Lydia Nelsen, a former student of Sandpoint High School, has been preparing for the IFSA Freeride World Tour which she qualified for in the last snow season. Lydia Nelsen grew up riding at Schweitzer and graduated from high school in 2022, after graduation she promptly moved to Salt Lake City to pursue her competitive skiing career. In her first year of adult competitions, she qualified in first place when she was just 18. Lydia was more than happy to share her experiences and anticipations of her competitive skiing career.

Q: What did you do during high school that placed you where you needed to be in order to be here today?

A: I started online school and went skiing as much as possible, typically 5 days a week. I also started traveling and competing a lot more outside of Schweitzer, to see the competition outside of Schweitzer.

Q: What was your post high school plan and how did it set you up for success? Did you follow your original plan?

A: I basically wanted to be a ski bum. Getting a van and living and traveling with that. I ended up just moving in with my boyfriend, Dylan, van, and doing a different version of that.

Q: What did you have to do or sacrifice in order to overall have a successful skiing career?

A: I had to prioritize skiing and base all of my choices off of skiing, like where I’m living, traveling, and working; which doesn’t feel like a sacrifice because I love skiing. However, I can’t work a normal job because of all the intense traveling during the Winter.

Q: What have you been doing to prepare mentally for the World Tour? Is being one of the youngest people competing making it harder?

A: It’s definitely intimidating since I’m actually the youngest one on the tour, but it’s also cool because the more experienced women push me to get better. I’ve also been doing yoga and meditation to help me mentally to stay calm in high stakes situations.

Q: What do you do in the off-season to prepare for the upcoming season?

A: A lot of mountain biking and working out in the gym as well. I coach mountain biking so I get paid to mountain bike for about 40 hours a week.