Basecamp podcast — Get ski season ready: Expert tips from former U.S. Ski Team member Doug Lewis

Doug Lewis grew up on slopes of Middlebury Snow Bowl and went to Green Mountain Valley School. (Courtesy Photo)

It’s time to get in better shape before another ski season is upon us. 

On the latest New England Ski Journal Basecamp podcast, Vermont native and former U.S. Ski Team member Doug Lewis joined hosts Eric Wilbur and Mike Specian to discuss how to simplify the process of getting prepared for winter. 

“It’s jumping rope,” Lewis said. “It’s box jumping. It’s stretching the limits of that coordination. And you can do that anywhere.” 

Lewis grew up in Vermont and learned to ski at Middlebury Snow Bowl where his mom was an instructor. He went to Green Mountain Valley School and was a two-time Olympian; in ’84 and ’88. In 1985, he won the bronze in downhill at the World Championships – the first-ever World Championship medal for an American in downhill. In all, Lewis spent almost eight years on the U.S. Ski Team and collected two U.S. National Downhill Championships (’86 and ’87).

Highlights from this edition of the Basecamp podcast:

How growing up skiing in Vermont translated to the U.S. Ski Team: 

Lewis — I remember Tommy Moe was just getting on the team as I was leaving. I was the veteran and there’s this culture of passing along the culture and the lessons of what it’s like to be on the U.S. Ski Team to the younger racers. So we were at Garmisch. Now, Garmisch is in Germany. If it’s easy weather, it’s the easiest course ever. But if it’s nasty, like it is a lot, it’s one of the toughest.

I just remember getting off the lift at the top. We were gonna inspect Tommy Moe, probably 19 years old. We go over and it is the slickest, Vermont ice; nasty surface. And we are at the start, getting ready to inspect and he looks down and… it’s just super icy.

He looks at me, and he is like, ‘Are we gonna run this?’ And I’m like, ‘Tommy, this is what it’s all about. Like you better learn how to run this ice because that’s that’s where we’re gonna be tested on World Cup. And of course, Tommy won the Olympic gold, but this was a wake-up call for the out West skiers when they first get onto World Cup, when every day is the toughest conditions you can imagine. And that’s what I grew up doing. 

On setting personal goals and understanding your lack of control over them:

Lewis — These expectations, these big goals. You don’t have a lot of control over them. All you have control of is this process to get there. Imagine skiing against, well, the easiest example is imagine being a woman athlete during the Shiffrin era, right? You could ski the best you’ve ever skied and still end up two seconds out in 42nd place. Because you can’t control what Shiffrin’s doing, but you can control what you are doing. And if you have the best run, then you’ve actually won. It just so happens that you’re in the race with Shiffrin and she crushed you.

Listen: