SARAH WILSON
“Ski like a girl, eat like a man.”
A powder day at Beaver Creek prevented my parents from moving to Houston when I was less than a year old. It was destiny --- by the time the next winter rolled around, I’d already fallen in love with skiing. I was raised in part by the Copper Mountain ski school, where my mom started teaching when I was five. I followed suit nine years later, and became a certified instructor in 9th grade. Much as I enjoyed escorting three-year-olds down the bunny hill on powder days, I had set my sights on slightly more ambitious terrain. The Swiss Alps, to be precise. I decided to apply for a scholarship at Leysin American School, a boarding school in Switzerland, where skiing was a mandatory part of the curriculum. There, I was forced to join the ski team and decided to pick up telemarking. Upon graduation I took the advice of everyone except my tele coach and went to the most academic, prestigious college I could get in to. After a year and a half as an astrophysics/computer science/math triple major at Williams College, I couldn't take it anymore --- you see, I was raised with the philosophy that there are only two kinds of snow: good, and interesting. After a full winter in Massachusetts I still couldn't figure out which category ice fell under, and I was tired of studying when I should have been skiing. So I applied for a leave of absence. While delaying the decision of when and where to transfer (or whether to make skiing my life-long career), I’m skiing.
Ski of choice: Grace Kylie 176 with 22Designs Bombshell telemark bindings.
Hobbies: Skiing, talking about skiing, eating, rock climbing, baking, sleeping, chocolate, drawing, reading, skiing, slacklining, waiting for more snow.
Shout-outs: My brother Colin: best ski buddy I could ever ask for. Coaches Don Daigle and Ethan Harris, for all the skills and inspiration they've given me over the years. And of course, Rich Pierce for connecting me with Ski Grace.
Accomplishments and Certifications: More to come
-Finalist and 12th place finish at the 2011 US Extreme Freeskiing Telemark Championships in Crested Butte.
- PSIA (Professional Ski Instructors of America) Alpine Level 2, April 2011
- PSIA Telemark Level 1, March 2011
- Avy-Basic (Switzerland) - 2009
This season’s competition schedule and results: (coming soon)
No comments:
Post a Comment