Ladies Dolomite | Ski Refugio tour

Ladies Trip to the Dolomites

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Is skiing in the Dolomites on your Bucket list? In February of 2024, Crystal Wright took a group of five women to ski in Italy’s Dolomites. The women had been working out at Wright Training for varying lengths of time, but none of them had been to this area of the world to ski before. We asked them a few questions about their trip. This is what they said: 

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Kim Hunt

1. How many years have you been skiing?

It's hard to believe I’ve been skiing for 50 years. Sugar Bowl, CA, was where I made my first turns. My father had us practicing kick turns on the lawn at an early age.

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2. How many years have you been training at Wright Training? 

I am thankful my schedule loosened up to begin training with Crystal 19 months ago! I have worked out at other gyms for years, but have never experienced the level of coaching or intensity I receive from Crystal. Her commitment to clients is commendable.

3. How has working out in a gym setting helped you become a better skier? 

The combination of strength and endurance built in the gym has given me an extra edge in skiing that I have not felt since my 20’s. These benefits have increased my confidence to push my outer limits in the mountains.

4. How has Crystal helped you to become a better skier? 

I skied stronger this year than anticipated; my expectations were low due to an ACL surgery one year ago, but by continuing my workouts and pushing myself in the gym I was able to ski strong. Crystal provided technical tips, healing exercises, encouraging words, and high expectations, leading me to step up my game in the mountains.
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5. What was one big take-away you had from the camp? 

Exactly one year before our Camp, I blew my knee. I set my sights high to go with Crystal and the ladies to ski the Italian Dolomites. The conditions were not perfect, nor was my knee, but my experience was terrific. Each day, I was challenged and rose to the occasion. Our demanding, successful adventures and the camaraderie of a supportive, fun group of women empowered me. Laughing and trembling together, then cheering on my newfound friends, was a highlight. 

6. Would you go back next year?!

I would love to go again, but probably not next year. I want to explore other places and can only go on one or two big yearly trips. 

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‍Katherine Dowson

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1. How many years have you been skiing? 

About 25 years. I learned to ski when I moved to Jackson in my early 20’s, but took about a decade off to have kids and prioritize running.

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2. How many years have you been training at Wright Training? 

10+ years  

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3. How has working out in a gym setting helped you become a better skier? 

All of the core and leg strength work at Wright Training has definitely improved my skiing  - as have all the step ups.

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4. How has Crystal helped you to become a better skier? 

Crystal has known me for a long time and knows what I need to work on to be a stronger skier. I trust her judgment on that, even though it might not be what I want to do :)

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5. What was one big take-away you had from the camp? 

Skiing in challenging conditions makes you a more confident skier in the future.

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6. Would you go back next year?! 

Of Course!

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‍Sharee Moser

1. How many years have you been skiing? 

I have been skiing for 44 years.  Pretty much every winter weekend since I was a small child, minus a few years during graduate school where I did not ski.  

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2. How many years have you been training at Wright Training? 

Since Ski Fit in fall of 2016.  So just under 8 years.

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3. How has working out in a gym setting helped you become a better skier? 

I notice the biggest difference in my skiing stamina and in my ability (and desire) to go uphill.  In general, I considered skinning uphill and bootpacking uphill as necessary evils to gain turns.  Before training at Wright, and since I started hiking to ski in my teens, I always dreaded either, but especially bootpacking.  I would suffer through to gain those glorious turns that can only come from ascending in non-lift-served-areas, but I truly did so under duress.  I suffered through ascents, physically and mentally.  I realize now that the mental suffering was because I had never trained for anything a day in my life because I simply didn't need to.  I was "ok" without training.  I could keep up, I could do it--I had the natural fitness that came with youth and a very active lifestyle.  Why train?  

After training at Wright, I actually enjoy the uphill.  I honestly don't "suffer through it" at all.  I do it, enjoy it, and still love the downhill.  But now I love the downhill even more because my legs have the strength to ski it well instead of floundering a bit on legs fatigued from ascending.  I honestly feel like training at Wright has taken 20 years off my skiing age.  I can ski better and longer than I did in my 20’s and especially my 30’s when I just relied on general fitness, youth, decent genetics, and skiing skills, without anything more.  Wright Training has given me that "more".  I ski better than I did "in my prime" and that is almost completely due to strength, stamina, and fitness gained at Wright Training. 

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4. How has Crystal helped you to become a better skier?  

