January 28, 2025 • 45 mins
Ever heard of skimo? It's ok if you haven't but you should and there's no one better to introduce us to the brand new Winter Olympic Sport than Gwen Rudy. A member of the USA National team and a licensed acupuncturist, Gwen takes us through what it will take for America to get a Skimo spot in the 2026 Olympics, how to manage pursuing an Olympic gold while keeping her business afloat in a small, Colorado mountain town and, enjoy the hilarity that is AJ trying to ski for the first time in 15 years as Gwen takes her through a skimo training.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello friends, and welcome to the Powerful Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm your host, Ajam McCord. In this podcast, we introduce
you to powerful women who are changing the game in
and outside of their field of play. These are women's stories,
women who happen to be doing things that many of
us can only dream of, but the lessons and inspiration
they share is universal.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Hello, Powerful Podsquad people.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I am so excited for this episode of the Powerful Podcast.
We are bringing you women's sports stories from around the
world of winter sports, and today we are diving deep
into what is going to be a brand new sport
in the twenty twenty six Olympics. It is called SCHEMO,
short for sche Mountaineering. Gwen Rudy is one of the
members of the national team who is working so hard to.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Qualify with Team USA and she is a badass.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
She talks us through the injuries that she has had
to endure in the last year in order to.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Be ready to compete for this qualifying season.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
She talks about how hard it is to balance competing
and loving a sport that doesn't have a lot of funding,
while also managing a business that she has worked so
hard to grow as an acupuncturist in a small seasonal
mountain town.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
So I'm so excited for y'all to get to know Gwen,
get to know schemo. And oh, by the way, it's
a sport that I tried. It did not go well.
My friends, this is going to be a situation where
you have some laughs at my expense. So you're welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I hope you enjoyed this episode of The Powerful Podcast.
I am so excited to be joined now by Gwen Rudy.
She is an acupuncturist in Leadville, Colorado. She is a
member of the national Schemo team. If you don't know
what schemo is, do not fret. We are going to
get into it because Team USA is working to have
(01:45):
some representatives in twenty twenty six when this sport makes
its Olympic debut, and Gwen is leading the charge. She's
off to a fantastic start this season already. So Gwen,
thank you so much for joining us here on the
Powerful Podcast.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Yeah, I'm so excited. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Yeah. Okay, So first and foremost, yeah, schemo.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
It is a sport that not many people in the
States know about, and if they do, they probably know
it by.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
A different name. So tell me what is schemo?
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Yeah, so schemo is essentially backcountry skiing at speed on
light gear and a little more groomed and manicured in
the race scene. So we have skins that we put
on our skis to ascend climbs, we take skins off
and descend climbs. So it includes uphill skiing, downhill skiing,
(02:35):
and then all the technical components that that requires.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
So okay, And it's short for ski mountaineering, right, yeah,
short for ski mountaineering.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
So basically it's where you have to you know, like
a lot of people understand that if you go to
a ski resort, there's lifts that carry you up the
mountains so that you avoid walking up said mountain. But
you guys are like, I see the lifts, I'm good
walk Yeah. An exercise, Yeah, because you know exercise that
(03:06):
it's it's okay, So we'll we'll just say it up front.
So I got to chance to meet Gwen in person
in December of twenty twenty four, and I was like, Hey,
I would love to meet you. I'm in Leadville, Colorado,
which if you guys don't know. It's like I think
it's it's sits at what ten two hundred feet or something.
It's like the highest town in the country, so there's
(03:29):
not a lot of air up there, which I'm going
to go ahead and blame as the reason why I
was like, sure for our meeting, let's go ahead and
I'll try sche mowing firsthand.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
A few things y'all need to know about me.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
One, I'd never back down from a challenge, hence why
I decided to say yes. But two, I have not
been on skis period at all for fifteen years.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
So, Gwen, why don't you.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Tell people from the beginning of meeting me in the
parking lot just how it went to what we have
raise You were.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Right, you were fearless. You're like, I'll take the heavy pair,
Oh gosh.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Because I was terrified of skiing down.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah, I was like first couple wearing helmets and I
was terrified of skiing down.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I like looked like bambyon ice. Y'all. It was bad,
but expect Yeah, you.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
Got a little experience of what the sport requires. But
also to your credit, I forgot to finish your transition
for you, and we forgot to put your skis in
downhill or lock your boots down.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
We'll blame that.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I and the reason why I felt if you had
five times in a fifty yard stretch, but I.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Think at the edge you were looking smooth, like just
carbon and turn.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Thank you, thank you. We'll put it on. We'll put
it on the video so that the people can be
the judge of housing.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I was looking because I still felt like at any
point I could fall off.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Of these things.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
And in skiing there's so many things to keep track of.
Right from a snowboarding perspective, it was like, oh, I
just have one board. It's attached to my boots, so
it can't go anywhere, and skis, let me tell you,
all those things can go, like where the poles can
go everywhere. Yeah, exactly, you're just like doing splits all
the time. But it was important for me to try
and understand, like what is this sport all about? So,
(05:12):
and I think the thing that is so fascinating about
schemo is how you really there's like three different elements
to it, right, there's the uphill, there's the transition, and
there's the downhill. So you really have to be good
at three very like distinct skill sets. Yeah, exactly, So
(05:32):
I guess we'll start at the beginning. How did you
get into skiing in general?
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Yeah, so I skied as a kid a lot and
then switch to snowboarding later in life, and then I
rean to the sport. Actually, when I moved back to
Leadville in twenty nineteen, I actually was more training for
ultra running. I had run three one hundred mile races.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
And casual.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Yeah, it's seeing out there everybody runs hundreds. You don't
run hundreds. It's wrong with you.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
A lot. I'm a lot wrong or right with me
because I'm never running under my ery.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
It might be the smart one here. But yeah, I,
you know, had put years in just like endurance training,
and so then when I kind of discovered SCHEMO, I
was like, oh, this is like so much fun, Like
there's just so much more to the sport than just
like running running, like like you get to like power uphill,
(06:30):
you get the fun adrenaline of going downhill, and then
just like the intense focus of the transitions. But yeah,
I actually started it through that country. Like I didn't
actually know how to get into SCHEMO. I kind of
figured you needed to go get your abby because I
didn't know there was like not much of a race
scene and I just wasn't part I didn't have the
(06:50):
community in it or anything. So I was like, well,
I'll get my abby, get some like hand me down gear,
and then from there, I like started showing up to
races on like really heavy skis and was like, I'm
never spending four thousand dollars on like skis as that, and.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
They're so thin, they're like an election and a half wide.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Yeah, But I like kept with it because I was like, Wow,
this is some like great fitness, Like this is so
hard and then low and behold. Like a year later,
I got my first pair of race skis and then
I was like.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Oh, like I like this turns out the equipment doesn't
make a difference.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Yeah, it's like you can't not have the right gear
and be competitive because it's just it cuts so much time.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Yeah, so let's talk about being competitive.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Because you joined the sport in twenty nineteen, really is
when you started getting into it.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Ish, yeah, or maybe more like twenty.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
I mean I guess I took my abbey more in
like twenty seventeen, but I was living on the Front
Range and Boulder and didn't have much access because I
was a full time student at the time.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, tell people what an ABBY is.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
For those who don't ow ABBY.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
It's an avalanche safety course, so you yeah, go in
the back country and learn about snowpacked and safety conditions
so you know where it's safe to ski that country.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
So for those keeping track at home, of the number
of jobs that Gwen currently has, right, she has her ABBY,
which means that she can like go in the back
country and understand everything about how the snow is working.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
And then she's an acupuncturist.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And she's also on the Schemo team, So that's three
for those keeping track at home.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
I actually also would be coaching for Ski Club Veil.
I was the coach for Ski Mountineering last year, but
we have no athletes this year. Okay, so for if
you include coach, but I miss it because I think
it's so much fun.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, okay, So you get into Schemo, we'll say twenty
nineteen ish, but the first time in twenty twenty six
is when it's making its Olympic debut.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
So break down for us how you have gone.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Well, I guess first and foremost, break down the disciplines
that are going to be happening in twenty twenty six
when we watch Small and Cortino.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Okay, yeah, so I think, yeah, so the two Olympic
disciplines are a little more manicured for the Olympic Games.
They're not maybe the true like version of ski mountaineering
where you're like climbing big peaks to sending cool wires,
boot packing to stommits. It's all on a more groomed
(09:24):
pieced or ski run. And so the sprint is like
a three to five minute event and you take off
running up a ski slope. You kind of run through
these diamonds that are kind of like obstacles. You do
two sets of those, get to a boot pack, which
in Europe they usually cut these like very nice steps
(09:45):
in the snow, but they're really hard. It takes a
lot of power like arms, legs to like full s
end of it. But yeah, anyway, so you get to
the first transition zone, you put your skis on a pack,
and that transition anything could go wrong, like you slide
your skis in and you miss your little little hoop boom,
like you're in the back.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Geez.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Yeah, So you put them through a hoop, put a
hook around, take off, running up these steps, get to
the top of the steps, put your skis back on,
take off, running or gliding, depends how good your technique is.
Get to the top, and then you know, you double
rip skins and then your gate skiing down and there's
often a jump in there so you get some air
(10:28):
and then into another gate, and then usually the finish
is a really tight turn that almost brings you to
a stop. And then so from there you have to
have a good Nordic technique where you're then skating with
all energy to the finish and.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
That all happens, yeah, like three minutes.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
Yeah, it just it depends on the course and person.
