Mondou exchanges cleats for skis

Nate Mondou (’13), while known at school for his baseball abilities, is also a winter sports fanatic who has skied for 13 years, since he was two years old.

Mondou has participated in many regional and national championships racing for the Crystal Mountain International Freestyle Sports Association Junior Freeride team and representing the Tacoma area in competitions as far as Utah and Wyoming.

“I just love to ski,” said Mondou. “I’ve been doing it ever since I was little and can’t remember a winter when I haven’t geared up and gone out on the slopes.”

Mondou specializes in freestyle skiing, one of the newer aspects of winter sports where each athlete performs tricks off of cliffs while skiing down typical backcountry terrain. Mondou’s tricks include 360-degree jumps as well as skiing switch, also known as skiing backwards. During big moun-tain competitions, four judges evaluate the skiers based on each athlete’s fluidity, control, technique, aggression and difficulty of the slope chosen during the run. This year Mondou’s ski season started Nov. 14 and will continue until the second week of April. He trains every Saturday at Crystal Mountain with four certified coaches.

Mondou explains how freeskiers must be disciplined in their actions but also willing to take some risks. Last year, for example, there were 38 ski-ing-related injuries due to freestyling alone, according to IFSA. To participate in the sport, Mondou is conscious about safety and carefully plans his ski outings at least a week in advance.

“I don’t worry about Nate because he is trained on what to look for, how to research snow conditions and to use the buddy system, ” said Sherry Mondou, Nate’s mother. “He enjoys the outdoors and the challenge of skiing and pushes himself to get off the groomed trails and into the deepest powder he can find.”

“It takes a lot of conditioning and hard work to have anything pay off,” said Mondou. “Everyday, you can be up there for 1,000 feet of vertical [slope] and you can’t stop.”

Skiing is also a huge time commitment for this freshman. Not only does he and his family drive to Crystal Mountain every weekend and some-times Steven’s Pass to train and to race, but Mondou also trains with his ski team during the off season.

Along with 14 other high school students aged 15-18, Mondou lifts weights, jogs and studies freestyle jumps with teammates in preparation for the upcoming winter sports season.

“We’re all pretty close because we’re always either practicing, skiing or hanging out together,” said Jake Sivinski from Leota Jr. High in Winville, Wash., another member of the Crystal Freeride Team.

Athletes train for their jumping maneuvers by practicing on trampolines, diving boards and simulated slopes by skiing down specially constructed wooden jumps to ultimately land in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

“There’s a lot of camaraderie in the sport. We all want each other to do well and do our best to benefit the team. Even though we’re competing against each other during the runs at the end of the day, it’s just a way to have fun,” Mondou said.

Before competitions, Mondou and his team preview the slopes a day in advance to determine the best route in order to maximize their performance. They might ski down the same slope many different times until their coach deems them prepared.

Mondou still isn’t sure if he plans on pursuing skiing in college or as a career.

“Skiing is more fun for me, and baseball is more serious. Our team does get partial sponsorships from corporations like K2 and Smith’s skis, but this is more of a hobby for me,” Mondou said.