Written by Dani Aravich, Team Crosscut and USA Paralympic Athlete
Dani racing at Soldier Hollow this January
Racing can be intimidating. Racing in a sport that you only started a year ago is more intimidating. And being new to a sport at the age of 24 is overwhelming.
But lucky for me, I have Team Crosscut.
I arrived at Soldier Hollow Nordic Center on January 1, parked my car, and walked into the stadium feeling completely and utterly disoriented and out of place. There were so many people testing skis, club teams taking jogs around the parking lot, and dozens of wax benches set up. I looked around in a panic hoping to find Coach Seth. After spotting his silver truck, I hustled over and felt relief as I asked him and the other Crosscut members a million questions.
“What is the course for tomorrow?”
“Do I leave my skis with you or should I take them with me?”
“What type of wax are you putting on?”
“What is a technique zone?”
“How early do I need to be here before the race?”
“What is a ‘feed’?”
“Am I going to finish last in this race?!”
Let me give some background as to why I am clueless in this nordic ski world. I am a Paralympic hopeful track & field runner suddenly turned nordic skier. As a former college cross country and track athlete, I started training full-time to compete in Paralympic sport a year and a half ago. As I was training for track & field, a Team USA Paralympic Nordic ski coach invited me to try out the sport at a developmental camp in Breckenridge, Colorado last winter. I stepped on those narrow little Fischer skis and was hooked.
Now just a year later, I am training at Crosscut Mountain Center and with the Paralympic National Nordic Ski team. I was not able to ski a lot last winter due to my track & field season and then the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Nordic skiing is a lot to process, and it is a very technical sport. There are two different techniques to learn, there is a significant amount of equipment involved, and a lot of maintenance/care for said equipment.
I am still learning. But luckily, I have some incredible individuals between Team Crosscut and the US Paralympic Nordic staff helping me through the learning process.
Over the race weekend at Soldier Hollow, fellow teammates Felicia, Ingrid, and Anna previewed the course with me, explaining what their race plan would be at certain turns or hills. Coaches Seth and Cully answered my one million questions.
This was my third ski race EVER, and the first time without the Paralympic staff and athletes there. I had never raced able-bodied athletes, let alone some of the best collegiate and pro skiers in the country. And guess what? I did get last in my sprint race. And that is okay. Because I am new, I am learning. Without the support of Team Crosscut, I may not have showed up the following day for the distance race. I was provided valuable feedback and encouraged, and guess what? I beat someone in the distance race on Sunday!
Beating a single person in a race of 80 people may not seem like much, but it was something. I am so appreciative to have the opportunity to learn and grow in this crazy sport of Nordic skiing with the support of Team Crosscut.
