Photos Courtesy of the Fisher Family
Wendy Fisher knows what ski racing can do for your skill set on the mountain. The Crested Butte skier, mom, and DJ joined the alpine program at what is now Palisades Tahoe, in California, when she was six years old. Less than a decade later, while attending Vermont’s Burke Mountain Academy, she made the US Ski Team. Then, after competing at the 1992 Winter Olympics and on the World Cup, she discovered competitive freeskiing—a sport where she racked up numerous titles, including back-to-back overall World Extreme Skiing Champion, and was featured in films by Matchstick Productions and Warren Miller.
Wendy’s sons, Aksel (17) and Devin (16), grew up ski racing with the Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team. Now one ski races with the Apex2100 International Ski Academy, in the French Alps, and one attends Wy’East Mountain Academy, an action-sports academy near Mount Hood, Oregon, where he focuses on slopestyle.
Here, Wendy shares her thoughts on ski racing as a foundation.
Even though our boys grew up “chasing gates,” they freeskied all the time. We emphasized how important freeskiing was, as well as safely progressing in the terrain park. During the summer, we’d send them to camps, like Windells at Mount Hood, to work on sliding rails, hitting jumps, and gaining air awareness. We weren’t looking to create the next star in any one discipline, but to have our boys enjoy all aspects of the sport. I found that the very best way to establish a solid technical foundation is by starting with ski racing.
From my perspective, the big difference between starting a young skier in a racing program, compared with a freeride, freestyle, mogul, or any other non-racing program, is that racers learn:
1. How to stand at the center of the skis rather
than on their heels for maximum control.
2. Where to properly hold their hands.
3. How to control their upper and lower
body separately.
My oldest son competed in just one big-mountain contest, while my younger son competed in them for an entire season after he quit racing. Most of the kids coming down gnarly no-fall zones had scary techniques (twisting their upper body, skiing on their tails). Not all junior big-mountain competitors were like this, but it was amazing to see how many kids were just hanging on from turn to turn.
Ski racing helped my kids learn how to jump properly. Too many kids dangerously hit jumps while in the back seat. Once they learned correct body position, we let our kids hit jumps and play on all the obstacles the mountain had to offer, consistent with their skill level.
Lastly, we didn’t want our kids to feel the pressure of skiing a certain line or airing something on hard pack simply to outski their competitors. The consequences of blowing up and injuring yourself at a young age were a big concern for us. There’s a time and a place to work on airs and expand your knowledge—we didn’t think that age ten was the time, nor were contests the place. We wanted our kids to mentally mature before putting themselves on the line. That’s not to say that you can’t take a bad crash while ski racing, but it’s less likely, and they seem to happen less often.
Starting out a ski racer doesn’t mean you have to stay a ski racer, but the benefits of gaining those technical skills early on carry over to an amazing lifelong adventure in the mountains. Whether your kid wants to be a big-mountain skier, a park skier, or a freeskier, ski racing provides a great foundation for a lifetime in the sport.