Geez yeah. Yeah. And then it's a little bit like
Nordic where every athlete starts with a time trial, so
every athlete starts alone with twenty second gaps. You throw
down your time and then from there you get seated
the top thirty get to move on into heats, quarterfinals,
(11:09):
semi finals, finals. Okay, traditionally in the US we haven't
like we've made it to the quarterfinals, but where we
haven't made it past that I don't think, and it's
really hard to do this event like potentially four times
in a row. It's a sprint, but it like takes
so much endurance. Okay, so explain.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Okay, So there's a sprint and then there's a relay also, right,
is the second discipline? Okay, So sprint in relay breakdown
what a relay is for US?
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Yes, so the relay is actually what the US has
potential to get a spot in the Olympics and what
are USA schema is really like putting all our resources
to get there. But the relay is a mixed gender relay,
so you have a male partner and you essentially it's
the same thing as the sprint, plus an extra loop,
(12:00):
so it's a bigger, usually steeper climb that goes outside
the sprint course. You so just pure fitness, get to
the top, ski down, and then you essentially do the
sprint course ski down, and then you tag your male
partner in the tag off zone. They take off, and
then the challenge is you get like, depending on faster partner,
(12:21):
is like a seven to ten minute break and then
you have to do it again. And it's so hard
because you've kind of cooled down, you've gotten lactic and
then you're like full power again.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
It's right, so hard, so unlike, so unlike in other
relays that we would know about. Right, like like let's
say track in the summer Games. You don't just do
one leg and you're done. You actually have two legs.
In this relay, you do one lap, your partner does
a lap, and then you have to do again.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Yeah, okay, so this is it sounds fun, This sounds
like so exciting. This sounds like a really really good time.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
When did you know that you were hooked on like
competing in schemo.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
Well, to be honest, I I think like my second
year in the sport, I just started to show up
to more races and started to do pretty well, and
I think that positive feedback. I was like, oh, I'm
kind of good at this, and I actually didn't even
I wasn't aiming to make the national team per se,
(13:29):
but I raced a handful of like racist close by,
like New Mexico, Colorado, Utah. That season, I had two
podiums at nationals and then by the end of the season,
I was like, wait, if I go get one more result,
I'll be on the team, and so I flew all
the way to Mammoth, California. I got that result, got
on the team, and then the next year it got
(13:52):
pretty exciting because there was a little more focused on
it becoming an Olympic event, and the USOPC actually stepped
in and kind of came with us on a trip
to Spain in Andorra in Switzerland, and so I think
from there it just got a little more serious and
I was like, oh, shoot, like I'm actually a taught
performing athlete and were we might go to the Olympics,
(14:15):
Like this is so exciting.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Is that ever something that you dreamed about as a
kid growing up skiing?
Speaker 4 (14:23):
No, I actually was a soccer player, and I wanted
to go to the Olympics in soccer so bad. Like
soccer was like my air and my water. But I
my family moved around a lot, and we left the
country before college or like you know, junior senior year
when it's an important time for collegiate athletes. So I
(14:44):
just never had the chance. But yeah, I I think
I've always Yeah, I don't know, Like I just love
the routine of training and sports. It does. It's good
for me. I have a lot of energy, and so
I think, yeah, before finding Schemo, I kind of took
that energy towards culture running.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
And so yeah, the three one hundred mile ones.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yeah, I also saw which I was doing a little
bit of research, and so well, I want to get
into your job as well. But I but first before
we do that, while we talk about you being an
elite athlete, I also saw that at one point in time.
I'm curious if this record still holds, but in twenty
twenty three, you had the fastest known time on Strava
up and down Mount Albert in Colorado, which is a
(15:33):
fourteen thousand foot mountain. Yeah, and it's nine point seven
miles forty five hundred feet of elevation. Game you did
it in two hours and fifteen minutes.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
Yeah. What Yeah, And actually the funny thing is like
two days later I went in for surgery. Oh so
that summer I had developed a first sitis on my heel,
and so I was saying quite a lot of pain.
But yeah, it was my birthday, and I was you
know when you have like birthday mojo. I was like,
I'll just go try it. And I actually didn't think
(16:05):
I would get the record because it didn't feel like
my outright hardest run, but then it just like all
kind of clicked. But since then somebody has taken the record.
But once I'm healthy, I might try to go back
for it.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Okay, So and let's talk about your health because I
know it has been an incredible journey in the last year.
And this is a really important season because obviously it
is twenty twenty five. The Olympics are in twenty twenty six,
so this is the qualifying season. This is when you
guys need to show up and show out to prove
that you deserve a spot on Team USA and that
Team USA deserves a spot in the Olympics.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
In SCHEMO, what is it taken? Because no big deal.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
You've already gotten to second places in the Olympic divisions
of SCHEMO. So what did it take for you to
get ready to perform this season?
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Well, do you want to know about my summer?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I would love to know about it. I would love
for you walking through your summer.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
Okay, Well, actually let's back up. So last winter we
were racing in Europe. THEOSOP sent a team doctor with us,
and on that trip I discovered I had broken my ankle,
and so yeah, like she basically all she had with
her was a tuning fork, which if you put a
tuning fork on a broken bone, the vibrations recreate like
(17:23):
severe pain, and so you can it's a pretty it's
a pretty accurate way to like diagnose the bone break
without an X ray. So she did that and then
she saw like all of my ridges residual swelling and
like lack of movement, and I was like racing on that,
like this is just the way my ankles are. So
basically she kind of laid it up. She was like,
I think you're you broke your ankle. I think you're
(17:43):
gonna need surgery. Expect this. And at the time, I
actually had no health insurance and I was like, oh man,
this is like such a pain leg So did some research,
got on some like crappy health self employment health insurance plan,
and then got back to the US and then like
(18:04):
like my last training run before you say Nationals, I
tore my a cl like last work out of the season,
a cent like the week on my easy training hill
that I ski thousands of times a season, I just
caught an edge in some powder I wasn't even and
I think that's the issue. I wasn't like trying to
(18:25):
ski down aggressively. It was like, oh, I get down,
so you can get back up, get your work out
in ripped my ASL off the bone, went into stedman
found out, okay, you need asal repair, you need ankle repair.
And then I was like just heartbroken because I had
been I was actually ranked last season first or second
(18:46):
in all four disciplines. I didn't know this. I just
found out last season. So I and I was feeling
pretty strong, like up there racing, you know, with the
top women in our country. So yeah, this all happened
and I was just like, shoot, like, I feel like,
there's no way I'm going to have like two surgeries.
They had to stagger the three months apart, so it
(19:08):
was like recover, go back under the knife, totally bedridden,
like non weight bearing, and then do it all over again.
So that was really hard. I actually had my last
surgery mid June, and yeah, and it was hard. So
I had my ACL repaired first, and that three months
(19:29):
in between, I worked so hard to get any sort
of muscle toned back, you know, just excusing your quad
poking over quand fire, fire and it's just it's so
hard to get that back, and then went in for
ankle repair and you're non weight bearing again, so you
lose all that progress, right, So yeah, so I kind
(19:50):
of just started, but I you know what, I stayed
pretty focused and like I was like, you know what,
I'm just going to shoot my shot and like see
like what I can do, but also still respect the
recovery because I'm like, I can't do any start again
that shit loves.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Yeah, Now, how do you my gosh, I mean, how
do you balance that as an athlete?
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Because I think one of the things that's hard right about.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
SCHEMO And I understand USOPC has come in and helped
facilitate this, put some resources into it, but it's not
one of one of the most funded sports in winter
in Olympics, right, So, like, how do you balance as
a human being? Hey, this is this is a dream
of mine to go to the Olympics, to compete in
(20:39):
this sport that I really have loved and have become
very good at.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
And also.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
There it's it's a really hard like I have to
fund this dream myself. I have to put this you know,
I have to do all of this, Like how did you,
How did you as a human being balance that need
of like, this is my passion and also I got
to make ends meet in my in my job as
an acupuncturer.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
Is making a business the flow right reason old Mountaintown? Yeah,
it would do that. It's hard and I'm not gonna lie.
Like having my surgery was also a big like snack
in the face because not only am I like, you know,
trying to keep my business afloat save up money to
go race, but then it's like, oh, now, here's twelve
thousand dollars to like that you're paying so that you
(21:25):
can keep competing. Yeah. So, I mean honestly, last winter
I overworked. I worked myself into the ground. I was
ruading my own business, contracting for another business, coaching on
the weekends. I was working like seven days a week,
training every moment in between, traveling to world cups, making
up work when I got back. And so I think
(21:47):
that was a valuable lesson of just like how can
I cut back maybe budget and figure this out? But
it's always a little nerve cracking leaving my business behind
and just being like, is am I like are these
bad decisions for my business that I've also worked so
hard for.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yeah, I want to talk about your business.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
So we've mentioned a few times, but you're an acupuncturist
in Leadville, and I actually have a friend who has
gone to you and swears by your acupuncture techniques.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
How did you get into acupuncturing.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
I so as a kid, my mom took us to
acupuncture for our sports injuries, and so it was a
familiar modality to me growing up. And then as I
got older, I was like, I want to go into
health and wellness. I kind of thought I wanted to
go into pets, into PTE, but I think during that
time it became a doctor and I was like, I
(22:43):
don't want to go to that my school, Yeah, and
then I started doing some research about acupuncture, and I
was like, you know, I actually didn't know much about it,
Like I knew what it was, but not like how
the system works and what we'd be learning. To be honest,
I just kind of signed up and it was like
I'm committed, and it's it's really fun because not only
(23:05):
do we use needles, we also are trained in traditional
Chinese medicine, which is like herbal medicine, which is really
fun to use so, you know, formulas to help anything
from flues and colds to indigestion to sleep, anxiety, depression,
like Chinese medicine can help with so much, so many
(23:25):
different things. Yeah, and it's a pretty fun, like we
kind of call it it's like a science, but an
it's an art within a science because there's a lot
of room for freedom and creativity, so it's it's pretty fun. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
When did you open your business in Leadville?
