By Catherine Yeoman
A chill wind hits Laurel Sherman’s face, turning her cheeks bright red as she carves her skis down the mountain. It is a bright, sunny day around 20 degrees. The perfect day to go skiing. “I love the feeling of my cheeks getting windburn and feeling the wind on my face.”

Sherman, a junior, tries to go skiing every winter as much as she can. Her most recent ski trip was to her favorite local ski resort, Sundown Mountain. But occasionally she will go back with her family to where she first learned to ski, Colorado.

For the early years of her life, Sherman lived in Littleton, Colorado, a small suburb outside of Denver. This is where she was first introduced to skiing. Sherman was taught to ski by her her father when she was only two years old.

Sherman’s family has traveled back to Colorado to go skiing since Moving to Martelle, Iowa. Their favorite place to go skiing in Colorado is at Copper Mountain. One of Laurel’s worst memories happened at Copper Mountain when she was still very young. She was going down a challenging hill, lost her balance on a patch of ice, and ended up wiping out, losing both her skis and poles. Sherman came away with no injury but her pole wasn’t so lucky.

The experience of wiping out as a young child could make some children afraid to ski again, but it didn’t stop Sherman. Today, Sherman has grasped the technique of skiing and is a very talented skier. Her favorite hills to go down at Sundown Mountain are blues and blacks. Sherman loves the challenge of a difficult hill and the feeling of accomplishment after successfully making it down without falling.

In order to stay warm while skiing in below zero weather in Colorado, Sherman wears a hat, gloves, and many warm layers under her coat and snow pants. She also brings goggles and her personal pair of skis and poles.

Sherman loves to ski and plans on skiing for as long as she is able to. She also plans to teach her children to ski when they are young so they can go on family ski trips like Sherman did with her family growing up. Some advice that Sherman has for beginning skiers is “As you are learning, don’t be afraid to challenge yourself. If you fall down, just get back up and finish going down the hill.”