An Alpine Skiing Accident Paved The Way For John Gaston’s Skimo Career

It’s hard to imagine that a broken back could lead to an athletic rebirth, but that’s exactly what happened to John Gaston.

In the winter of 2010-11, Gaston was recuperating in a metal back brace following a skiing accident. That’s when he discovered ski mountaineering, or skimo, through his twin brother, Pete, and their friend, Max Taam, who were trying it that season.

“I had never heard of it,” Gaston said. “I kind of went off the deep end. I decided I was going all in on skimo. That was my sport. I never even tried it.”

Gaston had grown up as an alpine skier in Aspen, Colorado, and had no experience with endurance sports. He’d always been perfectly content with ascending a hill on a chairlift rather than climbing on skis or by foot, which is a big part of skimo, along with descending on skis.

But something about skimo hooked him.

The 38-year-old Gaston now has almost a decade of experience on the U.S. skimo national team. With less than a year before the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, where the sport will make its Olympic debut with medal events in the men’s and women’s sprint and mixed gender relay, Gaston is committed to helping the U.S. team secure a quota spot for Italy. 

“As a team, we really need to show that we can succeed here if we want access to the resources to succeed at some of the more prestigious events down the road,” he said.

Long before the Olympics were on his radar, Gaston’s grandparents bought him a skimo gear package from Spain for Christmas, and the University of Colorado graduate threw himself into the sport without hesitation. 

He solved the endurance part quickly, but the skill set took longer to learn. 

“There was definitely a super steep learning curve, especially in the more technical elements,” Gaston said. “I’d never done a kick turn in my life. I would just crash all the time those first couple seasons. It was a very steep trajectory, for sure.”

Racing domestically for the first few years, Gaston experienced success by simply outskiing the competition.

“Certainly, back then, no one had the technical skills, especially on descents, that they do now,” he said. “My first five years in the sport were fun. I thought I was fast.”

After he made the national team and began racing in Europe, Gaston quickly found out that Europeans had plenty of skimo skills. In his first two appearances at the world championships — 2013 and 2015 — Gaston’s best result in a solo event was a 27th-place finish in the individual race.

So, he stepped up his training in summer 2016 to become more competitive internationally.

The new commitment worked. Gaston turned in a total of six top-15 performances at the following two world championships in 2017 and 2019.

Gaston’s increased dedication to training happened when he and his wife, Katherine, were expecting their first child. Now Gaston is fully dedicated to skimo while being the father to three young children.

“It keeps me balanced, I guess, is the polite way to phrase it. Utterly exhausted is the other way,” he said. “I don’t really know anything else. I’ve only gotten much faster since having a family. That’s when the (training) volume kicked in.”

At this year’s world championships in Morgins, Switzerland, Gaston placed 21st in the men’s vertical race.

“I do have a little bit of unfinished business,” Gaston said. “A part of me thinks I’ve never been able to race in Europe when I’ve been at my true highest level. I want the opportunity to do that before I call it quits.”

Gaston has no firm timeline on when he will hang up his skis, but he did note that his oldest child will turn 8 years old this spring. At some point, he said, continuing to compete at an elite level will become a selfish pursuit at the expense of his family.

For the moment, however, Gaston is all about getting the U.S. to Milano Cortina. He knows that the future belongs to upcoming young Americans such as Griffin Briley — who won three golds and a bronze at the U20 level during this year’s world championships — and he’s doing everything he can to set up the next generation for success.

“Someone like Griffin … could legitimately podium at the elite level in any discipline in 2030 if we succeed now,” Gaston said. “I think the first Olympic cycle for any sport is always a challenge, and you can only expect so much. The finish line the first time around really isn’t a medal. It’s just to get there, period.”

Bob Reinert spent 17 years writing sports for The Boston Globe. He also served as a sports information director at Saint Anselm College and Phillips Exeter Academy. He is a contributor to usaskimo.org on behalf of