NH startup incorporates AI in ski race video technology

Hannes Schneider is regarded as the father of the alpine skiing technique known as the Arlberg method, a skill he brought to North Conway and the Mount Washington Valley in 1936.

One of his handpicked instructors to teach what was then considered a revolutionary style of skiing was Arthur Doucette, who then brought the skill to Black Mountain in Jackson.

The team guiding tech startup YULLR are, from left, Peter Zawadzki, CEO; Jeremy Stonier, chief revenue officer, and Sean Doucette, founder. (Courtesy photo)

Today, Doucette’s grandson, Sean Doucette, and his partners are transforming skiing again, this time with technology that incorporates artificial intelligence to create and deliver automated, top-to-bottom video footage of ski racers.

“Sean’s grandfather helped really to revolutionize the industry almost 100 years ago,” said Peter Zawadzki, who co-founded the company they call YULLR, a play on Ullr (pronounced Ooo-lar), the Norse god of snow and skiing. “Here we are trying to do the same exact thing nearly 100 years later.”

Doucette, Zawadzki and Jeremy Stonier co-founded YULLR in January 2024. Zawadzki serves as CEO, Stonier as chief revenue officer. They are local to New Hampshire — Doucette in Jackson, Zawadzki in Bartlett, Stonier in Lebanon.

Doucette, with experience in programming and applications engineering, for a time was an audio engineer and web developer for the Mount Washington Observatory. Zawadzki has done digital product work for Camping World and Hagerty, the world’s largest specialty insurance provider for classic, vintage and enthusiast vehicles. Stonier worked for Rollerblade.

And, when it comes to ski racing, the founders are recreational skiers and racers. Doucette’s kids are racers.

YULLR’s origin goes back to before it was formally incorporated.

On a visit to the Cranmore Mountain Resort in North Conway a couple of years ago, Zawadzki remembers seeing video technology that Doucette had developed to video ski racers.

“It was never built really as anything more than just a solution at Cranmore for parents who want to be able to watch their kids race on the mountain, as well as the adult race league,” said Zawadzki.

Zawadzki, with his experience in technology startups (and as a recreational ski racer himself), saw potential.

“The more and more I really dug into the overall concept of what was being done, I saw that this is a need, not only for one mountain, but this is a need for potentially an entire industry, and that’s where Sean and I joined forces,” said Zawadzki.

Using an on-slope setup of video cameras in one or more locations, plus some patent-pending technology that incorporates AI, a racer can be recorded from the start gate to the finish line through every gate on the course.

That recording is then available on-demand for viewing.

It can be used as a training tool by coaches and instructors for their young racers. It is also a tool of instruction for older, recreational ski racers as well, according to Zawadzki.

He cites some positive feedback from customers, particularly adult racers in reg leagues. He read one comment from a user that said: “Seeing myself in videos has already shown me how many things I need to work on. So the videos have been a big help. Thanks again.”

Currently, the technology is in use for race programs at Cranmore, Waterville Valley and Pats Peak in New Hampshire, along with Wachusett Mountain and Ward Hill in Massachusetts. More mountains will be added to the list in the near future, according to Zawadzki.

Partnership with NASTAR

In what he called “a really big deal for us,” YULLR partnered last year with the national recreational ski racing program known as NASTAR.

NASTAR, which stands for National Standard Race, uses a handicap system and awards medals — real and figuratively — for bronze, silver, gold and platinum finishes, factoring in age, gender and how the time measures up against a NASTAR-certified pacesetter.

“It opens up an entire new avenue of customers that also helps boost our exposure within that community,” said Zawadzki. “It also really helps us validate what we’re doing.”

There are some 480 ski areas in the United States and 64 of them offer NASTAR, including New Hampshire at Crotched Mountain, Gunstock Mountain Resort, McIntyre Ski Area, Pats Peak and Waterville Valley.

“This collaboration with YULLR brings an exciting new dimension to NASTAR racing,” Geoff Elder, co-owner of NASTAR, said in the announcement in October 2025. “Video and live timing are two key touchpoints for racers, and YULLR’s technology makes it easier than ever for athletes and families to relive and share their runs.”

