Part 2 - Chemmy Alcott - The Skier
So, when you're not racing, how do you ski? Are you a powder hound?
I just love all skiing, it's a fantastic sport with so many different elements.
One day you can wake up and there's no powder but the pistes will be perfectly groomed ... or you get that hero snow and you can go out and really go to the limit on your carving angles. Then that night it might dump snow and the next morning you pull out a different pair of skis, get your fat boys on, and go powder skiing.
I have to say, other than racing really fast, the best feeling I've ever had was heli-skiing. I've only been once, in Whistler. We went out for a recce for the Olympics and it snowed too much so we decided to use the opportunity and we went heli-skiing. It's such a hippie way of saying it, but I have never felt more at one with the mountain. It's such effortless skiing, powder skiing, as you just bounce on the surface and I adore that.
I also love telemarking - if I'm fit enough and I've got enough energy for it, because it's very hard-core on the body. I'll even go snowboarding, I just love being in the mountains.
Chemmy Alcott talking to J2Ski
How much time out do you get to free ski?
The World Cup tour starts in October and ends in April, so very little really. I will always go in April for a week.
We (racers) only really get two and a half weeks holiday a year, and I also want to see the surf!
Any favourite resorts?
I love Verbier. I think St.Anton's fantastic. A special place in my heart for Flaine because, even though the town's ugly, the skiing's fantastic and it's always been a very friendly community for me to go back to (I went to school there when I was younger). Whistler I like. But my secret place is Vallee Nevado in Chile.... it's very high altitude but you'll never wait in a lift line there. They have an amazing amount of terrain, every different type of terrain. We ski on about ten different runs that we can train on. It's fantastic up there. Again, the town's not pretty but you're there to ski.
I think sometimes skiing is getting overtaken by pretty towns made for shopping, and spa treatments and things like that. Personally, I don't care about that. There's a time and a place for that, I agree, but when I go skiing I want hard-core mountains and pistes and runs.
Is there a run that captures the essence of skiing for you?
There's this one run called Tofana in Cortina. I think the run itself symbolizes my appreciation of skiing. It's beautiful there, you have the dolomites, there are cliffs on either side, there's a massive pitch and you get up to about 70 mph in a few seconds. I don't want to use the word radical but that's what the run is, really. Radical isn't just about being on the limit it's about enjoying where you are.
Cortina's also where I got my first top ten in World Cup!
Which would you rank as your best achievement so far?
I've talked and talked for so long in my career but I think it was the day in Solden in 2010 when I became the first British racer to ever win a run in World Cup. I'd been doing it in training for years but I think that was the first run where I just skied freely, uninhibited, and just went for it. It was messy, it was fast and I won it and I think that made people stand up and notice.
Was that a turning point in your own self-belief?
Definitely. I was really shocked by it, that I'd won this run. Then my coach came down and he was quite placid in his emotions and I was really surprised. But he just said "I always believed you were going to do it". That was pretty cool.
Emotionally, I think my best ever run was in Turin in 2006 when I came 11th in the downhill. I was coming 3rd in that run until the last split and made a mistake but still completely out-skied myself.
It was the last time my whole family were there together, so it's a special memory.
You've mentioned Hermann Maier as an inspiration?
Yes. Bartletts (the UK ski shop - family friends of mine), sent me the book when I got injured and he went through hell and came back. It's slightly frustrating reading the book because the amount of support he had from the Austrian Ski Team was amazing, whereas I had nothing - even UK Sport pulled out.
I'm so thankful to Third Space for the support they've given me. I was actually on the NHS for physio but that didn't get anywhere - I'm not a priority case, even though at the time of the crash I was ranked 8th in the world and was competing for my country.
But I hope it shows people how much I want to get back, with this arduous journey I'm taking on.
An Interview with a Ski Racer - Chemmy Alcott - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
We're delighted to say that we'll have more insights and advice from Chemmy in the very near future... so keep an eye on J2Ski...
J2Ski would like to thank Chemmy for her time, and also Black Diamond and The Third Space, Soho for facilitating the interview. Thanks guys!