Keely Kelleher (right) boards the lift at Mt. Pisgah in Saranac Lake, NY during a fundraising event to help the Village owned ski area buy a new T-Bar. U.S. Ski Team athletes skied and signed autographs at Mt. Pisgah one day prior to the 2010 Visa U.S. Alpine Championships at nearby Whiteface Mountain (Jon Margolis Photography)

PARK CITY, UT (May 18) – Following seven seasons with the U.S. Alpine Ski Team, recently crowned U.S. super G champion Keely Kelleher (Big Sky, MT) is retiring from racing in order to focus on being a full-time student at Westminster College in Salt Lake City.

"After spending my entire life focused completely on ski racing, I'm starting a new job as a full time student on August 25," said Kelleher who earned her first U.S. championship last March with her family in attendance at Whiteface Mountain, NY. "The ski team has a partnership with Westminster that allows athletes to pursue their education. It's a great way for us to transition out of the sport."

Kelleher cut teeth with the Big Sky Ski Team in Montana then enrolled in Salt Lake's famed Rowmark Academy, which has produced numerous top U.S. Ski Team athletes. During her tenure, Kelleher was honored as the Most Improved Technical Skier (2000), received the Northrop Award for Excellence in Speed Events (2001) and the prestigious Senior Award for Dedication to Skiing, Leadership and Ski Racing Ability. Additionally, she captured the J2 Junior Olympic gold medals for both giant slalom and combined in 2000.

"She was such a special athlete to work with," said Rowmark Program Director Todd Brickson. "I haven't experienced very many athletes as driven as Keely. She was an incredible competitor, but also a great teammate. I've already been recruiting her to do some guest coaching with our athletes."

Post grad she rocketed through the North American pipeline, landed a spot on the national squad in 2003 and was tracking toward the World Cup level when a crash at the final fall training camp in Colorado knocked her out for the season with a broken right leg. Ultimately the rod placed in her leg was too big and caused serious complications. According to Brickson, most athletes would have given up.

"It was supposed to be a six month turn-a-round and back to snow, but it turned into three years of surgeries," said Kelleher. "Mentally and physically, constantly recovering is draining, but I was always looking forward to racing. It's what kept me motivated. I love ski racing."

After earning her first World Cup start in December of 2007, Kelleher would score her first points the following season in St. Moritz, Switzerland. She landed two other top 30 results later that season and exited the 2009 winter looking toward a birth in Vancouver, but leg pain continued to hamper her progress.

"When all the other girls were putting down six or seven runs on a training day, I'd be holding back tears after four, but I just kept telling myself it was going to go away when the season finally started," she said. "Then the first weekend of World Cup rolled around and I had the best result of my career with 20th in the Lake Louise super G. I was headed off to Val d'Isere [France] for the next set of races and things were looking positive."

Then bam, a crash in Val d'Isere resulted in a sprained right ankle, furthering then compacted pain she'd been fighting throughout the season's preparation period.

"It was a lot to deal with, but that's what we do - it was still fun," Kelleher said. "I'll always remember those long travel days just goofing around with my teammates. We were always able to find humor in every situation and at the end of the day, we were ski racing. We were able to meet some of the most amazing people and discover incredible places because we were skiing. The view from the start at Cortina [Italy] is a place not many people get to see and I'll always be thankful for that."

Kelleher thanked her family, coaches, teammates and sponsors Big Sky Resort, Lone Mountain Sports, Atomic and POC for sticking with her through it all. "It's incredible the amount of support that goes into ski racing. My family is amazing and stood with me every step of the way and continue to do so," said Kelleher. "I was pretty fortunate to have some awesome sponsors along the way too, who I'll always be connected with.

"I'll always value Keely as a competitor and as a friend," said long-time teammate Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA). "We've been racing together since we were J3's and then made every step up together. We made the ski team together and landed our first Europa Cup podiums together – it won't be the same on the road without her."

Prior to her first day of classes, Kelleher says she'll spend the summer giving back to ski racing by coaching in Alaska, Oregon and possibly Chile – after a three week surfing trip to Mexico with friends.

"It's a good transition into becoming a student," she said. "But the best way for me to give back is to help get more kids stoked on ski racing. Alaska is a super specialized camp, were we'll be working on body position off big jumps then I'm off to Mt. Hood and hopefully Chile before school starts."

Alana Nichols on Downhill podium Photo: Erik Leirfallom / US Ski Team

A few months ago, Shred Optics covered Paralympic skiers in their blog. As the winter season has wound down, athletes find themselves all over the world. Ted Ligety in Monaco, Julia Mancuso on Maui, Romain de Marchi in BC. Here's what Alana Nichols' summer is looking like...

There's no holding back for some athletes. No matter the season, no matter the sport, some athletes cannot subdue the desire to compete. That insatiable craving to win is usually reflected in the amount of awards and trophies an athlete has collected over a career. Paralympian skier Alana Nichols (Farmington, NM) is one of those rare athletes. Her athletic career is a textbook example of an athlete's undying ability to overcome the odds and excel while doing just that. Just check out what she has stashed in her purse.
You had a very successful 2009-10 season, winning four Paralympic medals and three podium finishes at the World Cup in Italy – did any of it come as a surprise?
All of the surprises actually, came in Italy. When we arrived at the speed events, I found my niche again and began skiing very strong and fast. My first win over there was super surprising but at the same time felt like that's what I should have been doing all along at the World Cup. That win made it very exciting for the whole team because none of us had been skiing very well, so hearing the national anthem for the first time really motivated us.