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Ah? I opened it March twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Oh perfect, Yeah, good time.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
I opened it. Literally got my first weeks March twenty twenty,
got locked into paying business rend and COVID struck.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Oh Gwenn, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
I know. I was like, well, it can't be worse.
So business has been great since.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
How did you do? I mean, my gosh.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
When I think about what you have gone through to
pursue your career, your your schemo athletic career, to keep
your business afloat, what have you drawn from to keep
that motivation, to keep that energy into to fight to
keep both of these dreams alive?
Speaker 4 (24:29):
I think I have, Like I have a good work ethic,
so like when I decide I want to do something,
I'll make it happen. And so it's a business thing
is hard because you can't just like like there's things
you can do to work harder to grow a successful business.
But it also does take money and resources and like tactic.
(24:53):
But I think for me just persevering through like below
and just you know, finding a second job, doing what
I could and then still showing up and not being
flake young clients even though it's like, well, I have
one client today, it's definitely not paying my bills. But
I'm pretty you know, I think I've had my business
(25:14):
for yeah, five years now about and sticking it like
sticking it out. It's been it's been good, and I'm
really grateful to be able to have like a successful
business in a seasonal mountain town.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
So yeah, no, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
And it's something that you know, I going in and
I actually first connected because I found out about I mean,
I was looking into Schemo because I was so intrigued
by it being an Olympic sport in twenty twenty six.
And then I saw where he lived and I used
to live in the mountaintown next to you, and I
was the summer employee as a whitewater Rafting Guide just
down the road, and so it was so fun to see,
(25:53):
you know, I know the struggle I guess of trying
to survive in a mountaintown in season that it doesn't
it's it's not a four season town, you know, and
depending on which one you're in, it kind of dictates
which season it's the most popular. And so I'm curious
how you have sort of incorporated, you know, you said
(26:14):
last last winter you.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Really went, oh wow, I've gone too far.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
I don't have enough to give all of these different
things that I love.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
How did you?
Speaker 1 (26:24):
How have you adjusted here in twenty twenty four, twenty
twenty five to have a better balance and still still
pay the bills in a in a mountain town which
is not it's not a cheap place to try and
find a way to make to make rent and to
do everything.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Yeah, no, it's it's hard. I think. I think, what
didn't serve me last year's my ambition, and so I
think cutting back and being like I'm going to like
work maybe more hours in the summer, and the summer
is really good in Londville. We have the race series happen.
We have tons of athletes, flooding to town and I
(27:02):
can really you know, make some good money in the summer,
as all businesses in lond will do. And so I
think like telling myself, like, Okay, we're going to do
what we can in the summer and then try to
save as much as we can, and then in the
winter like commit to racing. And if I could see
my bank account dwindling, you know, like not just like
(27:22):
getting scared or just like overdoing it because I'm like, oh, shoot,
what if I rout out of money and my business
goes under, but like yeah, just knowing that that's gonna happen,
and I'm taking that risk because I think it's also
like with my job, I'm on my feet all day.
And yeah, I really learned that. In the recovery to
my surgery. I had some really good pets that were
(27:44):
like no on breast days, like you need to sit,
like you're not walking around all day, Like sit, eat
good meals, drink lots of protein, get a massage, recover,
needle yourself. And so I think that was a big
eye opener. I was like, I'm doing so much hardware
in the training, but I'm not letting myself take a break,
(28:04):
you know, and then we let it in lund bell
At tend to like you don't recover anyways, Like like.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Yeah, yeah, you walk outside and like it's it's you.
If you have never slept or tried to sleep at
ten thou two hundred feet, let me tell you who. No,
And like if your body ever adjusts, it needs weeks
to do so, Like it's it's crazy. I spend so
much time at elevation in those mountains, and still every
time I come back, I'm like, okay, the first Like
(28:31):
there's a reason professional sports teams go to Denver to
train in altitude training, right, Like we're talking basketball football teams,
because it's harder for your body when there's less oxygen.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Yeah, everything you're doing has this innate level.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Of difficulty to it that a lot of you know,
I mean maybe more so, certainly more so in winter
sports than in summer sports, but a lot of it.
There's just there's so much to being a winter sport athlete.
And so with that coming back to sort of the
focus of trying to qualify for the Olympics, what does
this twenty twenty five season look like for you? How?
(29:05):
What are the benchmarks that you're trying to reach and
accomplish and and how can we follow along in the stream?
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Yeah? Yeah, so actually, because it's heaving through the Olympics. IMF,
the International Scandering Federation, has done a really good job
with like live streaming and media coverage. And I actually
have a handful of clients back in Lodville that have
started following along and they are like, this is so
exciting to watch. And I was like, oh my god,
you're probably the only Americans watching, but thank you.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
More up to this podcast, yes.
Speaker 4 (29:35):
Hopefully, hopefully, And it's such a fun and exciting sport
to watch. But yeah, anyways, the US, the Americas, we're
kind of behind in general, Like the Europeans are such
strong speA about in your athletes. They're funded by their
like a lot of them are in the military, funded
(29:57):
by their military. They train full time. They they're just
so good at it, and we're just you know, kind
of catching up as Americans. But anyways, in the reason
the mixed gender really is like our hope for the
Olympics is there's a continental spot, meaning we just have
to out compete Canada. Chile used to have a team.
(30:18):
I'm not sure. Basically, we have to be the top
performing team from North and South America through World Cup
rankings this season. And so yeah, just all like getting
as many of us over to Europe to race World
Cups as we can is how we're trying to accomplish this.
And you know, rank and higher than essentially Canada, our
biggest competition because they, I think they've been Canada's got
(30:42):
some strong athletes that have been in the sport a
little longer than most Americans I think, so yeah, and
it's it's so hard because we all the World Cups
are over in Europe, and you know, a lot of
us have no funding or sponsorship or USA Schemo is
very limited with they're just starting to maybe have a
little bit. So it's hard. You know, we're all trying
(31:05):
to like juggle leaving jobs, taking weeks off to go race,
but also like not cutting it short where you're like
you shop two days before event, like you're not going
to perform well when you've just sat fifteen hour flight. Yeah,
So just trying to like, yeah, set ourselves up to
like do it well.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
So when did these World Cups begin?
Speaker 4 (31:28):
So the first one actually already happened in Courchapelle, France.
I did go to it. Actually, I just it was
kind of for me a fitness test to see like
how I felt the sprint event. I didn't feel so
strong on I was still scared going racing downhill. I
just I think mostly because I went to pet right
(31:51):
beforehand in my PTE watched me hop on one leg
and was like, I think you need like a little
more time. Okay, So I went and timidly race the downhill.
But then now it's been another month and we just
had USA Nationals and I was like, ah, I'm back.
I'm fearless now, like Lake is back. Yeah, So oh.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
My gosh, what is that feeling like to compete in
a race and go okay, I feel like my own
self again.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
It was I was just so happy, and I think
because I didn't know what to expect. I it was
just like I'm just going to go shoot my shot,
and like I don't have many expectations, but I'm going
to try as hard as I can and go for it.
I actually listened to Lindsay Vond's book on my drive
out here and like her whole body like be you aggressive.
(32:45):
I was like, okay, go ahead, just like be a
little aggressive on the down and just try to not
be scared. And so I just yeah, I showed up
and was like, oh, like, I'm not scared to go
down anymore. This is amazing.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
That's all awesome.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
So what is the next Like, what's the World Cup
season look like? What are the months where the spots
What are sort of the the benchmarks this season where
you guys can gauge okay, we have a chance at
the spot in the Olympics, or like we need to
do better, Like what are the benchmarks?
Speaker 4 (33:18):
I'm not sure if the ranking. I think there must
be accumulative ranking one that I have to see. But
this year we have I think nine World Cups and
then we actually have World Championships, which happen every two years,
and that's a good benchmark of how countries and teams
are performing. Yeah, we have coming up. Our team is
(33:41):
traveling to Andorra and then Spain, so we're racing in
the Pyrenees, and then I believe after that there's the
next World Cup is in Bormeo, Italy, which is the
Olympic venue, which will be super exciting to get to
go grace there. Whether we make the Olympics or not,
just get a little like preview for what it will
be like. And then after that is World Championships and
(34:03):
then I think for more World Cups. So okay, the
season ends in April, so it's a long season.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Yeah, so we're really going going really hard. February, March, April,
rescue January. We're getting a minute everything we've got as
Team USA.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
Yeah, awesome.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Yeah, there was one thing that you wanted people to
leave this podcast knowing about you or about.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Schemo or your connection to this sport. What do you
think it would be?
Speaker 4 (34:32):
Man? I just like, well, okay, can I say something
really cool about the sport that I had? So it
was derived from world World War one or World War two?
Shoot should have check my bags. But basically it was
kind of developed in like time of war where soldiers
(34:54):
would be like skinning up mountains and shooting cans to
like it's kind of like how the US has tenth
Mountain like soldiers. I don't know what you call it. Yeah, yeah,
it's it was a sport derived on like, well, a
time of war, and so I think it's like a
(35:14):
lot of people kind of make fun of it because
They're like, you're not really skiing, you're not really mountaineering,
Like you're not skiing well on those like stupid skis,
But like it's such a bad ass sport at the
heart of it, and I just think, like it's super
exciting to watch and super fun to participate in. Like
I think it's similar to Nordic skiing, like low impact
(35:35):
on the joints. People of all ages can do it,
and I'm like, I'm so glad I found this because
I can do it for the rest of my life.
