Avid cross-country skier
BY JONATHAN KANE
Peter Wolter loves Nordic skiing and excels at the sport. The Community School junior, carrying a 3.9 grade point average and a member of the school’s Outdoor Leadership Academy, is also carrying a heavy course load, including Honors Physics, American History, Precalculus, Spanish V, Twentieth Century American Literature and Expedition, Planning and Leadership.
He also believes in minimizing stress in his life when possible.
“I like to make everything in life as fun as possible,” Wolter said. “I really don’t like being stressed because it brings down all aspects of life and makes things not enjoyable.”
Wolter is a longtime Community School student, having started as a preschooler and now enrolled in his 15th year.
“I describe having fun in my life as trying to be lighthearted about every situation and, if something is bad, turn it into something good and don’t let it faze you,” he said.
“For example, if I get a bad grade on a test, there is nothing I can do about that now so I resolve to study harder and improve. This attitude works out pretty well. For one thing, I wasn’t stressed at all this winter and I didn’t get sick.”
Wolter started Nordic skiing with his family at the age of 2 and has been participating with the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation team since elementary school. He has progressed from the Devo team to the Middle School prep team to the High School comp team.
“My earliest memory, besides being with my family, was being with my friend Zach Williams and we would hide in the snow so we wouldn’t have to ski with the team in elementary school because we wanted to ski off jumps into the powder on our Nordic skis.”
Wolter’s father grew up in Minnesota and introduced him to the sport.
“All my friends were doing it and I took to it right away,” he said.
Wolter said he prefers classic skiing to skate skiing because “it’s more relaxing because it’s more of a natural movement.
“I love the sport because of the team bonding and the amazing trips we get to go on,” he said. “It has individual aspects and team aspects, which I really like. You get the chance to compete against teammates, but you push them and they push you. Also, the feeling you get after a race is indescribable, and it’s similar to a runner’s high, whether you win or not.”
This winter Wolter had the thrill of competing in the U18 Nation’s Cup in Estonia near the Russian border. First, he had to qualify in Michigan at the U.S. Senior Nationals. He was only one of six boys that qualified and the only one from the Wood River Valley.
“There was three days of training and three days of races,” Wolter said. “It was the best racing experience that I have ever had and I was able to learn a lot about the way they ski in Europe. The Norwegians and the Swedes are much better, but I learned a lot from them and got motivation from them. I learned that their mental and physical drive is unstoppable.”