By Trinity Harrison, Online Editor-in-Chief
Typically, things like surfing, skim boarding and bodyboarding are what you hear kids on the Outer Banks doing for fun. But for some people, the transition from scorching sand under their feet to frigid snow under their boots is what they look forward to most as the winter months approach.
For beach kids like senior Taylor Farmer, family has helped influence her passion for skiing.
“I started skiing when I was really young and it’s because my mom was a pretty avid skier growing up,” Farmer said. “She made Nationals when she was about my age and she got to go to Colorado to compete.”
Farmer has developed her skills as a skier to the point she got the opportunity to ski competitively at Bryce Ski Resort in Virginia.
“I am a really competitive person and I thought, ‘I might as well give it a shot and if I don’t like it, no harm no foul,’ but once I started, I fell in love with it,” Farmer said.
Compared to skiing just for fun, competitive skiing requires a lot of training and practice. Taylor travels to Virginia several times throughout the winter months to enhance her skill level.
“Skiing competitively is more of a challenge and some people are just slower skiers, and I’m just not,” Farmer said. “I can hit 53 mph pretty easily and it’s just something about the structure of racing that I really enjoy.”
Skiing has not only brought her the thrill of competition, but also lifelong friendships with those she has met at Bryce.
“It’s almost like I have a whole different life when I’m there. I have friends from all over because of skiing and one of my best friends I met last season, now we are really close,” Farmer said.
With winter sports being an avid aspect of her family life, her younger brother, freshman Ryan Farmer, has developed a love for snowboarding.
“I started out skiing about 10 years ago. My friends were better than me and it helped me work harder,” Ryan said.
Sports like snowboarding are physically demanding and without balance and control, it can lead to major injuries.
“One time my friend cut me off and I face-planted and at first I felt like I really hurt my arm but now it’s just something we find funny,” Ryan said.
Unlike his sister, Ryan snowboards for fun, similar to senior Cole Kelly, who has been snowboarding for 12 years.
“Basically, my family always went and I used to ski when I was young. Then my brothers really got me into it (snowboarding),” Kelly said. “They started going more and more without my parents, then I started going with them and I realized that I loved it.”
To pursue this passion for snowboarding, Kelly has traveled to ski resorts across the country.
“I have been out West a few times, to Colorado and Utah, and I’m actually going back out there again this year, but my main spot is Snowshoe, which is in West Virginia,” Kelly said. “I get to go there about two or three times a year.”
For Kelly, snowboarding provides a feeling of independence that is hard for him to find in other sports.
“It’s kind of like a sport and I play football, which has a lot of rules, and with snowboarding there are just no rules to it,” Kelly said. “There are no boundaries, you just get to go out there and have fun.”
From the freedom of the slopes to the high-speed adrenaline rush of racing down a mountain, it’s hard to find what winter sports provide anywhere else.
“I enjoy skiing so much because when I am going down that mountain at such a high speed, nothing else really matters,“ Taylor said. “And it’s just a really nice way for me not to think about school or anything else stressful.”
Senior Trinity Harrison can be reached at harrisontr0314@daretolearn.org.
