VAIL, Colo.—There was a time when U.S. skier Resi Stiegler stepped into the starting gate and visualized every twist and turn on the slalom course before careening down the hill.
Now all she sees are the crashes.
Three straight injury-riddled seasons have caused Stiegler to ski scared, imagining the worst awaits her at every gate—another broken bone in her leg, tearing another knee ligament, fracturing another arm.
Possibly being laid up for months, then going through arduous rehab. And possibly the uncertainty of whether she would even make it back to the slopes.
Stiegler, 25, is taking the first steps necessary to get on with her skiing career, seeing a sports psychologist to help her conquer the fear of falling.
She still has nightmares about crashing, still thinks about what could happen before loading into the chute for a race. But at least she’s climbing into the gate again.
To her, that’s progress; a sign she’s recapturing the form that led her to make the U.S. Olympic squad in 2006.
“I’m trying to learn how to ease away from the trauma of a crash,” said Stiegler, who plans to race in the slalom during the World Cup stop in Aspen this weekend. “It’s hard not to think you might get injured again when you don’t think you’ll ever get injured and you do.”
Stiegler’s succession of injuries began in December 2007, when she wiped out during a giant slalom run in Lienz, Austria. She caught an edge, went through the fencing, did a cartwheel and collided with a stump, breaking her right leg, left arm and tearing all the ligaments in her right knee.
On the verge of coming back the following season, she fractured her right leg in the waning moments of a soccer game, keeping her off the hill until the ’09 World Championships, where she finished in 19th place in the slalom.
Soon after that, though, Stiegler had another off-the-slopes mishap. Running into her house in flip-flops, she slipped on a step, breaking her foot.
More rehab. More training time lost.
Entering last season, an Olympic year, Stiegler was finally healed and healthy. A spot on the U.S. squad heading to Vancouver seemed almost a certainty for the skier who’s been on the team since she was around 16 years old.
But in a giant slalom training run last November at Copper Mountain, her aspirations were derailed.
Stiegler hooked a gate and her ski failed to pop off, slamming her into the snow so forcefully she fractured the inner part of her left femur and the outside of her tibial plateau.
Some of her doctors had never seen a break quite like this before. She wouldn’t be allowed to walk for 18 weeks.
And her confidence was wrecked.
“You’re helpless,” said Stiegler, who’s from Jackson Hole, Wyo. “It’s the worst feeling, not being able to do anything.”
Even in her dark moments, though, she never really thought her career was finished.
“I love to give myself a good challenge,” Stiegler said. “I’m a very driven person.”
Following her first major spill in 2007, Stiegler moved to Maui to recoup and rehab. She took up photography and creative writing. She also met her boyfriend, professional windsurfer Kevin Pritchard, dabbling in that sport as well.
Stiegler discovered that there was more to life than just skiing, more to her than just how fast she went down the mountain.
“I’ve become more independent and creative with who I am,” she said. “When these big things happened, and I wasn’t going to be skiing for a while, I had to figure out what to do. This had led me to different parts of life.”
Stiegler has always been around the slopes. Her father, Pepi Stiegler, won multiple Olympic medals for Austria, including gold in the slalom at the 1964 Winter Games in Innsbruck.
She was skiing by 2 years old and racing four years later.
Over her career, Stiegler has won national titles, junior world races and European Cup competitions, and was closing in on possibly making the podium at a World Cup event, finishing fourth several times.
And then the injuries hit.
“I’ve never been injured before, never broke a bone before. For me, they all came at once,” said Stiegler, whose brother Seppi is a member of the University of Denver ski squad that’s won three straight NCAA titles. “You can’t think too hard about it.”
These days, she’s trying to regain her confidence, not dwell on crashing and focus on the course. The counseling is helping her put the fear of falling behind her.
“Some days are super bad and I can’t even ski,” said Stiegler, who will concentrate primarily on the slalom this season. “Every day is different.”
The sight of her back on the slopes is a welcome one to her teammates.
“So many people would give up,” said Julia Mancuso, who won two silver medals at the Vancouver Olympics. “When I had my back injury, it was really difficult to push my body to the limit. … I think when you finally feel your body is good, that’s when the fear goes away.”
Stiegler certainly hopes.
“It’s difficult to mentally push it out of your head,” she said.
Can she?
“Ask me again in three months,” she said, grinning.
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