I think, hmm, so, yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
I love that, And I think like for me, right,
I have a lot of friends who did who do
backcountry skiing, so I've always heard of like skinning up
a mountain on skis, but as a snowboarder, I was like, yeah,
until I get a split board, Like I'm not going
to do that.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
But there is something really powerful about.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Working your own way up a mountain and then turning
around and doing it and like to be to be
crystal clear, I made it. What what did we figure?
Seven hundred meters or something like that. Like I did
not go very tall. It was like more than half yeah,
up more than halfway up the baby lift at Ski Cooper,
which is as far as the word in Colorado. So
(36:23):
just to be clear, like I wasn't even in sort
of the most epic places. But it is a sport where, yes,
I think, like there's people who are so stoked about
competing in it and it's gonna be so fun to
watch it in the Olympics. And also it is a
sport that can take you to places that nobody gets
a chance to see. It makes it makes access, it
(36:44):
makes mountain ranges accessible in a way that very.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
Few other sports do.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
Yeah, no, thanks for sharing that, because I feel like, yeah,
that's actually one of the biggest things about the sport
that I love is like you can wait or travel,
like to the most beautiful places, see the most beautiful
sunrises and sunsets, all all powered by your own two legs,
and like it's you could just end up in the
most beautiful landscape. So it's it's kind of the best sport.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
No bias, it's no bias whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
And the other thing is the other thing I want
to talk about because I'm gonna put the video over
this and like in our Instagram throughout this, but I
want you to talk about how like give me the
details of what it means to have a transition in SCHEMO.
So where you go from skinning up to skiing down.
What it requires of you as the athlete to do.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
Like what am I actually doing in those yeah?
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Because so like like describe it for people who don't
understand what skinning is, because like skinning is basically obviously you're.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
Going uphill, yeah, and you have g's yeah with like.
Speaker 4 (37:48):
You have skins on the bottom of your skis that
are stuck your skis with a glue and the skins
have like a one waifer on them, so you can
glide up, but they grip if they go backwards. So
that's how you climb. But yeah, so a transition is
essentially once you're done climbing uphill, you need to take
those skins off to go downhill. And so, uh, you know,
traditionally people take their skis off. It's a little slower,
(38:10):
but when we race, everything stays on and it takes
us five I think less than five seconds. For this transition,
you have to reach down, buckle your boots down, flip
your heel piece up or down so that your skis
can lock, your boots can lock into the ski and
then you reach to the front of your ski and
rip these gluey like glutes skins off in one bowel swoop.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
Wow, your skis are still on your sp.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Yeah, it's incredible to watch. Like, if you have not
seen this happen, you have to go to the Powerfuls
Instagram if you are listening to us on Apple.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
Spotify, wherever, because I have.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
A video of Gwynn doing this and it's ridiculous, Okay,
because then there's me who I was like, yeah, we're
gonna take these skis off. I can't even get the
skis back on, like it is, y'all. And she made
it look so freaking easy. And I think that's one
of the things that I love about talking to athletes
like you is like, that's that is obviously a part
(39:10):
of your training is to figure out how to do
this transition, but then you make it look so freaking easy,
and the rest of us are like, oh, yeah, no,
well I can't.
Speaker 4 (39:18):
Well if this basically feel better. We had a training
group down in Crisco all summer and we were like
had our ski ger out on grass. People were like
biking by, like where's the snow And we're like, there's.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
We're practicing thing.
Speaker 4 (39:31):
Yeah, because this is how dedicated we are to taking
our skis on and off. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Well, it's a huge part of it.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
It's like, like you said, you can go from first
to last with a bad transition. It's no different than
a bad handoff in your track and field. Like this
is a critical aspect of the sport.
Speaker 4 (39:47):
Yeah. And I it's so funny because like when people
ask what I do, I'm like, well, we skin up
the hill and then we practice taking our skis on
and off and then we go down and it's like
so like not exciting in a way that likes so
exciting at the same time.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Oh you it is exciting. Go to the Instagram. It's
very exciting.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
I'm like, my jaw was on the ground watching you.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Okay, so I'm so excited Ghen to watch you compete
in these World Cups, get a chance to feel.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
What that Olympic venue looks like.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
We are going to be absolutely keeping track as you
continue through this twenty twenty five qualifying season. But now
it is time to transition on the podcast to the
next segment, which is where I ask you what do
you sipin on? It is brought to you by the
Sports Bra, which is the first women's sports bar in
the entire world. It sits in Portland, Oregon. And so
(40:33):
we want to know, Gwen, what do you sippin on
these days? What's your favorite cocktail?
Speaker 3 (40:38):
Mocktail?
Speaker 4 (40:40):
I think I'm gonna have to go with a hot toddy.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Oh my gosh, this sea athlete in you is like,
give me a warm drink, please.
Speaker 4 (40:48):
Worms drink to open my LUNs up. Consider it medicinal there,
I mean lemon and whiskey.
Speaker 3 (40:55):
Sounds like a good recip to me.
Speaker 4 (40:57):
Yeah, warms you up from the inside out. Actually had
one last night after racing.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
Yes, because you should. After we bring home a silver medal.
Absolutely we get off. Yes, all right, now it is
time for our Powered up segment.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
These questions are meant to be rapid fire, but I'll
see how it goes.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
So it's just give me your best shot here, Gwen.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Okay, okay, first question, coffee your teeth coffee?
Speaker 3 (41:24):
What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Speaker 4 (41:26):
Oh? Shoot, like all the things?
Speaker 3 (41:33):
Oh my goodness, pick give me top three.
Speaker 4 (41:36):
Like chocolate and caramel and lots of things in there.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (41:42):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
What is your go to meal before or after a
training session? For Schemo.
Speaker 4 (41:50):
Avocado toasts never fails with some sprouts, good salt, and
oh carry gold butter.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
Oh my gosh, I love that. That's so good. What
is the favorite place your sport has taken you?
Speaker 4 (42:02):
Oh man? And Dora was a neat country because I
actually didn't realize it was a country, and it's that's
so cool and it's beautiful. Well, I just like in general,
also love the Alps. I think this actually sorry, not rapidfire.
That's okay, keep going this season. The very last World
Cup is happening in Johnso, Norway, and I am so
(42:26):
excited to go there. I've seen photos of the mountains
coming like straight out of the ocean.
Speaker 3 (42:30):
That's gonna be so cool. I cannot wait. Yeah. Are
you a night owl or an early bird?
Speaker 4 (42:36):
Early bird? For sure, early bird.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
You gotta go see those sunrises and you gotta freaking
haul your butt up there to get them.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
So I get that. What is your dream vacation spot?
Speaker 4 (42:48):
Oh man, this was like not your exciting, but like, well,
no it is. I still haven't been to Alaska. I
really want to go to Alaska.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
That was incredible.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Maybe oh my gosh, we had on season one, we
had a Love Kelter, who is a member of TUSA
Rugby on the podcast, and she talked about growing up
in Alaska and twelve out of ten, I'm like, okay,
I want to come to Alaska and I want you
to show me around because it just sounds incredible.
Speaker 4 (43:18):
Yeah, like the animals, the nature.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
If you have not, then you should go back and
listen to a Love's podcast because a it was like
so hilarious. But also if y'all have not listened to it,
she talked about a time where literally she thought that
a bear was a dog because that's how common bears
were in Alaska.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
So go back and listen to a Love Calter season one.
It was so good. It's fantastic. Okay. And then what
is the best piece of advice that you have ever gotten?
Speaker 4 (43:49):
Oh? Actually, yeah, one that from sixth grade science class.
If you're gonna do anything, do it well. I love that.
Speaker 3 (44:00):
Stage lifelong, very applicable advice.
Speaker 4 (44:03):
Yeah, just good reminder.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
What is the wildest mishap you have ever had while
sche mowing?
Speaker 3 (44:13):
I guess terribly, so yeah, I guess on a green
that's my ideal.
Speaker 4 (44:18):
On a great at ski Cooper, which is like, seriously
like a hill.
Speaker 3 (44:23):
I thought I was in Colorado. No one needs to know. Okay,
we're moving on.
Speaker 4 (44:27):
Let's not talk about my teammates too much.
Speaker 3 (44:30):
Trauma.
Speaker 4 (44:31):
Well, last night my teammate tore his and so we
were like miss writing on injuries and I was like,
how did you tear a hit yours? And he was like,
I split like two thousand feet down an avalanche. And
I was like okay, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Okay, I guess sorry, yeah, the same actually exactly how
I tore mine.
Speaker 3 (44:50):
Weird okay? And then when to wrap things up?
Speaker 1 (44:55):
This is the Powerful Podcast and it is such an
honor to get to highlight power women such as yourself
in different sports, competing across the world. So what does
powerful mean to you?
Speaker 4 (45:08):
Oh man, man? I think just like perseverance and like, yeah,
just following your dreams and giving it all you got.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
I love that. That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (45:22):
Well, we shoot your shot.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
It has been shoot your shot. You miss a hundred
percent of the shots you don't take.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
Yeah, well, I am so grateful that you took the
time to join us here on the Powerful Podcast. Cannot
wait to watch you rocket the rest of the World
Cup season and best of luck, we will.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
Be rooting for you.
Speaker 4 (45:40):
Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (45:42):
I'll carry pod squad. We will see you next time
on the Powerful Podcast. Thanks for being here.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
This is a reminder to check us out every Tuesday
everywhere you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (45:51):
And if you really
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Enjoy this and don't want to miss an episode, be
sure to hit that subscribe it
Hello friends, and welcome to the Powerful Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm your host, Ajam McCord. In this podcast, we introduce
you to powerful women who are changing the game in
and outside of their field of play. These are women's stories,
women who happen to be doing things that many of
us can only dream of, but the lessons and inspiration
they share is universal.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Hello, Powerful Podsquad people.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I am so excited for this episode of the Powerful Podcast.
