Imagine loading onto the chairlift with gold-medalist ski racer Tommy Moe or standing atop the terrain park next to Olympic snowboard champion Red Gerard. What if you could learn to bobsled or Nordic ski from someone who has competed among the very best in the world? Select ski resorts and outfitters are launching experiences that pair you with Winter Olympians for a day of high-level instruction, personal guiding, or some good old-fashioned fun.
Snowboard with Red Gerard or Jamie Anderson
Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows, California
Last year, launched an app with the goal of linking you up with top-notch pros in sports like skateboarding and snowboarding. This winter, the company will host on-demand lessons with local experts (from $239 an hour), plus three to four weekend-long camps at Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows with elite Winter Olympians, like 2018 snowboard slopestyle gold medalists Jamie Anderson and Red Gerard and ski racers Julia Mancuso and Daron Rahlves. If that’s not your speed, join 1998 Olympic mogul champ Jonny Moseley, Squaw’s chief mountain host, during this year’s holiday season for free-of-charge of the mountain.
Bobsled with Valerie Fleming or Shauna Rohbock
Park City, Utah
There aren’t many places in the world where you can hop into a bobsled and rocket down a track at 70 miles per hour while pulling three Gs, but Park City, Utah, is one of them. Stay at the (from $538), and you can sign up to have Olympic bobsled silver medalists Valerie Fleming or Shauna Rohbock guide you down the track. If you’d rather ski, guests at the (from $409) can shred Park City Mountain Resort alongside Olympic mogul skier Nate Roberts.
Ski with Tommy Moe
Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Ski-racing legend Tommy Moe won two Olympic medals at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. In Jackson Hole, Wyoming, you can skiing with the super-G and downhill specialist around his favorite spots on his home mountain, like the Hobacks or out-of-bounds runs like Four Pines and Pinedale. And while Moe skis fast, you don’t have to—intermediate to advanced skiers are welcome (from $750).
Do a Biathlon with Glenn Jobe
Boreal Mountain, California
Biathlon, which combines Nordic skiing with shooting, isn’t a sport you want to pick up without some basic instruction and safety tips, so why not have your coach be a former Olympian? The two-hour at Auburn Ski Club Training Center on California’s Donner Summit costs only $85 and is taught by the club’s biathlon director, Glenn Jobe, who competed at the 1980 games in Lake Placid, New York.
Ski with Wendy Fisher
Crested Butte, Colorado
On select Wednesdays this winter at Crested Butte, Wendy Fisher will be teaching for intermediate and advanced skiers. Fisher raced at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, and later won two big-mountain freeskiing world titles. Her clinics are designed for groups of up to six people and cost $135 per person, or you can book Fisher for a private lesson starting at $583.