Established in 1965, Team Duluth, formerly known as the Duluth Alpine Club, is celebrating 60 years of dedication to cultivating alpine skiing as a life-long support. During the 2025-26 season, Team Duluth will showcase some of the club members who’ve left a lasting impact on Team Duluth.

Scott “Race” Ransom is Team Duluth’s longest-serving coach. Starting in 1977 as an Assistant Coach, he became Head Coach in 1978, while the Duluth Alpine Club was based at Mont du Lac.  He went on to coach alpine athletes for 41-years.

Coach Ransom grew up in the Midwest, Quebec, and Northern California, as his father was employed by the mining industry. While living in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, his father built a rope tow energized with a truck motor to haul the Ransom kids up a hill so they could ski and fall. An early newspaper article shows Ransom receiving his first race medal at age four.

When Ransom was in 9th grade, his father bought him ski boots and said, “these are your boots, if you need new ones, you’ll have to buy them with your own money”. This conversation, and many more, instilled a sense of personal responsibility that Ransom expected from himself and the athletes he coached.

Ransom moved to Duluth during his senior year of high school; graduating from Duluth Central in 1972. At the time, he had a limited club racing background on small town hills.

Ransom attended the University of Minnesota, Duluth, to earn a degree in Teaching.  He raced for UMD and qualified for Nationals two different years.  “I learned to race on my own; I was not a top seeded alpine racer”, said Ransom.  “I used to walk through Chester Bowl on my way to UMD. A discussion with a ski parent led to Ransom running gates, then coaching.”

“Race was always the first on the hill,” said Andy Bischoff, Team Duluth’s Development Team Lead Coach. Bischoff, who started skiing with Team Duluth at age 6 and ski’d under Ransom from 1999-2003. “Race taught me how to be confident in challenging situations.” The 2003 Duluth East grad raced for Plymouth State, New Hampshire in 2003-04. Bischoff has his USSS L-100 coaching certificate, referee, and chief of race license.  He’s been coaching Team Duluth athletes, at all levels, since 2008.

One of Ransom's favorite coaching memories came from a student athlete inviting him to a mentoring event. He arrived at the event without knowing what to expect. As the night unfolded, the banquet-style event celebrated the mentors of each of the students at the venue. “Each and every student introduced their mentor and provided a summary of how we impacted them,” said Ransom. “That’s definitely a memory that sticks with me.

“I spent a lot of time with Race during my competitive years,” said Team Duluth Program Director, Corey Danelski. “He was a great coach to me, but my best memories came from talking on the long van rides while traveling around the country, the early chairlift rides, and watching the sun come up from atop of ski hills.”

Danelski and his brother, Perry, joined the Duluth Alpine Club in 1975. He raced for Denfeld High School where he won sections and went to state. Danelski competed at the Junior Championships. Nationals, NorAMS, and was on the U.S. Central Region A Team; a five-man/five-woman competition team that raced around the county. Danelski went on to ski at Brigham Young University, Utah, where they earned the National Championship distinction in 1990 and 1991. He finished his last year at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, when they qualified for the National Championship in 1992.

Later, from 2000-2015, Ransom coached Danelski’s daughters, Megan and Madison. “I probably learned more about alpine racing while coaching with him,” said Danelsk. “Race had a passion for ski racing and that carried on to me.”

When asked what he thinks about Team Duluth celebrating 60-years, Ransom said “it’s gratifying to see Team Duluth is still engaging athletes and building skills; what more could you ask for?”.

The Duluth Alpine Club was founded in 1965 by Wes Neustel, Don Salo, Paul Vesterstein, George Hovland, Melvin Cohen, P.A. Briglia, John Haavik, William Atmore and others. Team Duluth is one of ten clubs in Minnesota devoted to alpine skiing as a life-long sport and participating in USSA and FIS programs. Several years ago, D/SAC transitioned into Team Duluth including both alpine and freestyle disciplines.

Spirit Mountain became our home hill and primary training facility in 1979.