From Gore Ranger gals to U.S. Alpine Ski Team pals, Part 3: Kaitlin Keane is putting the pieces together
The second-year U.S. Ski Team member loves to read, cook, do puzzles — and ski fast
Robert F. Bukaty/AP photo
Kaitlin Keane’s U.S. Ski Team profile page indicates a unique hobby.
“I love puzzles,” the second-year D-Team athlete confirmed during a media day interview halfway through the team’s Copper Mountain training camp this November. Completing her daily sudoku at Starbucks is an essential afternoon ritual for the former Ski and Snowboard Club Vail skier. The 19-year-old also looks forward to receiving her traditional birthday and Christmas gift: a specialty wooden jigsaw from Liberty Puzzles in Boulder.
“With regular puzzles, you have to go on color, because the shapes are pretty similar. But these all look so different, so you can also go on shape,” she explained.
“As you get used to it, it’s really fun.”
Ski-racing fans should probably get used to Keane, who’s been at Copper Mountain since the end of October, putting the pieces together for her 2023-24 season.
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A typical day at camp consists of waking up at 5:30 a.m., finishing an on-snow training session by 9, eating, chilling (with puzzles of course), an afternoon gym session, video analysis, dinner and bed. The future Dartmouth athlete hopes the grind will lead to regular podiums on the NorAm circuit, which kicks off this week at Copper Mountain.
“I think for me it would mainly just be to score well, have fun,” the Vail Mountain School graduate said of her season gap-year goals before adding the “ideal” scenario would be to earn a World Cup start via NorAM performances.
“But, I’m not trying to set too high a goal. I just hope it comes.”
Skiing sisterhood
Living in Boston until she was 4, Keane grew up chasing her three ski-racing older brothers.
“I’ve always wanted to be like them,” she said of her siblings, two of whom competed for Dartmouth.
Keane originally did gymnastics as well, but chose skiing when she was 9.
“I just loved ski racing,” she said. “I honestly am so entertained on the same run everyday, skiing gates. Like, I love freeskiing, but I also don’t get bored when we’re doing the same thing over and over.”
Keane burst onto the U.S. team’s radar with a first and second in back-to-back GS races at Copper Mountain in Dec. 2021. She finished 48th in the 2022 NorAm overall, as well as 30th in GS and 20th in the super-G standings. Four top-10 finishes last year bumped those numbers up to 28th, 22nd and 10th, respectively.
When asked about her specialty now, Keane said, “It really depends on the day. Sometimes I am a slalom skier, sometimes I’m a speed skier, but GS is the most consistent for me.”
Keane said her first D-Team campaign forced her to self-analyze.
“I’ve learned I don’t do well under a lot of pressure. Last year was really tough for me because I felt like everyone was caring what I was doing, even though that’s not really the case,” she said.
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“I found that the year before, I was just having a lot of fun with it — I was just enjoying it — versus being worried about the results. I was more focused on the process rather than the result.”
Keane’s final race of the 2023 season was a sixth-place super-G finish at U.S. Nationals on April 2. But ripping down the Sun Valley slope, Keane could tell something was off.
“I’m coming around the last bend, and my pole is not clicked into my gloves, so I was looking at it,” she recalled. “Suddenly my edge caught and I crashed really hard through the finish.”
The resultant full MCL tear, partial ACL tear and small tibia-fibula fracture on one leg and high-ankle sprain on the other sidelined Keane for four months. Her off-season activities were limited. Hobbling around with a boot on one leg and a knee brace on the other, she eventually progressed to playing a “little bit” of pickleball.
“Even though I wasn’t supposed to,” she said sheepishly.
Coming into the NorAm openers, Keane said she now “feels pretty strong.”
Emma Resnick, another former Vail Mountain School graduate on the D-Team, said she’s heard from multiple women on the team that Keane has made a point of checking in and cheering for her teammates throughout her own rehab.
“Even though maybe she was struggling herself, she was always supportive of everyone else,” Resnick said.
Resnick characterized the D-Team’s culture as familial, with Keane winning the award for “fun aunt” and team chef.
“Banana bread all the time,” the fellow former Gore Ranger laughed before recalling some VMS memories.
“She’s a genius,” Resnick said of Keane. “She was always in our math classes, and we were in the advanced ones, so she was just, like, really ahead of our time.”
The pair grew close during summer Park City camps and the fall prep period, Resnick said.
“It’s been really fun kind of having these girls come through,” she said regarding the recent slew of VMS/SSCV ladies who’ve joined the D-Team — Keane and Kjersti Moritz in 2022 and Liv Moritz in 2023.
“We’ve grown up in the same valley, we’ve had the same community aspect, we’ve kind of gone through and grown up with the same values being instilled with us.”
Copper’s collegiate atmosphere has what speed skier Kyle Negomir called a “first-day-of-school-feel.” Dorms and term papers are replaced by ski-in condos and technique analysis — but there’s still books, communal dining service … and space for shenanigans.
“What I love about Copper this time of year is everyone is here,” Resnick stated. “You get to see all the teams, see old friends, we have dinner together — we talk about everything.”
The D-Team’s book club recently mowed through Kristin Hannah’s historical fiction, “The Nightengale” and is currently deep into Phil Knight’s memoir, “Shoe Dog.” The team spent a recent evening playing a hilarious, but subtly competitive ‘name game.’ Before Thanksgiving, they held their annual gingerbread house competition between all members of the women’s team.
“You don’t make a generic gingerbread house,” joked Keane, who constructed a Harry Potter-themed home for the contest, which enlists male athletes, techs and coaches for voting purposes.
“Emma’s was an absolute disaster, but she thinks it’s good,” Keane continued, adding that the bond she has with her teammates has given her the sisters she always wanted.
“Kaitlin has three brothers,” Resnick said before turning to smile at her teammate. “But we’re all her sisters now.”