We are bringing you women's sports stories from around the
world of winter sports, and today we are diving deep
into what is going to be a brand new sport
in the twenty twenty six Olympics. It is called SCHEMO,
short for sche Mountaineering. Gwen Rudy is one of the
members of the national team who is working so hard to.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Qualify with Team USA and she is a badass.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
She talks us through the injuries that she has had
to endure in the last year in order to.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Be ready to compete for this qualifying season.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
She talks about how hard it is to balance competing
and loving a sport that doesn't have a lot of funding,
while also managing a business that she has worked so
hard to grow as an acupuncturist in a small seasonal
mountain town.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
So I'm so excited for y'all to get to know Gwen,
get to know schemo. And oh, by the way, it's
a sport that I tried. It did not go well.
My friends, this is going to be a situation where
you have some laughs at my expense. So you're welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I hope you enjoyed this episode of The Powerful Podcast.
I am so excited to be joined now by Gwen Rudy.
She is an acupuncturist in Leadville, Colorado. She is a
member of the national Schemo team. If you don't know
what schemo is, do not fret. We are going to
get into it because Team USA is working to have
(01:45):
some representatives in twenty twenty six when this sport makes
its Olympic debut, and Gwen is leading the charge. She's
off to a fantastic start this season already. So Gwen,
thank you so much for joining us here on the
Powerful Podcast.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Yeah, I'm so excited. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Yeah. Okay, So first and foremost, yeah, schemo.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
It is a sport that not many people in the
States know about, and if they do, they probably know
it by.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
A different name. So tell me what is schemo?
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Yeah, so schemo is essentially backcountry skiing at speed on
light gear and a little more groomed and manicured in
the race scene. So we have skins that we put
on our skis to ascend climbs, we take skins off
and descend climbs. So it includes uphill skiing, downhill skiing,
(02:35):
and then all the technical components that that requires.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
So okay, And it's short for ski mountaineering, right, yeah,
short for ski mountaineering.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
So basically it's where you have to you know, like
a lot of people understand that if you go to
a ski resort, there's lifts that carry you up the
mountains so that you avoid walking up said mountain. But
you guys are like, I see the lifts, I'm good
walk Yeah. An exercise, Yeah, because you know exercise that
(03:06):
it's it's okay, So we'll we'll just say it up front.
So I got to chance to meet Gwen in person
in December of twenty twenty four, and I was like, Hey,
I would love to meet you. I'm in Leadville, Colorado,
which if you guys don't know. It's like I think
it's it's sits at what ten two hundred feet or something.
It's like the highest town in the country, so there's
(03:29):
not a lot of air up there, which I'm going
to go ahead and blame as the reason why I
was like, sure for our meeting, let's go ahead and
I'll try sche mowing firsthand.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
A few things y'all need to know about me.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
One, I'd never back down from a challenge, hence why
I decided to say yes. But two, I have not
been on skis period at all for fifteen years.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
So, Gwen, why don't you.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Tell people from the beginning of meeting me in the
parking lot just how it went to what we have
raise You were.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Right, you were fearless. You're like, I'll take the heavy pair,
Oh gosh.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
Because I was terrified of skiing down.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Yeah, I was like first couple wearing helmets and I
was terrified of skiing down.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I like looked like bambyon ice. Y'all. It was bad,
but expect Yeah, you.
Speaker 4 (04:19):
Got a little experience of what the sport requires. But
also to your credit, I forgot to finish your transition
for you, and we forgot to put your skis in
downhill or lock your boots down.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
We'll blame that.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
I and the reason why I felt if you had
five times in a fifty yard stretch, but I.
Speaker 4 (04:37):
Think at the edge you were looking smooth, like just
carbon and turn.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Thank you, thank you. We'll put it on. We'll put
it on the video so that the people can be
the judge of housing.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
I was looking because I still felt like at any
point I could fall off.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Of these things.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
And in skiing there's so many things to keep track of.
Right from a snowboarding perspective, it was like, oh, I
just have one board. It's attached to my boots, so
it can't go anywhere, and skis, let me tell you,
all those things can go, like where the poles can
go everywhere. Yeah, exactly, you're just like doing splits all
the time. But it was important for me to try
and understand, like what is this sport all about? So,
(05:12):
and I think the thing that is so fascinating about
schemo is how you really there's like three different elements
to it, right, there's the uphill, there's the transition, and
there's the downhill. So you really have to be good
at three very like distinct skill sets. Yeah, exactly, So
(05:32):
I guess we'll start at the beginning. How did you
get into skiing in general?
Speaker 4 (05:36):
Yeah, so I skied as a kid a lot and
then switch to snowboarding later in life, and then I
rean to the sport. Actually, when I moved back to
Leadville in twenty nineteen, I actually was more training for
ultra running. I had run three one hundred mile races.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
And casual.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
Yeah, it's seeing out there everybody runs hundreds. You don't
run hundreds. It's wrong with you.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
A lot. I'm a lot wrong or right with me
because I'm never running under my ery.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
It might be the smart one here. But yeah, I,
you know, had put years in just like endurance training,
and so then when I kind of discovered SCHEMO, I
was like, oh, this is like so much fun, Like
there's just so much more to the sport than just
like running running, like like you get to like power uphill,
(06:30):
you get the fun adrenaline of going downhill, and then
just like the intense focus of the transitions. But yeah,
I actually started it through that country. Like I didn't
actually know how to get into SCHEMO. I kind of
figured you needed to go get your abby because I
didn't know there was like not much of a race
scene and I just wasn't part I didn't have the
(06:50):
community in it or anything. So I was like, well,
I'll get my abby, get some like hand me down gear,
and then from there, I like started showing up to
races on like really heavy skis and was like, I'm
never spending four thousand dollars on like skis as that, and.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
They're so thin, they're like an election and a half wide.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Yeah, But I like kept with it because I was like, Wow,
this is some like great fitness, Like this is so
hard and then low and behold. Like a year later,
I got my first pair of race skis and then
I was like.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Oh, like I like this turns out the equipment doesn't
make a difference.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Yeah, it's like you can't not have the right gear
and be competitive because it's just it cuts so much time.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Yeah, so let's talk about being competitive.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Because you joined the sport in twenty nineteen, really is
when you started getting into it.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
Ish, yeah, or maybe more like twenty.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
I mean I guess I took my abbey more in
like twenty seventeen, but I was living on the Front
Range and Boulder and didn't have much access because I
was a full time student at the time.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, tell people what an ABBY is.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
For those who don't ow ABBY.
Speaker 4 (07:58):
It's an avalanche safety course, so you yeah, go in
the back country and learn about snowpacked and safety conditions
so you know where it's safe to ski that country.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
So for those keeping track at home, of the number
of jobs that Gwen currently has, right, she has her ABBY,
which means that she can like go in the back
country and understand everything about how the snow is working.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
And then she's an acupuncturist.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And she's also on the Schemo team, So that's three
for those keeping track at home.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
I actually also would be coaching for Ski Club Veil.
I was the coach for Ski Mountineering last year, but
we have no athletes this year. Okay, so for if
you include coach, but I miss it because I think
it's so much fun.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yeah, okay, So you get into Schemo, we'll say twenty
nineteen ish, but the first time in twenty twenty six
is when it's making its Olympic debut.
Speaker 3 (08:51):
So break down for us how you have gone.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Well, I guess first and foremost, break down the disciplines
that are going to be happening in twenty twenty six
when we watch Small and Cortino.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Okay, yeah, so I think, yeah, so the two Olympic
disciplines are a little more manicured for the Olympic Games.
They're not maybe the true like version of ski mountaineering
where you're like climbing big peaks to sending cool wires,
boot packing to stommits. It's all on a more groomed
(09:24):
pieced or ski run. And so the sprint is like
a three to five minute event and you take off
running up a ski slope. You kind of run through
these diamonds that are kind of like obstacles. You do
two sets of those, get to a boot pack, which
in Europe they usually cut these like very nice steps
(09:45):
in the snow, but they're really hard. It takes a
lot of power like arms, legs to like full s
end of it. But yeah, anyway, so you get to
the first transition zone, you put your skis on a pack,
and that transition anything could go wrong, like you slide
your skis in and you miss your little little hoop boom,
like you're in the back.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
Geez.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Yeah, So you put them through a hoop, put a
hook around, take off, running up these steps, get to
the top of the steps, put your skis back on,
take off, running or gliding, depends how good your technique is.
Get to the top, and then you know, you double
rip skins and then your gate skiing down and there's
often a jump in there so you get some air
(10:28):
and then into another gate, and then usually the finish
is a really tight turn that almost brings you to
a stop. And then so from there you have to
have a good Nordic technique where you're then skating with
all energy to the finish and.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
That all happens, yeah, like three minutes.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
Yeah, it just it depends on the course and person.
Geez yeah. Yeah. And then it's a little bit like
Nordic where every athlete starts with a time trial, so
every athlete starts alone with twenty second gaps. You throw
down your time and then from there you get seated
the top thirty get to move on into heats, quarterfinals,
(11:09):
semi finals, finals. Okay, traditionally in the US we haven't
like we've made it to the quarterfinals, but where we
haven't made it past that I don't think, and it's
really hard to do this event like potentially four times
in a row. It's a sprint, but it like takes
so much endurance. Okay, so explain.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Okay, So there's a sprint and then there's a relay also, right,
is the second discipline? Okay, So sprint in relay breakdown
what a relay is for US?
