Mina Walters

I started skiing at 3 and racing when I was 10 years old. During my first few years racing I was consistently among the bottom of girls my age. While this was often discouraging, the community of friends I had made encouraged me to keep pushing and working hard. Slowly but surely my hard work had paid off and I started earning points for my team and reaching the podium. This was so rewarding to be able to give back, in a sense, to the people who helped me to build my skills and love for the sport. In the past, I have raced WIJARA, Nastar, and USSA. Today, my passion for ski racing has lead me to study chemistry and hydrology at the University of Iowa, as I hope to someday study snow and its impact on the world and our impact on it. Over the past two years, I have continued my ski racing career as the only USCSA racer for the University of Iowa, but I am actively seeking people to join and am actively involved in the university’s ski and snowboard club. Racing as an individual in USCSA has gotten me to expand my ski community even further as I have met so many amazing skiers and snowboarders from all around the midwest.

• Motivation

  My main driver in ski racing has always been the people. Everyone in the ski racing community has always been so kind and without the people who encouraged me from a young age, I wouldn't have developed the love I now have to race. The love for skiing others shared with me has fostered my own love, a love for exploding out of gates propelling yourself faster and faster, and a passion for icy runs, after many cold nights of my skis scraping and sliding till I finally learned to get my edges to bite. I love learning to conquer the different terrains and to navigate a racecourse. This is what has driven me to keep racing year after year.

• Goals

  Currently, I am focusing on finding the perfect indoor training regimen as the closest ski hill to the University of Iowa is an hour and a half away. As a scoring goal for this year, I am hoping to break the top 10 for team scoring as an individual, as well as, to try more competitive freestyle.

• Other Interests

  During the offseason I love hiking, biking, and competing in triathlons. I am always finding reasons to travel and am hoping to someday visit all of the United States National Parks.