Not that I was the world’s most regular blogger, but I took a break for a bit over the last year to really focus on this Olympic season and make sure I was doing everything in my power to stay focused on what I needed to do. For me this means staying away from social media as much as I can and other forms of media as well since I find I’m just happier and more present in general when I don’t feel pressured to always post something or share my life with the world. However, I wrote a series of blog posts for one of my partners (Aztech Mountain) earlier this winter and they allowed me to share my thoughts on here as well. They wanted to really dive into the lead-up to the Olympics and tell the story of that process as it was unfolding in real time for a couple different athletes, from how we started imagining this experience as a possibility to what our days look like now as professional athletes. Anyway, I’ve copied the first series of questions below, with 4 more to follow!

Episode Theme: Origins + Motivations

Questions:

• When did you first realize skiing was more than a hobby — that it could shape your life?

Skiing was always part of my life, but honestly I could never really imagine myself doing it as a career. I was only skiing really part-time until I was midway through high school, and then finally made the leap to move up to the ski academy in Vail and give this everything I’ve got. But even then, I only saw skiing as a way to get into a good college and hopefully help with some scholarship money. During my postgraduate year I was selected to compete at the Junior World Championships in Switzerland, my first time ever racing outside of the US. I came in 6th in the Super G, and had this realization that all these kids in Europe that you grow up hearing about aren’t any better than we are at home in the US. I realized that if I kept doing my best to outwork anyone else in the world that I would one day be racing against, I would eventually catch up and be able to compete with anyone I wanted. Fast skiing wasn’t this abstract concept anymore that I put on a pedestal. And suddenly I started having more success as soon as I got home, winning the North American tour the very next year and earning my spot to start racing World Cups and skiing as a professional. 

• Who or what first pushed you out of your comfort zone on snow?

I was lucky to have some of my best friends to grow up skiing with. Everyone was a good skier, and more importantly, had the time of their lives being outside in the mountains with their friends. We spent more time freeskiing and hitting the terrain park than we did training, and built a comfort zone and risk tolerance that terrified our parents and that still drives my downhill racing to this day. We quickly learned to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, and to actively seek that feeling. This allowed us to push each other to go bigger or crash harder than we ever could have on our own. 

• What’s a vivid memory from your early days on skis — a podium, a crash, a breakthrough, a funny moment — that still defines your love for it?

We had a race at Breckenridge when I was probably 10 years old that I remember being brutally cold. Not just chilly but like -10 degrees brutally cold. And when you’re 10 years old, you want absolutely nothing to do with that. My friends and everyone at the race were complaining about how their feet were freezing and they didn’t want to be there, but I remember thinking there was no place in the world I would rather be. Give me this any day over relaxing by the pool and not being able to ski anymore. Getting to go compete against my friends doing what I loved was always my biggest driving force, and still spurs me on today. 

• How has your relationship with skiing changed from childhood joy to professional discipline?

Certainly skiing is certainly a bit more of a job nowadays, at least on some days, but I try to be very intentional about finding joy in the little things and remembering how lucky I am to do this for a living. Every result has a bit more weight to it now, but at the end of the day, I’m still getting to do the same thing I did every weekend as a kid and what I would try to still be doing every weekend now, whether it was my career or not. And it’s easy on the sunny days where you feel good and motivated, but the difference in doing this for a living comes on the days where you’re cold and your body hurts and you don’t feel like mustering up the motivation to go lift weights after a full week of training. That’s where this “professional discipline” comes to play. Fortunately this part always came fairly easily to me. Juggling so many things growing up, between trying to take school seriously and play 4 different sports, I had to grow up early with regard to managing my time and being disciplined about what I could do for fun outside of my commitments. That said, I don’t view this as something that’s at odds with keeping the joy in skiing. Having the discipline and professionalism needed actually allows me the peace of mind to truly enjoy what I’m doing since I know I’ve taken care of everything else on the periphery. Then all that’s left to do is go ski and feel free. 

• When you picture that kid version of yourself, what would they think of where you are now?

I think they would be a bit surprised that we’ve made it this far, considering I barely knew anyone growing up who had even ski raced at all, let alone professionally. That said, I had an idea when I was a bit older, a teenager maybe, that I would be able to find a way to keep pursuing both my passions of playing sports at a high level and school as well. So to be racing on the World Cup and chipping away at my Dartmouth degree would seem like a combo they could be proud of. But I think anyone still skiing would be able to say their younger self would be proud. The more important thing is that the younger version of myself could’ve never imagined the road it took to get here. The crashes and celebrations and injuries and near-retirements along the way; that’s something they never could have seen coming. But I think even if they did, they’d continue either way. Because regardless of how it turns out, committing to something bigger than yourself and enjoying the process of getting better each day is what it’s all about.