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Yes, so the relay is actually what the US has
potential to get a spot in the Olympics and what
are USA schema is really like putting all our resources
to get there. But the relay is a mixed gender relay,
so you have a male partner and you essentially it's
the same thing as the sprint, plus an extra loop,
(12:00):
so it's a bigger, usually steeper climb that goes outside
the sprint course. You so just pure fitness, get to
the top, ski down, and then you essentially do the
sprint course ski down, and then you tag your male
partner in the tag off zone. They take off, and
then the challenge is you get like, depending on faster partner,
(12:21):
is like a seven to ten minute break and then
you have to do it again. And it's so hard
because you've kind of cooled down, you've gotten lactic and
then you're like full power again.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
It's right, so hard, so unlike, so unlike in other
relays that we would know about. Right, like like let's
say track in the summer Games. You don't just do
one leg and you're done. You actually have two legs.
In this relay, you do one lap, your partner does
a lap, and then you have to do again.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Yeah, okay, so this is it sounds fun, This sounds
like so exciting. This sounds like a really really good time.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
When did you know that you were hooked on like
competing in schemo.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
Well, to be honest, I I think like my second
year in the sport, I just started to show up
to more races and started to do pretty well, and
I think that positive feedback. I was like, oh, I'm
kind of good at this, and I actually didn't even
I wasn't aiming to make the national team per se,
(13:29):
but I raced a handful of like racist close by,
like New Mexico, Colorado, Utah. That season, I had two
podiums at nationals and then by the end of the season,
I was like, wait, if I go get one more result,
I'll be on the team, and so I flew all
the way to Mammoth, California. I got that result, got
on the team, and then the next year it got
(13:52):
pretty exciting because there was a little more focused on
it becoming an Olympic event, and the USOPC actually stepped
in and kind of came with us on a trip
to Spain in Andorra in Switzerland, and so I think
from there it just got a little more serious and
I was like, oh, shoot, like I'm actually a taught
performing athlete and were we might go to the Olympics,
(14:15):
Like this is so exciting.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
Is that ever something that you dreamed about as a
kid growing up skiing?
Speaker 4 (14:23):
No, I actually was a soccer player, and I wanted
to go to the Olympics in soccer so bad. Like
soccer was like my air and my water. But I
my family moved around a lot, and we left the
country before college or like you know, junior senior year
when it's an important time for collegiate athletes. So I
(14:44):
just never had the chance. But yeah, I I think
I've always Yeah, I don't know, Like I just love
the routine of training and sports. It does. It's good
for me. I have a lot of energy, and so
I think, yeah, before finding Schemo, I kind of took
that energy towards culture running.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
And so yeah, the three one hundred mile ones.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yeah, I also saw which I was doing a little
bit of research, and so well, I want to get
into your job as well. But I but first before
we do that, while we talk about you being an
elite athlete, I also saw that at one point in time.
I'm curious if this record still holds, but in twenty
twenty three, you had the fastest known time on Strava
up and down Mount Albert in Colorado, which is a
(15:33):
fourteen thousand foot mountain. Yeah, and it's nine point seven
miles forty five hundred feet of elevation. Game you did
it in two hours and fifteen minutes.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
Yeah. What Yeah, And actually the funny thing is like
two days later I went in for surgery. Oh so
that summer I had developed a first sitis on my heel,
and so I was saying quite a lot of pain.
But yeah, it was my birthday, and I was you
know when you have like birthday mojo. I was like,
I'll just go try it. And I actually didn't think
(16:05):
I would get the record because it didn't feel like
my outright hardest run, but then it just like all
kind of clicked. But since then somebody has taken the record.
But once I'm healthy, I might try to go back
for it.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Okay, So and let's talk about your health because I
know it has been an incredible journey in the last year.
And this is a really important season because obviously it
is twenty twenty five. The Olympics are in twenty twenty six,
so this is the qualifying season. This is when you
guys need to show up and show out to prove
that you deserve a spot on Team USA and that
Team USA deserves a spot in the Olympics.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
In SCHEMO, what is it taken? Because no big deal.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
You've already gotten to second places in the Olympic divisions
of SCHEMO. So what did it take for you to
get ready to perform this season?
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Well, do you want to know about my summer?
Speaker 3 (16:56):
I would love to know about it. I would love
for you walking through your summer.
Speaker 4 (16:59):
Okay, Well, actually let's back up. So last winter we
were racing in Europe. THEOSOP sent a team doctor with us,
and on that trip I discovered I had broken my ankle,
and so yeah, like she basically all she had with
her was a tuning fork, which if you put a
tuning fork on a broken bone, the vibrations recreate like
(17:23):
severe pain, and so you can it's a pretty it's
a pretty accurate way to like diagnose the bone break
without an X ray. So she did that and then
she saw like all of my ridges residual swelling and
like lack of movement, and I was like racing on that,
like this is just the way my ankles are. So
basically she kind of laid it up. She was like,
I think you're you broke your ankle. I think you're
(17:43):
gonna need surgery. Expect this. And at the time, I
actually had no health insurance and I was like, oh man,
this is like such a pain leg So did some research,
got on some like crappy health self employment health insurance plan,
and then got back to the US and then like
(18:04):
like my last training run before you say Nationals, I
tore my a cl like last work out of the season,
a cent like the week on my easy training hill
that I ski thousands of times a season, I just
caught an edge in some powder I wasn't even and
I think that's the issue. I wasn't like trying to
(18:25):
ski down aggressively. It was like, oh, I get down,
so you can get back up, get your work out
in ripped my ASL off the bone, went into stedman
found out, okay, you need asal repair, you need ankle repair.
And then I was like just heartbroken because I had
been I was actually ranked last season first or second
(18:46):
in all four disciplines. I didn't know this. I just
found out last season. So I and I was feeling
pretty strong, like up there racing, you know, with the
top women in our country. So yeah, this all happened
and I was just like, shoot, like, I feel like,
there's no way I'm going to have like two surgeries.
They had to stagger the three months apart, so it
(19:08):
was like recover, go back under the knife, totally bedridden,
like non weight bearing, and then do it all over again.
So that was really hard. I actually had my last
surgery mid June, and yeah, and it was hard. So
I had my ACL repaired first, and that three months
(19:29):
in between, I worked so hard to get any sort
of muscle toned back, you know, just excusing your quad
poking over quand fire, fire and it's just it's so
hard to get that back, and then went in for
ankle repair and you're non weight bearing again, so you
lose all that progress, right, So yeah, so I kind
(19:50):
of just started, but I you know what, I stayed
pretty focused and like I was like, you know what,
I'm just going to shoot my shot and like see
like what I can do, but also still respect the
recovery because I'm like, I can't do any start again
that shit loves.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Yeah, Now, how do you my gosh, I mean, how
do you balance that as an athlete?
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Because I think one of the things that's hard right about.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
SCHEMO And I understand USOPC has come in and helped
facilitate this, put some resources into it, but it's not
one of one of the most funded sports in winter
in Olympics, right, So, like, how do you balance as
a human being? Hey, this is this is a dream
of mine to go to the Olympics, to compete in
(20:39):
this sport that I really have loved and have become
very good at.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
And also.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
There it's it's a really hard like I have to
fund this dream myself. I have to put this you know,
I have to do all of this, Like how did you,
How did you as a human being balance that need
of like, this is my passion and also I got
to make ends meet in my in my job as
an acupuncturer.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
Is making a business the flow right reason old Mountaintown? Yeah,
it would do that. It's hard and I'm not gonna lie.
Like having my surgery was also a big like snack
in the face because not only am I like, you know,
trying to keep my business afloat save up money to
go race, but then it's like, oh, now, here's twelve
thousand dollars to like that you're paying so that you
(21:25):
can keep competing. Yeah. So, I mean honestly, last winter
I overworked. I worked myself into the ground. I was
ruading my own business, contracting for another business, coaching on
the weekends. I was working like seven days a week,
training every moment in between, traveling to world cups, making
up work when I got back. And so I think
(21:47):
that was a valuable lesson of just like how can
I cut back maybe budget and figure this out? But
it's always a little nerve cracking leaving my business behind
and just being like, is am I like are these
bad decisions for my business that I've also worked so
hard for.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Yeah, I want to talk about your business.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
So we've mentioned a few times, but you're an acupuncturist
in Leadville, and I actually have a friend who has
gone to you and swears by your acupuncture techniques.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
How did you get into acupuncturing.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
I so as a kid, my mom took us to
acupuncture for our sports injuries, and so it was a
familiar modality to me growing up. And then as I
got older, I was like, I want to go into
health and wellness. I kind of thought I wanted to
go into pets, into PTE, but I think during that
time it became a doctor and I was like, I
(22:43):
don't want to go to that my school, Yeah, and
then I started doing some research about acupuncture, and I
was like, you know, I actually didn't know much about it,
Like I knew what it was, but not like how
the system works and what we'd be learning. To be honest,
I just kind of signed up and it was like
I'm committed, and it's it's really fun because not only
(23:05):
do we use needles, we also are trained in traditional
Chinese medicine, which is like herbal medicine, which is really
fun to use so, you know, formulas to help anything
from flues and colds to indigestion to sleep, anxiety, depression,
like Chinese medicine can help with so much, so many
(23:25):
different things. Yeah, and it's a pretty fun, like we
kind of call it it's like a science, but an
it's an art within a science because there's a lot
of room for freedom and creativity, so it's it's pretty fun. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
When did you open your business in Leadville?
Speaker 4 (23:42):
Ah? I opened it March twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Oh perfect, Yeah, good time.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
I opened it. Literally got my first weeks March twenty twenty,
got locked into paying business rend and COVID struck.
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Oh Gwenn, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
I know. I was like, well, it can't be worse.
