WAITSBURG – Sixteen-year-old Waitsburg High junior Jared Farley remembers crashing on a trail at Ski Bluewood when he was six or seven years old, and wanting to walk rather than ski back down. Just then, the Bluewood Ski Team passed by and Jared recalled thinking, "Wow! I want to be like them!"

His quick-thinking Mom, Sandra, told him if he would ski to the bottom of the run, he could join the team. That wreck was the unlikely nudge that led Farley to his current hobbies of competitive skiing and action photography.

Jared, along with his brother Drew and sister Amy, skied on the Bluewoo...