Five professional athletes need help to continue pursuing their dreams.

Alpine skiers Megan McJames, Kiley Staples, Hailey Duke, Brooke Wales and Julia Ford are taking a new route down the hill in a fundraising sense.

Each athlete must raise $20,000 this year to cover the costs of traveling worldwide and competing at the highest level. So when former U.S. Ski Team coach Shaun Goodwin brought forth a new idea, Duke said the five skiers jumped at the opportunity.

The five athletes are hoping to raise funds through Hope Alive Media and a charity music album called “Out of Bounds.” The fundraiser download is available today through Dec. 15.

Artists such as Axis Armada, Rubblebucket, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, Bryon Friedman, The Prickers and Ghosts of Jupiter donated work and time to help out the athletes.

McJames said the album has 10 songs and costs $10.

“It will help us get to our goal of racing this year,” said the former Park City Ski Team racer, who is in her sixth year with the U.S. Ski Team and will be racing with the alpine B-team this season.

Duke, a native of Boise, Idaho, also skied for the Park City Ski Team and is in her fifth year on the U.S. Ski Team. She said she was excited about the possibilities when approached about the unique way to raise funds.

“It’s pretty cool to be able to come up with a creative spin,” she said. “It’s not just strictly fundraising; it kind of has a creative outlook to it as well.

“Any help we can get is awesome. The more people that jump in, the easier it makes on us so we can focus on skiing.”

Duke said each athlete must cover four installments of $5,000.

Staples is in her sixth year with the U.S. Ski Team and, like McJames and Duke, is a Park City Ski Team alumna.

“With the way the economy is, there’s not nearly as many donors this year,” she said. “There’s a lot of budget cuts. Some of the top-tier girls are all funded, but we’re just not really able to get the funding.

“It’s great that we’re able to get the fundraiser and get the exposure. It is an awesome idea. The thought never really crossed my mind it’s so easy for these people to just go online and donate $10; it’s like instant gratification. It’s one of the easier ways to get people to donate to our cause.”

All the athletes have World Cup aspirations, and as the season kicks off in the coming weeks, they hope to be able to continue to blaze down mountainsides.

“Whatever it takes,” Duke said.

For more information on the fundraiser, visit: http://www.hopealivemedia.org/alpinesupport .