10 MINUTES: With Kaya Turski

Last winter, about mid-season, Kaya Turski decided she wanted to ski again. At 18, it had been about ten years since she had clicked-in to a pair of skis. Later that winter, bringing rail skills and tricks she mastered as a pro rollerblader, she went on to win the Vermont Open and the Whistler Stompede slopestyles. In early July, Salomon signed her to join the likes of CR Johnson, Sammy Carlson and Simon Dumont. Needless to say, she’s realigned her professional goals. We caught up with her in Montreal last week…-John C. Davies

When, where and why did you start skiing?
Well when I was young, I guess around 4, I started skiing. I stopped when I was about 8 or 9 and started rollerblading. I rode for D-Structure for skating and I guess I was always around a little skiing here and there because of them. Then one day, last season, I was just like ‘I wanna ski!’ And there it started. I tried it and just fell in love! I skied at Mt. Avila for the rest of the season when I wasn’t in school, but this season I moved to Squamish to take it more seriously and really work on learning how to ski.

You’re from Montreal…do you speak French?
I can speak French although I don’t really like to. I was raised in an English house and school and definitely prefer English.

What are you up to this summer?
Well after Whistler and Hood I came home to finally spend some time with my friends and family. I’m taking it easy here in Montreal and in a week I’m going to New Zealand for a month with Salomon. So stoked! Then I gotta come back to Montreal for the fall semester of school.

What are your goals as both a skier and a student?
In skiing I want to keep focusing on training and strive to be the best I can. I guess I’ll see where that takes me. I really want to travel a lot, see lots of places, meet lots of people. I’d also like to film some really good segments in the future. As a student I don’t really know what I’m doing yet. I thought I wanted to be an architect but that kind of changed. Now I’m thinking more along the lines of some kind of rep or team manager. Something linked to the skiing world. But you never know, that could change tomorrow.

What's going on with your rollerblading career and how has it helped your skiing?
Women’s rollerblading is really slow right now, so I’m taking it easy in the skating world. Lately I’ve actually been skating vert, something I was never really doing seriously, so I can try to bring that to skiing pipe. Rollerblading helps me a lot for skiing with balance on rails and landings. If you can land on skates, chances are you can land on something 20 times the size of skates.

Have you ever tried rollerblading on snow?
(laughs) Unfortunately, no.

In your first year competing you won both the Whistler Stompede and the Vermont Open. How did you kick ass so quickly and how huge were these wins for you?
Winning the Vermont Open was so important for me. I didn’t really plan on competing this season so when I decided to try the Vermont open and won, I couldn’t have been happier. Winning the Stompede was also a really big deal for me. I would have never thought things would go well like they did and I’m really excited about how it all worked out. I definitely couldn’t have done it without skating though. I wouldn’t be anywhere in skiing if I didn’t have rollerblading to help me learn tricks to bring into skiing.