Taos Salomon Extreme Freeskiing Championships

This weekend I competed in the Taos Salomon Extreme Freeskiing Championships on my telemark skis… And I couldn’t begin to tell you all the things I have learned and am taking with me from this trip.

I started this trip not knowing what to expect. I’ve done three telemark big mountain competitions, but never alpine ones. Judging from my experience in other telemark competitions and against other telemark women, I chose a line that would be conservative, but still a top five run in the telemark world. I went near the beginning of the women’s field which, although an advantage for snow conditions, a disadvantage to an inexperienced competitor. Watching the other women come down after me, I saw the error of my conservative run. These alpine ladies charged hard, screw the idea of being conservative on qualifiers; they were out for it all. Although I had skied their runs that the took the day before and know that I can do it, the aggressiveness and strength in which they skied their runs was of such a higher caliber than I was used to in telemark competitions.

I come away from this knowing that I CAN compete against these girls. As the youngest women in the ladies competition, I understand that I have time to hone and enhance my skills. Sure I was disappointed with my performance this weekend, but I am extremely motivated and wanting. I want to go back up there today and show these alpine fellows that I can ski those line and I will ski even harder and better lines in the future.

I also leave with the knowledge that what I am doing IS harder and unique. But not only is it physically harder, but professionally harder. I am facing a wonderful opportunity to push the preconceived notions of women’s telemark skiing and reinvent the sport for younger generations. Although I am and will continue to face resistance from telemark companies and the community for not being “traditionally telemark” and from alpine companies for simply being a telemark skier, I am also perhaps one of the most stubborn people I know. When I am told something I dream of cannot be done, I will persevere until it is. When I fail, fall, or place at the bottom of a competition, I only want it more. I want to go out there and ski; to become better and stronger; to show that anything can be done.

But the most important thing I have learned how to do is lose. To give what you consider to be a good performance and still realize that you have so much farther to go. In the telemark world I had almost begun to reach a plateau. Doing these alpine competitions this year like the US Freeskiing Open and this competition in Taos, I am humbled. But not only am I humbled by my abilities; my competitors humble me. Unlike the telemark community, where those who are at the top typically have always been there and will stay there, those in alpine community know what it is like not to be the best. They know what it is like to place at the bottom of a competition. And most importantly they offer their compassion and understanding to others who experience it.

Although I do not have the funding to attend competitions every weekend to continue to push myself like this, I can hope that I can rely on my own perseverance to remember these lessons and progress my own abilities and influence over the industry.