For the final evening of the Behind the Start Gate lectures, former Olympian and World Cup ski racer Jonna Mendes will be in conversation with Curtis Bacca, who's been at over 200 World Cup races in his job as an expert and sought-after wax technician. You can expect stories and behind the scenes tales of what it takes to get athletes ready for racing - from waxing to training, how to get prepped and ready for being on snow, and more.

Curtis Bacca is a legendary 6-time Olympic wax technician for the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team, with a 30-year career on the World Cup circuit. He is one of only three American wax techs to prepare skis for a U.S. Men's World Cup Downhill victory, and the only American to have achieved wins in the Olympics, X-Games, and World Cup. Curtis’ resume includes tuning for Olympic champions like Seth Wescott, and Lindsey Jacobellis, contributing to 66 World Cup podiums, 25 X-Games medals, and 6 FIS Snowboard World Championships medals. His expertise has been highlighted on NBC Sports, ESPN, and in major publications like The New York Times and POWDER Magazine.

Jonna Mendes is a two-time Olympian and former World Championships medalist who has called Sun Valley home since 2011. She raced on the World Cup for 9 seasons and was an Olympic Team Member competing in 1998, Nagano, and 2002, Salt Lake City. A four-time US National Champion—in GS and downhill. She won a Bronze medal in the World Championship, 2003, for Super-G. Following her 2006 retirement from the U.S. Ski Team, Jonna honed her coaching skills as a U.S. Ski Team development coach from 2006-10, and since 2011 has been the director of the Sun Valley Ski Academy and in 2023 was inducted into the Sun Valley Winter Sports Hall of Fame which is a part of the Wood River Museum of History + Culture.

This program will be livestreamed and available to watch later. Click here to watch online.

This event will start at 6pm, with the John A. and Carole O. Moran Lecture Hall opening at 5:30 for seating. For those registered in advance, we ask that you be in your seats by 5 minutes before the start time. Starting at 5:55pm, we will make empty seats available to anyone who was not pre-registered, but is there waiting to get in. Thanks for your understanding.