Tommy Moe—Olympic Gold Medalist Once, Alaskan Ski Guide Forever

Tommy Moe, 55, made his name at the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, where he won gold in the downhill and silver in the super-G—the first American male ski racer to win two medals in one Winter Olympics. Moe, who retired from racing in 1998, also made it onto several World Cup podiums. Today he lives with his family in Wilson, Wyoming and works as a ski guide at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. But it’s as a co-owner and heli-ski guide at Tordrillo Mountain Lodge in Alaska that he’s found his second calling.

Cache_Seven contributor Gordy Megroz caught up with Tommy about his love of skiing, his racing career, and his pathway into guiding.  

Gordy: How did you fall in love with skiing?

Tommy: I learned to ski at Big Mountain, which is now called Whitefish Mountain Resort. It's up in northwest Montana, right above the town of Whitefish. My dad taught me how to snowplow between his legs. From that time on, I fell in love with the sport—being outside, the speed, and the friendship and family time. I loved hitting jumps, skiing powder, and freeskiing. I remember sitting in school in Whitefish. You could see the ski area from my classroom window, and I would just stare out at it and daydream about being on the mountain. 

Gordy: How old were you when you started ski racing?

Tommy: I was eight. I was in ski school with a rat pack of kids and we’d meet on the weekends. We had great coaches who showed us the fun of skiing. And there was one little race at the end of the season. I got second place and I was super disappointed. From that point on I wanted to race and I wanted to win. I joined the ski club and, by the time I was 11, I beat my older brother and his friends in a giant slalom race. But even then I wanted to race downhill. I had seen some of the better downhill skiers in Montana and thought it looked cool. I was attracted to the speed and the speed suits. I really wanted one of those suits.

Gordy: Were you in the gates all the time after that or did you still freeski a lot

Tommy : Oh, I was still freeskiing all the time. When it would snow and a race was called off, we’d be pumped about it and go powder skiing. Back then, there weren’t any powder skis. We’d just ski powder on slalom skis. Even when I was on the US Ski Team and racing World Cups, when it snowed our team was like, ‘all right, let's go.’ One time we got snowed in at Las Lenas in Argentina. It snowed for five days straight. We went out and built kickers, and did some flips, and had fun with it. The Canadians would jump in with us because they liked to freeski too. But there were some Europeans that were just into training gates. Marc Girardelli and some of the Austrians. If it snowed, they would just pretty much not ski. They thought they were going to lose their touch or something. 

Gordy: I remember a story about a time when you weren't racing that well, and you and your dad went backcountry skiing and it straightened you out.

Tommy : I think that was 1993, and I’d had a little ankle injury over in Europe. So, I went to Alaska and I met up with my brother and my dad. We did a little ski tour up to this cabin. It was a nice little break from the racing scene. It took me like a week or two to heal the ankle. But then I raced the World Championships in Japan right after that and I did really well. I got sixth in the downhill. 

Gordy: Do you think that getting back to your roots—getting out there and powder skiing—that helped you psychologically and helped everything click? 

Tommy : For sure. You get so focused on racing—and it is intense—that sometimes you need to take a little break from it and have fun.

Gordy: When you retired from racing, how did you transition back into being a regular skier again? 

Tommy : It was 1998 and I was living in Jackson Hole at the time. Some of my friends, like Jeremy Nobis and Micah Black, were really into freeskiing. Steve and Todd Jones were starting Teton Gravity Research at that time. And heli-skiing was just kind of starting in Valdez. It was an exciting time and that helped spark a new passion in me for skiing. I went to Valdez and met up with Doug Coombs. We skied together and I fell in love with Alaskan big mountain skiing right away. I was like, ‘this is my next life.’

Gordy: Did you ever envision that guiding would be part of that next life? 

Tommy : Well, that same year a few guys put in for a permit for heli-skiing in the Girdwood area. That was the year we started Kings & Corn, a summer trip that involved fishing for king salmon and skiing corn snow. We’d bring clients into those mountains and fish in the morning and heli-ski corn in the afternoon. Since then, I helped open Tordrillo Mountain Lodge, and we have access to over 1.2 million acres of terrain. I’ve also been guiding clients into the backcountry in Jackson Hole for about ten years, so I still get to powder ski a lot and I still love it. It’s pretty much the ideal setup for me.

(Hero image and Guide image: Jonathan Selkowitz)