Mogul skier Patrick Deneen got a break growing up in Washington. His father was part owner and general manager of a ski resort, so young Deneen was on skis before he was a year old. He started as an alpine racer, but kept watching freestyle skiers and eventually made the change to running bumps.

The last five seasons have seen Deneen go from 2008 FIS World Cup Rookie of the Year, to 2009 World Champion, to riding a win at the Olympic Trials all the way to the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver (where he finished 19th). Deneen captured his career first World Cup victory in 2011 and added two more podiums before taking his first U.S. title to close the season.

The 2012 season got off to a bit of a slow start for Deneen, but an amazing string of three consecutive World Cup dual moguls victories to close the season earned him a career-high second-place ranking in both the moguls and freestyle overall standings. The 2013 season also proved that Deneen is a force on the World Cup circuit, earning eight World Cup podiums spots and wrapping up the season ranked third.

FIRST TRACKS

Deneen, who was walking at nine months, was 11 months and two days old when his dad - co-owner and General Manager at Hayak Ski Area (now Snoqualmie) - put him on skis for the first time. He started alpine racing and was a top J4 and J5 "but then he started staring at freestylers, and he liked that idea," his father said. "One weekend, he won both a downhill race and a moguls contest." Home-schooled, Deneen had plenty of opportunity to ski – up to 190 days a year. He also was a competitive horseback rider, but gave it up when he was 15 so he could focus on skiing. He was 16 in December 2004 when he did well enough at U.S. Selections to earn a World Cup starting spot.

OFF THE SNOW

When he’s not traveling around the world chasing snow, Deneen likes to stay at home. He lives on a small horse ranch located in the eastern foothills of the Cascade Mountains, about 78 miles east of Seattle. “My nearest neighbor is about a mile away, so there is no one around to bother me,” he says. “When I am at home, I ride my horse, Spud, every day and help out around the ranch riding, training and working with some of our other horses. I have great fly fishing just five minutes from my house and in the winter, when I am home, I can ride snowmobiles out my back door as we get about five feet of snow at my house in most good winters.”