What did you do with all the awards?
I have been traveling with my medals from Vancouver, so they haven't really left my purse. There have been one or two occasions when little kids ran off with them, but luckily have been able to track them down.

You must have an enormous purse to fit your globes in as well, right?
I sent the globes back with my head coach. He has them in his office at the National Sports Center for the Disabled. One of these days I need to go pick them up.

Summer is usually training season, but what are your plans to unwind this summer?
I'm finally home now. I haven't been "home home" since before the Paralympics. None of my family have seen my medals yet so I'm really excited about showing them to everyone. After things settle down, four of my close friends and I head off to Hawaii. I'm so excited for that trip.

Is this your first time to the islands?
It is. I can't even wait. It's going to be epic.

Rumor has it that no one should mess with you on the basketball court. Do you still play?
I play on my community team up in Denver, but I took this past season off for the Winter Paralympics. People think that I quit playing because I took the season off, but that's not true. I want to play. I support my teammates even though I was focusing on skiing this past year.

Do you think that you will be playing in London for the 2010 summer games?
I hope so. I will cross that bridge when I come to it, but it's definitely something I'd like to do.

You're a gold medalist so most people wait in line for your autograph, but what basketball player would you wait in line for?
Good question. I'd want Sue Bird's autograph, she is one of my heroes. She's a phenomenal all around athlete. On the men's side, Steve Nash is one of my absolute favorite players in the world. I would wait for days to get an autograph from that guy.

Besides skiing and basketball, what are your other interests?
I'm big into yoga. As a ski racer it helps me maintain my flexibility, but that makes it less of a hobby and more maintenance for me. I love the outdoors, especially kayaking and camping. Jeeping up in the canyons is fun here in northern New Mexico. I just love doing anything with family and friends because I'm always traveling.

Are you the first Olympian from Farmington?
I believe so. That's kinda cool now that I think about it.

You are the first American woman to win a gold medal in both the winter and summer games, would you say that's your greatest achievement?
It's really hard to put into words, but it's weird to think that I made history partly due to just lucky timing. But, it's also due to the fact that I have had opportunities to do the sports that I want to do and reach my full potential. If it weren't for the Paralympian programs it wouldn't have been possible.

Alana Nichols Photo: Erik Leirfallom/US Ski Team

Skateboard slams and bails like the ones in this video are extremely entertaining to the morbidly inclined. For some strange reason, you just can't stop watching as clip after clip show massively painful crashes.

But it makes you wonder: what happens afterwards, after the slam?

Do these kids miraculously walk away from it all and just hit the next trick without batting an eye? Or, just maybe, do they sit there for minutes or hours in agony -- maimed, compound broken-boned, lacerated, slipped disk -- while their friends have to call an ambulance or their parents? What happens at the hospital? Resetting of bones, stinging wound flushes, stitches, back immobilization?

And who pays for the mayhem? Does insurance cover it? Parents well off enough?

How long will they be out of commission? How long before they can leave the bed or get out of the crutches or that confining back brace?

The more you think it through, the more you realize something: we want to, nay, we HAVE TO LIVE LIFE ON THE EDGE, live life with some risk, pushing the envelope of the possible. It's who we are. HOWEVER, at the end of the day, the risk equation is bad and the probability of serious injury so high that the only SENSIBLE PATH is to LESSEN THAT PROBABILITY of serious injury.

No, I'm not talking about stopping the pursuit. I'm talking about taking sensible precautions, like wearing a helmet or a back protector.

Slytech has applied motocross protection technology for the snow sports space and we have every confidence that those same snowboarders who also skate, will find use for their Slytech protection gear.

This is it folks. We got this one life (as far as we know). Push your limit, but lessen the probability of serious injury while you're at it. It's not only smart, but will keep you out there doing what you love for a much longer time.

Shred protected.

Some of us may be putting the snowboard on the rack and grabbing the skateboard for the summer season. Before you try a stunt like this guy, just remember that you don't have the Slammer Pro jock strap on.

Not sure our engineers will take this one up, but judging by this guy, there may be a small market for it.

That said, I wonder whether the Slytech 2nd Skin Ultra Light Back Protector would be something the skateboarder kids on the ramp would consider trying???

Pushing the limits never felt so good.... if you can get up and do it again! Wear your protection and live to shred another day.

How amazing is it when we experience paradigm shifts?

On the face of it, you may think that what happened to Kevin Pearce is just horrific and sad, but when you listen to him and watch all the way to the end, you realize that having your world shift from gold medal aspirations to just being grateful you're alive and with family, that's a momentous shift.

When asked whether horrified parents would want to shelter their kids from the sport after hearing about the accident, Kevin said: "I would feel bad for those kids, just because snowboarding is such a great sport, it's so much fun and has brought me so much joy. I wouldn't change it for anything. Even after having had this accident, I still love it so much." Not even his near death snowboard accident can keep him from doing what makes him most joyful in life.

Powerful stuff.

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You know your clay-mation video has gone gang-busters when it's received over 5.5 million hits on YouTube.

In this episode, Pingu and Robbie go for a snowboard sesh and promptly get slammed. But as most riders do, they get up, strap on back protection and try it again. If only they realized they only strapped on the coccyx part of their protector! They woulda gone way bigger with the whole thing! Somebody PLEASE tell mom and dad Pingu to order a Slytech Slammer Pro Back Protector FedEx ASAP.

Enjoy this awesome video: