Coming into his first Birds of Prey World Cup appearance, it’s now or never for Aspen skier Bridger Gile
U.S. Ski and Snowboard/Courtesy photo.
Bridger Gile has invested in his ski career for a long time. Coming into the 2024-25 season, he said he’s still “pretty all-in,” but understands now is the time to see major returns.
“For sure you’re getting to the age where you have to have results or your career is done,” the Aspen native said during the U.S. Ski Team’s November training camp at Copper Mountain.
Gile didn’t grow up in a huge ski-racing family. His dad picked up masters racing around the time he was born.
“That’s basically how I got into ski racing,” Gile said. “He was learning at the same time I was.”
Still, he proved to be a prodigy pretty quickly.
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By the time he was 4, he was a NASTAR national champion, had been filmed by Warren Miller’s crew and became the youngest person to ever hike and ski Aspen’s Highland Bowl from the summit. In sixth grade, he relocated to Vail, where he attended Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy until his graduation and was coached by Matt Underhill at Ski and Snowboard Club Vail. He made his first U.S. Ski Team in 2019 and won the NorAm overall title the following year, making his World Cup debut in the Soelden giant slalom in 2020.
His ascent was slowed for the next two seasons by a herniated disc in his back.
“So last year was kind of a comeback season, I guess,” Gile said. Working his way up from less-than-ideal bib positions, Gile managed five top-7 finishes in his seven races. He won the giant slalom — his specialty — at Beaver Creek on Dec. 12 and picked up four more NorAm podiums.
“I think having that slow start, being able to slowly build and get tactically and technically better helped a lot,” he said. “I think as a race season it was really good.”
After a successful prep period, Gile enters the month of December feeling good about his skiing. His 2024-25 campaign is already underway. He did not finish his first run at the Soelden World Cup opener on Oct. 27, but will get another shot on the big stage at the Birds of Prey in the giant slalom on Dec. 8. It will be his first World Cup on home soil. Having slipped the Birds of Prey course for six years as an SSCV athlete, he said “to actually be racing in it is cool.”
He remembers one cold day as a 14-year-old being allowed inside a warming hut to get hot chocolate with his teammates. Several World Cup athletes were inside getting ready to compete.
“To see them in their element was cool,” Gile said. At the time, he said he knew he wanted to be in sports for the rest of his life, but couldn’t have convinced himself with absolute certainty that he would realize his dream. Now that he has, the 25-year-old knows the stakes are high going into the season.
“I would say it’s kind of a make or break,” he said. “I’ve got to score World Cup points. I want to do that and if I don’t I’ll be pretty disappointed. … And I feel like I’ve given so much to this sport; I owe it to myself to give it all I have.”
Is there a singular accomplishment he would be satisfied hanging his hat on?
“When I was younger, there used to be, but now I’ve switched to this mindset of, if I gave it everything I had and became the best I think I could be, then I’ll be happy,” he answered. “If it’s where I am now, then that’s where it is — but I think it can be more.”
