The cousin of Alpine Meadows Freestyle Team founder, Clay Beck, K.C. Oakley stuck with the family tradition. She joined the Alpine Meadows team at 13 and made the three-hour commute to Tahoe from Piedmont, CA every weekend all winter. At 17, she narrowed her focus to just moguls and began competing in NorAm events. At the end of the 2011 season, she captured her first two NorAm wins, the overall NorAM title and a silver medal at the U.S. National Championships, earning her invite to the U.S. Ski Team.

It was a good move, because in 2012 Oakley nabbed seven top-ten World Cup finishes, her first podium and the U.S. Championship title at Mt. Stratton, VT. She finished her rookie season ranked ninth in the world, which earned her the World Cup Rookie of the Year award.

Oakley has taken full advantage of the resources provided by the U.S. Ski Team and has scored 13 World Cup top-10 results since being named to the team. Oakley finished the 2013 season with yet another U.S. Championship podium at Heavenly Mountain.

K.C. SAYS
After two full seasons on the World Cup circuit, I am finally finding my bearings. Between the constant travel, busy competition schedule and aching body, I've gathered the insight to what it will take to be successful at this level of sport. I had a very successful rookie season in 2012, winning the World Cup Rookie of the Year award and ending top 10 in the world rankings. In 2013, I unfortunately did not reach my goals of stepping up my skiing to the next level. I did make some good improvements in my skiing and, up to this point, have made every World Cup final. After dealing with exertional compartment syndrome in my lower legs for the past two seasons, I decided to go through with the surgery and look forward to skiing pain-free this next season. The idea of pain-free skiing is overly exciting, especially as we head into this big Olympic season, in which I have many goals and dreams I am going to reach and fulfill.

FIRST TRACKS
When Oakley was 13 years old, she began competing in freeskiing competitions, but at the age of 17, she realized that her real passion was for moguls.

OFF THE SNOW

Oakley spends all the time she can back in California, at the beach with friends and family. She’s also working on her MBA (Master's in Business Administration) at Westminster College in Salt Lake City. The rest of her efforts go towards her foundation, Jill's Legacy. The foundation honors her best friend, Jill Costello, who passed away in June 2010 from lung cancer, as a healthy, young and non-smoking student-athlete. “In her honor, in order to help others who face this deathly diagnosis, we spread awareness that anyone can get lung cancer and raise funds for young scientific researchers so that we can help increase the 15.5% survival rate,” she says.