After ripping Killington Resort, VT as a tyke Robert Cone stepped up his game at Burke Mountain Academy before boosting onto the NCAA Carnival circuit in his freshman year at Middlebury and nearly landing on the giant slalom podium at NCAA nationals. Now the top male slalom skier in the country – for '92's – he took a leave of absence from Middlebury to train and compete with the U.S. Development Team. The decision paid off in 2012 with a sixth in slalom at the Junior World Championships and a pair of junior gold medals (slalom and giant slalom) from the Nature Valley U.S. Alpine Championships.