What to do if you’re a downhill skier once the snow melts.

Not a problem – at least not according to siblings Ellie and Aria Roy.

The local youngsters are among the best in the province in a niche but growing sport that essentially mixes alpine skiing and mountain biking together and comes out with a finished product that is absolutely exhilarating – to participants and spectators alike.

The outdoorsy tandem were already initiated to traditional mountain biking when they stumbled across a variation that understandably might appeal to the daredevil in all of us, captivated by what they were seeing on You Tube.

“Somehow, we convinced our parents to let us do that,” said Ellie, flashing her perpetual smile.

Still only ten years old and preparing to enter grade five at Ecole catholique élémentaire Jean-Paul II this fall, Ellie and her sister first ventured quite trepidatiously down the slopes of Horseshoe Valley a few years back, the only venue on Ontario that features both a downhill MTB course as well as the chairlift option that allows riders to bypass walking their bikes up the steep hills.

Where alpine skiers enjoy the areas that glean as well-kept grass covered vistas during the summer, the MTB crew look to the wooded parts of a downhill course that would more often than not be considered off-limits during the winter.

In that sense, a downhill MTB course might resemble a rugged cross-country MTB course, but simply with a steeper pitch to the slope.

“We started with a green trail,” stated Aria, a grade eight 13 year-old student at the same school as her sister. “We actually had to walk our bikes, at some parts, just because we thought they were too steep.”

“I just tried my best not to fall.”

With less life experience under her belt, Ellie was the more fearless of the two when cautious meanderings down the hill gave way to interests in racing.

“When you are first doing it, yes, it can be scary,” she said, beginning her racing career, along with her father (Chris), just a touch before her big sister.

“But it’s not scary once you’re used to it,” Ellie continued. “You have to maybe go practice down a ramp or a small hill, maybe bo through some rocks.”

To be clear, this leap into the relatively unknown world of downhill MTB was simply a natural progression to a young lady who has had a bike at her side, almost since birth. “When I first got off my training wheels, I would go into the forest (with my bike),” said Ellie.

“It was fun. Then we went to Walden (Trails) and started to do cross-country.”

Athletically speaking, Aria may have arrived on the downhill MTB scene with a slightly wider spectrum of sporting background, having competed in soccer in Valley East and still doing so to this day.

“It helps me get stronger legs, I guess,” she suggested at the question of any transitional benefits to those sports. “After a long day of biking, I would say that my wrists and legs hurt a lot. You’re standing up the whole time.”

Both girls can draw on their alpine ski background, through they are quick to note that there is not nearly as much cross-over as one might think. Where the ski trails are nice and wide, allowing beginners to ease their way down without disrupting more advanced skiers, downhill MTB trails are quite narrow.

Thankfully, the community who partake are generally quite accepting, happy to welcome a few new converts into their fold. “I was worried when we first started that there were people who would get made because we go slower and you can’t really pass,” said Aria. “But everyone was really nice.”

Besides, these two are quick studies – even if one is far more likely to throw caution to the wind than the other.

“Ellie really wanted to start racing right away; I was kind of more hesitant,” said Aria, with a smile. “Now, I am just excited to race and really want to win.”

Her sights set on gold in the summer circuit, Aria (and Ellie) have, in time, enjoyed the opportunity to broaden the scope of venues they have tested.

The girls have spent time at Revelstoke (B.C) with a family friend, as well as training in Tennessee earlier this year, competing on the much more popular Monster Energy Downhill Series south of the border (in Vernon, New Jersey) in May and readying themselves for another crack at Killington (Vermont), site of the U.S. Open of Downhill Mountain Bike, the final stop in the series in September.