Beyond the X: Snow schools for Olympic hopefuls

Senior alpine skier Pieter Weemaes aspires to be SBA's first Olympian. The 17-year-old San Jose, Calif., native will ski next year at Harvard after earning second in the U-16 G5 nationals in Park City, Utah, in November.

Weemaes has unlimited potential, Hubner said, because of a never-ending work ethic.

"Pieter has a blessing and a curse of being good at everything," Hubner said. "He has a lot of options. It wasn't like he was blessed with all this talent. He's just a very hard-working kid. His challenge will be what he wants to pursue."

See the MaxPreps "From Students to Sochi" homepage, with links to more Olympics content

Weemaes said Sugar Bowl Academy has pushed all the right buttons for him both on the mountain and in the classroom.

"Teachers are very accommodating here, as are the coaches and administration," he said. "It's really a collaborative effort. They all work together to make everything flow. You can both ski your best here and get an awesome education. You don't feel like you're doing too much. Everything works perfectly at this academy."

But Weemaes does miss football games. He has plenty of friends back in San Jose who remind him about Friday Night Lights. He noted that some SBA girls are trying to get a prom started.

"We'll see how that all goes," he said.

"I think the sacrifices are all worth it. You have to keep in mind what we're trying to achieve here and just what kind of place this is. It's awesome. … I mean look outside and see how beautiful it is. Where else could you call a place like this home? It's the best place there is."

But there's one condition, Weemaes warned.

"You have to love skiing," he said. "And then you have to put in the effort in conditioning. Every hill during the spring and fall you have to run your hardest. It's the only way to improve."

But for student athletes like Camille Hartley, a 17-year-old senior from Truckee, she admitted that skiing isn't her first love. Music is. This will be her last season on the nordic track. She attended public school as a freshman, but quickly grew tired of "40 students in a classroom."

The education and small class size – average eight per class — appealed to her. Plus she could advance her violin skills (she now plays the fiddle) all while enjoying cross country skiing.

"I don't have a huge passion for skiing and competition, but I still go hard in every race," she said.

Asked if her music and skiing skills ever intertwined, the soft-spoken senior said. "Sometimes when I'm skiing, I think about tempo and rhythm and it helps me get through."