Tanner Perkins follows uncommon ski racing path

“I’m competitive and I like to prove people wrong”

[  by Than Acuff  ]

Tanner Perkins just wrapped up the Junior World Championships at Panorama, Canada, returned to his schoolwork at the University of Utah and will now head back on the road to compete at the NorAm alpine ski racing championships as well as the U.S. Nationals in Sugarloaf, Vermont March 19-April 1. All of this with no coaches, very little training and a full load of freshman college coursework as he pursues a career in paramedics. 

Perkins started ski racing as a kid at Powderhorn just outside of Grand Junction. His family moved to Crested Butte when he was 10 years old and he continued to race with the Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team (CBMST). It was during that time, age 10-16, that ski racing really took hold for Perkins. He gives a lot of credit to his CBMST alpine race coach Conor Lynch, who really stoked the fire for racing and helped develop Tanner into an alpine racer, especially in the speed events such as downhill and Super G.

“When we moved to Crested Butte I wasn’t really sure if I was going to keep racing,” says Perkins. “I guess I ended up being alright at it and those years really planted the seed.” 

Age 16 is when Perkins decided to jump entirely into the ski-racing fray. With training availability limited at CBMR, Tanner decided he had to make the move to ski for the Aspen Ski and Snowboard Club (AVSC) to continue his development.

“I transitioned all high school to online and trained with AVSC,” explains Perkins. “I was living on my own with a couple 22-year-old roommates over there.”

But not just any 22-year-old skiers, as one of his roommates was Bella Wright who just competed for the U.S. Ski Team at the Winter Games in Beijing, China.

“I would do one day of school a week and skied all the other days,” says Perkins. 

Upon finishing high school, Perkins faced another crossroads in his ski racing career and with COVID in full swing, he decided to adopt the van life for a post graduate year of racing.

“When I finished high school, I didn’t have anywhere to go,” says Perkins. “I built out a van and just traveled around and raced. I lived in the Aspen High School parking lot when I wasn’t traveling, they had fast Wi-Fi.”

Perkins continued to train with the AVSC the winter of 2020-2021 while living in his van and continued to work on his racer point profile, specifically in the technical events such as slalom and giant slalom.

“The van year saved my ski career and I credit AVSC with that as well allowing me to train with them,” says Perkins. “I was able to score good points, get my technical points down and get me in a good spot for this year.”

Twenty years old, broke, but with a good point profile, but no one to train with and no college picking him up to race, Perkins’ back was against the wall once again. He continued his work for Crested Butte Fire and EMS and while he was admitted to the University of Utah to start his career path in paramedics, it looked as if his ski racing days were over.

“I made the choice last spring to go to college,” says Perkins. “Most of the athletes have private coaches and are spending $100,000 per season to train and race. It’s ridiculous, it’s like horse racing.”

Then, after reaching out to friends, and friends of friends, Perkins found someone willing to support him through another season of racing for the 2021-2022 season. Not nearly to the tune of $100,000 but enough to cover basic expenses.

“Someone came through two weeks before the start of the ski season,” says Perkins. “It’s a miracle I’m skiing.”

In addition, Perkins had garnered the attention of the U.S. Ski Team and while he had no club, no coach and very little money while attending the University of Utah, he did manage to get some training in as the season started as part of the U.S. Ski Team development camp at Copper in November and three days of training in Aspen just after Christmas.

“Realistically I’ve only had four weeks of training, which isn’t a lot,” says Perkins. “I spend a lot more time in the gym than on the snow. Take it day by day and try to figure it out.”

Despite all of those hurdles, Perkins has had a strong year on the NorAm race circuit, as well as on the collegiate race circuit, though he’s not racing for any school. So much so that he is currently ranked sixth in NorAm Super G and 14th in the Downhill, which includes racers from Canada.

“It’s the highest level of racing in the U.S. and only two other Americans are in the top six and only one other is under 21,” says Perkins.

As a result of his Super G standing, he got the call that he was picked for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Alpine Junior World Championships Team headed to Panorama.

“I knew there was a chance,” says Perkins. “It’s awesome to go when you’re young but there’s still a lot of work to do. If you look at the history of successful ski racers worldwide, a lot of them did well at World Juniors.”

In addition to all of this, Perkins has continued to race, whenever possible, on the collegiate race series. It’s part pride and part planning. College programs were unwilling to give him a spot on their teams as most of them go to European racers, but now he’s showing that they may have made a mistake as he is currently ranked 13th in the Giant Slalom in the collegiate standings.

“I’m competitive and I like to prove people wrong,” says Perkins. “I just wanted to show that I can ski with those guys and I think I’ve turned some heads on the college series.”

The hope is that through that channel, Perkins may get the call to race for a Division I program.

“That would be amazing,” says Perkins.

Once he is done with the race season and his freshman year of school, Perkins will return to Crested Butte to continue working for Crested Butte Fire and EMS for the summer.

“It’s been a lot of logistics on my own, trying to juggle skiing, money and school,” says Perkins. “I love to ski, love ski racing and going fast.”