Jesse Keefe Is Skiing The Globe And Loving Every Minute Of It

Jesse Keefe competes in the men's giant slalom standing during the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on March 10, 2022 in Yanqing, China.

Like many a well-traveled athlete, Jesse Keefe has become adept in the unsubtle art of hauling oversize baggage from one end of the airport to the other.

In his two years with the U.S. Para alpine ski team, the 18-year-old has enjoyed a myriad of travel experiences, from getting to admire the natural beauty of some of the world’s most picturesque places — “You drive up the mountain, go to the glacier, drive down 10 minutes, and you’re at the ocean,” he marvels of Fonna, Norway — to being struck dumb by the price of Starbucks in Switzerland.

“Like $13 for a Frappuccino!” he exclaims, still shocked. “That’s why whenever I’m in Switzerland I never try to go out and eat. Twenty-eight Swiss francs for a hamburger — I’m like no, I just don’t want to deal with that.”

Whether travel hacks or skiing, the 2022 Paralympian has learned fast.

Does being a ski racer forcibly make you a morning person?

“In general, most of the time, yeah,” Keefe, the youngest member of the U.S. contingent at last month's world championships in Espot, Spain, admitted.

Keeping to an intense training schedule typically means his alarm goes off well before the sun peeks over the mountains he happens to be skiing.

“Being on Team USA and having Tony McAllister as a coach means you are up at 5 a.m. training, going to the lift in the dark. You call that ‘Tony Time,’” Keefe said. “It gets a little tough sometimes, but he’s got it and it’s pounded into us, and I think it kind of helps.”

It’s not unlike high school, Keefe can’t resist remarking with a wry grin, except that skiing tends to be more enjoyable. His training routine also includes an hour or two of online college coursework, the only kind of school his travel-ski-travel-rinse-repeat cycle allows at the moment.

Keefe had never been out of the country when he traveled to Switzerland for his first international assignment two years ago. Unaccustomed to jet lag, he slept through a couple of team meetings and didn’t wake up on time for his first days of training. McAllister cut the rookie some slack, but Keefe still feels like he’s getting used to things.

In any case, the process is beginning to pay off. Keefe credits embracing “Tony Time” with the “drastic improvement” he’s shown over the past season, which included a top-10 finish in slalom and a top 15 in super combined and giant slalom at the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. He figures it will help him become more consistent, smoothing over the rough edges of things that need to be worked on as he begins to challenge for medals.

Jesse Keefe competes in the men's giant slalom standing during the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on March 10, 2022 in Yanqing, China.

In Spain, Keefe notched three more top-20 placements, including 11th in alpine combined, his best finish at either of the world championships he’s competed in. So far.

“If I just keep going, start getting way more consistent in my skiing, being able to consistently finish, and feel good when I go through the finish, I think I shouldn’t worry about race results right now,” he said. “These days I may not have had a good run time-wise, but if it feels good for what I’m working on, then I see that as a step forward.”

Sun Valley, Idaho, where Keefe grew up, has a well-earned reputation as a North American ski paradise. Keefe, who was born without a right ankle bone and had his foot amputated at 11 months, grew up racing with an able-bodied team. By the time he was eligible to get his driver’s license, he had earned a profile with the International Ski Federation. Translation: he was going places.

Around the same time, he was invited to Utah for a camp hosted by a Salt Lake City hospital for Para athletes.

“It was a kind of free ski around Park City, have a good time,” he remembers.

While there, he looked in on the National Ability Center, and also linked up with U.S. team members Ravi Drugan and Matthew Brewer, as well as Chilean Paralympian Santiago Vega.

The free ski around with his new buddies turned into a trip to a competition, then to the U.S. Championships in Winter Park, Colorado. Eventually Keefe began accumulating points. Everything snowballed after that.

All the traveling is good practice for being a commercial pilot, the profession he hopes to pursue when the skiing and globetrotting ends one day. But for now, the focus is firmly on skiing and getting the maximum mileage out of every experience.

And while not stressing unduly over where he is in the standings at this juncture, Keefe has sketched a roadmap toward his goals, which includes one particular destination: Cortina d’Ampezzo, the jewel of the Dolomite Alps and host (along with Milano) of the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

“Over the next couple years, just honing my skills and seeing improvements in my skiing every year is going to be the best thing for me,” he said. “And then the last season before Italy and the next Games, starting to focus on results, pushing myself for those results and feeling confident in my skiing.”