Dec 20th, 2007
SOAR Execs Meet Shelly Robertson, World-Class Moguls Skier and U.S. Ski Team Member
She looked a bit harried, standing there, waiting for the crush of travellers in front of her to finish boarding the 757 so she could collapse into her seat in 20A.
She was cute in an outdoorsy sort of way, her sandy blonde hair pulled up on the back of her head. As she stood there waiting for the line of passengers to finally move forward, I noticed her patterned plum and white parka, a design I’d never seen before.
Just another college kid traveling home for the weekend, I thought. College kid? Probably. And as it turned out, she was about to wrap up her degree at the University of Nevada Reno; but she was also a lot more than that too.
Meet Shelly Robertson, nine-year veteran of the U.S. Ski Team (freestyle) and world-class moguls skier.
Turns out that Shelly was returning home to Reno, Nevada after taking 7th place in the women’s moguls competition at the opening event of the 2008 World Cup season, held in Tignes, France. She was pleased with her results, as it added on top of her run of straight top ten finishes that stretched back throughout the entire 2007 World Cup schedule.
What she didn’t tell us (on that flight from Atlanta to Salt Lake City last Friday, 12/15/07) was that her seventh place finish put her higher on the leader board than all of the U.S. women finishers at Tignes. Call it modesty.
According to her bio on the U.S. Ski Team Website, Shelly started skiing when she was two-years-old, but didn’t begin skiing competitively until she was 15. The now 28-year-old has been on the team since she was 19, and she has
- three national duals championships to her credit (2007, 2004 & 2003),
- a bronze medal finish at the 2004 World Cup duals meet in Fernie, British Columbia,
- a No. 6 finish in moguls at the 2007 Worlds Championship,
- a No. 7 finish in duals at the 2007 Worlds Championship, and
- she tied for ninth place in duals at the 2003 Worlds Championship.
Not bad for an unassuming twenty-something who looked slightly harried as she waited 
to grab her seat. In fact, that was probably the travel adrenaline pumping through her system as Shelly was working on 24 hours of straight travel time by the time she bumped into Chip and Poppa P on Delta flight 1142.
Only coincidence put us on the same flight, let alone the same row, as Shelly was supposed to have been in Reno hours earlier. But various flight delays had compounded one on top of another to cause her to miss one flight and threatened to keep her overnight in Atlanta until the travel gods (and her dogged persistence) at least got her on our same flight headed closer to her home.
So Chip and I enjoyed our visit with Shelly learning about her and her skiing exploits, although to be honest, it was mostly Chip doing the talking. One, he had the middle seat. Two, he’s got a lot more skiing experience than I do. (Heck, I even learned that he’s done a flip on skis before, which I didn’t know previously.)
After a couple of hours of chatting, the travel finally caught up with Shelly and she slipped off into an iPod cuccoon for the balance of the flight. But not before she extended an offer to come watch her and her teammates compete in Deer Valley Jan. 31 to Feb. 2 in a nighttime event. She even said she’d get us into the V.I.P.tent (which would be way cool).
Either way, I now have someone to root for this World Cup ski season — Shelly Robertson of Reno, Nevada. Go USA!
great story…. Thanks
I skied with Shelly for a year with the Squaw Freestyle team (as an old guy they let hang around), and I have to say she is one of the most beautiul skiers I’ve ever seen. Your article describes her perfectly – no huge ego or attitude – just a sort of unassuming competence. It’s refreshing to see athletes like her compete and win – she deserves to go all the way!
Great article about Shelly. She is such a versatile all mountain skier. Her free skiing skills are very under rated because she puts all of her energy into mogul competitions.
Great article on Shelly. One thing some people may not know is she is also a great coach for hard core old farts like me who goes to summer mogul camps every year hoping to get a little better. Rock on Shelly, there are many of us who are rooting for you!!!
Very nice article. Shelly is, as you say a very unassuming athlete. I met her mother skiing one day (a great skier herself) a few years ago and have helped Shelly out with a plane ticket here and there to get to training and competitions. When I met up with her last year to watch the Deer Valley compeition I was very impressed with her performance level.
Shelly did not finish as she wanted or expected and I tried to remind her that being in the top ten of anything in life is an amazing feat. It is a level of commitment that most of us never make in our lifetime much less to a sport that rarely receives the recognition that it should. Being an old, former, semi competitive mogul skier myself I was and still am dually impressed.
Shelly has offered to ski with me on various occasions and we were close last year, actually one tram apart at Snowbird, when I unexcitedly tore my ACL and was finished for the season. Shelly provided me with encouragement throughout the summer when things were not going well with my recovery. She even recommended a couple doctors for me to consider. Fortunately my knee issues have come around and I am able to get back after it on the slopes. I hope that this is the year I finally get the chance to ski with her.
I wish I could attend the event in Deer Valley this weekend but have other plans that I can not modify. I hope Shelly has a great contest and gets on that ever ellusive podium. BEST OF SKILL!! Go get ‘em.
Nice article; well written. I wish Shelly the best of success this coming weeken in Deer Valley.
We are all rooting for you and love seeing you on the telly. Go Shelly! I second George’s comment. Patti and I number among those who love Shelly’s coaching at summer mogul camp so we can get a little better. Our hero.
WE ARE VERY PROUD OF SHELLY AND THAT WAS A GREAT STORY. GO SHELLY GO
Really nice article and right on the mark about the modesty, it took a month for us the see this article! Hope you were able to make it to the world cup in Deer Valley to see her win the gold! She not only can ski the moguls but the few freeskiing/ Big Mountain Competions that she competes in after the world cup circuit are pretty impressive. In 2005 she won the Verbier Ride in Switzerland (the video is still online). Kirkwood is the only Big Mountain comp in the US that meets her schedule, a week or two after Nationals. In 2005 Shelly won the North Face Young Guns Award (Kirkwood) when she did a back-flip from the rocks.
Shelly, best of luck in Cypress BC this weekend and the rest of the season!
My wife and I have known Shelly for a few years, traveled to support (and more fun ski) with her on a few occasions and always love her company. Your article summarizes her well but I really want to emphasis her personally! It is Shelly’s personally that wins your heart….sure she is a great skier but few have the fun, smiling, motivated, upbeat and enthusiastic attitude that Shelly possesses.
And now she can add one more BIG goal completed…a first place finish in a World Cup event!! Way to go Shelly!! We expect lots more and like John said above…she deserves to go all the way.
It’s great to see Shelly get the recognition she deserves. She has worked hard to be at this level of competition. Shelly placed 7th in Japan last week-end and is still holding the #5 spot in the standings. There is such a thrill to watch this level of competition (World Cup) in person and even more so when it’s someone you know. Keep climbing to the top Shel, you only have 4 more to move ahead of!! The article described Shelly to a tee, good job!!!!