Elli Terwiel grew up racing with the Sun Peaks Alpine Club before embarking on a career that took her all the way to race in the FIS World Cup, NCAA circuits, and compete at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. She also helped her University of Vermont ski team to win the NCAA title in 2012. She is taking the 2015-16 season away from competitive ski racing to focus on completing her civil engineering degree. Terwiel will graduate on May 22 and took some time to talk to SPIN’s Jamie Shinkewski about her current and future plans involving skiing. Pick up your copy of the next SPIN issue on Friday, March 18 to read about how Terwiel has taken her passion for skiing into the lab.
SPIN: “How has the transition been for you heading from training for the Olympics and now you’re taking a different approach to your ski season?”
ET: “I really miss training. I really miss being on the hill and the focus. Most of my time is spent in the classroom and I’m doing some really cool things in my degree program that I’m really excited about, but it’s nice to be able to have that connection back to skiing even if it is a slightly different approach.”
SPIN: “You’ve had some concussion issues, how much did injuries play a factor in your decision to step away from racing?”
ET: “I had four concussions. I didn’t really want to have another one. I think more so than the concussions, all through last year I was having a really hard time with my back. I compressed and slipped the same disc at different times and I was not able to train without being in pain. It was just no longer as rewarding when you’re always fighting injury. Also, I wanted to finish my engineering degree and I knew that I didn’t have any more eligibility to race for my university team so all of those things came together to definitely see if I wanted to take just a year off or retire indefinitely.”
SPIN: “How has your back felt this season?”
ET: “It’s been good. I definitely know that I’m not going to be able to have a desk job and just sit for the rest of my life. I have to maintain a certain amount of strength in my back for it to act without pain. I’ll definitely be somebody who will be active the rest of my life, but at the same time it’s not holding me back from doing anything.”
Note: Before our conversation Terwiel said she went on four training runs and her back was not sore.
SPIN: “Are you excited for graduation?”
ET: “I’m very excited. It’s really neat to see the end approach, it’s been five years. I did two years, then took a year off to go to the Olympics and then came back for these last two years. The fact I’m at the end of the road feels great.”
SPIN: “Have you had any thoughts about returning to competitive racing next year?”
ET: “Absolutely, I think when you love your sport it’s really hard to let go and it’s even harder when you have fun days of training or when you’re sitting at a desk looking at a computer going ‘I really wish I was on the slopes.’ Is it something I will return to? I still don’t know. I’m really enjoying the free skiing that I was able to do this winter because I wasn’t racing and I really enjoyed the freedom I had last summer, and hopefully this summer coming up, where instead of just being in a gym five or six hours a day I can actually go out on my mountain bike for a longer period of time or I can go for a two-hour run or hikes. It was really refreshing to change up the activities I was able to do. Will I go back? I’m not sure. I’m really enjoying life as is right now.”
SPIN: “I noticed you spent some time with the Sun Peaks Alpine Club this winter, how was that experience?”
ET: “That was amazing. I wish that I was at Sun Peaks more often to do that. I think the Sun Peaks Alpine Club was really an amazing place for me to grow up ski racing. The program is great and the atmosphere around Sun Peaks for them is great. Just being able to come home and share my love of skiing and maybe tell them a little bit of my experience as somebody who came up through that program it was really nice. It’s always amazing when you can give back to your community.”
SPIN: “Do you think you will move back to this area once you’ve finished your studies?”
ET: “I don’t know yet. I know I want to be around mountains. I know I want to be around lakes. I know that I really like the climate around Kamloops and I think that growing up so close to Sun Peaks I was really spoiled by its proximity, so I’ll probably end up quite close.”
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