Fresh powder on the Badger Pass slopes during the winter months lures Victoria Hindes, ’12, to ride through her favorite ski runs in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Hindes began skiing between ages four and five, although her exposure to the environment began with a babysitter while her parents skied.

Hindes participated in the Yosemite ski team for three years and raced for four years. In 2005 she went to the national championships in Park City, Utah (her first out of three). Every weekend she skied six hours a day.

She believes she found her forte in skiing independently, despite her parents’ interest in the sport. The combination of social time and athletics, her love for skiing has prompted Hindes to continue.

“I feel free and king of everything around me. I love the feeling of the wind in my face,” Hindes said. “I look forward to seeing my friends from the ski teams on the slopes, finding new places to ski in the fresh powder and getting away from home and my busy life to a sort of ski paradise.”

Hindes’ dad, Michael began skiing as a college student when some friends invited him and hoped for Victoria to interest herself in the same sport.

“I am very proud of Victoria’s snow skiing accomplishments,” Michael said. “This year Victoria has changed from ski racing to off-course skiing. Now most of the time she enjoys making her own tracks through the trees rather than racing down the slopes. Another fun accomplishment that Victoria has achieved is to ski with me down some expert runs in Utah and Colorado.”

Hindes not only competes in California for skiing, but also at resorts in other states, such as Steamboat, Colorado and Park City, Utah. In Steamboat she won 5th and 6th place awards.

Several of Hindes’ friends express pride in her accomplishments and enjoy her love for her hobby, including snowboarder Danielle St. Marie, ’12, who has traveled to the slopes with her before.

“It’s a lot of fun to watch her ski,” St. Marie said. “It’s really cool to say I have a friend who’s a competitive skier! It’s be cool to compete [like her], but it would take a lot of time. I know she’s gotten a lot of medals for racing. She’s gotten ribbons and trophies a couple of times.”

Another friend, Morgan Childs, ’12, despite having not experienced Hindes’ prowess firsthand, still expresses faith in her accomplishments.

“It’s really cool that she does skiing, because I know I couldn’t do it,” Childs said. “I’m really proud that she is able to succeed at what she loves to do. It would be really cool to tell people that I did skiing.”

In her years of skiing all over the country, Hindes’ taste and experience had led her to choose favorite locations.

“My favorite place to ski is Deer Valley in Utah,” Hindes said. “The resort has the best groomed snow in the country, they do not even allow snowboarders there. Then my second best is Steamboat in Colorado. Both are much bigger than small Badger Pass, so it’s nice to go to a new resort sometimes.”

While the prospect of racing down a slippery mountain on waxed-smooth boards may seem intimidating to a first-timer, Hindes says persistence pays off.

“It may be hard at the beginning, but if you stick with it like I did, you can have a lot of fun,” Hindes said. “Skiing is an activity that is not really against anybody. Of course you have competitors like every other sport, but skiing is you against the mountain. Every time I go down a race course I try to beat my last time. Skiing is not just a physical sport or activity, but a mental exercise if you take it really seriously.”

Hindes’ plans for skiing competitively after school run less and less with the years as she continues to broaden her busy schedule. But she keeps aspiring to run the slopes for fun after the day and during her college years.

For more information on winter sports, read the Jan. 28, 2008 article, Skate under Half Dome.