If her last name doesn’t drop the weight of an avalanche on her shoulders, Alison DiGravio probably ought to feel like the letters on her Carrabassett Valley Academy ski parka are cut from cement blocks.

DiGravio’s family is stacked with forerunning skiers – big brothers, at that – who have made a name for themselves far beyond the boundaries of Sugarloaf. Her school is a veritable winter sports workshop, constructing Olympians, college All-Americans and national team members by the dozen.

It’s enough to make a lesser young woman pack her bags and take up a new hobby in a warmer climate where she wouldn’t be recognized.

When barreling down a moguls course at breakneck speed and slowing only to execute gravity-ignoring tricks is in your blood, however, you can’t have it any other way. Seemingly oblivious to the pressure, DiGravio, 17, has accepted the challenge to be next.

By virtue of a breakthrough 2007-08 season that covered 50,000 air miles, the Farmington teen was named to the U.S. Ski Team development group.

Think of it as being a No. 1 draft pick for a perennial playoff team. DiGravio won’t be expected to carry the torch for an entire nation right away, but she’ll have all the travel and training benefits of apprenticeship.

“It’s definitely an honor,” DiGravio said. “A lot of the other kids on the team are more experienced. They’re older kids in their early 20s.”

DiGravio hooked their attention and forced talent scouts to take notice with a series of phenomenal runs in NorAm competition.

Forced to qualify for those events at the level just beneath World Cup, DiGravio burst into the team’s consciousness with podium (top-three) finishes at Calgary, Alberta, and Apex, British Columbia.

In the championship round at the end of the NorAm campaign, DiGravio finished sixth, higher than any skier not already affiliated with a national team.

“It was definitely a surprise. I wasn’t expecting to ski that well,” DiGravio said. “It’s amazing competition. I just tried to stay calm and tell myself that it was just another run.”

Skiing is a family affair for the DiGravios, who migrated from Massachusetts to Maine when Alison’s older brothers, Ron Jr. and David, were aspiring skiers.

Their father, Ron, is Alison’s moguls coach at Carrabassett Valley Academy.

“With her, it’s real easy (to be her coach). She’s kind of shy and easy-going,” the elder Ron DiGravio said. “It probably wouldn’t have been as easy with the boys. The boys were pretty high intensity all the time.”

Not that their baby sister ever embraces the easy way out. If last winter’s travel schedule was a whirlwind, this summer may leave the national team’s newest prospect feeling that she’s swirling in a tropical storm. The green months mean dry land training all over the world.

Winter might feel like a relative breeze, now that DiGravio’s preferred status gives her an automatic bid to the NorAm competitions.

“You get known by the coaches and the judges. You get more training opportunities. And the big benefit is that you don’t have to qualify,” Ron DiGravio said. “You don’t have to worry about falling. You can just go out there and ski your best.”

DiGravio first accompanied her family to the slopes at age 4. By 8, she was competing in age-appropriate mogul events and emerging as a star in the CVA weekend program.

Young Ron’s promising career was cut short by a knee injury. He turned to football in college, starring as a linebacker at Bates College.

David scored a World Cup podium finish in Korea two years ago before missing last winter due to knee surgery.

Neither fear nor unwelcome pressure to uphold the family name ever creep into Alison’s mind.

“My brothers worked really hard, and I saw them have success,” she said. “They encourage me all the time. They’re definitely something that I look up to.”

Role models aren’t in short supply at CVA, where the up-and-comer has a wide array of X-Games and World Cup alumni to admire and emulate.

With the U.S. Ski Team’s anointing, we’re a giant leap closer to seeing a gaggle of 8-year-old weekend skiers strive to become the next Alison DiGravio.