Lofty ambitions for British Ski and Snowboard after record-breaking winter

And with a new performance director on board in the shape of Dan Hunt - formerly of British Cycling and the Premier League - all is headed in the right direction as the sport's national governing body, British Ski and Snowboard, sets out its vision for the years ahead.

By 2030, it hopes that Britain can be one of the top five nations in ski and snowboard, with medals in Korea next year and increased funding the sport vital in seeing that aim come to fruition.

For any sport, Hunt is the man you would want at the helm with such lofty ambitions on the agenda.

Having guided the nation's cyclists to Olympic titles at both the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games before working as sport director at Team Sky, Hunt then switched sports to become head of performance in football's top flight.

But despite only taking on his new role in October, Hunt has already witnessed the extraordinary potential that lies within the nation's snow sport athletes.

"Coming in, the first thing was to establish my own truth of everything that was going on across all of the disciplines, who was where and who does what," he said.

"Very quickly, I wanted to establish one clear vision of what we could all try and work towards.

"When I joined, there wasn't really a unified mission, so our vision is to become a top five ski and snowboard nation by 2030.

"I really wanted to come in and lift the overall ambition of the organisation. Part of setting very ambitious targets is then achieving those targets and becoming attractive to UK Sport.

"They aren't going to fund the sport if its ambition is to reach the top 20, so we have to put our vision out there.

"We've done the analysis of what it actually takes to become a top five nation, and I totally believe it's doable."

The hottest name in British snow sport right now, Ryding made history back in January when he became the first British Alpine skier to attain a World Cup podium finish with his silver medal-winning performance in Kitzbuehel.

The season has also seen phenomenal success for Britain's Park and Pipe team, with three X Games medals and two World Cup wins among their haul for the campaign.

Add to that 12 further World Cup podium finishes across all disciplines, three World Championship medals and a fourth place berth for Andrew Musgrave – the best ever World Championship finish for a British cross country skier – and it's clear to see why BSS are keen to go from strength-to-strength.

"When I came in, I realised a very palpable change in the mood around the place, and I think what Dave and Andrew Musgrave have done, and what the Park and Pipe guys have been doing regularly at World Cups, shows that we can be podium competitive in these events," he said.

"Not only have they blown the myth that you've got to be born with skis on your feet to be good, but they've put belief back in the system."

Success doesn't come without support, however, and with no investment from UK Sport, the BSS relies heavily on the British Snowsports Fund, as well as commercial and private revenues, sponsorship and private benefaction.

But if Britain is to become a sporting powerhouse on the slopes, Hunt insists much more is needed if that ambition is to be realised.

"Ultimately, we need the sort of funding that comes with a big sport. If you think about BSS, it's a reasonably small organisation but we're responsible for nearly 50 per cent of the medals available at a Winter Olympic Games," he said.

"But as soon as you start to say we're going to be ambitious and try to become one of the top five nations, that comes at a cost."

"The summer sports are running routinely at £2.1million a medal, it's an expensive game.

"We're not going to run anywhere close to that but we can't do this without resources, and in terms of figures, my indicative costings will run to between £4-4.5 million a year in order for us to achieve that top five status.

"In order to get that, we can't just sit around and wait for UK Sport to ride over the hill on their white horses, because that isn't going to happen.

"If we can't get the resources, then we can't be a top five nation, it's as simple as that."

Sportsbeat 2017