To be a part of the exclusive club of alpine skiers known as the American Downhillers, you've generally got to be big enough to play in the NFL, crazy enough to reach speeds up to 90mph on a regular basis on skis, and be really good at doing it. The price for these daredevils doing this for a living is injuries. Steven Nyman, the longest tenured active member of the USST, has spent the last several months recovering from his most recent dues payment to the Downhill Skiing Gods which, this time, came in the form of a ruptured achilles.
If the "new school" of daredevil skiing is embodied by XGames competitors who are constantly looking to progress by throwing an even more brain-scrambling trick off of huge jumps or street style rails, Maggie Voisin is the women's valedictorian. Voisin, who's sixteen years Nyman's junior, started her XGames medal collection back in 2014; racking up seven, including two Golds in Slopestyle, in the last six years. After tearing her ACL last spring, Maggie turned to Steven for injury recovery wisdom from a skier who is no stranger to the process.
We asked if we could eavesdrop on their conversation as they talk injury recovery, prevention, nutrition, and how many square feet are required to fit a sauna in your garage.