Clubhouse Chronicles: Q&A with AVSC alumna, snowboarder Jordie Karlinski
Clubhouse Chronicles
Courtesy photo
Question: Tell us a little about your background. Where are you from and how did you arrive at AVSC?
Jordie Karlinski: I am a Roaring Fork Valley native originally from Snowmass Village. My parents put me in AVSC with my older sister and brother when I was 7 years old.
Q: What discipline and which years were you involved with AVSC?
JK: I am a snowboarder and I was involved with AVSC from 1996 up until I joined the U.S. snowboard team in 2005.
Q: How far did you take your snowboarding career?
JK: I first was named to the U.S. snowboard team for boardercross in high school where I competed in Junior Worlds, X Games, Gravity Games and World Cup competitions. While boardercross was a great discipline, my passion was really slopestyle, so after three years on the U.S. boardercross team, I retired. In 2011, I was invited to be one of the first athletes to be part of the newly formed U.S. slopestyle team, with hopes of making the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. I continued to compete professionally on the international stage through 2014 (World Cup, Burton Open, Dew Tour, and more).
Q: Give us a brief update on your life. What are you up to these days?
JK: I live in Basalt, and I am a real estate broker at Compass. I am an executive member of the AVSC board, and I am also on the Roaring Fork Conservancy River Stewards committee. During the winters, I continue to snowboard for fun, I love hiking the bowl and I splitboard as much as possible. In the summers, I love to fly fish, trail run and hike. I am also training for my third Ironman 70.3 race this spring.
Q: What life skills or values or did AVSC, and/or your time spent on the mountain, help instill in you?
JK: I can confidently say I am the person I am today because of AVSC and my competitive snowboarding career. I have learned invaluable life skills such as commitment, discipline, drive, confidence, integrity, and the importance of community. AVSC also taught me the importance of goal setting and visualization, tools I still use to this day in many aspects of my life.
Q: What is one of your favorite AVSC memories?
JK: We had some pretty incredible trips to New Zealand with our coaches Travis and Miah. Every summer we spent two to three weeks down there to train and if you know Travis and Miah, there was never a dull moment.
Courtesy photo
Q: AVSC’s core values are commitment, teamwork and integrity. Which core value resonates most with you, and why?
JK: Integrity. When I first learned what the word meant I knew it would become a lifelong value of mine. Having integrity with not only others, but also with myself, is extremely important to me.
Q: If you were to tell the community one thing about AVSC, what would it be?
JK: AVSC is one of the largest and longest standing nonprofits in the Roaring Fork Valley. It provides over 3,000 kids in the greater Roaring Fork Valley the opportunity to ski and snowboard — which is pretty dang cool!
Q: What does serving on the board of AVSC mean to you? Explain your role on the board and some rewarding moments.
JK: As a former athlete and coach, I have first-hand experience of AVSC’s impact and know how AVSC can change kids’ lives for the better. I am very grateful for the opportunity to now sit on the AVSC board and hopefully will be able to make an impact at a different level. Currently I am on the Executive Committee and hold the secretary position. Recently, the AVSC board was able to secure permanent housing in the Roaring Fork Valley for our coaches, which as most people know is a huge deal. This will continue to allow AVSC to support coaches, and therefore the programs and youth.
Clubhouse Chronicles is a behind-the-scenes column written by the Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club that runs periodically in the Aspen Times sports section.