Crystal has helped me become a better skier in multiple ways.  Training at the gym provides strength and stamina, and outside of the gym, Crystal helps me with the mental and technical aspects of skiing.  Crystal can analyze movements so well and pinpoint small changes that make a much larger impact in how I ski.  Through skiing clinics and coaching, Crystal has repeatedly led me through small changes that have a big impact on my skiing technique.  But possibly even bigger than the technical expertise and movement analysis, Crystal gives me confidence.  I am, quite frankly, a chicken (that's not negative self-talk, Crystal doesn't like that, just self-awareness!).  A friend in junior high one day said, "We're going to ski that" and pointed at the Gad Chutes at Snowbird.  Something I'd looked at from the lift hundreds of times and had ZERO desire to ever ski. Negative desire, really: I actively thought anyone who skied those had lost their mind.  But I was too proud to admit that. I skied it with that friend and hated every second, then I kept going back because I was too proud to admit my terror.  I am, and have always been, an anxious skier. I truly love skiing.  I feel free, I feel joyful, but I am just not relaxed.  I am tense.  

Crystal helps me get outside of my own head.  She helps me expand my comfort zone but always with encouragement and assurances that I absolutely can ski the terrain or master the skill.  Crystal instills a trust in myself that might not otherwise be there.  Crystal repeatedly demonstrates that she knows my skiing strengths and weaknesses well enough that I can trust her more than I trust myself, so if she says I can do it, I believe her.  Crystal's coaching instills that extra boost of skill and confidence that allows me to take my skiing to the next level.  Because if left to my own devices, I would cruise inside of my comfort zone, laugh a little, feel a little free.  But Crystal helps me ski the bigger terrain and master the bigger skills so that I laugh even louder, and I feel even more free.  The technical expertise and encouragement that Crystal shares adds up to me becoming a more technically proficient skier as well as a more confident and relaxed skier.  All of which makes skiing that much more joyful.  Crystal's coaching also allows me to actually enjoy skiing terrain and places that I would never attempt otherwise.  And that is the ultimate cherry on top.

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5. What was one big take-away you had from the camp?

The biggest takeaway was that skiing crud will improve my skiing far more than being a snow snob.  Brutal reality:  The snow absolutely sucked for our whole trip. I have never skied worse snow in my life. Truly.  

Yet, I don't know that I would change that aspect of the trip if given the choice.  Ok, maybe a day or two of powder?

But because of the terrible snow, I felt like a new skier when I got home.  Difficult snow in challenging terrain improves my skiing far, far faster than years of skiing only on the freshest days.  Due to mother nature's capriciousness, expert guiding, and Crystal's coaching, I learned that skiing the crud can be fun in and of itself and my skiing will improve much faster if I ski the crud than if I only ski the fluffy days at home.  And the untracked fluff is that much more amazing after I have forced myself (or been forced by mother nature, as the case may be) to ski the crud.  

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6. Would you go back next year?  

Absolutely!  Even for more of the worst snow of my life, I would be 100% in with no hesitation.  I would love to go every year.  I hope to fit a trip every few years into my budget because the rewards are unparalleled in terms of mental health, skiing skills, scenery, laughter, camaraderie, and just the overall experience (oh, and the food, wine, and coffee--it's Italy after all).

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‍Theresa Brunker

1. How many years have you been skiing?

I learned to ski as a young girl on the hills of Minnesota - even suffered a broken leg when I was 8!  

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2. How many years have you been training at Wright Training? 

In 2018, I was recovering from ACL surgery (another ski injury!) and my PT was next door to Crystal’s gym.  My daughter told me how awesome Crystal was, so I decided to regain my strength at Wright Training and never looked back!  That was 6 years ago.

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3. How has working out in a gym setting helped you become a better skier? 

As I age, I realize this mountain sport requires a lot of strength.  The workouts at Wright Training not only increase my leg strength so I can carve solid turns, but also my agility and my ability to catch myself when I get out of balance. This in turn Increases my overall core strength which is necessary for holding that athletic stance to confidently rip down the slopes.  Finally, working out with other women of all ages is so awesome for my mental stamina and satisfies my need for ‘fun.'

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4. How has Crystal helped you to become a better skier? 

Crystal emanates confidence.  She sees me as capable and believes in my ability to do more than I think I can.  Her belief in me empowers me to believe in myself.

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5. What was one big take-away you had from the camp? 

Type II fun is challenging, makes me face my demons at times, but after a successful adventure, facing some type II fun, I feel so strong, courageous and confident.

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6. Would you go back next year?!

 I love all day mountain excursions and being totally exhausted by the time we hit the 2:00 Aperol Spritz lunch at a Refugio!  And, if I could get a guarantee that we would not have any Type III moments, I’d go back in a heartbeat..  But type III moments are a real part of adventuring in the mountains, and even though Crystal can guide me through these moments, I just don’t have long enough telomeres to handle the oxidative stress of type III fun! 

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