Local youth are the bedrock of the Project. About 35 CTFN youth have worked with the Project since 2006. It's a rigorous job with difficult working conditions. Each year more and more youth show up prepared to meet that challenge. Many of them have taken that work ethic and succeeded in other aspects of their life, whether it be school, other jobs, or what have you. It has exposed them to all sorts of people - mountain bike tourists, Olympians, media, even Whitehorse residents - that they never would have met otherwise. Trail crew leadership revolves from year to year (Derek for 3 years, Wayne for 2, etc.). 2012 was a watershed year in that regard. CTFN citizen Shane Wally, who started with the project at age 16, became the Crew Leader. He led a crew of 6 youth on probably the most difficult build to date. He rose to the occasion so decisively that he was promptly snatched up by a local tourism operator for work this past summer!