ski Team members.  Many top ski racers train full time at ski academies or are home schooled near a resort, so to have success as a “weekender” like Grimm is a special challenge.

Additional highlights for Grimm this season were a third place giant slalom finish at the Webb Moffet Series at Snoqualmie Pass, a ninth place slalom finish at Grouse Mountain, British Columbia, a sixth-place win in a Western Region qualifier in giant slalom and a spot on the Pacific Northwest Ski Association Western Region Team.

Grimm also had an opportunity during winter break to ski his first downhill races at Mount Bachelor, the only mountain sanctioned in this area for these high-speed runs. He started from the tail end of the pack to finish 13th.

Jarett and his parents, Andy and Terry, who teach in the  Bainbridge and North Kitsap school districts, celebrated spring break with a driving trip to visit many colleges in the Rocky Mountains where Jarett might like to further his education and pursue his passion for skiing.