So business has been great since.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
How did you do? I mean, my gosh.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
When I think about what you have gone through to
pursue your career, your your schemo athletic career, to keep
your business afloat, what have you drawn from to keep
that motivation, to keep that energy into to fight to
keep both of these dreams alive?
Speaker 4 (24:29):
I think I have, Like I have a good work ethic,
so like when I decide I want to do something,
I'll make it happen. And so it's a business thing
is hard because you can't just like like there's things
you can do to work harder to grow a successful business.
But it also does take money and resources and like tactic.
(24:53):
But I think for me just persevering through like below
and just you know, finding a second job, doing what
I could and then still showing up and not being
flake young clients even though it's like, well, I have
one client today, it's definitely not paying my bills. But
I'm pretty you know, I think I've had my business
(25:14):
for yeah, five years now about and sticking it like
sticking it out. It's been it's been good, and I'm
really grateful to be able to have like a successful
business in a seasonal mountain town.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
So yeah, no, that's awesome.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
And it's something that you know, I going in and
I actually first connected because I found out about I mean,
I was looking into Schemo because I was so intrigued
by it being an Olympic sport in twenty twenty six.
And then I saw where he lived and I used
to live in the mountaintown next to you, and I
was the summer employee as a whitewater Rafting Guide just
down the road, and so it was so fun to see,
(25:53):
you know, I know the struggle I guess of trying
to survive in a mountaintown in season that it doesn't
it's it's not a four season town, you know, and
depending on which one you're in, it kind of dictates
which season it's the most popular. And so I'm curious
how you have sort of incorporated, you know, you said
(26:14):
last last winter you.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
Really went, oh wow, I've gone too far.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
I don't have enough to give all of these different
things that I love.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
How did you?
Speaker 1 (26:24):
How have you adjusted here in twenty twenty four, twenty
twenty five to have a better balance and still still
pay the bills in a in a mountain town which
is not it's not a cheap place to try and
find a way to make to make rent and to
do everything.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Yeah, no, it's it's hard. I think. I think, what
didn't serve me last year's my ambition, and so I
think cutting back and being like I'm going to like
work maybe more hours in the summer, and the summer
is really good in Londville. We have the race series happen.
We have tons of athletes, flooding to town and I
(27:02):
can really you know, make some good money in the summer,
as all businesses in lond will do. And so I
think like telling myself, like, Okay, we're going to do
what we can in the summer and then try to
save as much as we can, and then in the
winter like commit to racing. And if I could see
my bank account dwindling, you know, like not just like
(27:22):
getting scared or just like overdoing it because I'm like, oh, shoot,
what if I rout out of money and my business
goes under, but like yeah, just knowing that that's gonna happen,
and I'm taking that risk because I think it's also
like with my job, I'm on my feet all day.
And yeah, I really learned that. In the recovery to
my surgery. I had some really good pets that were
(27:44):
like no on breast days, like you need to sit,
like you're not walking around all day, Like sit, eat
good meals, drink lots of protein, get a massage, recover,
needle yourself. And so I think that was a big
eye opener. I was like, I'm doing so much hardware
in the training, but I'm not letting myself take a break,
(28:04):
you know, and then we let it in lund bell
At tend to like you don't recover anyways, Like like.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
Yeah, yeah, you walk outside and like it's it's you.
If you have never slept or tried to sleep at
ten thou two hundred feet, let me tell you who. No,
And like if your body ever adjusts, it needs weeks
to do so, Like it's it's crazy. I spend so
much time at elevation in those mountains, and still every
time I come back, I'm like, okay, the first Like
(28:31):
there's a reason professional sports teams go to Denver to
train in altitude training, right, Like we're talking basketball football teams,
because it's harder for your body when there's less oxygen.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Yeah, everything you're doing has this innate level.
Speaker 1 (28:45):
Of difficulty to it that a lot of you know,
I mean maybe more so, certainly more so in winter
sports than in summer sports, but a lot of it.
There's just there's so much to being a winter sport athlete.
And so with that coming back to sort of the
focus of trying to qualify for the Olympics, what does
this twenty twenty five season look like for you? How?
(29:05):
What are the benchmarks that you're trying to reach and
accomplish and and how can we follow along in the stream?
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Yeah? Yeah, so actually, because it's heaving through the Olympics. IMF,
the International Scandering Federation, has done a really good job
with like live streaming and media coverage. And I actually
have a handful of clients back in Lodville that have
started following along and they are like, this is so
exciting to watch. And I was like, oh my god,
you're probably the only Americans watching, but thank you.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
More up to this podcast, yes.
Speaker 4 (29:35):
Hopefully, hopefully, And it's such a fun and exciting sport
to watch. But yeah, anyways, the US, the Americas, we're
kind of behind in general, Like the Europeans are such
strong speA about in your athletes. They're funded by their
like a lot of them are in the military, funded
(29:57):
by their military. They train full time. They they're just
so good at it, and we're just you know, kind
of catching up as Americans. But anyways, in the reason
the mixed gender really is like our hope for the
Olympics is there's a continental spot, meaning we just have
to out compete Canada. Chile used to have a team.
(30:18):
I'm not sure. Basically, we have to be the top
performing team from North and South America through World Cup
rankings this season. And so yeah, just all like getting
as many of us over to Europe to race World
Cups as we can is how we're trying to accomplish this.
And you know, rank and higher than essentially Canada, our
biggest competition because they, I think they've been Canada's got
(30:42):
some strong athletes that have been in the sport a
little longer than most Americans I think, so yeah, and
it's it's so hard because we all the World Cups
are over in Europe, and you know, a lot of
us have no funding or sponsorship or USA Schemo is
very limited with they're just starting to maybe have a
little bit. So it's hard. You know, we're all trying
(31:05):
to like juggle leaving jobs, taking weeks off to go race,
but also like not cutting it short where you're like
you shop two days before event, like you're not going
to perform well when you've just sat fifteen hour flight. Yeah,
So just trying to like, yeah, set ourselves up to
like do it well.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
So when did these World Cups begin?
Speaker 4 (31:28):
So the first one actually already happened in Courchapelle, France.
I did go to it. Actually, I just it was
kind of for me a fitness test to see like
how I felt the sprint event. I didn't feel so
strong on I was still scared going racing downhill. I
just I think mostly because I went to pet right
(31:51):
beforehand in my PTE watched me hop on one leg
and was like, I think you need like a little
more time. Okay, So I went and timidly race the downhill.
But then now it's been another month and we just
had USA Nationals and I was like, ah, I'm back.
I'm fearless now, like Lake is back. Yeah, So oh.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
My gosh, what is that feeling like to compete in
a race and go okay, I feel like my own
self again.
Speaker 4 (32:21):
It was I was just so happy, and I think
because I didn't know what to expect. I it was
just like I'm just going to go shoot my shot,
and like I don't have many expectations, but I'm going
to try as hard as I can and go for it.
I actually listened to Lindsay Vond's book on my drive
out here and like her whole body like be you aggressive.
(32:45):
I was like, okay, go ahead, just like be a
little aggressive on the down and just try to not
be scared. And so I just yeah, I showed up
and was like, oh, like, I'm not scared to go
down anymore. This is amazing.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
That's all awesome.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
So what is the next Like, what's the World Cup
season look like? What are the months where the spots
What are sort of the the benchmarks this season where
you guys can gauge okay, we have a chance at
the spot in the Olympics, or like we need to
do better, Like what are the benchmarks?
Speaker 4 (33:18):
I'm not sure if the ranking. I think there must
be accumulative ranking one that I have to see. But
this year we have I think nine World Cups and
then we actually have World Championships, which happen every two years,
and that's a good benchmark of how countries and teams
are performing. Yeah, we have coming up. Our team is
(33:41):
traveling to Andorra and then Spain, so we're racing in
the Pyrenees, and then I believe after that there's the
next World Cup is in Bormeo, Italy, which is the
Olympic venue, which will be super exciting to get to
go grace there. Whether we make the Olympics or not,
just get a little like preview for what it will
be like. And then after that is World Championships and
(34:03):
then I think for more World Cups. So okay, the
season ends in April, so it's a long season.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Yeah, so we're really going going really hard. February, March, April,
rescue January. We're getting a minute everything we've got as
Team USA.
Speaker 4 (34:20):
Yeah, awesome.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Yeah, there was one thing that you wanted people to
leave this podcast knowing about you or about.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
Schemo or your connection to this sport. What do you
think it would be?
Speaker 4 (34:32):
Man? I just like, well, okay, can I say something
really cool about the sport that I had? So it
was derived from world World War one or World War two?
Shoot should have check my bags. But basically it was
kind of developed in like time of war where soldiers
(34:54):
would be like skinning up mountains and shooting cans to
like it's kind of like how the US has tenth
Mountain like soldiers. I don't know what you call it. Yeah, yeah,
it's it was a sport derived on like, well, a
time of war, and so I think it's like a
(35:14):
lot of people kind of make fun of it because
They're like, you're not really skiing, you're not really mountaineering,
Like you're not skiing well on those like stupid skis,
But like it's such a bad ass sport at the
heart of it, and I just think, like it's super
exciting to watch and super fun to participate in. Like
I think it's similar to Nordic skiing, like low impact
(35:35):
on the joints. People of all ages can do it,
and I'm like, I'm so glad I found this because
I can do it for the rest of my life.
I think, hmm, so, yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:44):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
I love that, And I think like for me, right,
I have a lot of friends who did who do
backcountry skiing, so I've always heard of like skinning up
a mountain on skis, but as a snowboarder, I was like, yeah,
until I get a split board, Like I'm not going
to do that.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
But there is something really powerful about.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Working your own way up a mountain and then turning
around and doing it and like to be to be
crystal clear, I made it. What what did we figure?
