Retiring SSWSC mogul skier Lane Stoltzner shared with us an introspective and inspiring reflection on her long skiing career which included a stint on the U.S. Ski Team and World Cup starts. It is a great read for athletes and parents alike, providing perspective on what is important and highlighting the moments that stand out over more than a decade of pursuing skiing dreams, which may surprise you. Photo credit Steven Earl / www.stevenearlphotography.com

Earlier today I registered my car in Utah, and now I am sitting here looking at the Colorado license plates that I got 9 years ago. I got those license plates two days before I graduated from high school in Telluride, Colorado and 4 days before moving to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. And they saw me through numerous ups and downs. They were with me when I drove to my first World Cup in Deer Valley and they were there when I retreated to my car to cry when my toes were so frozen that I didn’t think I would ever be able to walk again. And while getting new license plates and officially calling Utah home is a big change, it is not the biggest change that I have made this summer.

As a skier, April has always been the time to recharge and relax. It is also the time of the year when I am able to reflect on the season and reassess what my goals for the future are. This April, like last April (when I was dropped from the US Ski Team), was a month full of careful consideration. I had the best season of my career in 2016-2017. I trained harder and more appropriately than ever before. I was more fit than I had ever been. I achieved the best results I had ever had. And for the first time in a very long time I was competing for myself. Putting those words on paper makes even me ask, so why would you even consider retiring? And that is the question I got from a lot of people. But I had to put their thoughts and opinions aside and think about what I really wanted. And what my goals were and are. After doing all of that, I found that my heart just wasn’t in freestyle mogul skiing any more. But given that this season was the best season of my career and that the upcoming season is an Olympic year, is that enough of a reason to retire? For me the answer is, yes. Absolutely.

I have goals and ambitions outside of freestyle skiing. And I am proud of the career that I had.

I started competing when I was 12-years old. My first USSA event was on the Deer Valley course in January of 2002. I skied countless Rocky Mountain Freestyle Regional events. I went to my first US Nationals in 2005, and proceeded to compete in nationals for the next 13-years. In 2005 I also skied my first US Selections events. Over the course of my career I had 38 US Selection starts. Between 2005 and 2017 I had 78 North American Cup starts. In 2015 I skied my first World Cup events, at Lake Placid and Deer Valley. In 2016 I again compete at the Deer Valley World Cup, making my World Cup starts a total of five.
 
While all the numbers and stats paint an outline of my career, they don’t tell the whole story. They don’t tell you how, at my first ever event on Deer Valley I skied around the top air and might have made it down in under 60-seconds. Maybe. Or about the smile on my face when I won my first Rocky Mountain Division Regional competition. It was a duals event in Breckenridge. Or that my favorite US Nationals was in 2016 when I finally put together the run I had been working on all season and finished 3rd overall at home in Steamboat. One of the best stories I have is from US Selections in 2005 when I made a deal with my team that if I qualified for dual finals I would wear a tutu for my first dual. I qualified 16th, so I wore a tutu for my first ever FIS dual. It was also my 16th birthday. And the results don’t tell you that each Nor-Am event and tour stands out for one reason or another, but that I can’t tell you what the best part was because they were all unique. However, I did have the most fun over the course of the 2017 tour. And the results absolutely don’t tell you that my first goals in freestyle mogul skiing had been built around my memory of watching World Championships under the lights at Deer Valley in 2003 and my desire to ski under the lights at that same venue, while representing the United States Freestyle Ski Team. I accomplished that goal, and so many others.

The results also don’t tell you about me and my training. As an athlete I preferred training to competition. Training was where I pushed myself to grow as a person and a competitor. In the lodge at 6.30 for a pre-training warm up and visualization. On the hill at 8am when it was -22 degrees. In the gym after a long day of water ramping. At the water ramps doing a thousand jumps a summer. During video where I was never quite happy with how my skills looked on film.

Lastly there are all the relationships that I developed though mogul skiing. With my coaches, my teammates, my community, my sponsors, and athletes from different teams and countries. All of those relationships helped to make me the competitor that I was and will always be. I can’t imagine a day that I won’t think about all the amazing people and opportunities that freestyle mogul skiing gave me.

Most of all, I was lucky to have such wonderful parents who supported me and pushed me as a person and an athlete. Had it not been for them I would not be able to tell you about any of my accomplishments, because they would not have existed.

So even though people might wonder why I am ready to retire when I am at my prime, the simple answer is- I was able to accomplish most of my goals; I am proud of the career I had, I put my heart and soul into every day of my training and competition, and I have nothing left to give to the sport as a competitor.

Luckily for me when you retire at age-26 there is still a whole world to be explored, and that is exactly what I plan on doing. I will graduate from Colorado College in the Spring of 2018 and hope to find a position in event management in Park City, UT. In the meantime, I am taking summer school classes at the University of Utah, riding my bikes as much as possible, dog-sitting for some of Park City’s best puppies, and enjoying spending time with friends and family. I am excited to see where life takes me and what opportunities unfold in this next chapter of my life. 

-Lane Stoltzner

Additional Club News

Our athletes enjoyed an amazing field day last week! Thanks for working hard and training hard, athletes!

 

Welcome Coaches!

Matt Graves was an Alpine Coach last year, but this year, he will be taking over as Head U12 Coach! Congratulations Matt!
Matt Graves moved with his family to Steamboat from Denver in 1976 at the age of 5.  With four winters of skiing under his belt he began with the SSWSC, he started in Training Squad, a multidisciplinary program in 1978.  Since then he raced, jumped, and cross countried his way through to some national level performances. Matt has been coaching various snow sports since 1990 and in 1999 began coaching with SSWSC alpine age class with a hiatus(2007-13) continued until now.  Having coached in 2104 as a U10 coach under Deb Armstrong , coached as a U14 coach for 2 years under Erik Gilbert, raising his own 8 and 11 year old children(SSWSC nordic Combined skiers),  he feels at home being the Head u12 Alpine Coach.  Matt lives with his wife Sandy and their sons Wyatt and Sawyer,  he is a builder, wood sculptor, hunter, gardener and cook.  Growing up in Steamboat as a Winter Sports Club athlete, coach and now parent he feels a strong connection to the tradition and legacy of what happens here at Howelsen Hill.

Welcome to Cassady Roberts, who will be joining us as the Alpine U12 Assistant Coach this year!
Cassady grew up in Steamboat and was an athlete with the SSWSC for 10 years. After high school she went to Colby College where she spent 4 years on the Division I ski team. She was the captain for 3 years and qualified for the NCAA Championships twice. After graduating college, Cassady was a 2nd grade teacher in Denver. She recently moved back to the Yampa Valley and is continuing to teach elementary school at the Mountain Village Montessori School. She is so excited to be joining SSWSC again this season, now as a coach!

Welcome to Erik Gunderson, who is our new Snowboardcross Head Coach!
Erik has always felt at home on the snow and has over 20 years’ experience riding. He began coaching fall 2010 in the Upper Midwest Snow Series for the G-Team. His coaching background includes -  dryland, trampoline, boardercross, slope style, coaches training, nationals, and three years’ experience as a head coach. Outside of coaching, he also has 6 years of experience serving as Team Director for The Kicker Project, a program that provides snowboard opportunities to underserved youth in Minneapolis, MN. Coaching and riding is something he looks forward to each winter and he is thrilled to bring his coaching to the Rockies. Year after year his riders go the extra mile to achieve their goals and this season there will be no exception. Erik leads all ages and abilities in the Boardercross program as well as assisting in freestyle.