Boston College Athletics
BC Skier Has Experience Of A Lifetime
October 02, 2001 | Skiing
Oct. 2, 2001
Video
Seth Therrien
Last year I finished overall in the top 10 at nationals, becoming the only freshman to make the All-American team. But all I could think about was becoming the national champion. It was then and there that this vision became my next goal. Before returning to school to start my sophomore year, I spent 20 days in Switzerland training alongside some of the best ski racers in the world.
Skiing in Switzerland is an experience different from anything that exists in the United States. The hard snow conditions, steep terrain, and high altitude of the Swiss Alps form an ideal but extremely difficult place to train. Because the Swiss Alps are so large we had to ride two gondolas and take a train through a cave to reach the glaciers where we would ski. Ski racing is one of the biggest sports in Europe. As soon as you are up on the glacier, everyone is very serious and hard at work, all striving to become the next Olympic champion.
The Austrian national team trained on the left side of my lane and on my right side the Norwegian national team practiced. I trained among the best two teams in the world. It was amazing to actually see the athletes that I had grown up watching on television ski right next to me. I learned a lot by simply watching them. It is something that you just don't see everyday in the United States.
One morning we woke up at 4 in the morning and were out skiing by 4:45. It was still dark out and we skied on blue ice, which was unlike anything that I have skied on before. These conditions are why Europeans dominate ski racing -- if you can ski there you can ski on anything, anywhere in the world. These conditions were just what I was looking for when I chose Europe to train.
I stayed in a village called Saas Fee. It was so small that cars were illegal. The people instead drove little electric cars around that looked like golf carts. This village was full of World Cup and Olympic champions, because it has one of the best glaciers in the world to ski during the summer.
I got a lot out of those 20 days in Switzerland. Not only did I significantly improve my skiing, but also I got to train beside the people that I have looked up to all my life. Just being able to see these professional athletes in person gave me a whole new perspective about what it takes to compete at the highest level of competition. I hope the time I spent in Europe will help me achieve my dream of competing against these World Cup and Olympic champions for the gold medal one day.
