People think that ice is unyielding, but if you’re precise, if you’re focused and calm, it can give your skates wings.

Ethan Pasternak was born on November 1, 1998 in Juneau, Alaska and learned to skate at the tender age of two. His parents, Fiona and Piotr, brought him to the city rink during summers and Mendenhall Lake in the winter. A child prodigy, Ethan surprised all the local skate club instructors when he performed a double axel at only five years of age. Mrs. Pasternak has often recalled that Ethan seemed more comfortable on skates than on his feet. Ethan was always dedicated to the sport, spending up to six hours each day skating.

He drew the attention of renowned coach Sergei Maslov as the youngest competitor in the 2010 Pacific Northwest Skating Championships. Under Mr. Maslov’s training, Ethan has become widely recognized as one of the world’s most talented young skaters to date. Ethan enjoys traveling and competing, but loves coming back home to skate by the Juneau Ice Fields. His fondest and earliest memory is skating on Mendenhall Lake in late January 2002. Weaving figure-eights at dusk, he listened to his skates echo against the calm, ancient glacier. From that moment forward, Ethan never wanted to leave the ice.