According to NASTAR, many YULL-Requipped resorts now feature live race simulcasts in their lodges, letting families and spectators watch the races in real time. The result, NASTAR said, “is a more vibrant, connected race-day experience that engages everyone on the hill, not just those in the start gate.”

The application might extend beyond racers to include recreational skiers as well, according to YULLR.

For the technically minded, YULLR offers features such as slow motion and isolation zoom capabilities, along with tagging.

“Build your ultimate highlight reel one epic turn at a time,” it says.

An overlay feature allows users to compare runs with themselves or with friends or rivals to see where, and why, they’re gaining time or losing it. A so-called “Front Line” feature traces a racer’s exact path down the course so they can see every turn, where they drift, where they set a clean edge.

Coming soon is a comments ability where coaches or others can offer suggestions to fine-tune a skier’s on-course performance.

Zawadzki and the team, who work remotely, use online mapping tools and topography software to initially map out the slope used primarily for racing to determine the number and placement of cameras, working with the resort’s personnel on aspects such as electricity access.

“We’re able to stitch all of the different cameras together into one unified view of that race, from the top to the bottom of the trail,” said Zawadzki.

YULLR has three subscription plans to access live and archived videos.

Anyone curious about the service can sign up for a beginner pass that allows free access to five races.

A day pass ($9.55) offers single-day access to one mountain for an unlimited number of skiers. The league pass for $99.95 is for NASTAR and league programs for the entire race season. Another is a season pass ($299.95) for unlimited runs across multiple ski areas that have YULLR in operation.

“Our growth has been fantastic,” said Zawadzki. “I will say we are already booking mountains for next season to be on YULLR, so we’re actually super excited about our growth.”

NASTAR seeks local resurgence

NASTAR itself is seeking to redefine itself with a grassroots effort to re-establish its rec racing program at more local ski hills.

Originally created in 1968 by Ski Magazine, NASTAR has gone through a handful of ownership changes, losing local resort participants along the way, including in the Granite State — Bretton Woods, Attitash and Mount Sunapee to name a few.

Its newest owner, Global Reach Sports, said in a statement: “Our priority is to refocus our efforts on the broader NASTAR community, benefiting 100% of the racers and enhancing the experience at the resort level.”

For one local NASTAR mountain — Gunstock — the program helps enhance the overall skier experience.

“NASTAR provides an additional element of fun when people are here at the mountain,” said Robert Drake, in his second year as president and general manager at Gunstock.

And it feeds race programs in the region.

“If racing piques their interest, it also is a potential feeder for the ski clubs around New Hampshire, not just here,” said Drake.

In other mid-season snowsports news, Gov. Kelley Ayotte skied at Gunstock and other Granite State resorts on Jan. 23 as part of “Super 603 Ski Day” to showcase the state as a premier winter destination and underscore the importance of the ski industry to New Hampshire’s economy.

She started her morning with first tracks at Wildcat, then Attitash, Bretton Woods, Cannon, Loon, Tenney, Waterville Valley, then finishing under the lights at Gunstock.

“No better skiing than right here in New Hampshire — no matter what time of day,” she wrote in a social media post.

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, visited Cranmore on Jan. 22 to discuss bipartisan legislation to bring snowpack monitoring to the Northeast to benefit New Hampshire’s outdoor recreation economy.

Her “Snow Survey Northeast Expansion Act,” filed with Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Angus King, I-Maine, seeks to establish a network of snow and weather monitoring stations across the Northeast to track how climate change and disrupted weather patterns are affecting mountain snow accumulation and precipitation rates.

“Thirty years ago, winters in New Hampshire looked different than they do today. The Northeast Snow Survey will help us understand snowpack, floods and water supply levels in the region,” said Shaheen in a statement.

“This benefits our communities, businesses like Cranmore and the others in outdoor industries that rely heavily on snowpack data for safety, planning and tourism to help power the local economy.”