Seven hundred meters or something like that. Like I did
not go very tall. It was like more than half yeah,
up more than halfway up the baby lift at Ski Cooper,
which is as far as the word in Colorado. So
(36:23):
just to be clear, like I wasn't even in sort
of the most epic places. But it is a sport where, yes,
I think, like there's people who are so stoked about
competing in it and it's gonna be so fun to
watch it in the Olympics. And also it is a
sport that can take you to places that nobody gets
a chance to see. It makes it makes access, it
(36:44):
makes mountain ranges accessible in a way that very.
Speaker 3 (36:47):
Few other sports do.
Speaker 4 (36:49):
Yeah, no, thanks for sharing that, because I feel like, yeah,
that's actually one of the biggest things about the sport
that I love is like you can wait or travel,
like to the most beautiful places, see the most beautiful
sunrises and sunsets, all all powered by your own two legs,
and like it's you could just end up in the
most beautiful landscape. So it's it's kind of the best sport.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
No bias, it's no bias whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
And the other thing is the other thing I want
to talk about because I'm gonna put the video over
this and like in our Instagram throughout this, but I
want you to talk about how like give me the
details of what it means to have a transition in SCHEMO.
So where you go from skinning up to skiing down.
What it requires of you as the athlete to do.
Speaker 4 (37:36):
Like what am I actually doing in those yeah?
Speaker 1 (37:38):
Because so like like describe it for people who don't
understand what skinning is, because like skinning is basically obviously you're.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
Going uphill, yeah, and you have g's yeah with like.
Speaker 4 (37:48):
You have skins on the bottom of your skis that
are stuck your skis with a glue and the skins
have like a one waifer on them, so you can
glide up, but they grip if they go backwards. So
that's how you climb. But yeah, so a transition is
essentially once you're done climbing uphill, you need to take
those skins off to go downhill. And so, uh, you know,
traditionally people take their skis off. It's a little slower,
(38:10):
but when we race, everything stays on and it takes
us five I think less than five seconds. For this transition,
you have to reach down, buckle your boots down, flip
your heel piece up or down so that your skis
can lock, your boots can lock into the ski and
then you reach to the front of your ski and
rip these gluey like glutes skins off in one bowel swoop.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
Wow, your skis are still on your sp.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Yeah, it's incredible to watch. Like, if you have not
seen this happen, you have to go to the Powerfuls
Instagram if you are listening to us on Apple.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
Spotify, wherever, because I have.
Speaker 1 (38:49):
A video of Gwynn doing this and it's ridiculous, Okay,
because then there's me who I was like, yeah, we're
gonna take these skis off. I can't even get the
skis back on, like it is, y'all. And she made
it look so freaking easy. And I think that's one
of the things that I love about talking to athletes
like you is like, that's that is obviously a part
(39:10):
of your training is to figure out how to do
this transition, but then you make it look so freaking easy,
and the rest of us are like, oh, yeah, no,
well I can't.
Speaker 4 (39:18):
Well if this basically feel better. We had a training
group down in Crisco all summer and we were like
had our ski ger out on grass. People were like
biking by, like where's the snow And we're like, there's.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
We're practicing thing.
Speaker 4 (39:31):
Yeah, because this is how dedicated we are to taking
our skis on and off. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Well, it's a huge part of it.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
It's like, like you said, you can go from first
to last with a bad transition. It's no different than
a bad handoff in your track and field. Like this
is a critical aspect of the sport.
Speaker 4 (39:47):
Yeah. And I it's so funny because like when people
ask what I do, I'm like, well, we skin up
the hill and then we practice taking our skis on
and off and then we go down and it's like
so like not exciting in a way that likes so
exciting at the same time.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
Oh you it is exciting. Go to the Instagram. It's
very exciting.
Speaker 3 (40:03):
I'm like, my jaw was on the ground watching you.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Okay, so I'm so excited Ghen to watch you compete
in these World Cups, get a chance to feel.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
What that Olympic venue looks like.
Speaker 1 (40:13):
We are going to be absolutely keeping track as you
continue through this twenty twenty five qualifying season. But now
it is time to transition on the podcast to the
next segment, which is where I ask you what do
you sipin on? It is brought to you by the
Sports Bra, which is the first women's sports bar in
the entire world. It sits in Portland, Oregon. And so
(40:33):
we want to know, Gwen, what do you sippin on
these days? What's your favorite cocktail?
Speaker 3 (40:38):
Mocktail?
Speaker 4 (40:40):
I think I'm gonna have to go with a hot toddy.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Oh my gosh, this sea athlete in you is like,
give me a warm drink, please.
Speaker 4 (40:48):
Worms drink to open my LUNs up. Consider it medicinal there,
I mean lemon and whiskey.
Speaker 3 (40:55):
Sounds like a good recip to me.
Speaker 4 (40:57):
Yeah, warms you up from the inside out. Actually had
one last night after racing.
Speaker 3 (41:02):
Yes, because you should. After we bring home a silver medal.
Absolutely we get off. Yes, all right, now it is
time for our Powered up segment.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
These questions are meant to be rapid fire, but I'll
see how it goes.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
So it's just give me your best shot here, Gwen.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
Okay, okay, first question, coffee your teeth coffee?
Speaker 3 (41:24):
What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Speaker 4 (41:26):
Oh? Shoot, like all the things?
Speaker 3 (41:33):
Oh my goodness, pick give me top three.
Speaker 4 (41:36):
Like chocolate and caramel and lots of things in there.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (41:42):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (41:44):
What is your go to meal before or after a
training session? For Schemo.
Speaker 4 (41:50):
Avocado toasts never fails with some sprouts, good salt, and
oh carry gold butter.
Speaker 3 (41:56):
Oh my gosh, I love that. That's so good. What
is the favorite place your sport has taken you?
Speaker 4 (42:02):
Oh man? And Dora was a neat country because I
actually didn't realize it was a country, and it's that's
so cool and it's beautiful. Well, I just like in general,
also love the Alps. I think this actually sorry, not rapidfire.
That's okay, keep going this season. The very last World
Cup is happening in Johnso, Norway, and I am so
(42:26):
excited to go there. I've seen photos of the mountains
coming like straight out of the ocean.
Speaker 3 (42:30):
That's gonna be so cool. I cannot wait. Yeah. Are
you a night owl or an early bird?
Speaker 4 (42:36):
Early bird? For sure, early bird.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
You gotta go see those sunrises and you gotta freaking
haul your butt up there to get them.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
So I get that. What is your dream vacation spot?
Speaker 4 (42:48):
Oh man, this was like not your exciting, but like, well,
no it is. I still haven't been to Alaska. I
really want to go to Alaska.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
That was incredible.
Speaker 1 (43:01):
Maybe oh my gosh, we had on season one, we
had a Love Kelter, who is a member of TUSA
Rugby on the podcast, and she talked about growing up
in Alaska and twelve out of ten, I'm like, okay,
I want to come to Alaska and I want you
to show me around because it just sounds incredible.
Speaker 4 (43:18):
Yeah, like the animals, the nature.
Speaker 3 (43:20):
Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:22):
If you have not, then you should go back and
listen to a Love's podcast because a it was like
so hilarious. But also if y'all have not listened to it,
she talked about a time where literally she thought that
a bear was a dog because that's how common bears
were in Alaska.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
So go back and listen to a Love Calter season one.
It was so good. It's fantastic. Okay. And then what
is the best piece of advice that you have ever gotten?
Speaker 4 (43:49):
Oh? Actually, yeah, one that from sixth grade science class.
If you're gonna do anything, do it well. I love that.
Speaker 3 (44:00):
Stage lifelong, very applicable advice.
Speaker 4 (44:03):
Yeah, just good reminder.
Speaker 1 (44:07):
What is the wildest mishap you have ever had while
sche mowing?
Speaker 3 (44:13):
I guess terribly, so yeah, I guess on a green
that's my ideal.
Speaker 4 (44:18):
On a great at ski Cooper, which is like, seriously
like a hill.
Speaker 3 (44:23):
I thought I was in Colorado. No one needs to know. Okay,
we're moving on.
Speaker 4 (44:27):
Let's not talk about my teammates too much.
Speaker 3 (44:30):
Trauma.
Speaker 4 (44:31):
Well, last night my teammate tore his and so we
were like miss writing on injuries and I was like,
how did you tear a hit yours? And he was like,
I split like two thousand feet down an avalanche. And
I was like okay, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Okay, I guess sorry, yeah, the same actually exactly how
I tore mine.
Speaker 3 (44:50):
Weird okay? And then when to wrap things up?
Speaker 1 (44:55):
This is the Powerful Podcast and it is such an
honor to get to highlight power women such as yourself
in different sports, competing across the world. So what does
powerful mean to you?
Speaker 4 (45:08):
Oh man, man? I think just like perseverance and like, yeah,
just following your dreams and giving it all you got.
Speaker 3 (45:20):
I love that. That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (45:22):
Well, we shoot your shot.
Speaker 3 (45:23):
It has been shoot your shot. You miss a hundred
percent of the shots you don't take.
Speaker 1 (45:28):
Yeah, well, I am so grateful that you took the
time to join us here on the Powerful Podcast. Cannot
wait to watch you rocket the rest of the World
Cup season and best of luck, we will.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
Be rooting for you.
Speaker 4 (45:40):
Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (45:42):
I'll carry pod squad. We will see you next time
on the Powerful Podcast. Thanks for being here.
Speaker 1 (45:47):
This is a reminder to check us out every Tuesday
everywhere you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (45:51):
And if you really
Speaker 1 (45:52):
Enjoy this and don't want to miss an episode, be
sure to hit that subscribe it
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